(Book Review) Interviewing Users, 1st Edition

Overview

Review Published: January, 2019.

From user-researcher and strategic consultant, Steve Portigal, comes a comprehensive guide to interviewing users and uncovering the critical insights that leads to great products.

From research preparation, to conducting the interview in various situations and then presenting your findings, this book offers deep dives into several aspects of this critical area of UX research.

Rating:

4 / 5

(Great Content, Presentation is Clear)

What does this score mean?

Difficulty:

Intermediate (Requires some familiarity with UX deliverables & research methods).

Length:

160 pages.

Where to Buy It:

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What's Good

A great guide for getting the most out of user interviews; as UX designers and researchers, interviewing is one of the most valuable methods we have for gathering information about what we design, and it covers this subject with a lot of qualitative considerations that other books miss.
Includes a companion website with plenty of resources; working with the techniques in the text, the author has made additional reading, templates, and presentation resources available for free to the reader.
A comprehensive read for those familiar with UX research methods; this book is meant for beginners in UX research (and design) who want to move to the next level, and the text is written in a conversational tone that makes understanding all of the information presented much easier.

What Can Be Improved

A few sections could use a bit more detail; the framework for composing questions is a little loose (i.e. the author presents a great guide for specific question-types/techniques for getting more detail, but strangely doesn’t cover the initial general questions that you would use to establish the initial framework for your inquiry), and including some specific techniques for effectively presenting your research to stakeholders in an impactful way would make for a great 2nd edition.

The Bottom Line

A great go-to reference for specific interviewing techniques; while you may need to read up on other research methods (i.e. survey writing, observational research, etc.), you can count this book as a definitive resource when it comes to user-interviews, and it offers a great balance of specific technical advice paired with making more qualitative judgements during analysis of your results.
Worthwhile for any level of UX professional; beginners will find a lot to like in this book, and more seasoned professionals will find a great reference to keep them sharp when it comes to interviewing users.
A good investment for those serious about UX research; the price-point of this book is a bit higher than most (around $45), so get yourself a copy if you’re serious about sharpening your UX interviewing skills (but if you’re looking for a more affordable, top-notch introduction to UX research, take a look at “Just Enough Research” before getting this book).