[xiaoma]

How would you filter those "many people who could do it just fine if they are given space to think about it or refresh their memory" down to the number you need to hire?

This is a serious question. I hate the way interviewing works at tech companies. Though I've generally done well and it helped me break into the industry as an outsider, it's a really time-consuming and wasteful process on both sides. So far, I'm leaning strongly towards Reid Hoffman's suggestion of weighting references much more strongly than interviews but it's hard to say how far one can safely go with that approach.