Critical Incident Technique

A User interview technique for finding out about people and processes function in reality rather than how they'd like to function.

Instead of asking 'what's your process?' and getting an academic/idealised answer which does not reflect reality, ask 'What's the last significant issue you had to deal with?' and find out about process by talking through a real scenario which reveals how things function in reality.

Thanks to Rick Monro for introducing it to me.