tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85701259823347907592011-08-02T19:24:38.281+03:00Weekly Questions in the general area of testing. And answers.Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-68928869400054456422009-10-01T16:27:00.002+03:002009-10-01T17:01:53.700+03:00

No question any more. For a while.We will concentrate our efforts on a different kind of learning exercises and I will try to cover them here also. The conclusion post will be here also after I have spoken to each of them individually.The most interesting question came from one of the testers and needs to be discussed."What good is discussing about theories we cannot use in practise?"Meaning,

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-505630567748440272009-10-01T16:17:00.002+03:002009-10-01T16:27:34.121+03:00

Why?To explain your previous decisions.My view.Every once-in-a-while you have to explain something you did a while back. It might be a test plan you did or error you set as solved. How easy that would be to explain your actions from 2 weeks ago? 2 months ago? And if new information has emerged about the situation, what then? It is rather difficult to accept that your decision was wrong or

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-90424654169122423482009-09-24T11:18:00.001+03:002009-09-24T11:19:46.124+03:00

Why did You choose the words you did for the last week question ?Explain your reasoning.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-87069490034532926832009-09-24T11:15:00.002+03:002009-09-24T11:18:28.352+03:00

Why?Creativity & English grammarMy view?Well.English grammar first. The sentences must make sense and not only in general, but also be grammatically correct. Which is harder than it looks for non-native speakers.That is easy to understand and learn.Creativity about making different statements about testing is more challenging. The pre-made sentences gave rough guidelines, but noting too

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-26730883271729526892009-09-18T13:35:00.000+03:002009-09-18T13:37:04.092+03:00

Complete the sentences, one word for each underlining. a) Testing ____ inference, ____ ____ comparison of ____ to ____ results.b) Intuition is a ____ beginning, ____ a ____ conclusion.c) ____ ____ testing is ___ ignorance-based _____.d) You're ____ ____ fool, if ____ ____ you're a fool.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-56563406536120149062009-09-18T13:33:00.001+03:002009-09-18T13:35:36.541+03:00

Why?To make tester think before attempting to solve problemsMy view.Logical proof can be given from two points – first is that you can prove that the statement is true. The other is that you can prove that it is false. In this case it is quite problematic to prove logically that the sun rises, due to the fact that rising sun is optical illusion as the earth rotates around its axis. But which is

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-14327345779074372662009-09-09T13:31:00.001+03:002009-09-09T13:31:50.722+03:00

Give a logical proof that the Sun rises in the mornings on planet Earth.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-90735633846664425292009-09-09T12:49:00.002+03:002009-09-09T13:30:57.309+03:00

Why?To make testers ask questions.My view:The question was deliberately formed so confusing. Without real question or assignment. So that you would do what you would normally do when given confusing task.After questioning the missing question that part was revealed – “Which are not true?”The question itself is a bit weird as those four sentences are not logically true by themselves. More

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-56707319847595073082009-09-02T11:26:00.000+03:002009-09-02T11:27:03.593+03:00

a) A systematic approach to identifying specific equivalent classes of input.b) The steps to be taken to get the system to a given pointc) Testing to verify that the test environment can be integrated with the product.d) The process of anticipating or guessing where defects might occur.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-70645735202653984152009-09-02T11:24:00.001+03:002009-09-02T11:26:27.682+03:00

Why?Two main points: creativity and assessment of situation.My viewIn that situation you are left with two options:1) Tell the joke2) Get out of telling itFirstly, it is very hard to make a neutral joke in general. In the current situation You’d have to consider that can be joked about and whatnot. You ‘d have to consider what would happen if the CEO or someone at his side would be offended

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-29336603419607929852009-08-26T13:40:00.001+03:002009-08-26T13:42:02.602+03:00

Situation:The company you work for is hosting their biggest client/partner CEO. The CEO is given a tour around your company, meeting everyone. After approaching your desk and introductions, the CEO asks: “Please, tell me a joke?”What do you say?

