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Attracting the right Agile software developers

By Catherine Powell

There are many more people with the word "Agile" on their resumes than there are people who will work effectively in an Agile environment. So how do we separate the talkers from the doers? How do we attract truly Agile people?

Identify Agile characteristics

To attract Agile people, you first need to decide what defines the Agile person for your organization. What are the characteristics that make someone successful in your Agile organization?

Leave aside technical qualifications and concentrate on Agile skills for the moment. Define five or six bullet points about what makes the Agile people at your organization special, and be as specific as possible. "Flexible" is too vague. "Willing to switch focuses every week" is more specific.

For example, this is the list I used the last time I hired an Agile developer:

A successful Agile employee will:

Before the interview

When you do have a job opening, you'll get many resumes with Agile buzzwords. This does not mean the candidate will be successful in your organization. Instead, look past the buzzwords for evidence that the candidate has the specific characteristics you have defined. Look for descriptions and examples where the candidate has demonstrated mentorship and teamwork, for example.

Consider questions like this:

You're not explicitly asking about the Agile characteristics that you care about. Rather, you are inviting them to describe how they work, and their answers will help you understand whether their Agile characteristics match the ones you are looking for.

The candidate may take time to solve the problem or might even be wrong, but habits and approaches will be apparent very quickly. Agile habits similar to your team's Agile habit are a very strong predictor of success.

Catherine Powell, SSQ Contributor

 

In the interview

Assuming the candidate passes the phone screen and comes in for an interview, then there are additional interview techniques that are available. In many ways, it's easy for the candidate to say something; it's a lot harder to actually do it. Use the interview to see the actions, and not just the words.

In the interview, do activities that reveal the Agile characteristics you're seeking. This is a "show me, don't tell me" opportunity. The overall theme is getting the candidate to do something rather than just talk about it. Expose your Agile techniques and invite the candidate to participate; truly Agile candidates will participate successfully, and buzzword-only candidates will fail.

The following exercises draw out some Agile characteristics; use the ones that apply to your team:

In all these exercises, the important outcome is not completion, but that the candidate is comfortable and embraces the Agile characteristics you're showing. The candidate may take time to solve the problem or might even be wrong, but habits and approaches will be apparent very quickly. Agile habits similar to your team's Agile habit are a very strong predictor of success.

Conclusion

Attracting Agile people hinges on separating those who have read about Agile from those who have actually done it. Define what you're looking for in Agile, and get candidates to do things to show off those characteristics before you make a hiring decision.

09 Mar 2011

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