General chit chat is always good! Get to know them and build up a relationship during this time.
ask them if they’re a starter or a finisher.
do they enjoy starting projects or finishing projects more?
there’s no bad answer unless they don’t answer at all.
When asking for plans: ask for 1 year, 2 year, and 5 year product and technology North stars. Should be pretty vague for the 5 year but at least should have some direction figured out.
Depending on the org the tech side might best be answered by the principle engineers not directors.
Read this and maybe you'll think of some useful questions to ask related to problems they may be able to directly fix.
This perfectly explains a situation I'm dealing with at the moment and was very helpful. Thanks for sharing!
That looks like a pitch for agile.
Icon base by Delapouite under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient