ComCast Assessment Tests

ComCast Online Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a junior developer. After three weeks of long days you have found what you believe is the cause of a recurring fault, with evidence from the logs. A developer of fifteen years’ standing says in the team channel that it cannot be that, and gives no reason. Two others agree with him and the discussion moves on. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Post the log evidence in the channel, ask him directly what he thinks it shows, and say you may well be wrong but would like to know why, so that it is settled on the logs.
   2. Let it go for now and raise it again if the fault recurs, since three weeks of long days is not the state to be arguing in and the evidence will keep.
   3. Take the evidence to your manager and ask her to look at it, since the channel has already moved on and three people have taken a view.
   4. Accept that fifteen years of knowing this system beats three weeks of your log reading, and drop it, since two other people took the same view as he did.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Post the log evidence in the channel, ask him directly what he thinks it shows, and say you may well be wrong but would like to know why, so that it is settled on the logs.

   Least effective: D. Accept that fifteen years of knowing this system beats three weeks of your log reading, and drop it, since two other people took the same view as he did.

   B: Postpones on the strength of your own tiredness: the fault recurs on customers meanwhile, and the evidence you found stays unexamined.

   C: Escalates before the argument has happened: he has not seen your logs, so there is nothing for a manager to arbitrate yet.

   D: Puts loyalty to long service above the logs: they either show what you think or they do not, and nobody in the channel has yet looked at them.

   The most effective response is to post the log evidence in the channel, ask him directly what he thinks it shows, and say you may well be wrong. He gave no reason, which means the disagreement has not actually happened yet, and this makes it about the logs rather than about either of you. It beats letting it go for now and raising it again if the fault recurs, because it keeps recurring for customers while you wait, and being tired is a reason to be careful rather than to withdraw. It beats taking the evidence to your manager, because she cannot arbitrate evidence the other party has not seen. The least effective response is accepting that fifteen years of knowing the system beats three weeks of your log reading: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the evidence alive, while this discards it because of how long somebody has worked here. The principle: when you are exhausted and outranked, put the evidence in front of the person and invite them to show you what you have missed.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a delivery coordinator. You are handing a project over to a colleague before two weeks’ leave. Everything is in order except one thing: the client’s legal team has not signed a document the build cannot start without, and three chasing emails have gone unanswered. Your colleague has not worked with this client before and you have twenty minutes left. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Spend the twenty minutes walking him through the whole plan and put the unsigned document in the handover note, where he will come across it soon enough.
   2. Email the client's legal team once more before you go and copy your colleague in, so that he sees the chase and can pick the thread up from there.
   3. Use the twenty minutes on the unsigned document: who has it, what three chases have already been tried, who else could unblock it, and what happens if it slips.
   4. Hand the project over to your colleague with the plan and the contacts, and leave the document with the client's legal team, whose delay it is to resolve.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Use the twenty minutes on the unsigned document: who has it, what three chases have already been tried, who else could unblock it, and what happens if it slips.

   Least effective: D. Hand the project over to your colleague with the plan and the contacts, and leave the document with the client's legal team, whose delay it is to resolve.

   A: Buries the one live problem in the paperwork: a note read next week is a different thing from being told, and the build cannot start until it moves.

   B: Leaves him a thread and not a briefing: he inherits an email chain without knowing that three chases have already failed or who else could unblock it.

   D: Passes the problem on without naming it: he takes on a project believing it is in order, and the one thing that stops it is left with the party who has ignored three emails.

   The most effective response is to use the twenty minutes on the unsigned document: who has it, what three chases have been tried, who else could unblock it, and what happens if it slips. Twenty minutes cannot cover everything, so it should go on the only thing that is broken. It beats walking him through the whole plan and putting the unsigned document in the handover note, because a note is read later and this problem is live now. It beats emailing the client’s legal team once more and copying him in, because that gives him the thread but not the three failures, so he will begin by repeating them. The least effective response is handing the project over with the plan and contacts and leaving the document with the client’s legal team: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave a trace of the problem where he will meet it, while this hands over a project described as being in order. The principle: spend a short handover on the thing that is broken, and name it as broken.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a delivery coordinator. A customer’s staff were being logged out at random all last week. Nothing has been changed, but the logouts stopped on Friday and nobody knows why. The customer’s operations manager rings to ask whether the problem is fixed, because she must decide today whether to train forty new staff on the system next week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the logouts have stopped but nobody has found the cause, so you cannot call it fixed, and offer to have somebody watching the system while she trains.
   2. Tell her it has stopped, and advise her to put the training back a fortnight so there is time to be certain before forty people depend on the system.
   3. Explain that you cannot comment until the engineers have finished looking, and offer to ring her back as soon as there is something definite to report.
   4. Tell her it is sorted and the training can go ahead, since nothing has gone wrong for four days and she is asking you for an answer today.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell her the logouts have stopped but nobody has found the cause, so you cannot call it fixed, and offer to have somebody watching the system while she trains.

   Least effective: D. Tell her it is sorted and the training can go ahead, since nothing has gone wrong for four days and she is asking you for an answer today.

   B: Substitutes your own judgement for the customer's: the delay may cost her more than the risk does, and she is the only person here who knows which.

   C: Delays a decision she has to make today: it is accurate and it is useless to her, because the deadline she is working to does not move to suit yours.

   D: Gives an assurance you cannot support: four quiet days with an unknown cause is not a fix, and she will commit forty people on the strength of your word.

