The Mom Test and capturing emotions in customer interviews
Coming toward the end of The Mom Test, and once again, I'm really impressed by just how practical this book is. So much simple (not necessarily easy, but definitely simple), applicable advice. What I'm loving in this chapter is how @robfitz breaks down note taking during the customer meetings. His suggestion to use symbols to denote emotion in note-taking is rather genius. I wouldn't have thought about noting emotions otherwise. And it's true that they make all the difference. It also left me wondering if a simple recording could be a good way to capture the interview as well? That way you could remain present instead of focusing on the notes, but this might make the interviewee uncomfortable. Food for thought.
So what do you all think? Did you appreciate Rob's note taking suggestions? Do you have any suggestions of your own?
And don't forget to post your questions for the author at:
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/im-rob-fitzpatrick-i-wrote-the-mom-test-book-went-through-yc-s07-learned-how-to-do-sales-as-a-techie-and-live-off-full-passive-income-ama-4989966b85
I always record my interviews and calls.
This allows you to go back later in time and search for context and listen to their tone of voice (which is super helpful if you do a lot of interviews -- they tend to blend together after a bit)
I use Temi. It's cheap. But, cause it's AI, there's still a lot of errors I need to clean up.
I also type notes as I listen. These are usually the points I want to probe further or circle back to before the call ends.
Thanks for chiming in @AnitaToth. I've definitely had the experience where a bunch of interviews blend together - which is a huge bummer if you haven't taken good notes or don't have a recording. I've used Rev in the past. I'll check Temi out too. :)
Curious to see what you think of Temi after having used Rev. Temi will certainly improve over time which is great. But there's still a lot of manual correction with it.
Folks are strangely willing to be recorded ("would you be willing for me to record this so I don't have to worry about missing anything? I won't share it anywhere, it's just for my notes, and it would be a big help.")
That being said, I stopped using audio recordings after a couple weeks since I never actually listened to them again (the meetings are generally dull enough the first time round). And if you aren't reviewing the notes, then they aren't adding any value.
So I gradually shifted to the shorthand + symbol (which was figured out by my cofounder Salim Virani rather than by myself).
One way to make audio more useful, if you prefer it for whatever reason, is to use timestamps. The idea is to leave the audio running, but in an app which lets you press a button whenever something particularly interesting happens, giving you a series of timestamps of the important stuff, which you can then review or compile into a "highlights reel" for the rest of your team. I still like paper, but this is a valid approach too, especially if you need to "prove" to your team or boss what the customers are telling you.
PS. And I fully agree with @indiejames that taking notes on a computer is a trap. It puts a physical wall between you and really changes the tone of the conversation to be more formal and less open.
That's what I'm imagining too - that I probably wouldn't take the time to go back and have a listen. But timestamps are a great idea! Thank you for that!
Personally, I only take minimal notes during the meeting. And I close my laptop partially (or move it aside) when I'm not typing so that the customer knows that I'm present. Then, after the meeting is over, I IMMEDIATELY add everything else that I can think of about what happened and my thoughts on it. This works well for me but I love the idea of noting emotions — I'll have to give that a shot.
Ann Handley wrote an article, Rethinking ASAP, that discussed the beauty of handwritten notetaking. She said it forced her to slow down and capture nuance rather than every word.