[6861636b6572]

Hello,

I'm going to develop an Interactive Military DSS for my final year project, so in order to gather the requirements and current approaches used from the domain expert(s) I chose to go on with interviewing and possibly observation, the interview is going to be open-ended as it facilitates exploration of issues in a more in-depth manner, allocated interview time is approximately 60 minutes, and the interviewee is a high ranking army general. All in all, I would like to ask you to please share me your opinion of what should I ask during the interview and if any of the questions I have prepared seems unnecessary or if they're OK or can be improved:

Interview Questions and Structure


*SME is required to explain about each of the following questions extensively.

1- (Start of the session, Project briefing: What is the project about and what I hope to achieve) 5 MIN;
2- "What are the current methods of strategic planning? Please Explain." 12-15 MIN;
3- "Are the current methods sufficiently (in terms of tangibility) provide the decision makers with results?" 5 MIN;
4- "Are the current methods able to lead to formation of solid decisions in crucial times or times of crisis?" 5 MIN;
5- "Has the current methods lead to failure of an objective, casualty or damage?" 2-5 MIN;
IF YES:
"Please state the instances and number of occurrences?" 2-5 MIN;
6- "What can be improved about the current methods to improve the decision making, beside human factors?" 5 MIN;
7- "Does visualizing the elements or simulations help with decision making? 5 MIN;
IF YES:
"How accurately can these simulation picture the reality? Please state some instances?" 5 MIN;
8- (End of the session) 2 MIN.

Please let me know if you think the allocated time for each of the question is sufficient or too much!! />

Thank you for your help in advance

[BobRodes]

DSS:

Deep Space Sensor
Drill Sergeant School
Dismounted Soldier System
Domestic Sewage Study

etc etc etc

So, your first lesson in this is to avoid acronyms unless you are quite sure that everyone involved knows what they are. Start by telling us what a DSS is. Next, is the need for the software already established? If so, where is the problem statement or equivalent?

The problem with your approach is that you are assuming that your software is needed. You're looking at "current approaches" with the idea that there already is a need for your software, and there may not be. If there definitely were, you wouldn't need to be looking at "current approaches", you would already know that there were deficiencies in them that would represent a business justification for developing your application. So, if you are interviewing SME's to find out something about the problem domain, you shouldn't yet be clear on what your project is. If you are clear on it, you should already know what the problem is that you are planning to solve.

Make sense?