Pete Mauro

Customer interviews that work and why

Microsoft

Axon

Nokia

Warner Bros. Discovery

3x Founder and Product Leader
| ex Microsoft, Nokia, Warner Bros. Discovery

Real examples of questions that work and how to avoid common ones that fail

How to ask questions that reveal customer problems

Learn how to select the right people to talk to so you don’t waste your team’s time with bad data

How to segment your customers to get actionable data

Learn a framework that will encourage people to meet with you and provide unbiased information

How to get people to talk to you

Detectives. They don't just conduct investigations—their work drives outcomes. Their investigations put bad people behind bars. Researchers (and those conducting research) could learn much from them. They don't just aggregate evidence—they use analytical thinking and logic to put the evidence together like a puzzle to build a case that leads to convictions in court. They don't just deliver data—they are master storytellers who win the hearts and minds of judges and juries by capturing the voices and emotions of the victims and witnesses, ensuring their voices aren't lost in the process. Detectives close cases. And so should you. This course will teach you detective-grade strategies and tactics—the kind I learned and used as a metro police detective—to build and close business cases that lead to product growth using customer insights, i.e., research projects that drive impact in "business speak." These skills sharpen your competitive edge and enhance your ability to identify and seize new opportunities, manage risks more effectively, and drive sustainable growth and profitability for your business. Research&nbsp;should be&nbsp;one of the most valuable functions in a business… But it isn’t. People who leverage research&nbsp;should be&nbsp;treated like senior consultants who help the business make more informed—and less risky—business decisions... But they aren't. We are going to change this. The secret to becoming indispensable to your company is to generate better insights—faster—and then have business leaders use those insights to make better decisions. It's that simple. And that hard. In just two half-days, you will become a Growth Detective and develop three foundational skills that will elevate your career and&nbsp;transform you into an influential consultant: 1. You will learn how to&nbsp;Think Like a Detective™&nbsp;to generate better insights. This will immediately differentiate you from those who use the outdated, antiquated, legacy models of data collection. 2. You will learn how to deliver consumer and market insights like headline news. You know, the kind that grabs your audience by the face and wins their hearts and minds. 3. You will learn to&nbsp;use strategic communication to influence business decisions. You will be seen as a consigliere (business consultant) rather than a service provider. Businesses protect the things they value—and YOU will be no different. Develop the confidence and skills to be seen as a trusted advisor to business leadership—and watch your impact and influence grow 🌱

Become the product strategist your business needs—and build the career you want.

You will learn how to use a time-tested method to collect evidence, just like a detective, investigative journalist, or a physician...

Collect Evidence Like a Detective

You will learn how to build a case—and develop a point of view (POV)—from the evidence you collect.

Build a Case

You will use the Influence Triad to present your POV to influence business decisions. You will inspire trust and confidence to help the business make better decisions faster.

Influence the Outcome

Course syllabus

Learn to use the SIMPLE investigation framework to rapidly collect evidence for your case.

🔎 Collecting and interrogating evidence like a detective

Learn how to capture the attention of your audience using The Topline Method.

🎤 Reporting insights like a primetime news anchor

Build bulletproof business cases that enable your stakeholders to make smarter growth bets.

⚖️ Building, presenting, and defending a case like a trial attorney

Special Guest Speakers

Course schedule

You are a product manager who wants to build better products grounded in customer and user evidence.

You are a UX designer, UX researcher, or market researcher who wants to be seen as a peer rather than a service provider.

You are a marketer or product marketer who wants to use insights to create marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers and buyers.

Who is this course for?

What you will learn...

A common complaint in business is that research "slows things down." I will show you how to be "high-speed, low-drag" so that you aren't seen as an anchor ⚓️, but as a rocket 🚀.

How to Think Like a Detective™ to generate better insights faster

The TRUE VALUE of research is in collecting evidence, connecting the dots, and catalyzing decisions that: 📚 Turn data into stories📝 Stories into strategies🚀 Strategies into outcomes To tell better stories, you have to build better stories. You will learn this.

Don't just be a better storyteller—be a better storybuilder

Expertise isn't developed from using a cookbook approach to research. You can't be a master chef by following a recipe. You must develop a deeper understanding. The same applies to research. I teach you the fundamentals of becoming an expert practitioner.

Methods alone are bullshit 🐂💩

The job of research is to help business leaders make less risky business decisions. I teach you how to communicate effectively using time-tested principles of persuasion. You will leave with the confidence to deliver research that catalyzes decisions, i.e., has an impact.

The power to influence business decisions

Research has historically failed in The Last Mile of Research, i.e., explicitly connecting outcomes to the things businesses really care about. Learn to speak the language of business and connect your work to business strategy—transforming you from technician to tactician.

The ability to connect insights to business strategy

Learn to use insights to advocate for product growth—and become the strategist your business needs while building the career you want.

