User Interview Skills for Designers & PMs

New
·

2 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Hands-on practice & expert guidance to 10x your interview skills. Get insights that power smart, data-driven product & design decisions.

Course overview

Deeply understand your users so you can build things that solve their problems ✨

Anyone can run a user interview. It’s really not rocket science. Pick up the phone, call up a customer, ask them some questions -- bam, there’s your interview.


Running great interviews, though? That takes training and practice. Even those with the best intentions and the most motivation need some help if they want to do it right. I’ve worked with dozens of designers, developers, and product managers who are pumped about talking to users, but then…


...they spend tons of time and energy reaching out to people, but can't convince them to sign up for interviews

…they ask leading questions that will only ever get them the answers they want to hear. 

…they focus on simply validating the ideas they already think are great rather than testing their assumptions about what users need in the first place. 

…they get nervous and rush through the interview, barely even listening to what the participant has to say.

…they struggle to sift through all their data to synthesize the key insights

...they miss opportunities to make an impact on their product because they can't persuade stakeholders to take action.


In this 2-week course, you'll learn to run interviews just like a veteran user researcher. Through expert advice, hands-on practice, and personalized feedback, you'll develop the skills you need to plan, execute, analyze, and document your interviews effectively -- so you can translate your hard work into evidence-based impact on product & design decisions.

This course is for...

01

Designers & developers who want to upskill by becoming proficient in one of the most useful & versatile user research methods.

02

Product managers who need to deeply understand their users so that what they build next meets their needs & solves their problems.

03

Early-career UX researchers looking for the hands-on practice & expert advice they need to level-up their interview skills.

You'll get...

A playbook for planning your interviews
  • Evaluate potential interview topics on multiple criteria to choose the ones that are highest priority
  • Write lightweight, useful, shareable research plans
Step-by-step guidance for finding & recruiting participants
  • Figure out the ideal number of participants to recruit
  • Learn multiple recruiting strategies that vary in scrappy-ness
  • Get people to actually commit to signing up
  • Create an automated scheduling flow
Specific frameworks to help you structure your interviews for maximum impact
  • Write thoughtful, useful, non-leading questions to get unbiased answers
  • Create a natural "flow" for both you and the participant
  • Figure out the tech setup that works best for you
Best practices for making participants feel comfortable, appreciated, and willing to share
  • Quickly build rapport with participants and make them feel at ease
  • Deal with "too chatty" or "too quiet" participants effectively and gracefully
Actionable tips for digging deep into participants' needs & pain points — without biasing their answers
  • Ask follow-up questions that dig deep into their thoughts, feelings, and motivations
  • Read body language and other nonverbal cues
Tools & techniques for making sense of your data
  • High- and low-tech note-taking strategies
  • Easy-to-follow methods for synthesizing insights from data
  • The latest AI-based tools to lend you a hand
Strategies for documenting, sharing, and inspiring action
  • Create research documents that people actually want to read
  • Translate insights into recommendations and next steps
  • Get buy-in from stakeholders to take action on what you learned
  • Make an impact on business decisions through research YOU spearheaded
Confidence built through hands-on practice
  • Practice time built into nearly every live session
  • A safe space to experiment and find what works best for you
  • Fast feedback from your peers and the instructor
Downloadable resources to give you a head start
  • Templates and scripts I use in my own research
  • Examples of real documents I have created for clients
  • Curated resources from my favourite research thought leaders

This course includes

6 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

11 in-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

3 projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Expand all modules
  • Week 1

    Jun 3—Jun 9

    Week dates are set to instructor's time zone

    Events

    • Jun

      3

      1️⃣ Welcome + Creating a Research Plan

      Mon, Jun 3, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM UTC

    • Jun

      5

      2️⃣ Asking Great Interview Questions

      Wed, Jun 5, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM UTC

    • Jun

      7

      ✨ Office Hour (Optional)

      Fri, Jun 7, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM UTC

    Modules

    • Week 1: Interview Planning & Prep

  • Week 2

    Jun 10—Jun 14

    Week dates are set to instructor's time zone

    Events

    • Jun

      10

      3️⃣ Interview Prep & Practice

      Mon, Jun 10, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM UTC

    • Jun

      12

      4️⃣ Synthesizing Insights From Data

      Wed, Jun 12, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM UTC

    • Jun

      14

      🎓️ Final Takeaways + Q&A + Graduation!

      Fri, Jun 14, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM UTC

    Modules

    • Week 2: Interview Execution, Analysis, & Documentation

What people are saying

        Elizabeth trained our design team to conduct user interviews and build out a set of user personas to help guide our startup. It was a fantastic experience, and something we couldn't have done without her. Our designers came away more empathetic and empowered to support our customers’ businesses better.
Gianni Chiappetta

Gianni Chiappetta

CTO @ Freshline
        I’ve had Elizabeth run research training at two companies, so I can attest that this course is full of actionable material and insights to take your interview skills to the next level. Designers and Product Managers, Elizabeth will make you feel comfortable to get started and help you integrate research into your processes.
Dave Poore

Dave Poore

Manager, Product Design & UXR @ StackAdapt
        I thought your session alone was worth the price of admission to the conference.
Robert R.

Robert R.

Participant @ UXPA Conference
        Love all the nitty gritty details she shared. Awesome presentation skills in both content and delivery.
Anonymous

Anonymous

Participant @ UXPA Conference

Meet your instructor

Elizabeth Creighton, PhD

Elizabeth Creighton, PhD

Founder, Brazen UX

With 16 years of experience conducting impactful research, Elizabeth has shaped the design of hundreds of websites, apps, services, and physical products for companies such as Shopify, Mozilla, Instacart, and Meta. Her experience is complemented by a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, which gives her a deep understanding of how users think, behave, learn, and remember.


Elizabeth is frequently invited to speak on topics related to UX at conferences and events, including UXPA, Web Directions, IXDA, and ConveyUX. She also teaches courses on user research methods for her clients' teams, as well as online with O’Reilly Media and Maven.


Outside of work, Elizabeth is a black-belt martial artist and mediocre banjo player — though she really spends most of her free time these days chasing after her 2-year-old daughter.

A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

User Interview Skills for Designers & PMs

Cohort 1

$450 USD

Dates

June 3—14, 2024

Payment Deadline

June 2, 2024
|

Bulk purchases

Course schedule

4-6 hours per week
  • Tuesdays & Thursdays

    12:00pm - 1:30pm EST

    Interactive workshops where we'll talk through concepts and case studies + complete short activities designed to help you solidify what you've learned.

  • Fridays

    12:00pm-1:00pm

    Weekly drop-in office hour where I'll answer your questions and give feedback on your ideas.

  • Weekly projects

    2 hours per week

    Short written assignments that challenge you to apply what you've learned.

Free resource

Research Plan Template

Creating a simple, lightweight research plan is your first step towards making sure you'll get useful, actionable data from your research.


You'll be able to create your research plan in just 15min using this template!



Get this free resource

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I can’t make a live session?
I work full-time, what is the expected time commitment?
What’s the refund policy?
Can I get reimbursed by my company?
Does this course provide a certificate?
A pattern of wavy dots
Join an upcoming cohort

User Interview Skills for Designers & PMs

Cohort 1

$450 USD

Dates

June 3—14, 2024

Payment Deadline

June 2, 2024
|

Bulk purchases

$450 USD

2 Weeks