Interview an internal expert for a content brief
Use an assistant to ask focused follow-up questions around an editorial assignment. Turn the conversation into a brief with evidence and claims to check.
How this works
Use an assistant to ask focused follow-up questions around an editorial assignment. Turn the conversation into a brief with evidence and claims to check. Experts often know the exceptions, reasoning, and concrete examples that are absent from existing documents. A useful interviewer draws out those details around a specific editorial question instead of producing a generic questionnaire or pretending to share the expert's experience.
Run a bounded conversation in which each follow-up responds to the previous answer. Keep the expert's statements distinct from background research and the assistant's suggested framing. The result is a content brief with quote candidates and verification questions, not a ghostwritten claim that the expert has approved.
Before you start
Editorial assignment
Specify the reader, angle, intended format, and the decision the piece should help.
Expert availability
Confirm participation and the agreed recording or note-taking method.
Background packet
Provide approved prior material and identify questions it does not answer.
Prepare the inputs
- assignment
- Required
Brief text
State audience, topic, length, and intended use.
- expert_context
- Required
Approved background
Include relevant expertise without unnecessary personal information.
- prior_material
- Required
Documents with references
Distinguish authored statements from third-party descriptions.
- conversation
- Required
Transcript or live answers
Retain question order and speaker attribution.
- time_budget
- Required
Minutes or question limit
Choose a stopping point before interviewing.
Implementation, step by step
Prepare an uncertainty map
- Read the assignment and background to identify claims, unanswered questions, and useful examples.
- Draft opening questions that invite explanation rather than agreement with a proposed thesis.
Checkpoint: Question map tied to the editorial assignment.
Open the interview
- Explain the topic, note-taking method, and how quotations will be reviewed.
- Ask the expert for their main position and the audience misconception they would correct.
Checkpoint: Confirmed scope and an initial position in the expert's words.
Probe concrete experience
- Follow up on vague claims with requests for a situation, action, outcome, and limiting condition.
- Ask what failed or when the advice would not apply; do not supply invented details for the expert to endorse.
Checkpoint: At least one attributable example and its limitations.
Separate evidence from opinion
- Ask for the underlying document or observation when a numerical or causal claim matters.
- Mark recollections and estimates as such, preserving unresolved questions without interrupting every minor point.
Checkpoint: An evidence list and a quote-candidate list.
Build the editorial brief
- Organize the interview around the chosen audience problem, argument, supporting examples, and open checks.
- Keep direct quotations verbatim and paraphrases clearly separate; identify missing connective information.
Checkpoint: A structured brief with transcript locators.
Return a focused review packet
- Present the angle, selected quotes, and consequential claims for expert and editor review.
- Record corrections against the transcript and carry rejected quotations out of the draft.
Checkpoint: A revised brief with approval status for each quoted passage.
Decisions along the way
Expert cannot recall a number
Keep it as unknown and ask for a later source rather than estimating.
Answer drifts from the assignment
Capture the tangent separately and return to the reader's question.
Expert declines a topic
Respect the boundary and mark the missing angle for the editor.
What you will produce
expert-interview-brief.md
MarkdownThe editor uses this to commission or draft a grounded article.
Include: angle · audience · argument · examples · quote_candidates · open_checks
interview-evidence.csv
CSVTracks facts and quotes requiring confirmation.
Include: statement_id · transcript_location · type · source_needed · review_status
Check the result
- Every quote can be found verbatim in the transcript.
- The brief includes limitations rather than only success stories.
- Opinions are attributed to the expert, not presented as measured facts.
- The central argument answers the assignment rather than a generic topic.
When something goes wrong
Transcript has uncertain speaker attribution
Ask for clarification or remove the quotation candidate.
Follow-ups become leading questions
Restate neutrally and invite disagreement or a counterexample.
Time expires before key evidence is obtained
Stop the interview and deliver a concise follow-up list.
A worked example
SYNTHETIC EXAMPLE · NOT A REPORTED BUSINESS RESULT
Request
Interview an operations expert about reducing handoff errors.
Inputs
Synthetic example. The expert says a checklist reduced rework, recalls one missed attachment, but has no before-and-after count.
Expected result
Synthetic expected result. Brief includes the missing-attachment example and checklist mechanism. It flags the size of any reduction as unverified and asks for a rework log before using a percentage.
Run a small pilot
Start small
One short interview on a narrow operational topic.
Record the baseline
Record editor preparation time and follow-up questions required after a normal interview.
Agree success criteria
Agree whether the brief contains enough attributable examples and checked claims to draft responsibly.
Stop or revise
Stop if consent changes or the interview requires confidential details outside the assignment.
Keep the scope clear
- Do not imitate the expert's authority or invent their experiences.
- Interview preparation and a brief do not authorize external outreach or publication.
Check before using
The expert approves quotations; the editor checks claims and confidential details.
Business activities
- Create and publish content
- Maintain shared company knowledge
FROM A RECIPE TO YOUR WORKFLOW
Bring the company context together.
This workflow needs reliable inputs before it needs a better prompt. Moat8 Vault brings working information into a readable archive for the AI tools you use.
For this recipe: Assignment and audience · Approved background material · Participating expert
Start with one recurring task, agree which sources to use, and review the first result with your team.
Discuss this workflow