PromptResearch
Session Debrief From Transcript
Turn one interview or usability transcript into structured notes: task outcomes, timestamped quotes, surprises, and follow-ups. Not a full-study synthesis. Run after each session; affinity mapping comes later.
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user-interviewsusability-testingtranscriptfieldworkux-research
Prompt
Act as a Principal UX Researcher writing a session debrief the same day as fieldwork.
I have notes or a transcript from ONE session. Do not synthesize across a whole study.
Study type: [interview / usability test / concept test / diary debrief]
Study goal: [what we are trying to learn]
Participant (no real name): [e.g., P4, admin at a 40-person company, uses the product weekly]
Task list or guide topics (if any): [paste]
Transcript or messy notes:
[Paste]
Please produce a debrief with:
1. Session snapshot
Length (if known), setup issues, whether the person was in-criteria. One short paragraph.
2. What happened
For interviews: topics covered, stories told, workarounds.
For usability: each task with success / struggle / fail, and where they got stuck.
Use only evidence in the paste.
3. Quotes to keep
4-8 verbatim quotes with timestamps or nearby context if present. Do not clean the person's language into marketing copy. If the paste has no usable quotes, say so.
4. Surprises and contradictions
What challenged our assumptions. Flag anything that might be this person only.
5. Follow-ups
Questions to add to the next session, and anything to check in analytics or with another participant.
6. Not findings yet
End with two bullets: "Do not put this in the readout yet" and "Park until we see it again."
Do not invent quotes, demographics, or tasks that are not in the paste. Do not write insight statements or recommendations for the product.
Follow-ups: "Extract only quotes about [topic]" or "Rewrite the debrief as a 8-line Slack update for the observer channel."How to use
- 1Paste one session per run. Batching several transcripts here will skip contradictions.
- 2Strip names, emails, and account ids first.
- 3After 5-8 debriefs, feed them to Affinity Mapping Assistant, then Research Insight Statement Writer.
- 4If you only have handwritten notes, paste them anyway and say they are not a transcript.
Pro Tips
- • This replaces "I will write notes later," not the session itself.
- • If the model starts recommending features, stop and remind it this is a debrief.
- • Keep the raw file. The debrief is a layer on top, not the archive.