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It says up front: Get the obvious questions out of the way (such as "what methodologies do you use") so you can put your attention on the ones that matter.

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If that's an "obvious" question that needs to be asked, then that's a signal to the candidate that the hiring manager doesn't know WTF they're doing. Waste of time for everyone involved.

Why get them "out of the way" when you can just skip asking pointless questions?

Because there ARE good reasons to ask job candidates about the skills they put on their resumes. Some people add the keywords to be buzzword-compliant. Others include a tool or technology in passing, as a summary of 5 years of work with it... and if it's important in your shop, it'e reasonable to ask about it. Find out whether "experienced with ToolName" means "I once started up the app" or "I can make it dance."

My resume barely mentions OS/2 anymore, because I'm unlikely to get a job that requires the knowledge. But if I happened to interview at a company where it mattered (perhaps for legacy tech) or where the interviewer shared an interest ("oh! something we can chat about!") then it's a reasonable topic of discussion.

Also, interviewees expect those questions. They can be a kind of throat clearing. That is... get 'em out of the way.

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