Dr. Ari Zelmanow

Cohort 10

Cohort 11

JTBD + BeSci is a powerful combination! They work together like Peanut Butter &amp; Jelly, Mac &amp; Cheese, Hot Cocoa &amp; Marshmallows. I've been teaching my clients how to leverage customer jobs-to-be-done based insights research for over a decade. It's a powerful approach to leverage when focused on customer development or product discovery. Just recently I discovered the power of integrating applied behavioral science leveraging the makeit toolkit into this approach and want to share what I've learned with anyone who wants to create better experiences for customers. Helping them overcome barriers to progress as they accomplish their jobs-to-be-done. We'll walk through The Wheel of Progress® framework, in a presentation format, teaching you about The Cycle of Customer Progress:- First Thought- Passively Looking- 1st Triggering Event- Actively Looking- 2nd Triggering Event- Deciding- Hiring/Firing- Consuming- Continuous Use You'll also learn about identifying the twelve (12) different Elements of Progress:- Events- Forces and Desires (habits, pushes, desires, avoidances, pulls, anxieties)- Jobs, Pains and Gains- Solutions (core job, prior, in-conjunction, co-existing)- Contraints (internal, external, temporal) and the concept of Switching Behavior, where promoting forces (pushes, desires, pulls) must outweigh blocking forces (habits, avoidances, anxieties) for switching behavior to occur. You'll get an introduction to the Five Laws of Behavior: 1st Law: B=f(P*E) by Kurt Lewin; 2nd Law: B=f(S1,S2) by Daniel Kahneman; 3rd Law: A-&gt; B -&gt; C by B. F. Skinner; 4th Law: B=MAP by B. J. Fogg; and 5th Law: B=f(I,E) by Deci and Ryan. We'll be focused on applying both the 1st Law: B=f(P*E) and 4th Law: B=MAP in relationship to Barriers to Progress analysis. You'll learn how to listen for and identify 18 behavioral barriers to progress having to do with Motivation-related:- Procrastination- Fear of Failure- Personal Belief (Norms)- Personal Belief (Cost)- Action-Impact Gap- Status Quo Bias Ability-related:- Lack of Time- Lack of Skill- Lack of Tools- Hassle Factor- Lack of social Support- Choice Overload Prompt/Attention-related:- Anchor Bias- Lack of Information- Lack of Prompts (triggers)- Low Mental Bandwidth- Forgetfulness- Present Bias Each of these behavioral barriers to progress has the ability to prevent people from completing the Cycle of Progress. Some having to do with the Person and others having to do with the Environment in relation to the 1st Law of Behavior. It's a practical, hands-on class packed full of eight tailored JTBD + BeSci listening exercises: (1) Listening for Customer Jobs (B2C focused)(2) Listening for Customer Jobs (B2B focused)(3) Listening for Forces and Desires (habits, pushes, desires, avoidances, pulls, anxieties)(4) Listening for Events as part of the Cycle of Progress (first thought, 1st triggering event, 2nd triggering event, hiring/firing, continuous use)(5) Listening for Constraints (internal, external, temporal) that influence the Solution Set(6) Listening for Solutions (prior, core functional job, considered, for progress, in conjunction)(7) Listening for Jobs, Pains and Gains(8) Listening for Behavioral Barriers to Progress (person, environment, motivation, ability, prompt/attention) You'll listen to a combination of advertisements and actual JTBD interviews practicing different JTBD listening skills. My clients have included: American Honda, Canada Goose, Citibank, ecobee, G Adventures, Gympass, Humana, lululemon athletica, Modesens, Porch, Royal Ambulance, Shaklee, and TransAlta.

Customer Jobs-to-be-Done Listening Skills (JTBD + BeSci ) 

You will get a comprehensive overview of job theory, core principles, different perspectives regarding jobs-to-be-done, and its application across the enterprise.<ul><li>A Definition: Customer Job to be Done</li><li>Core Principles of Job Theory</li><li>Goal or Job Hierarchy</li><li>Different Perspectives</li><li>Types of Customer Jobs</li><li>The Customer</li><li>Application across the Enterprise</li></ul>

Job Theory and Its' Application

You will learn about the The Wheel of Progress® framework along with how it will be utilized when conducting customer jobs-to-be-done interviews:<ul><li>The Wheel of Progress® framework (awareness, expectations, trade-offs, experience)</li><li>The Cycle of Customer Progress (First Thought to Continuous Use)</li><li>Multiple Cycles of Progress with different Solutions</li></ul>

The Wheel of Progress®

You will learn about the twelve elements of customer progress, switching behavior, constraints and behavioral-based barriers to progress.<ul><li>The 12 Elements of Customer Progress</li><li>First Thought or Struggling Moment</li><li>Switching Behavior (Hiring/Firing)</li><li>Promoting and Blocking Forces to Customer Progress</li><li>Constraints and Barriers to Progress</li><li>Continuous Use</li></ul>