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-60917179671083332312009-08-26T13:34:00.002+03:002009-08-26T13:40:18.878+03:00

Why This Question:Various approaches, reasons why people see different things.My view:This is all about changing the way you think. The movement is an optical illusion, on the actual picture the position of the girl is changed – it is either this or that. It does not show the movement from one position to the other. Your brain substitutes that so it is easier to comprehend.As you can make

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-54555578749896885472009-08-19T11:04:00.000+03:002009-08-19T11:06:05.684+03:00

Which way does the girl spin?

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-33437657056326003872009-08-19T11:00:00.002+03:002009-08-19T11:04:43.374+03:00

Why This Question:Point of view, perspective, focusing.My view:Yes - It is a old one. And Yes – there is a text between the shapes.And it can be seen only from further away or blurring or by focusing on the space between. Too easy? Yes.But this is the same way we miss important information while not investigating seemingly obvious “picture”.The point is that one should Always look at least twice.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-21905462888662390612009-08-12T11:26:00.001+03:002009-08-12T11:27:51.235+03:00

Describe the following picture:

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-14649982484604555612009-08-12T11:23:00.002+03:002009-08-12T11:26:35.096+03:00

Why this question:To talk about usability of metrics.Idea Behind:Theoretically all aspects of any given process cannot be measured. Complete controllability would mean that all possible states could be achieved from all others states which of course is also practically impossible.So what and how can be measured? Measuring can be qualitative or quantitative.Example:The speedometer of the car is

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-7685695949618130162009-08-11T16:32:00.001+03:002009-08-11T16:32:45.390+03:00

Only then is a process controllable if: a) … it is measurable b)… it is measurable and controllable c)… it is completely measurable d)… it is completely measurable and completely controllable

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-18638080298564396652009-08-11T16:28:00.002+03:002009-08-11T16:42:11.753+03:00

I was pretty cruel on the testers asking them to after 1-month vacation what they remember about the questions and answers. And more importantly what they think was important for them. And did this one-by-one as I told them what had thought of their answers.Most of them did not remember much from the first look - but after reminding of the questions they seemed to recall the ideas behind them.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-62382663606748974312009-06-25T12:15:00.003+03:002009-06-25T12:16:24.823+03:00

Sorry. Not any more. At least for a while. It is vacation time now - go and rest and dream and imagine. Will be back in August.Conclusion coming up before that.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-23623459109610686992009-06-25T12:06:00.002+03:002009-06-25T12:15:01.252+03:00

Why this question ?The point was to show that same thing can be named differently – tester has to understand the essence of things and thus see beyond the words and grasp the idea behind them.My view:In essence they are all the same.“Ad Hoc” is the first that emerged in late 80s, then “Rapid” and “Exploratory” and then “Agile”. With the “Agile” being a derived from the agile development

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-1685633661954857952009-06-17T11:44:00.000+03:002009-06-17T11:45:09.840+03:00

Define one of the following terms: a) Rapid Testing b) Exploratory Testing c) Agile Testing d) Ad Hoc Testing

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-41112237029451577232009-06-17T11:36:00.002+03:002009-06-17T11:44:18.730+03:00

Why this question ?To test the attention and math-thinking ability.My view:This question was mainly stressing two points:First, the puzzles themselves are not that common and need a bit of thinking to get them straight. Alas, the one with resistors being a bit more complex. Nevertheless, the Internet has solutions for both of them.Secondly, the question was not to solve them. The question stated

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-28412991334095377342009-06-10T12:19:00.004+03:002009-06-10T12:22:29.769+03:00

You are walking down the street and looking for a puzzle to solve. After some time while crossing a street you see TWO very interesting signs:You can choose what to do.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-35108704143441612382009-06-10T11:36:00.004+03:002009-06-10T11:47:20.383+03:00

Why this question ?To learn something new ( or old) and understand the "gut feeling".My view:Yes, he is famous for his clocks, but those are not his greatest achievement. Not even his grasshopper escapement, the bimetallic strip or the caged roller bearing.His will to try and make something that was thought impossible, even when told otherwise, was his greatest achievement. Not only the invention

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-44727273486106600612009-06-03T13:10:00.004+03:002009-06-03T13:11:57.099+03:00

What was the greatest achievement of John Harrison and why?a) H1b) H2c) H3d) H4e) Something else...

