Agreed. The best way to interview is to simply have a joint discussion about their past projects (from resume). There is no value in whiteboard puzzles. It is easy to gauge who is competent and who didn't do or didn't understand the work they claim on the resume.

In over 25 years of interviewing candidates, this approach has never failed me. I've never asked for whiteboard coding. Whiteboarding architectural concepts, sure.

The only caveat is the interviewer needs to have substantial experience in the same field to spot the wheat from the chaff in a casual conversation. If the interviewer is very junior, I can see how this might not work. Solution: don't have your most junior people run the interviews.