Having a Gmail account is definitely a key enabler to making hangouts go smoothly, in my opinion. Our team uses hangouts daily (amongst ourselves) and we're all Gmail users (personal accounts). To cross over to sending invites to colleagues at their work email address instead of the Gmail address is where the problems definitely arise, and then it is further exacerbated by first-time users who don't have Google+ profiles activated. It's an acquired taste but a wonderful tool for geographically distributed teams that rely on video communication on a daily basis. I can't say enough about how effective it is at making it feel like you're having a face-to-face meeting with multiple people across locations...provided they can all login successfully.

This is definitely the "checking the box" syndrome -- my personal favorite is when the hotel "gym" is a regular hotel room with the door removed from the hinges, a couple treadmills placed in the center of the room, and a TV mounted on the wall. Maybe a little water cooler for an added bonus. It's interesting how the gym experience varies across the same hotel brands (but in different cities), too. Makes it feel like it's a case-by-case decision and whether or not the local budget can afford bikes, treadmills, dumbbells, AND loud music. Unfortunately bikes and loud music are top on the list...probably because they are the cheapest and the more expensive equipment is for "Phase 2."

Agree with comments above - while these questions are more on principles of statistics than actual analysis of data, when talking stats-type questions with marketers to measure aptitude, I prefer a live discussion around questions to evaluate HOW someone thinks about data and analysis. Since the job isn't always black and white, unilaterally declaring incompetence over 5 questions is a bit dangerous. -Eric

Perfect analogy at the end of the article, Scott! How dare these users bring in tools that make their day-to-day work more efficient. Although I see this thinking even outside of IT with other areas of the business who are totally unwilling to accept change. But like you said, as a technology professional, you have to imagine you'd be open to new technologies, no matter what the source. However sometimes I think IT has a tendency to shun ideas if they are not their own. -Eric