Customer Progress and BeSci Barriers & Constraints

You will learn how to plan out your JTBD Insights Research from start to finish as well as selecting your Case Study so that you can apply what you've learned.<ul><li>The Focus of your Research</li><li>Planning your JTBD Insights Research</li><li>Target Segments and Recruitment</li><li>The Interview Guide and Process</li><li>Selecting your Case Study</li></ul>

The End to End Process for JTBD Insights Research

You will select a Case Study as a Team to plan and execute applying what you've learned during the course.<ul><li>Planning your JTBD Insights Research</li><li>Creating the Interview Guide for your Case Study</li><li>Conducting your JTBD Interviews</li><li>Synthesizing what you Heard during Interviews</li></ul>

Applying it all around Case Study of your Choice (Teams)

You will present alongside your Team the results of your JTBD Insights Research Case Study receiving feedback from the group.<ul><li>Presenting your Case Study</li><li>Feedback from the Group</li><li>Summary recap of the Course</li><li>Staying Connected</li></ul>

Showcasing your Case Study

Customer jobs-to-be-done Insights Research + Applied Behavioral Science

We'll be meeting LIVE as a cohort walking through specific topics each session, some group discussion, and a combination of individual and group exercises.

Three LIVE Cohort Sessions + Homework Assignments

Session 1: Overview of The Wheel of Progress (Cycle of Customer Progress) Session 2: Customer Progress and BeSci Barriers &amp; Constraints Session 3: Review and feedback on Assignments plus Additional JTBD Topics

LIVE Cohort Sessions with eight different JTBD Listening Exercises

Leveraging the Maven community for posting announcements, reading materials, general discussion, and takeaways from the class

Maven Community

Three Sessions LIVE Cohort Classes

A Startup Founder who wants to shorten the path to product-market fit.

The Marketer who wants to better tailor their messaging speaking to the core job-to-be-done, motivational forces, desires and avoidances.

A Product Owner who wants to prioritize and fall in love with the problem prior to thinking about the solution.

The Designer or Researcher who wants to better understand constraints or behavioral-based barriers to customer progress.

The Product Trio (PM, UX, Tech) who want to learn how to improve the customer interview process as a team (multiple perspectives).

To go beyond simply understanding jobs-to-be-done principles to building the necessary skillsets to apply it in your organization.

What you’ll get out of this course

Learn about different perspectives related to job theory and how to best apply it given your industry, company, product or service offering, and your role or function within the organization.

An Introduction to Job Theory and Customer Progress

A deep dive into The Wheel of Progress®&nbsp;framework covering the cycle of customer progress from first thought, passively looking, actively looking, deciding, hiring/firing, consuming, and continuous use.

An in-depth review of The Wheel of Progress® Framework

Learn advanced jobs-to-be-done listening methods leveraging The Wheel of Progress® framework. How to listen for and capture the twelve (12) elements of customer progress.

Hands-on Practice developing jobs-to-be-done listening skills

Learn about the five laws of behavioral science. Get an introduction to eighteen (18) unique behavioral science informed barriers to customer progress related to motivation, ability, and prompt.

How to leverage Applied Behavioral Science alongside JTBD-based Methods

Seeing and understanding your customers through the lens of jobs-to-be-done and applied behavioral science will make you a better founder, marketer, product manager, designer, researcher, and/or customer advocate.

Become more Customer Focused in whatever Role you perform within the Organization

Leverage The Wheel of Progress® to learn advanced listening skills (JTBD + BeSci) for conducting customer JTBD research.

JOHN GUSIFF

Cohort 9

As part of my Customer JTBD Interviewing Skills course on Maven, I guide you through the end-to-end JTBD Research Process that I use with my clients Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn: Formulating a Hypothesis: We’ll start by identifying key assumptions about your customer’s Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) and their motivations. You’ll learn how to create an initial hypothesis informing both your recruitment and interview structuring. Planning and Recruitment: Understand the best practices for identifying and recruiting participants that represent the different situational contexts and motivations relevant to your research. Creating the Interview Guide: Using JTBD interview cards, you’ll build an effective interview guide. These cards act as prompts for in-depth interviews, ensuring you cover all necessary aspects of the customer’s journey or progress. Conducting Team Interviews: Learn to facilitate team-based JTBD interviews using The Wheel of Progress®, a structured framework that uncovers the underlying drivers of customer behavior at each stage of the journey. Aggregating and Synthesizing Findings: After conducting interviews, you’ll learn to analyze and aggregate insights to identify patterns, needs, and opportunities for enhancing and improving customer progress. Defining Desire for Progress Statements: Finally, you’ll develop Desire for Progress Statements, highlighting the underlying stories, that clearly articulate what progress your customers are trying to make, allowing you to better align solutions with their needs. Throughout the course, you will not only learn the theory but also apply it to a real-world case study of your choosing, working collaboratively in a cohort team. This hands-on approach ensures that you’ll leave with practical skills ready to be implemented in your projects.

