Planning for a successful MIS implementation requires understanding the effects of the introduction of a new system on the work lives of potential adopters. The effects can be assessed by the MIS practitioner/change agent if the agent will first obtain a thorough and specific understanding of the task activities performed by potential adopters, the interactions they engage in as they perform their tasks, and their preferences for, or feelings about, those activities and interactions. An interview based approach to gathering this data is described, and a short description of an implementation in which the approach was used is provided.