I’ve always been pretty good at interviews. Mostly because I’ve done my homework and know:

1. what the company does,
2. how the company makes money,
3. what my job would entail,
4. what my weaknesses are and
5. how to show confidence in my skills.

Aaron Swartz has a very different interview process which entails a very simple, casual atmosphere (coffee shop etc.) and small talk. No interview style questions in the least are asked during the discussion. His main goals are to find out:

1. Is the person smart?
2. Can they get stuff done?
3. Can you work with them?

I think this is an excellent way to conduct an interview because as the post states:

Programming isn’t typically a job done under pressure, so seeing how people perform when nervous is pretty useless. And the interview questions usually asked seem chosen just to be cruel. I think I’m a pretty good programmer, but I’ve never passed one of these interviews and I doubt I ever could.

I’ve never been involved in the interview process at my work but one day – when the time comes – this is totally how I’d like to conduct interviews to hire developers.