Summary

Gain clarity on the context of each struggle, who is involved, when it happens, and how the manager responds 

Why?

• This study is a generative study; it's searching for problems to solve. It sits at the beginning of discovery work.
• The goal of explaining a phenomenon, or how something works, is appropriate for a generative study of this type.

Research sub-questions: 

• What takes up the most time for a new tech manager?
• What are tasks they wish they could automate, delegate, or get rid of?
• What are some problems they’re running into when managing people?
• What are some problems they’re running into when managing projects?

Why?

• This research question asks about any problems that new managers face as to avoid introducing assumptions and bias about certain types of problems into the findings. 

Why?

• In-depth interviews are best for exploring an open-ended subject with a participant. The method allows for structured interview questions as well as follow-up questions to probe for deeper insights.
• Since I did not need to gather data on participants' context nor observe them completing a task, other ethnographic or task-based methods were not appropriate.
• In my experience 30 minutes is long enough to reliably get details on 1 to 2 struggles; 45 minutes is enough to enumerate 3+ struggles and ask follow-up questions as needed.

Why?

• 8-15 participants per persona is the best practice range to recruit for generative research. This is typically enough participants to allow for thematic saturation to emerge.
• I recruited on Userinterviews.com; it's an efficient platform for the recruitment of professionals. Plus, I find that their panel has a fair representation of tech professionals.

Attribute: Manager 

Question: Please select your experience level. 

Options: [Entry-Level / Associate (reject)  ; Mid-Level / Experienced (reject)   ; Senior / Lead (reject); Principal /Advanced (reject)  ; Manager / Director (accept)  ; Vice President (reject)  ; C-Level / Executive (reject)]

Question Type: Radio    

Attribute: >0, ≤3 years’ experience 

Question: How many years of management experience do you have?  

Options: [No experience (reject)   ; Less than 1 year (accept)  ; 1-3 years (accept)  ; 4-7 years (reject)  ; 8+ years (reject) ]

Question Type: Radio    

Attribute: Tech company 

Question: What types of professionals do you manage? 

Question Type: Short-text box 

1. In your manager role, what is your biggest difficulty? [What is your biggest struggle or frustration?]
2. Could you tell me about the last time this difficulty came up?
3. Were any other people involved or affected?
4. Were there any decisions that came up during this difficulty?
5. Where did this difficulty take place? [Did the difficulty play out in person, in digital contexts, or both?]
6. Are there any patterns you've noticed regarding the timing or frequency of this difficulty?

Prior to all sessions I asked for participants' permission to record them. During the sessions, I used Google Meet's recording feature to capture audio and video. After the sessions, I used Otter.ai to transcribe the interview. By using Otter.ai instead of hand-transcribing it, I saved 3X the session time, every time!