Context free Questions for testers parsed (c.f. not the crooner)

Leaving out the names of the original author to avoid positive bias or angst at seeing repeated mentions.? (The article has a link to the original for anyone interested. That in turn has a link to another source.)

?Context-Free Questions for Testing – DevelopSense is a great blog post on questions to ask about testing at the planning stage.? The author mentions the option of linking the question to HTSM and CM (see original link for the meanings of these acronyms).? I have categorized the questions based on those two models.

For some questions, the relevance of the question wasn’t clear to me.? If you read the original inspiration for the testing blog post, the relevance becomes apparent.? I’ve added an excerpt of the original source at the end of this post.

Questions

Question about questions

• Is it okay if I ask you questions?

Client

• Who is my client?
• Are you my only client?
• Who is the customer of the product?
• Who are the other stakeholders?

Mission

• What is my mission?
• What else might be part of my mission?
• What problems are you aware of that would threaten the value of this product or service?
• Do you want a quick, practical, or deep answer to the mission or question you have in mind?

Schedule/Delivery

• How much time do I have?
• How long before the next release or deployment?
• How long before the end of this testing or development cycle?
• When do you want reports or answers?
• How do you want me to provide them? How often?
• When were you thinking of shipping or deploying this product or service?
• What else do you want me to deliver?
• How do you want me to deliver it?

Product/Project

• This thing I’m testing… could I have it myself, please?
• Is there another one like it?
• Are there more than that?
• Is that all there are?
• How is this one expected to be the same or different from the other ones?
• Here’s what I believe I see in front of me. What else could it be?
• Here’s what I’m thinking right now. What else might be true? What if the opposite were true?
• Could you describe how it works?
• Could you draw me a diagram of how it works?
• How would I recognize a problem?
• I think I’m seeing a problem. Why do I think it’s a problem? For whom might it be a problem?
• What does this thing depend upon?
• What tools or materials were used to construct it?

Team

• Who built this thing?
• Can I talk to them?
• Are they easy to talk to? Helpful?
• Have they ever built anything like this before?
• Is there anyone that I should actively avoid?
• Who else knows something about this?
• Who’s the?best?person to ask about this?
• Who are the local experts in this field?
• Who are the acknowledged experts, even if they don’t work here?
• Has anyone else tested this?
• Can I see their results, please?
• Who else is on my test team?

Skills

• What skills and competencies are expected of me?
• What other skills and competencies can be found on the test team? Elsewhere?
• What skills and competencies might we be lacking?

Information (Requirements in CM)

• What information is available to me?
• Is there more information available?
• Where could I find more information? Is that the last source you can think of?
• In what other forms could I find information?
• Is that all the information there is? Is there more? Are there more rules? Requirements? Specifications?
• If information is in some way wanting, what can I do to help you discover or develop the information you need?

Tools (Test Lab in CM)

• What equipment and tools are available to help with my testing?
• What tools would you like me to build? Expect me to build?

Data

• Is there some data that is being processed by this thing?
• Can I have some of that data?
• Can I have a description of the data’s structures?

Feelings

• What are your feelings about this thing?
• Who might feel differently?
• How might they feel?
• What do customers say about it?
• Can I talk to the technical support people?
• (How do?I?feel about this thing?)
• Who can we trust? Is there anyone that we should distrust?
• Is there anything that you would like to prohibit me explicitly from doing?

Question about questions?

• Are there any other questions I should be asking you?

Questions asked in the original source.?

I’ve removed some of the questions – you can purchase the original to view those.

Exploring requirements

?Here are some context free Project related questions:

1.?????? Who is the client?

2.?????? What is a highly successful solution really worth to this client?

3.?????? What is the real reason for wanting to solve this problem?

4.?????? Should we use a single design team, or more than one?

5.?????? .

6.?????? .

7.?????? .

8.?????? .

Here is a list of useful context-free product questions:

9.?????? What problems does this product solve?

10.?? What problems could this product create?

11.?? .

12.?? .

The following meta-questions have been used with great success:

13.?? Am I asking you too many questions?

14.?? ?Do my questions seem relevant?

15.?? ?.

16.?? .

In order to be sure we understand each other, I've found that it helps me to have things in writing where I can study them at leisure. May I write down your answers and give you a written copy to study and approve? Use this if your communication has been only in writing so far:

17.?? The written material has been helpful, but I find I understand some things better if I can discuss them face-to-face. Can we get together at some point, so we can know each other better and can clarify some of these points?

18.?? Is there anyone else who can give me useful answers?

19.?? .

20.?? .

21.?? .

22.?? .

23.?? .

24.?? ?

Context-free questions often reveal conflicting assumptions among various interested parties. Because you have prepared the questions in advance, you can more easily compare replies, and you should always do so. Then you can ask:

25.?? When I asked X about that, she said Y. Do you have any idea why she might have said Y?

An easy way to compare replies is to interview two or more people at the same time. If they have differences in their assumptions, you may see a clear reaction. Then you can ask the following meta-question:

26.?? I notice that you don't seem to agree with that reply. Would you tell us about that?

When interviewing two or more people together, however, be on the alert for one person's answers inhibiting another's. Such inhibitions are going to haunt you as you proceed through the project, so you may want to take this early opportunity to ask:

27.?? Are you comfortable with the process right now? Is there any reason you don't feel you can answer freely?

Of course, if they don't feel comfortable, they may also not feel comfortable saying they're not comfortable. If you sense the possibility of this situation, try asking the previous questions in private, of each participant. Another group of tough, critical meta-questions cannot always be asked directly:

28.?? What can you tell me about the other people on this project?

29.?? How do you feel about the other people working with us on this project?

30.?? .

31.?? .

If a direct approach is not suitable, handle such questions not by asking them, but by looking for their answers buried in the answers to other questions. When someone mentions another person, make a note of the context and, possibly, ask.

32.?? Can you tell me more about that person?

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