Let people explain what they’re doing in their own words. Rewatching the interviews, I saw myself eagerly jumping in to demonstrate that I’d done my research and knew what the interviewees were talking about, which accomplished nothing useful aside from stroking my own ego. It’s easy to get overexcited about having learned a lot of new information in a short period of time, but asking open questions and letting people share what’s most important and meaningful to them and their organization is far more important.
