Lol.
This must be an IT thing because a developer would go, "ah, what is this shit? Hang on, I did this once back in 08', let me being up the documentation' and proceed to bootstrap a production-fix by EOD.
As an icebreaker, I pick out items from their resume that stand out and look like strengths. My goal is to play to those strengths and get them comfortable talking about their past battles.
1. Most people can do the job. Even programming isn't that bad, I've met very few complete incompetents.
2. Their personality and interest in the topic are better correlates for their success in the team and generally.