Interview notes versus decision briefs
Interview notes are for the analyst. Decision briefs are for the people who will approve scope. Mixing the two creates documents that feel thorough and still fail to move a project.
A decision brief names the conflict, the options considered, and the recommendation—with the trade-offs left visible. It does not reproduce every quote. It does not hide uncertainty behind confident adjectives.
In our Stakeholder Interview Practice Lab, participants rewrite the same interview twice: once as notes, once as a brief. The second version is almost always shorter—and more useful.