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-12145311454714344402009-06-03T13:10:00.002+03:002009-06-03T13:10:38.403+03:00

Why this question ?Just something to wander about.My view:Even if all combinations can be calculated, which takes more computing power than the supercomputers have used, it is still problematic to decide which one to use. Humans follow their “gut feeling” or intuition and therefore can skip the hard part of computing. It is the power of pattern recognition and creativity and illogic.And sometimes

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-36818386815936963082009-05-27T14:18:00.001+03:002009-05-27T14:18:44.146+03:00

Why can’t supercomputers like “Deep Blue” or “Deep Fritz” win all chess games against expert players?

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-57969941313654680502009-05-27T13:10:00.004+03:002009-05-27T14:18:02.458+03:00

Why this question ?The whole thing is pretty much stressing the point that sometimes – no matter how hard we look we cannot find a solution. The question was to make you use your imagination of what it could be and what it would signify – to ask questions about the weird things you discover during testing.My view:It looks like a Gomoku game with equal number of placed pieces – as white starts

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-72742708949371250002009-05-20T11:37:00.001+03:002009-05-20T11:39:30.736+03:00

Analyse, Assume & Conclude.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-69744635069196961112009-05-20T11:22:00.003+03:002009-05-20T11:37:50.286+03:00

Why this question ?The idea behind the question was to make You think about different sides of the same thing. Describing him as Artist or Hacker does not change what he did but only changes how it is thought of. And by thinking differently about something gives a creates a wider range of questions about it.And for testers - trying to answer different questions gives possibility to discover

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-45502455205355779232009-05-13T11:41:00.001+03:002009-05-13T11:42:37.103+03:00

Who is Kevin Mitnick?a) Artistb) Hackerc) Herod) None of the above, Give reasons why You think so.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-61303563732102841672009-05-13T11:33:00.003+03:002009-05-13T13:16:19.999+03:00

Why this question ?The idea behind the question was to make You think about exploration and discoverying.What it is? When something is discovered? How to discover new stuff? Why we discover some stuff again-and-again? Etc...In my view :Discovery is the result exploration. But only so when it has been analysed and properly documented.Columbus plotted a course to the west to find a shorter route to

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-90156944497919900252009-05-06T12:47:00.001+03:002009-05-06T12:50:31.622+03:00

Who discovered America ( the continent) ? Give some reasons why You think so.

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-57122177318872542652009-05-06T11:40:00.003+03:002009-05-06T12:46:39.689+03:00

Why this question?The meaning behind the question was to make you think about the purpose of testing and the way testers handle their problems.For the Biologist the most typical issue is reproduction - therefore he described the situation from that point of view.The Mathematicians take things abstractly - so their explanation would be that there is "-1" people in the house.Or as the Physicists

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-46008764204899613522009-04-29T12:26:00.004+03:002009-05-13T15:12:36.353+03:00

Situation:There is an empty House. One person goes in and a bit later two persons come out.Explanations:By Biologist: Procreation – amitosis, fission, (asexual) reproduction etcBy Mathematician: if one more person entered the building it would be empty again.Your assignment: How would a tester explain the situation?

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570125982334790759.post-89587724421868156152009-04-29T11:31:00.002+03:002009-04-29T12:25:09.618+03:00

No. This is my way of trying to help people to think a bit more.What's the point ?So the main goal is to widen the testers mind with extraordinary questions. And the winner gets a prize.Is there on right answer ?No, Actually the questions themselves are not as important than the journey to find the answer.What kind of questions ?Questions are various, covering all kinds of topics except

Skeevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04240217575110632682noreply@blogger.com0