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Tips for Implementing Effective Earned Value Training

By Humphreys & Associates / March 1, 2021 / Earned Value Consulting

Likely you have been on the receiving end of this advice. The common solution to every problem seems to be: do more training. Well, yes, that is often a logical conclusion. The hard part is, how do you implement earned value training that actually helps project personnel improve their knowledge levels and skill sets that makes a difference in how projects are managed? Conducting training just to check something off a to-do list is a waste of everyone’s time.

Here are a few tips to help you implement an effective EVM training plan.

Tip 1 – What’s the problem you want to resolve?

A clear understanding of the problem you want to solve helps determine the scope of the training, who needs the training, and what kind of training will make a difference. Here are a few examples to illustrate a range of the scope of the training from the complex to targeted training.

The good news? You just won a government contract with EVMS contract clauses. The bad news? Your company’s project control system is immature at best and will need to become more disciplined to support the contractual EVMS requirements. You are going to need a robust education and training plan to rapidly increase the project control maturity level of your company. Likely you will need to enhance your current project control practices, add process and procedures, perhaps implement new software tools, and educate a variety of functional managers and project personnel on the upgraded best practices they will need to follow.
You have an influx of new project personnel that need to learn the ropes. Where are they with their current skill sets and what will help them improve? Perhaps they have a basic understanding of project control or scheduling, but don’t know how to apply your company’s preferred practices or how to effectively use the software tools. They may need a broader earned value training plan that covers a number of disciplines or hands-on workshops that combine process training and using the software tools to effectively perform their project control tasks.
You have a contractual or audit event coming up. Examples include an Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) for a new project or the DCMA is coming in to do a compliance review. That means you need to make sure all levels of project personnel are prepared for the review and that quality schedule and cost data have been established. Different types of focused training or mentoring is often required to prepare for these events where there is interaction with the customer project manager or audit agency personnel. Personnel knowledge, the EVMS, how they apply the EVMS on their project, and data traceability will all be assessed.
As part of your internal process improvement activities, you discover a number of control account managers (CAMs) are having difficulty producing useful variance analysis report (VAR) narratives. Or, perhaps the schedulers are having trouble creating or maintaining their integrated master schedules (IMS) to the level of data quality you expect. Targeted or role specific training could make a difference here.

Tip 2 – Determine what you need to accomplish your training objective

Here is a sort list of factors to consider as you begin to sort out what type of training or training materials you need to have in place to accomplish your training objectives.

Do you intend to create and maintain a set of EVM related training materials internally? What types of materials you intend to maintain? This could be a range of materials such as instructor led presentation and course materials, role specific training materials or templates, desktop instructions, online help, or self-paced instructional videos. Do you have the personnel, time, and budget to do this? Do you have the internal EVM expertise? You may need help creating your internal materials or you may need to rely on outside services to supplement your internal training.
How do you intend to deliver the earned value training, how often, and how many people? A day or two dedicated to classroom instruction may or may not be option. Perhaps project personnel need to complete the training remotely or are only available for a short duration. How do you accomplish your training objectives and verify personnel are applying what they are learning?
You need to prepare a contractual event such as an IBR. This presents a different set of factors and you may or may not have a process or EVM expertise in place to handle this. Depending on your company, you may have the internal project management resources you can pull from another division to help the project personnel prepare for the event and perform an independent review of the schedule and cost data. How do you intend to handle these events?
Targeted training to address a recurring issue or a unique project situation such an implementing an over target baseline/over target schedule (OTB/OTS). For example, targeted training would be useful for CAMs or schedulers that need help getting to the next level of proficiency. One option could be to solicit the help of an internal “power user” to help mentor project personnel in how to do things or how to effectively use the software tools. Or, you could leverage the expertise of outside services to help mentor them and expand the base of proficient project personnel over time.

Tip 3 – Who you select to help you with your earned value training objectives matters

There are a number of companies that offer earned value and related training. There are a number of factors to consider as you start to evaluate their services, expertise, scope and availability of training materials, and range of training options.

There is a reason why H&A has been the leading provider of earned value training and earned value consulting services for over four decades. We have proven, cost effective approaches to increasing your project control team’s skills so they become more valuable assets to your organization. For example:

We have built the largest, most comprehensive library of training materials in the EVM consulting industry including basic and advanced courses as well as specific topic areas such as developing a WBS, OTB/OTS, preparing a VAR or government performance report, subcontract management, change management, or IBRs.