Describe the transformation students will have in your course

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

This course is designed for multiple Teams to each go through a Case Study of their collective choice from start to finish. Planning, conducting, and synthesizing findings across two to four customer JTBD interviews.

Four Cohort Sessions

Outside of LIVE cohort class sessions to provide guidance and direction, educate on methods, check-in, and review share outs by each team. An additional 6 to 8 hours will be required by your Teams to recruit participants, conduct the interviews, and synthesize findings.

The Case Study Itself

Leveraging the Maven community for posting announcements, reading materials, general discussion, and takeaways from the class.

The Marketer who wants to better tailor their messaging to the core jobs-to-be-done (aspirational, functional, emotional, social)

A Product Manager who wants to fall in love with problem (based upon jTBD research) prior to thinking about the solution.

The Designer or Researcher who wants to better understand constraints or behavioral-based barriers to customer progress.

The Product Trio (PM, UX, Tech) who want to learn how to improve the customer interview process as a team (multiple perspectives).

Who is this course for

Learn the E2E process for planning and conducting Customer JTBD research

Practice both facilitating and listening roles during actual Customer JTBD interviews

How to conduct Customer JTBD interviews as a team (planning, structuring and execution)

Aggregating and synthesizing insights across multiple interviews

Formulating Desire for Progress Statement(s) based upon interviews

Learn the E2E process for planning and conducting customer JTBD research. Get hands-on experience planning and performing interviews.

CX Strategist

Cohort 5

Cohort 6

Think you don't have time to talk with customers, or that "doing research" takes too long? Not sure you're asking the right questions? Or you've talked with customers but not seen action from those insights? It all sounds overwhelming so it seems easier to just go with your gut? I get it. But it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to be a career researcher to learn the foundational skills that help you have successful conversations with customers. Since 2010, I've taught countless people to do just that. This is a highly interactive, hands-on course, with a mix of video content and projects you complete on your own, and live sessions where we take the learnings into action together. What we'll doI'll share key info that will make your interviews a success. You'll work in small groups to create an interview plan, run interviews, synthesize the raw interview input into actionable insights, and create a plan to put those insights into action. What you'll getYou'll walk away knowing how to run successful customer interviews, and how to make the insights actionable through practice in real time. Bonus: This isn't a workshop about AI tools, but we'll touch on how to use AI to your advantage throughout the research process. Let the bots do what they're good at (hint: it's not interviewing customers) so you're free to make human connections and do big-picture thinking with insights.

Don't just talk to customers, feel confident you're making the most of insights

If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

May 7, 2022

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

You're a designer, PM, engineer, or other non-UXRer seeking confidence in gathering quality customer insights to make informed decisions.

You manage designers, PMs, engineers, and want to ensure your team knows how to get actionable customer insights and make informed decisions

You've run a lot of interviews but want to see more action from the results

We'll dive deep into common challenges, like asking leading questions or asking customers to predict future behavior, and what you can do instead. Learn to run story-based interviews and see real examples of interviews done right—and wrong.

Learn what we mean by "quality" insights and how to get them

Align your research with OKRs and KPIs. Learn how to get your team on board from the start, to make insights-driven decisions later. Identify the right participants and craft unbiased interview questions for maximum impact.

Craft a foolproof interview plan

Get confident in your ability to have customer conversations by practicing interview skills in real time, in the safe space of our workshop. Work through constructive feedback with other attendees. You'll practice several rounds of interviews.

Run interviews 

Learn the difference between findings (what you heard during interviews) and actionable insights. You'll be guided through the process of identifying insights, and how to prioritize those that matter most for your business.

Transform raw interview notes into insights

Research doesn’t stop at insights—it ends with an action plan and accountability. We’ll outline tools like "how might we" statements, opportunity and journey maps, and teach you to measure and track impact. No deep ideation, but practical strategies to take insights to action.

Make the insights actionable

At the end of the workshops, ask Carol any outstanding questions during a final 1-hour live AMA. This is a great way to wrap up your knowledge and be sure you know how to move what you learned into your day-to-day work.

AMA to address remaining questions

You'll leave this course with templates for: sample non-biased interview questions, a 2-page interview plan, a step-by-step process to go from interviews to opportunities and an action plan, and 2-page summary report. Plus, you'll get links to relevant outside resources.

Templates and links to resources

Learn to run successful story-based interviews and make data-driven decisions using the insights

Lightning Lessons

Customer interviews that work and why