No Over-Steering
Also known as: Script Adherence Bias
The rule requiring interviewers to follow stakeholder-driven threads rather than forcing the conversation back to a prepared script.
Full Definition
Over-steering suppresses unknown unknowns — the insights the interviewer didn't know to ask about. When an interviewee drifts to an unexpected topic, that drift is often the most valuable data in the interview. Constant redirection to prepared questions produces only the answers the interviewer expected, which confirms existing beliefs rather than generating new insights.
Example
An interviewee keeps returning to staffing issues when asked about workflow. The interviewer redirects each time to their prepared questions about documentation. Later they discover staffing was the real driver of the problem they were studying.