What’s the benefit to you? Should you need source material for a training course, our courses are available for lease and can be tailored to your environment. You don’t have to start from scratch. We actively maintain our course materials and provide updates as requirements change over time including specific versions for DoD, DOE, and NASA. This takes the burden off you and reduces the cost of keeping up with changes. We provide train-the-trainer sessions for the courses, so your company’s training department can become proficient with the materials to build out your internal training library over time.

We offer our hands-on courses as public workshops, in-house, or remotely. We also offer our most popular three-day workshops as distance learning courses. We refer to these as our EVMS Virtual Learning Lab and Scheduling Virtual Learning Lab (VLL) so your project personnel can learn at their own pace – even if they are working from home. The benefit is you can select a combination of training options to fit your needs as well as personnel availability or location.
We offer two career path certifications you could leverage to assist project personnel looking to advance their knowledge and skills. We created the H&A Control Account Manager (CAM) Certification program over 5 years ago and approximately 600 people have gone through this rigorous certification process. We also created a Project Control/Analyst (PC/A) Certification for personnel that support CAMs and Project Managers. These certifications mean the individual has demonstrated a knowledge level that establishes a sound foundation for success as a CAM or PC/A.
H&A senior personnel typically have over 30 years of experience in industry, government, and consulting across a variety of industries. When you need help with an IBR or government compliance review, our consultants can help prepare and mentor your project personnel to successfully navigate the review process as well as perform data traces with them to verify the quality of the schedule and cost data. When you need help training personnel on a specific EVM topic such as OTB/OTS or how to prepare a VAR that requires additional EVM expertise, we can conduct the training for you whether in-house or remotely.

You can rely on the H&A team of experts to help you with your EVM, scheduling, and related training needs. For more information about our courses, descriptions, and delivery options, visit our web page at: https://www.humphreys-assoc.com/evms/evms_training_courses.php.

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Free Online Earned Value Training Resources

By Humphreys & Associates / February 1, 2021 / earned value training, EVM Training

earned value training, EVM Training

The world of Earned Value Management (EVM) can sometimes be daunting with a seeming overabundance of resources, guides, training, and services designed to help the user. Depending on which industry and/or government agency you are dealing with, the EVM interpretation can differ. Below is a listing of free online training resources meant to help you in finding the right information for the right situation. Each online source provides a summary of resources available and the URL to find them.

Humphreys & Associates, Inc. – EVMS Education Center

The EVMS Education Center is an online Earned Value Training resource for cutting-edge thought and insight on Earned Value Management Systems. The user can select an EVM category from the list below to access more detailed information:

· Agile Practitioner Connection

· Getting Started with EVM

· EVM Practitioner Connection

· H&A EVMS Workshop Reference Materials

· H&A Publication Reference Materials

· EVMS Web Recommendations

· EVM Glossary Terms

· EVMS Document Matrix for U.S. Gov’t Agencies

Visit H&A EVMS Education Center

Department of Defense Integrated Program Management

The Policy & Guidance page provides the user with OMB Circular A-11, FAR, and DFARS, 5000 series documents, Data Item Descriptions as well as sample CDRLs and Guides and References. In addition, Training Presentations on IPMDAR Application, Tailoring and Reporting are provided.

The EVM-CR is a data repository managed by the IPM division of OUSD(A&S) AAP, the office of Acquisition, Analytics and Policy.

The purpose of the EVM-CR is to establish a source of authoritative Earned Value Management (EVM) and Integrated Program Management (IPM) data for the Department and to provide prompt access for PMOs, Services, OSD, and DoD Components.

Government users with Analyst role can access all published reports in the EVM-CR
Contractors that support DOD HQ organizations can be granted similar access by providing appropriate NDAs

Visit Department of Defense Integrated Program Management

Defense Contract Management Agency

This site contains all the latest Data Metrics, Tests and Templates used by DCMA. In addition, updated Compliance Procedures are included.

Visit Defense Contract Management Agency

Department of Energy EVMS Training

Training includes an EVM Tutorial which consists of 8 modules and provides a high-level overview of EVM principles and reporting, intended for novice EVM users.

In addition, a series of 34 short video snippets, sponsored by the Office of Project Management (PM), provides training in a variety of EVMS topics.

