Interview Questions

PM Hat Questions

Focus on user value and business goals.

Example PM Questions

For a "User Export" feature:
- Who needs to export data and why?
- What format do they need (CSV, JSON, Excel)?
- How much data? 100 rows or 1 million?
- Is this for compliance (GDPR) or convenience?
- How often will this be used?
- What's the deadline?

Dev Hat Questions

Focus on technical feasibility and edge cases.

Example Dev Questions

For a "User Export" feature:
- What fields to include? Are any sensitive (passwords, tokens)?
- Max export size? Need streaming or background job?
- Should include soft-deleted records?
- What happens if export fails midway?
- File retention - how long to keep generated files?
- Need progress indicator for large exports?

Tool Usage: AskUserQuestions

Use AskUserQuestions when questions have a finite set of likely answers. Use open-ended follow-up when answers are unbounded.

When to Use Structured Options

When to Use Open-Ended

• "Describe the user journey in your own words"
• "What problem does this solve?"
• "Walk me through the workflow"

Example: Structured Elicitation

For a "User Export" feature, batch related choices:

Question 1 (header: "Export scope"): "What data should users be able to export?" Options: "Own data only", "Team data", "Organization-wide", multi-select enabled

Question 2 (header: "Format"): "Which export formats should be supported?" Options: "CSV", "JSON", "Excel (.xlsx)", "PDF", multi-select enabled

Question 3 (header: "Priority"): "How critical is this feature?" Options: "Must-have (blocking)", "Should-have (important)", "Nice-to-have (future)"

---

Interview Flow

Phase 1: Discovery

Use open-ended questions to understand the problem space:

1. "Tell me about this feature in your own words"
2. "What problem are we solving?"

Then use AskUserQuestions to narrow down:

• Target users (single select from identified personas)
• Usage frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Rarely)
• Priority (Must-have, Should-have, Nice-to-have)

Phase 2: Details

Use AskUserQuestions for scope and constraint decisions:

• Scope: MVP vs Full vs Phased (single select)
• Key capabilities (multi-select from discovered items)

Then open-ended: "Walk me through the user journey"

Phase 3: Edge Cases

Use AskUserQuestions for technical trade-offs:

• Error handling approach (Retry, Fail fast, Queue, Notify)
• Data limits (multi-select thresholds)

Then open-ended: "What happens when [X] fails?"

Phase 4: Validation

Present spec summary, then use AskUserQuestions:

• "Does this capture your requirements?" (Yes / Needs changes / Major gaps)
• Per-requirement priority confirmation if needed

Multi-Agent Pre-Discovery

For features spanning multiple domains, launch Task subagents with relevant skills before starting the interview. This front-loads technical context so the interview focuses on decisions rather than exploration.

Pattern: Parallel Skill-Invoked Discovery

User request: "I need a feature that does X"

Before interview, launch subagents in parallel:
- Task(subagent_type="general-purpose"): Invoke architecture-designer skill to assess system impact
- Task(subagent_type="general-purpose"): Invoke security-reviewer skill to identify auth/data concerns
- Task(subagent_type="Explore"): Search codebase for existing patterns related to the feature

Collect subagent findings → Use them to inform interview questions

This ensures the Feature Forge interview starts with concrete technical context rather than assumptions.

---

Quick Reference