Xi Cio

EXTREME INTERVIEWING: FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR YOUR AGILE TEAMS Lisamarie Babik, Menlo Innovations

Why are we here at o-dark-thirty? Learn a little about Menlo Learn how and why Extreme Interviewing was created Simulate an Extreme Interviewing event Have fun! (Yes, even at 8:30 am on the last day of the conference!) Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

A Little About Me My life before Agile (there was life before agile?) What I do at Menlo Why I love what I do Everything you need to know about how I didn’t invent Extreme Interviewing Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

A Little About Menlo Founded in 2001 by four partners We build no products for ourselves; rather we build products for other people Our self-stated mission is to “…end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.” (And to have a lot of fun while we’re doing it!) Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

We believe… In building a learning organization Languages and technology can be taught Good kindergarten skills cannot We are willing to invest in our people A person’s aptitudes are more important that his or her current skills We aren’t interested as much in what you already know but what can you learn? Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

Let’s jump into the Wayback Machine It’s 1999 Interface Systems is the #1 publicly traded company in Michigan Richard Sheridan is VP of Product Development The company has newly adopted XP as a way to improve software development capabilities Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

“ Old Style” interviewing Each interviewer sits with a candidate for 1 hour Each candidate is interviewed by 3 people The people who interviewed each person meet for 30 minutes We interview 2-4-8-? candidates for each open position Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

Do the math… 1 hour interview X 3 interviewers X 8 candidates per position X 14 positions ---------------------- = 336 man hours This would keep 3 interviewers busy full-time for almost 3 weeks! Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

And would it… Predict how they’d react to the open and collaborative environment (e.g. “Where’s my cube? How come it’s so noisy?”) Effectively predict how they’d work in a paired environment? Tell us about their teamwork capabilities? Help the team hire diverse talent (e.g. with different skills than their own, or different cognitive styles)? Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

What if? You could interview 50 candidates in 1 morning? You could effectively learn how they might interact with others in your work environment? (e.g. pairing behaviors)? Candidates could learn if they really like working this way before they took the job? No one reads the resumes first? Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

If you’re good at teamwork… … and you’re good at pairing You should be able to put team goals above your own goals You should be able to collaborate under pressure You will share the tools you’re using You should be able to work with people of different abilities Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

So why not interview as a pair? It allows you to demonstrate your pairing skills It allows you to work with people of differing abilities It allows you to show how you work under pressure Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

You are interviewing to join the Menlo Innovations’ development team. Your first activity is ESTIMATION. You have 10 minutes to complete the activity. Activity #1 Copyright © 2008 Menlo Innovations LLC

Xi Cio

More Related Content

Similar to Xi Cio

More from Matt Heusser

Recently uploaded

Xi Cio