Visit Department of Energy EVMS Training

NASA EVM

Includes several downloadable handbooks for reference including:

· Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) Handbook

· Schedule Management Handbook

· Link to request STAT Access and to download the STAT User’s Guide

· Work Breakdown Structure Handbook

· EVM Implementation Handbook

· NASA/SP 2016-3708 EVM P-CAM Reference Guide

NASA IPMR DRD

The Integrated Program Management Report (IPMR) is a consolidation of the Contract Performance Report (CPR) and the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) and is required on all new contracts when an EVMS is a requirement.

Visit NASA EVM

Project Management Institute

In conjunction with PMI, this website includes several webinar presentations, templates and articles designed to aid the student in a greater understanding of Earned Value Management. The site is continuously updated by contributors across the world and is applicable to both commercial and government environments.

Visit Project Management Institute

National Defense Industrial Association

This site provides a comprehensive list of guidance documents applicable across the DoD Environment. Complementary documents to the EIA-748 Standard for Earned Value Management Systems include:

· EIA-748-C Designation Memo

· Earned Value Management System Acceptance Guide

· Earned Value Management System Guideline Scalability Guide

· Earned Value Management Systems Application Guide

· Earned Value Management Systems Intent Guide to the EIA Standard for EVMS (EIA-748)

· Intent Guide Appendix Compliance Map Template

· Guide to Managing Programs Using Predictive Measures

· Industry Practice Guide for Agile on Earned Value Management Programs

· Integrated Baseline Review Guide

· Master Definitions List for IPMD Guides

· Planning and Scheduling Excellence Guide (PASEG)

· Surveillance Guide

Visit National Defense Industrial Association

Need help with Earned Value Training, finding additional resources, or planing your earned value management system? Contact us today.

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Humphreys & Associates approved by PMI as an Authorized Training Partner

By Humphreys & Associates / January 5, 2021 / EVMS Training, project management institute

EVMS Training, project management institute

EVMS Training Partner

Humphreys & Associates, Inc. (H&A) is excited to announce that PMI has approved us as an Authorized Training Partner specializing in Earned Value Management System (EVMS) training. Authorized Training Partners must meet rigorous standards thru PMI for quality and effectiveness. Effective January 1^st, 2021, the Project Management Institute (PMI) Registered Educational Provider (REP) program will be retired and replaced with the new Authorized Training Partner (ATP) program. This new program is designed to ensure the training you receive is of the highest quality.

For years, H&A has been a recognized leader in project performance measurement training for PMI. Our professional instructors have extensive experience in evaluating EVMS training requirements, designing comprehensive training plans, developing client-specific instructional material, and presenting training workshops. Training such as Basic and Advanced EVM techniques, Project Scheduling, Variance Analysis Reports (VAR), subcontractor integration and Integrated Baseline Review preparation are just a few of the topics that H&A has developed and enhanced over the last 40 years. As an Authorized Training Partner, all courses are eligible for PMIs Professional Development Units (PDU).

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Planning and Managing EVM by Elements of Cost (EOC) Example: Building a Backyard Patio – Part 1

By Humphreys & Associates / March 1, 2019 / Control Account, earned value management, earned value training, Elements of Cost, EVM, EVM Training, Planning Package, Work Package

Control Account, earned value management, earned value training, Elements of Cost, EVM, EVM Training, Planning Package, Work Package

What are “Elements of Cost”?

Labor, Materials, Subcontracts, Other Direct Costs, and their Indirect Costs (Overhead including General and Administrative —G&A) are the typical building blocks for any project: personal projects and projects we manage for the customers we support. These items are also what the Earned Value Management System (EVMS) Guidelines call elements of cost (or EOCs). So, when the Guidelines call for us to plan and manage by EOC, it really should not cause us any undue anxiety – it is just the natural way to manage any project.

Example: Outdoor Backyard Patio

Let’s use a simple home project example of building an outdoor backyard patio: What do you have to do to determine how much it will cost for this Backyard Patio Project (BPP if you like acronyms)? Generally, you look at such things as:

How much concrete; lumber for decking; nails, screws, bolts, washers, and other hardware, etc.; and weather-coating and paints/stains you will need (Material Element of Cost – EOC).
Work you cannot do by yourself: electricity for lights and power, and natural gas for the Barbecue/fireplace (Subcontract EOC).
Work you will do yourself (Labor EOC).
Costs unique to this project’s completion, such as: Home Owners Association permits, building code permits, local excavation application fee, etc. (Other Direct Cost EOC).
Costs incurred that do not necessarily go into the final product, such as: cleaning supplies, brooms, solvents, turpentine, weather tarpaulins, lighting and electricity, etc. (Indirect Costs/Overheads).

