Information is one of the crucial elements in project management. Project managers need information to make the right decision for the project and to lead the project to the right direction. There are many tools in getting information for a particular project and one of these methods is interviewing people. Interviews, as the name implies, is a process of obtaining information from individuals, sellers and team members–the entire stakeholder–by talking to them directly thus the name.
Interviews can be a formal or informal approach to getting information. It is done by asking either prepared or spontaneous questions and recording the responses of the interviewee. It is often conducted on an individual approach but it may also be conducted as a form of panel interview wherein there are many interviewers and only one interviewee and vice versa. Different people can be interviewed in project management and these include experts, sponsors, team members and the rest of the stakeholders. This method of collecting information is a great way to identify features that are necessary to deliver effective products and deliverables. It is also used in getting confidential information particularly one on one interview.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.