Comprehensive Project Interview
Purpose
Conduct an exhaustive interview using interactive questions to fully define a project before implementation begins. Continue asking questions until every aspect is unambiguous and the user confirms completeness.
Execution Rules
- •Ask ONE question at a time
- •Wait for the answer before proceeding
- •Never assume or fill in answers
- •Follow up immediately on any ambiguity
- •Challenge stated requirements—ask "why" at least twice
- •Quantify everything (replace "fast" with "< 200ms")
- •Track which phases are complete
Interview Phases
Work through each phase systematically. See phases.md for detailed questions.
Phase 1: Problem Space Discovery
Understand the underlying problem, not just the stated solution:
- •What triggered the need for this?
- •Who are the actual end users vs stakeholders?
- •What happens if this doesn't get built?
- •What existing solutions were rejected and why?
Phase 2: User Journey & Edge Cases
- •Walk through the exact user flow step-by-step
- •What happens when X fails halfway through?
- •How do users recover from mistakes?
- •What's the offline behavior?
Phase 3: Data & State Architecture
- •What's the source of truth for each entity?
- •What's the data lifecycle?
- •Expected data volume in 1 year? 5 years?
- •What needs to sync across devices/sessions?
Phase 4: Integration Boundaries
- •What external systems does this touch?
- •What happens when an integration is down?
- •What auth flows are required?
Phase 5: Security & Authorization
- •Who can see what? Who can do what?
- •Row-level or field-level permissions?
- •What PII exists?
Phase 6: Performance & Scale
- •Acceptable latency per operation?
- •Expected concurrent users?
- •What needs real-time vs eventual consistency?
Phase 7: Error Handling & Observability
- •What errors should users see vs hide?
- •What metrics matter for success?
- •How do you debug production issues?
Phase 8: Non-Functional Requirements
- •Deployment strategy?
- •Testing strategy?
- •Documentation requirements?
Phase 9: Tradeoffs & Constraints
- •Speed to market vs technical excellence?
- •What technical debt is acceptable?
- •What's explicitly out of scope?
Phase 10: Validation & Acceptance
- •How do we know this is done?
- •What does success look like in 30/60/90 days?
Question Patterns
See question-patterns.md for effective question types.
DO Ask:
- •"What happens when..." (edge cases)
- •"How do you handle..." (error states)
- •"What if two users simultaneously..." (concurrency)
- •"What's the exact format of..." (data specifics)
DON'T Ask:
- •Questions with obvious answers from context
- •Yes/no questions
- •Multiple questions in one
Completion Criteria
The interview is complete when:
- •Every entity and relationship is explicitly defined
- •All user flows have happy paths AND error paths
- •All integrations have contracts and failure modes
- •All authorization rules are explicit
- •All performance requirements are quantified
- •All scope boundaries are explicit
- •The user confirms nothing feels ambiguous
Output
After completion, generate:
- •Requirements document with all specifications
- •Decision log with rationale
- •Open questions requiring research
- •Risk register with mitigations