Unfortunately, when operating under the EVM requirement, often managers tend to overthink, and sometimes over apply the management of EOCs. Let’s look at the overthinking part first.

Overthinking EOCs

Guideline 9 of the EIA Standard 748 (Revision D) for EVM Systems requires:

Establish budgets for authorized work with identification of significant cost elements (labor, material, etc.) as needed for internal management and for control of subcontractors.

Some might propose: “I’ll have one Work Package for the Control Account with all the EOCs in it, and I’ll be okay.” That might meet the intent of that first part of the guideline, but would probably fail the requirement that says “as needed for internal management and control of subcontractors.” For example, what EV technique would you use for a “work package” that had labor, material, and subcontract work in it? The labor occurs as the work is performed, the material might be earned at the point of receipt on the dock, and the subcontract might earn value with the receipt of an Integrated Program Management Data and Analysis Report (IPMDAR) dataset at the end of a month. Since the Control Account (CA) has one total dollar budget, the “identification of significant cost elements” has to occur at the Work Package (WP) and Planning Package (PP) level within the CA, which requires each WP and PP to be identified as one of the EOCs mentioned above.

For Instance

In our example, if we lumped concrete and lumber into one “Material WP” and we incurred a serious overrun in material, how would we identify what caused the overrun: the concrete pour or the lumber portion? These are different categories of material that would “earn value” (be accomplished) in different ways and at different times. In order to determine the “guilty party” in the overrun, we should also have separate WPs for the different significant material categories. Some might call these major, or high value, or critical material items, which should be tracked separately.

On the other hand, for the lower-value materials, it may not be significant enough to management to know that a variance might have been caused by a 1-cent washer or a pint of deck stain. Consequently, a grouping of these low-value material items may be all that is required for visibility. Conversely, Management might actually want to break out categories such as, separating the paints/stains, and weather-coating from the nuts, bolts, washers and other hardware, since they are different categories of low-value material that could also earn value differently.

Indirect Cost Rates Must be Applied Properly

For Indirect Costs, some contractors put the burden of planning and managing these overhead costs on the CAMs, while others apply the indirect rates at a summary level of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) or organizational structure. Regardless of how a particular contractor does it, the indirect cost rates must be applied properly to the various direct elements of cost:

Material handling charges applied to material items
Indirect Labor rates applied to the direct labor hours
Subcontract overhead applied to the subcontract direct costs
ODC overheads charged to the ODCs identified.

Applying and managing overheads at the CA level would entail hundreds of applications across the number of Control Accounts on a project, but applying these at a summary level would require only a handful of Overhead lines in reports. Doing so would significantly reduce the number of possible errors in application – which is why many contractors do not require CAMs to “manage” overheads in their Control Accounts. [Our BPP example does not have the above types of Indirect Costs that are related to specific Direct Costs, but it does have its own specific Overheads related to the labor to build the Patio.]

Humphreys & Associates is available for earned value training and consulting. Give us a call!

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EVM Training – Decision Making & Charlie Munger – Part 1

By Humphreys & Associates / July 2, 2018 / Charlie Munger, Decision Making, Earned Value Consultant, earned value training, EVM Training, EVMS

Charlie Munger, Decision Making, Earned Value Consultant, earned value training, EVM Training, EVMS

Tendency Toward Misjudgment – Part 1

Charlie Munger and EVM Training

So, what does Charles (Charlie) T. Munger, Vice Chairman of Berskshire Hathaway and partner of Warren Buffet have to do with EVM training? Decision Making. You can imagine the big-money decisions he has helped Buffett make during the many years of building up the legendary outfit. Along the way, he kept track of the happenings around him that through various speeches and writings espoused some clear thinking. Born in Omaha in 1924, Charlie began working with Warren at Buffett & Son, a grocery store owned by Warren Buffett’s grandfather. Eventually graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law in 1948, Charlie moved into the business world.

