About Pamela Paterson:

Pamela Paterson, CBAP, PMP, has an extensive career in writing and communications
and preparing stakeholders for national media interviews. She is an international best-
selling author and a senior IT business analyst consultant, having worked with +50
organizations including Red Cross, KPMG, PwC, Hewlett-Packard, and the federal
government.

Pamela has presented at +200 events throughout the world and has
written six books, two of them international best-sellers: Creating Requirements for
Software Projects: A Business Analyst’s Guide to Requirements Management and Get
the Job. She also taught project management at a Toronto college. Pamela can be
reached at www.pamelapaterson.com.

Interviewing Stakeholders: How to Get the Most (and Best) Requirements Using Journalistic Techniques

Interviewing is a key technique for business analysts to elicit information from
stakeholders. Whether a single stakeholder or a group, knowing how to conduct
an effective interview enables us to obtain the information and data we need to
create requirements, develop processes, and do our other business analysis
work. This requires expert interviewing skills that facilitate trust and collaboration.
What kinds of questions do we ask and when, and for which stakeholder and
scenario? Are there some question types that are better used with individuals
than groups? At the same time, how do we document responses accurately and
efficiently? Join us to learn the answers from Pamela Paterson, CBAP, PMP, a
senior IT business analyst and communications professional who prepared
stakeholders for national media interviews.

Learning Objectives:

In this session you will learn how to:
 Research, plan, and prepare for various types of interviews and stakeholders.
 Identify the various question types and apply an appropriate use case for
them.
 Learn how to layer elicitation and decide the most effective sequence of
questions.
 Build trust and rapport with your stakeholders so they feel comfortable in the
interview process.