The Agile Interview

Host: Graham Bremner

this process is used to hire developers for a XP team, parts are useful for hiring anyone involved in the software development process.

after an initial short candidate screen we decide to bring a candidate into our office for a full day interview.

our schedule is :

 1 hour fit question 

 1 hour technical screen

 lunch with team

 four 1 hour pairing sessions

 

our fit question is very important and useful, detailed description below.

I would recommend trying the fit question with people in your company before trying it with a candidate.

smaller groups work best, have 2 or 3 people prepare to run the fit question and bring in one person who does not know what to expect.

our group favors fit over technical skills (skills can be taught).

in our technical screen we evaluate based on the candidates experience level.

we focus on their ability to communicate and take feedback while performing at an appropriate level.

our pairing sessions focus on learning how the candidate interacts while pairing, again communication and feedback are very important.

questions and suggestions that came up in the session:

how do we promote diversity if we screen for fit like this?

we do our best but we are not perfect, diversity is important to us and we would like to do better

would giving the candidate some warning/information about our fit question get better results from some candidates?

possibly, this sounds like a good thing to try

idea: sharing the groups working agreements with the candidate and ask if they would change or add anything

The Fit Question:

Recommended timebox for 30 minutes with the following break out

Intro and make analogies 5 minutes

+ - 10 minutes (content)

Goals 5 minutes (approach)

Mind map 5 minutes (content)

Learnings 5 minutes (approach)

Introduce the exercise and touch on the following

Collaborative - "we'll help but you'll still do most of the talking"

Mention the 30 minute timebox and also say that you'll manage it

sections with the following durations 5,10,5,5,5

Tips for Make analogies section

Write the question "Software Development is like..."

Mention:

"we're going to make analogies"

"doesn't matter if they are good or bad"

"actually it's better if there's a mix"

Mention why we're doing this:

"lead into the + - section"

"analyze where analogy fits and doesn't"

Start with "Building a building"

Get candidate to do the next

Tips for + - section

Mix it up among the participants but make sure the candidate gets enough turns

Don't do all +, then -; interleave the two

Let the candidate choose the first analogy to analyze

Interviewers choose next few

Make sure the candidate gets to choose at least one more analogy

Make sure there's a team analogy chosen

Challenge the analysis

Comment on things fitting in both categories

Tips for Goals section

        Ask the candidate to write on the board what they think our (the interviewers) Goals are for starting their interview with this exercise 

Make clear the analysis should be about "this exercise"

They get the pen

These sections are solo for the candidate - no collaboration

Mention they can take as long or short as they want

Let there be silence; uncomfortable pause; especially at the end

Tips for Mind map section

Write down exactly what they say

Use different colored pens

The first node is "SD exercise"

Mention it's a brainstorming and connections

Some key phrases to use

"did you like it"

"did hate it"

"do you have any thoughts, observations"

"what did you feel"

"did the exercise work or was it dumb"

"whatever comes to your mind"

Tips Learnings section

        Ask the candidate to write on the board what they have Learned  

Make clear the analysis should be about "this whole exercise today"

They get the pen

These sections are solo for the candidate - no collaboration

Mention they can take as long or short as they want

Let there be silence; uncomfortable pause; especially at the end

What we look for

Participation

Variety

Engagement/fun

Buiding on other's answers

Team

Collaboration

Agile

Knowledge of craft

Insight

Connections

Creativity

Going meta

What does meta mean

Abstracting

Self referencing

Higher context