Psychology of Human Misjudgment

This blog is narrowly focused on what I gleaned from Charlie’s writings about the “psychology of human misjudgment.” Looking to see how this information could be used to help guide a EVM training workshop on the topic of decision making, I went through each of the 25 “tendencies” that he defined and discussed. I would never have guessed that we humans have 25 tendencies that impinge on our thinking processes, but after studying his list, I think he nailed it. Most of the tendencies are backed up with some reference to psychological studies; so be assured Charlie did not make them up. This blog will treat them in numerical order and will add thoughts from the Humphreys & Associates earned value training material on decision making that will make the Charlie Munger points more specific to the subject at hand.

In our EVM training material, we emphasize the process of decision making is critical, and Charlie thought so way before I did. Bad decisions can come from good processes, but that is less likely than bad decisions coming from no process or, even worse, from a bad process. At one point Munger advises the use of checklists can help navigate through the minefield of human tendencies toward misjudgment. An amazingly timely idea, because here at Humphreys & Associates we are just wrapping up our work on “The Big Book of Project Management Checklists” that is aimed at doing just that.

Blocking Human Misjudgement

What about human misjudgment? It appears we humans are fraught with innate tendencies that, if not blocked, can lead us to make misjudgments. A misjudgment would be a wrong decision in terms of this blog. With all that follows in the blog about misjudgment, we are trying to discern a sound process for earned value decision making, with tools like decision trees, that can help avoid or counter the influences of the counterproductive tendencies. Developing your decision-making process should involve findings tactics that help you avoid or defeat or neutralize these tendencies in your EVMS processes.

Tendency #1 – Reward and Punishment Super-Response

Let’s cover one tendency as an example. Tendency #1 is called the “Reward and Punishment Super-Response Tendency.” The word “super” attached to the idea of response to reward is to emphasize that this is a case of over responding. We all know people move toward what is incentivized; they seek the reward. It must be obvious that, if the wrong thing is incentivized, people will be moving in the wrong direction. According to Munger, there is a strong tendency to move toward the reward; an overly strong tendency. Charlie cites some great examples from his experience. Your decision-making process should include some “clearing the minefield” efforts early on in the process to make sure that the decision will not be made in a move toward a reward that would be wrong for the situation. A simple example could be that you are involved in deciding about launch-ing a long-term effort that would cost quite a bit that does not have certainty to the outcome. If you are incentivized toward short terms profits, then you have the biased tendency to discard the idea in favor of short term gains.

Deprival Super-Reaction Tendency

There is a potentially related tendency called the “Deprival Super-Reaction Tendency.” This is the tendency to feel more pain from a loss than to feel pleasure from a gain of the same amount or thing. According to this tendency, there is more motivation associated with avoiding pain than making a gain. The see-saw is weighted in one direction. How counterproductive is that tendency toward carefully considered decision-making? If we are trying to make a gain in our decision process, we are not only fighting the facts of the situation but also our innate bias against taking a risk. The idea can be seen in the commonly observed action of throwing good money after bad. A loss is imminent, so the decision is to spend more to head it off to potentially save the day and avoid the pain; is that wise? Think about the situation where someone says or is known to think that “I will not be denied no matter the cost.” You probably do not want that kind of thinking involved in your decision making. Now think about a situation where tendency #1 and tendency #2 both align against one of the options being considered. Would an option that faces the tendency to risk some pain of loss and to move against a potential reward stand a chance if those tendencies were not neutralized?

Blog Series

Hopefully you get the idea now. This blog will be followed by another that covers some of the remaining tendencies identified by Charles T. Munger. I hope to learn more from and will translate what I learn here and in our EVM training material. Stay tuned.

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Hiring the Right EVM Professional

By Humphreys & Associates / February 22, 2018 / earned value training, EVM Consultant, evm consultants, evm hiring, evm jobs, EVM Training, evms jobs

earned value training, EVM Consultant, evm consultants, evm hiring, evm jobs, EVM Training, evms jobs

EVM Hiring, Not Selling

You are searching for the right person to fill that critical EVM program management or project controls position on one of your newer or one of your tough projects. So, what does the interview sound like? Probably like so many I have witnessed. But there is a much better way to conduct the interview and get the right person.

Many of the interviews I have participated in consisted largely of the interviewer telling the potential candidate about the position, about the company, and almost making the interview a selling situation. It sometimes seemed like the theme was “How can we convince this person to come on board?”

