Microphone Interview Methodology¶
Purpose¶
The microphone interview system captures strategic knowledge held in the heads of people connected to the enterprise — knowledge that doesn't naturally land in documents. Dennis Wynn's 20 years of real-estate and reentry experience. Jose Tejada Nuñez's 16 years of shop-floor judgment. Eventually others.
The system is designed to honor the person being interviewed, not extract from them. The framework receives what they choose to share; the documentation reflects their expertise rather than chat-MC1's inference.
Current state¶
Salt Lake City NewPath office: Microphone installed (Dennis Wynn-Brandon Tomkins setup, with Toby Lee's technical help). Ready for Dennis interviews.
Phoenix yard: Planned. Will enable Spanish-language interviews with Jose Tejada Nuñez.
Operating principles for interviews¶
Honor the person, not extract from them¶
The interview is an invitation, not an interrogation. The interviewee chooses pace, topic, and depth. If they want to talk about their life rather than the work, that's more valuable than getting through a question list.
Opening pattern that works:
"Cuéntame de tu vida. Empieza donde quieras." (Tell me about your life. Start wherever you want.)
What the person chooses to talk about first signals what they want the framework to know about them.
Conduct in the person's primary language¶
Dennis interviews in English (his primary). Jose interviews in Spanish (his primary). Anyone forced to communicate in their non-primary language operates at maybe 70% of their actual capacity — nuance, humor, abstract reasoning all suffer. Primary-language interviews capture what the person actually thinks, not just what they can express in a second language.
Documented practice
The Phoenix Spanish-language interview structure should be drafted with input from someone who speaks Spanish natively or near-natively. Andrea would have been a natural review point but is cleaning staff per the 2026-05-27 correction. Brandon will identify the right Spanish reviewer.
Capture, don't replace¶
The microphone captures audio; transcription and integration happen separately. The interview itself is human-to-human conversation, not human-to-AI. The framework receives the transcript afterward and integrates content into the strategic documentation.
Return value to the interviewee¶
If the framework absorbs the person's thinking, the framework should also give back. Spanish-language work surfaces. Recognition of expertise in the documentation. The person's name in the "people who built this" record. Interviewees are co-authors of the framework's understanding, not just data sources.
The integration loop¶
- Interview happens (Brandon or designated interviewer; person speaks in their primary language)
- Audio captured by microphone
- Transcription produced (manually or via transcription service — needs design)
- chat-MC1 reads transcript and produces document updates: deepening existing documents (Dennis's real estate operations, Jose's shop methodology), creating new documents where the interview surfaces topics not yet documented
- Document updates land in MkDocs with appropriate honest-state markers if any uncertainty remains
- Interviewee reviews the resulting documentation, corrects what's misrepresented
The interviewee's word is ground truth. chat-MC1's synthesis is subordinate to their correction.
What gets unlocked¶
Dennis interviews → partner-side documentation¶
The currently-stub documents in partner-side/ (real-estate-operations, newpath-foundation, thorson-construction) deepen substantially once Dennis interviews happen. His evaluation methodology, his pipeline, his metrics, his connections — all currently invisible to the framework — become documented.
Jose interviews → shop methodology and personal context¶
Jose's build-vs-part-out judgment, his sourcing approach (he's been buying on IAA/Copart on his own initiative), his methods, his life context — all currently held only in Brandon-Jose conversations — become documented in Spanish-language operational documents that respect his primary language.
Beyond capture: the interviews give Jose a path to engage with the framework on his own terms. He's not opposed to technology; he's somewhat embarrassed he doesn't understand it more. Spanish-language tools and recognition give him a way to participate in the future rather than be left behind by it.
Open questions¶
Information needed
- Transcription mechanism: How does audio become text? Manual? Service (Otter, Rev, etc.)? Spanish-language transcription quality needs verification.
- Phoenix setup timing: When does the Phoenix microphone get installed?
- Jose's consent and framing: How is the interview introduced to Jose? Brandon as patrón does the introduction; the framing matters (this is about understanding his thinking, not surveillance).
- Spanish-language interviewer: Who conducts Jose's interview, or is Brandon the interviewer with Spanish capability via translation?
- Storage and access: Where do interview transcripts live? Who reads them? What permissions?
Resolution requires: Brandon Tomkins.
Living document. Last updated 2026-05-27 by chat-MC1.