Agile Job Hunting

I'm getting calls and e-mails from IT professionals with a job opening who think they understand Agile (they don't, but it's the latest buzzword and process) and are asking me questions about it.

It's no wonder the economy's on the rocks. How can you hire someone when you really don't understand what you do and how you do it?

To wit (pun indended):

• One manager at a large company north of me said 'RUP/UML is an Agile Method.' I suggested it is not, but it is a precursor process and is valid unto itself, depending on the circumstances. I should have kept my mouth shut. The manager said, "I went to school about this and it is an Agile Method." I responded (stupidly and because I thought it was a test) the Agile Manifesto demands test-driven development, self-organizing teams, very short sprints, creating usable code from the first and a lot of communication between team members, end users and stakeholders- Iterative does not. I didn't get the job. Shame on me. On the other hand...if I got the job and the manager was that stupid, how satisfying would it have been?
  
• Another company sent me a questionaire. I filled it out. The big thing they wanted to know is when the BA would 'let' developers talk to the business side. I said it depends- in the Scope/Planning Phase, not at all since we need to define the scope of the project, basic architecture and very high level requirements (I like going in with a Technical Architect or Lead Developer and a Project Manager/Scrum Leader if I'm not acting in that role). Later on, it pretty much depends on the developer and if s/he can talk to business people. If they can't, I'd have to facilitate and translate. I didn't get the job. If they have developers talking to Champions and Stakeholders even before the scope is settled, how good could the process be?
  
• One company I worked for, said it was Agile. The organization it was working for was Waterfall. I suggested it was not- they didn't allow the BAs to talk to the developers (!), the daily Stand-up took an hour and allowed yelling back and forth between the customer and the Lead Developer. I saw the mis-match immediately but couldn't find anything quick enough before the ax fell. They called it 'Modified Agile.' Right. I lost the job. With several other folks.
  

Then a couple of weeks ago, a small but very cool start-up advertised for an Agile BA. Instead of a silly technical phone screen- the first thing it wanted was for applicants to create User Stories for a test feature. Finally. I could demonstrate what I could do and they'd actually answer my questions as though it were a real feature. I spent a whole hour on the story and then another hour to create a couple of wireframes and sent 'em in.

A week later, we set up the phone screen! I'd passed the first step.

They had a developer call me. He wanted to know what a BA could do for two developers and a UxD (User Design Experience) professional on a working e-Commerce and Collaboration site. Cool.

I think the interview went well. The company sold me in the ad- they have very smart people working there and I want to be part of it. Next steps are a couple of hairy face-to-face interviews and then a 'team lunch.' My fingers are crossed.

Even if I don't get this one, I have a lot of respect for this company- they think things through and the hiring process actually measures if the person can perform to the level the company needs. Not glad-handing, coming up with silly answers to stupid, predictable and trite questions (which measure your interviewing ability rather than work skill set). Finally! No games. Grown-ups. Adults.

Cool.

Why the hell can't the others learn what the buzzword means and find a good way to hire like minded/trained folks? It's not like its hard...you just gotta think. 

Hmmmm.

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