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Builds a staged interview question set for podcast guests, organized from warm-up through core subject to closing reflection, with embedded follow-up prompts.
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/autopunk-media-skills:interview-question-builderThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Builds a complete, staged interview question set for a podcast guest — organized from opening warm-up through core subject matter to closing reflection — with embedded follow-up prompts for each key question.
Builds a complete, staged interview question set for a podcast guest — organized from opening warm-up through core subject matter to closing reflection — with embedded follow-up prompts for each key question.
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Interview Questions — Dr. Amara Osei-Bonsu Episode: The Planning Fallacy · ~45 min · Smart general audience Note: Guest has asked not to discuss her departure from government work. Do not approach this topic.
OPENING (warm-up — first 5–8 minutes)
Before we get into the research — what is your own relationship with time and deadlines? Are you someone who finishes things early, or are you a subject in your own studies?
You started in policy before moving to academia. What was the moment you decided the work was more interesting than the institution? [NOTE: Keep this general — do not ask specifically about her departure from government. If she goes toward it, redirect to the research.]
When did you first notice that the planning fallacy wasn't just a quirky cognitive bias — that it was actually doing serious damage to people's lives?
CORE (main conversation — 25–30 minutes)
Let's define the thing clearly for people who haven't heard the term before. What is the planning fallacy, and what makes it different from just being bad at organization? If they explain it technically: Ask for a specific personal example — "Can you give me one moment from your own life where you caught yourself doing this?" If they go into the research immediately: Slow down — "Before we get to the data, what does it feel like from the inside?"
Your research shows that this isn't just an individual failure — that experts with decades of experience are just as bad at predicting timelines as beginners. Why doesn't experience fix it? If they say "because we're optimistic by nature": Push on — "But experienced builders and engineers are famously pessimistic about everything else. Why not time?" If they bring up specific studies: Ask which one they find most uncomfortable to think about.
There's an interesting asymmetry in your work — we're bad at underestimating our own project timelines, but we're actually pretty good at predicting how long it will take someone else to do the same task. What does that tell us about how self-perception works? If they confirm this: "So theoretically, we could fix this by imagining we're watching someone else do the task. Does that actually work in practice?"
You talk about "outside view" thinking as a partial solution. Can you explain what that means, and walk me through what it looks like when someone actually does it well? Follow up with: "Who taught you to do this? Was it deliberate?"
I want to push on the word 'fixable' — because your book is cautiously optimistic, but some of what you describe sounds deeply structural. Is the planning fallacy something we can train ourselves out of, or is it something we can only manage? If they say manage: "What's the minimum viable version of management that actually works for a regular person — not a researcher with a structured intervention?" If they say trainable: "What's the evidence that training actually sticks after the study ends?"
You've worked with organizations as well as individuals. When a whole institution has a systematic planning problem — a government agency, a construction company — how does the fix change? Push on: "What's the most resistant organization you've encountered and what made them resistant?" [NOTE: This is where she may naturally bring up her policy work. It's fine to explore organizational examples generally — just don't ask specifically about her own government experience.]
Is there any context in which the planning fallacy actually serves us well? A situation where optimistic time-blindness is the right strategy?
CLOSING (last 8–10 minutes)
If you had to name the single most useful thing an ordinary person could do tomorrow morning to get less bad at this — what would it be?
What's the question you wish interviewers asked you about this work that they never do?
What are you working on next — and how long do you think it will take? [This is a deliberate callback to the opening question — usually gets a genuine laugh and a self-aware answer.]
OVERFLOW (have ready; use if conversation stalls or opens space)
npx claudepluginhub ur-grue/autopunk-media-skills --plugin autopunk-media-skillsGenerates a structured catalogue of interview questions organized by theme and sequenced from rapport-building openers to probing follow-ups. Useful for journalists, podcasters, and documentary makers preparing for interviews.
Generates structured user interview scripts for qualitative UX research with intro, warm-up, core exploration, scenarios, and wrap-up sections plus probing tips.
Plans and conducts journalistic interviews to maximize source cooperation and information yield. Useful for reporters and investigators preparing structured interviews.