Run a stakeholder interview
An interview is Compass's way of capturing the tacit knowledge that runs a workflow but was never written down. Here's how to run one that actually surfaces it.
- Pick the workflow and the person
Anchor the interview to one specific workflow, like "how we triage inbound tickets." Then pick the person who actually does it and makes the judgment calls, not their manager. The value is in the exceptions and instincts, and those live with the practitioner.
- Send the link
Start an interview and send the share link. No account needed — they open it and talk through how they do the work, guided by the conversation. It's asynchronous, so they can do it when they have a moment.
- Aim for the unwritten parts
A good interview surfaces the stuff no SOP contains: the rules of thumb ("if it mentions a chargeback, it's urgent"), the exceptions ("except enterprise accounts, those always go to me"), the things they'd never do, and who or what they lean on. The interview is for what's only in their head; if it's already in a document, you don't need it.
- Turn the transcript into map
When they're done, the conversation becomes a Document page. Extract it into pages — the people, systems, and steps they mentioned become nodes you review and keep — and connect them to the workflow. Now the tacit knowledge is structured and part of the map.