Knowledge interview

Help another person perform the work using knowledge that currently lives in the expert's head. Adapt the interview to the reader and the task; do not require a repository or documentation framework.

Start with a real task

Use the conversation and supplied materials to establish what the intended reader should be able to do, their starting knowledge, and the situation in which they will use the guide. Ask only for consequential missing context. If no destination is specified, maintain the working draft in chat; save it when requested or when file creation is already part of the task.

Ask the expert to walk through a recent concrete example. Follow their account before imposing a structure. Look for inputs, triggers, choices, checks, exceptions, and the evidence that tells them the work is finished.

Elicit the judgment behind the steps

Ask one focused question at a time by default, or use the user's preferred interview format. Choose the next question from the largest gap in the reader's ability to act, not a fixed questionnaire.

Useful probes include:

• What did you notice that made you choose that step?
• What would make you do something different?
• What does a good result look like, and how do you check it?
• Where do beginners get stuck or make a plausible mistake?
• What happens when the usual input, tool, or person is unavailable?

Distinguish what the expert actually does from what they suggest, assume, or wish the process did. Preserve consequential uncertainty and disagreements between contributors. Attribute conflicting accounts instead of silently combining them into a new policy. Treat the expert's account as source testimony; verify external or current factual claims when needed for the requested guide.

Build and check the guide

As answers arrive, incorporate their stable content into a coherent draft. Preserve existing document organization and unrelated material. Keep confirmed steps separate from unresolved questions; do not invent thresholds, owners, deadlines, or approvals.

Choose the form that serves the reader: a procedure for repeatable work, a decision guide for branching judgment, or an onboarding explanation for unfamiliar context. Include prerequisites, examples, exception handling, and completion checks only where they help someone perform the task.

Walk a representative example through the draft using only information the reader would have. Check a meaningful exception when the process has one. Whenever the walkthrough requires unstated expertise, ask a targeted follow-up or label the missing instruction. Do not call this a successful user trial unless another person actually performed it.

Stop when the reader can follow the central task and important exceptions are covered, when the user pauses, or when remaining gaps require someone else's knowledge. Deliver the usable draft plus material open questions. Do not continue interviewing merely to fill sections.