Always Clarify

Of course, some time in the interview must be spent explaining the situation to the candidate’s satisfaction. You would not want to make an offer to someone only to have them come back at you expressing confusion about the position or the project. That happened to me years ago. I was interviewing with a major computer firm for the position of “program manager.” Obviously, the ad I answered, and the screening process were flawed. I arrived at the interview and within a few minutes the interviewing manager was commenting on the fact I had no software programming experience. They were looking for a manager for a software development (programming) effort. They did not even understand the term program manager as it related to project management. We agreed to end the interview on good terms although I am sure we both realized we had wasted a lot of time.

Often an interviewer will focus on the certifications the interviewee has achieved. If the person is a PMP from the PMI, that is a good thing. But more than once I have met and worked with people who are certified and credentialed, but who really have no earned value training and cannot get the job done in the real world. Be careful and dig deeper. The right interview can help do that for you.

Can They Get the Job Done?

But the most frequent observation I have made about a defective interview process is the failure to verify that the candidate can do the job. The best illustration of this is from the book “Peopleware” by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. The example is in Chapter 16 and is called “Hiring a Juggler.” It presents the story of the hiring manager, it was the circus manager, asking a lot of questions about other circuses the juggler has worked for, the things the juggler can juggle, how many things can he keep in the air at one time, and so on. At the end of the interview, the manager is satisfied he has found his new juggler and offers him the job. The surprised juggler asks one question only, “Don’t you want to see me juggle?”

At H&A, when we are looking at new individuals for our scheduling practice, we actually give them a test. They are provided a written description of an interview with a CAM in which the CAM explains what is supposed to happen in his or her control account. From that written discussion, the interviewees are asked to get into the scheduling software with which they are proficient and build the plan described by the CAM. With that plan, they are asked to determine the end date, locate the critical path, and otherwise verify that the schedule is a high-quality schedule. In other words, we ask our interviewees to show us they can juggle.

EVM Expert Questions

So what kinds of things would you want to talk about in an interview for a project manager candidate, an EVMS candidate, or a scheduling candidate? What direction could you take in the interview that would be more oriented to seeing if the person can juggle? How about some of these questions? Or at least how about the general direction of these questions?

Question List

In your opinion, who are the stakeholders for the project WBS?
What are the pitfalls that you would encounter while building the right WBS? How can they impact your project?
Tell me about the System Engineering Technical Review (SETR) process and how that would be part of your project?
How would you assess whether the amount of Management Reserve withheld on your project was the right amount?
What, from your experience, do you think is the single biggest project-killing issue, and how would you prevent or minimize it on your project?
In addition to that issue, what are three more serious potential problems that can cause failure?
What is total float (total slack) and how would you use that as a manager of a project?
What is a “driving path” and why would that be important to you on your project?
How would you evaluate a control account EAC on your project?
When you issue ground rules for developing a new project plan, what confidence level do you set for duration estimates and cost estimates from your teams?
What process would you recommend for developing the project-level best case, worst case, and most likely EACs?
From your point of view, what are the main duties of a control account manager?
What are some measures of cost and schedule performance-to-date in a control account and what do they mean to you as a manager?
When a control account has a CPI (cumulative) of .75, and SPI (cumulative) of 1.1, and a VAC of -20%, what does it mean?
What are some of the Generally Accepted Scheduling Principles (GASP)?
What is TCPI and what do you use it for?
Can you explain some of the key measures in a project schedule that you can use to assess its quality?
Please explain how a Schedule Risk Assessment is conducted and how the results are used.
What professional organizations do you belong to?
What is the last book you read about project management?

Extend

Now that you have had a chance to think about those questions, undoubtedly others have come to mind. An interview with the give-and-take generated from discussing a list of questions like those would be very revealing. At the end of that interview you should know if the interviewee can juggle. You will know where they have good understanding and where they might not be ready.

Does the interviewee have to be exactly right on every topic? Not at all. But the answers and the discussion can help you assess how much development is still needed for this candidate to be able to shine in the open position you are trying to fill. Not everyone knows everything. Experience is a great teacher, but it comes from the situations where the interviewee has been directly exposed. Or perhaps from their leaning.

Take a moment and think about the interviewing practices at your company. Are they like the ones we just discussed? Can they be improved? Where are they weak? Where are they strong?

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