Interview Script·45 min·11 questions
Discovering why enterprise champions expand product deployment beyond initial scope
You're seeing certain enterprise customers grow their usage far beyond what they originally purchased, while others stay locked at their initial deployment size. You have champions who successfully drove expansion across multiple teams, but you can't predict which accounts will scale up or understand the specific mechanisms that turn a department pilot into an organization-wide rollout.
Why standard questions fail here
Direct questions about expansion strategy miss the messy reality of internal politics and organic growth patterns. This script reconstructs the actual timeline of how usage spread, anchoring in specific moments when champions decided to bring in new teams, and surfaces the behind-the-scenes conversations and technical hurdles that shaped the deployment path.
Sample Questions
Grounded in The Mom Test and Jobs-to-be-Done.
Mom Test principle: establish baseline context about past behavior and circumstances
Let them describe their role in their own words. Don't assume titles reflect actual responsibilities.
- What specific problem were you trying to solve at that time?
- Who else was involved in that initial decision?
- Generic job descriptions instead of specific responsibilities
- Focus on current role rather than their role during purchase
JTBD framework: understand the struggling moment and initial hire of the product
Use the laddering technique: ask for specific timeline, specific people, specific outcomes
- What surprised you most about that initial rollout?
- What problems emerged that you didn't anticipate?
- How did the actual usage compare to what you had planned?
- Sanitized success stories without struggles
- Vague timeframes like 'it went well' without specifics
Jobs-to-be-Done: identify the moment of expansion decision and emotional trigger
Probe for the exact moment, not gradual awareness. Use the critical incident technique.
- What conversation or data point made you think 'we need to expand this'?
- Who else noticed this shift, and what did they say?
- What was your immediate reaction when you realized this?
- Hypothetical expansion plans rather than actual events
- Attribution to obvious factors without emotional context
Mom Test principle: focus on specific past behavior rather than general expansion philosophy
Use process mapping: who, what, when, where, why for each step. Don't accept high-level summaries.
- What resistance did you encounter during this process?
- What information did you wish you had but didn't?
- Who surprised you with their reaction, either positive or negative?
- Idealized decision processes that sound too clean
- Focus on formal processes while ignoring informal conversations
Cognitive bias mitigation: explore negative cases to understand real barriers vs. stated barriers
Probe for specific instances, not general concerns. Use the 5 Whys to get to root causes.
- What would have needed to change for you to move forward?
- Who specifically opposed the expansion, and what was their reasoning?
- How did you explain this decision to others?
- Generic concerns like 'budget' without specific context
- Hypothetical barriers rather than actual experienced resistance
Mom Test principle: uncover specific technical barriers through past behavior, not opinions
Demand technical specifics. Don't accept vague terms like 'integration issues' without details.
- How long did it take to resolve this issue?
- What workarounds did people create while waiting for a fix?
- How did this affect your credibility as a champion?
- Generic technical complaints without specific examples
- Blaming tools without explaining the actual workflow impact
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