skills-marketplace/plugins/common/skills/interview/SKILL.md

name	description
interview	Conduct a structured interview - ask for a purpose, then collect information one question at a time and save the result to a markdown file. Use when asked to run an interview, interview someone, or capture knowledge through questions. Also use when a user says things like "ask me about", "I want to tell you about", "let's capture what I know about", or "collect information from me".

Interview skill

Purpose

Conduct a focused interview by asking questions one at a time, confirming your understanding as you go, then saving the result as a structured markdown file in outputs/.

Works for any domain: requirements gathering, research, knowledge capture, stakeholder discovery.

How to run this skill

Step 1 — Establish purpose, subject and output

Ask these questions one at a time. Wait for the answer before asking the next.

1. "What is the topic of this interview? What should we know or have produced by the end?"
2. "Who is being interviewed? Give their name, role, and any relevant background."
3. "How should I record this information - is it going into the wiki, a report, a document, or just kept as a reference?"

Use the answer to question 3 to decide the tone and depth of the output file.

Step 2 — Design the questions

Based on the stated purpose, generate a focused set of questions (typically 5-10). Structure them in order:

• Start broad and open: context, background, overall picture
• Move to specifics: key facts, details, constraints, priorities
• Close on implications: open questions, next steps, gaps

Do not show the full question list. Ask questions one at a time.

Step 3 — Conduct the interview

Ask each question individually. Wait for the answer before asking the next.

Use the funnel technique. Start with broad, open questions that let the interviewee set the frame - "Tell me about...", "How would you describe...", "What is the overall picture of...". This surfaces vocabulary, context and unexpected angles before you narrow in. Only move to specific or closed questions once the broad picture is clear.

Embrace silence. After an answer, do not rush to ask the next question. A short pause often prompts the interviewee to elaborate or add something they initially left out. Wait before moving on.

Paraphrase to confirm. After any substantive answer, reflect back your understanding before moving on. For example: "So if I understand correctly, you're saying that X, and the main reason is Y - is that right?" Do not move to the next question until the interviewee confirms or corrects your paraphrase.

Use STAR to probe specific events. When an answer refers to a specific decision, incident or piece of work, use the STAR structure to get the full picture: Situation (what was the context?), Task (what needed to happen?), Action (what was done?), Result (what came of it?). Use only the parts that are unclear - do not run the full four questions if the answer already covers them.

Handle tangents with judgement. Not all digressions are wasted time - they often contain unexpected insights. Before redirecting, assess whether the tangent is revealing something useful. If it is, let it run briefly and note it. If it is not, bring the interview back: "That is useful context - let me come back to where we were..." Do not chain more than two follow-ups on any single topic before returning to the main thread.

Close with a summary and a final check. When all substantive questions are answered, briefly summarise the key themes back to the interviewee: "Let me reflect back what I have heard so far: [two or three sentences]. Does that capture it?" Then ask: "Before I put this together - is there anything else you would like to add, or anything I have not asked about that you think is important?" Wait for the answer. Only then say: "That covers everything. Let me put this together."

Step 4 — Write and save the file

Write the interview record to:

outputs/YYYY-MM-DD-interview-kebab-title.md

Where YYYY-MM-DD is today's date and kebab-title is a short slug derived from the purpose or subject (e.g. 2026-06-09-requirements-payment-gateway, 2026-06-10-knowledge-capture-wojciech).

Use this format:

---
date: YYYY-MM-DD
title: Interview title
interviewee: Name, role
purpose: One-sentence statement of what this interview was for
output-use: Where or how this information will be used
---

# Interview: [Title]

## Purpose

One sentence stating what this interview was meant to produce.

## Interviewee

Name, role, and any relevant background provided.

## Transcript

Record the full dialogue of the interview in order. Include every question asked, every answer given, every paraphrase check, and every correction or confirmation. Use labelled turns:

**Interviewer:** [question or paraphrase]

**Interviewee:** [answer or correction]

**Interviewer:** [paraphrase check - e.g. "So if I understand correctly..."]

**Interviewee:** [confirmation or correction]

(repeat for the full conversation)

Record paraphrases verbatim - they are part of the record because they show how understanding was built and corrected. If the interviewee corrected a paraphrase, record both the original paraphrase and the correction. Do not summarise or compress turns.

## Summary

Two to four sentences. What was learned, what the key findings are, and any gaps or open questions that remain.

## Open questions

- Anything raised but not resolved
- Any follow-up the interviewee suggested

(Omit this section if nothing is unresolved.)

Save immediately after writing. Tell the user the file path.

---

Writing style

Follow the project writing style from CLAUDE.md:

• British English spelling (organisation, behaviour, colour)
• Sentence case headings
• No banned vocabulary (testament, pivotal, seamless, robust, crucial, enhance, delve, tapestry, etc.)
• No bullet points with bolded lead phrases
• No em dashes - use hyphens
• Record answers faithfully - do not editorialise or add interpretation inside the Q&A section. Save interpretation for the Summary.

---

Proactive rules

Apply after saving:

1. Thin answers - if any answer is a single sentence with no supporting detail, flag it: "The answer to '[question]' is brief. Do you want to add more detail before the file is shared?"
2. Open questions remain - if the summary identifies gaps, say: "There are open questions in this interview. Consider a follow-up session or adding sources to raw/sources/ if this is research."
3. No interviewee background given - if the user skipped the background question, note: "No background was recorded for the interviewee. Add it to the file if relevant for future readers."