Motley says: "Building a great team is all about finding the best coders"
Summary
Motley: The last person I interviewed was a coding wizard! She'll make a great addition to the team!
Maven: Coding is important, but good team members must match team values, be strong in the core competencies, and be passionate about what they do.
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[Context: Motley is reflecting on an interview he just conducted with a job candidate]
Motley: I just finished interviewing a candidate for a position on our team. She was a coding wizard on the whiteboard! IQ is off the charts! I think she would make a great fit for the team.
Maven: Good stuff! Did she seem like she would be good to work with? Was she a nice person?
Motley: Well, she actually came across as a bit ego-centered and my first impression, although it's hard to tell in 60 minutes, is that she has a pretty harsh personality - unlike me of course. She also was not the greatest communicator, but those coding skills were amazing!
Maven: No matter how good a coder she is, if she is not enjoyable to work with and cannot work well as a team, she will not be an asset. To be a good developer, you must do more than code.
Motley: Well, how do you really judge someone like that? What really makes a good team fit?
Maven: Several ways. Remember we talked about values previously? One reason it's a good idea to enumerate your values and the team's values is to make sure that new team members can fit within that value system. If the team values quality over number of features, someone that just cranks out code not caring about quality will not fit in. You probably don't want to come out and ask a new candidate explicitly for their values, but you can lead with questions that will surface them.
Motley: Our team definitely values great coders!
Maven: Yes, but there is more than that, right?
Motley: Fine. Quality is important. Being a good team player is important.
Maven: Something else to look for in new team members that they meet the core competencies of the team. Examples of competencies include passion for quality, technical passion, interpersonal skills, creativity, being action-oriented, having confidence, and listening and communication skills. It's important to enumerate the core competencies for both the team and the company to ensure that someone new has skills in those areas. For each position you want to fill, describe the competency levels that the new person is expected to possess. And don't forget, someone coming into a management role versus someone coming into an engineering role will have slightly different competencies.
Motley: So what do you do with these competencies?
Maven: Chances are good that a new team candidate will go through multiple interviews (i.e. more than one person). Assign each interviewer in the interview loop one or two of the core competencies to focus on, so that you get good coverage throughout the loop. Each interviewer can tailor their questions around their assigned competencies and come up with an overall rating for each competency. This approach brings more structured questioning to the interview and minimizes the odds of different interviewers probing the same areas. You get a more well-rounded evaluation of the candidate.
Motley: Ok. So we identify the core competencies and value system for the team, describe how well each candidate must match up with the competencies before they are hired, and assign different interviewers one or two competencies to probe. Sounds like a lot of work!
Maven: A little bit of work now pays off dividends later. Plus, you driving this process will look great on your next performance review!
Motley: I'll get right on this. Not for the review benefits of course, but because, ummm, for the good of the team.
Maven: And as for the new person you just interviewed?
Motley: Well, we didn't approach the interview from that perspective, but based on the competencies I have in mind, she meets technical passion just fine but fails on lots of the other stuff. No hire.
Maven: Sounds like the right decision to me.
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Maven's Pointer: Microsoft has spent a lot of time identifying the core competencies for various professions in the company. An example that is publicly available is the Microsoft Education Competencies, which follow very closely from software development competencies. Many competencies are in common and the general framework applies, including how to tailor interview questions. Check it out for a great example.
Maven's Resources: Microsoft's Mission and Values, Microsoft Education Competencies