   The most effective response is to tell her the logouts have stopped but nobody has found the cause, so you cannot call it fixed, and offer to have somebody watching while she trains. It gives her the two things she has to weigh and adds cover so her decision is cheaper to get wrong. It beats telling her it has stopped and advising a fortnight’s delay, because the cost of that delay sits with her business, so the choice is hers on full information. It beats explaining that you cannot comment until the engineers have finished, because she cannot wait for certainty and refusing to characterise what you do know leaves her deciding on less. The least effective response is telling her it is sorted and the training can go ahead: it is worse than either of the other two, because each leaves her with a true picture, however unwelcome, while this hands her a false certainty and forty people are trained on it. The principle: tell a customer what is known and what is not, and let the person carrying the risk decide.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a security analyst. Each quarter you confirm that the forty people who can open the payroll system still need to. You have confirmed thirty; the other ten sit with managers who have not replied to two emails. The return is due today, and your supervisor has asked twice whether it is finished. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the return today showing thirty confirmed and ten outstanding, and name the managers who have not replied, so that somebody can chase the last ten properly.
   2. Hold the return until the last ten managers reply so that what you send is complete, and tell your supervisor today that it is going to be late.
   3. Take the ten unanswered accounts out of the check and report on the thirty, on the basis that a question nobody answered cannot fairly be counted either way.
   4. Sign the return off for all forty. The ten silent managers would almost certainly have said something by now if any of those accounts were a real problem.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Send the return today showing thirty confirmed and ten outstanding, and name the managers who have not replied, so that somebody can chase the last ten properly.

   Least effective: D. Sign the return off for all forty. The ten silent managers would almost certainly have said something by now if any of those accounts were a real problem.

   B: Delays a return that is more useful partly done: thirty confirmed names today are worth more than forty in a fortnight, and the ten silent managers stay invisible.

   C: Shrinks the question until the answer fits: the ten accounts are the only ones anybody should be worried about, and this is the option that makes them disappear.

   D: Certifies a check that was not done: the return's whole value is that somebody looked, and this puts your name to ten accounts nobody has looked at.

   The most effective response is to send the return today showing thirty confirmed and ten outstanding, and name the managers who have not replied. It reports exactly what is known, it is on time, and naming them turns your problem into one your supervisor can solve. It beats holding the return until the last ten reply, because thirty confirmed accounts today are more use than forty in a fortnight, and the delay hides the fact that ten managers are not replying. It beats taking the ten unanswered accounts out and reporting on the thirty, because those are precisely the ones worth knowing about. The least effective response is signing the return off for all forty: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave a reader able to see what was and was not checked, while this asserts that all forty were. The principle: report the part you did and name the part you could not, and never let a record say a check happened when it did not.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a delivery coordinator. You compile the weekly figures showing how the team’s hours split across three projects. This week roughly a third went on unplanned support, which has no project to sit against and makes the delivery figure look poor. Your manager has said she would rather the report did not raise questions from the programme board this month. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Show the support hours as their own line and add a note saying they were unavoidable, so that the delivery figure is read with that caveat attached.
   2. Show the support hours as their own line and say nothing about them unless somebody asks, since the figures speak for themselves either way.
   3. Show the support hours as their own line, and tell your manager the figure will raise questions, so that she has the answer ready before the board asks it.
   4. Record the support hours as covered by the nearest project. The delivery figure then holds up properly, and the board is not distracted by an odd line item this month.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Show the support hours as their own line, and tell your manager the figure will raise questions, so that she has the answer ready before the board asks it.

   Least effective: D. Record the support hours as covered by the nearest project. The delivery figure then holds up properly, and the board is not distracted by an odd line item this month.

   A: Softens the number with a label: unavoidable is your judgement rather than a fact, and it invites the board to discount a third of the week.

   B: Reports accurately and abandons the explanation: a third of the week appears without a cause, which is exactly what will generate the questions.

   D: Records effort against work it was not spent on: a third of the week now appears as project delivery in a report the board uses to allocate people.

   The most effective response is to show the support hours as their own line, and tell your manager the figure will raise questions. The figures should say what happened, and the honest way to handle her concern is to warn her what the question will be and hand her the answer. It beats showing them as their own line with a note saying they were unavoidable, because that is an opinion added to a fact and it encourages the board to set the week aside. It beats showing the line and saying nothing unless somebody asks, because a large unexplained line is precisely what produces the questions she is worried about. The least effective response is recording the support hours as covered by the nearest project: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the hours visible, spun or bare, while this moves a third of the week into project delivery in a report used to allocate people. The principle: report the number as it is and prepare the person who will be asked about it, rather than changing the number so the question is never asked.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a support analyst. You were asked to ring twenty customers affected by last week’s outage and record what each said. You reached fourteen; six did not answer and you did not try again. In this morning’s meeting the person writing the report to the customers asks whether the calls are done, and there are eleven other items on the agenda. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say fourteen were reached and six were not, and give a day for the six, so that the report is written on the number of customers who actually spoke to you.
   2. Say the calls are done and ring the remaining six straight after the meeting, so that the answer you gave becomes true before the report is written up.
   3. Say the calls are done, even though you know six were never reached. Fourteen of twenty is a good rate for an outage, and the six are unlikely to have said anything different.
   4. Say the calls went well and offer to send the detail round afterwards, rather than holding up a meeting with eleven other items on its agenda.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Say fourteen were reached and six were not, and give a day for the six, so that the report is written on the number of customers who actually spoke to you.

   Least effective: C. Say the calls are done, even though you know six were never reached. Fourteen of twenty is a good rate for an outage, and the six are unlikely to have said anything different.

   B: Makes a claim you intend to make true later: the room agrees the report now, and six of the twenty had not been reached when you said they had.

   C: Asserts a result for work that was not finished: six customers count as consulted on the reasoning that they would probably have agreed.

   D: Gives an impression instead of a number: went well is not fourteen of twenty, and the detail arrives after the report has been agreed.

   The most effective response is to say fourteen were reached and six were not, and give a day for the six. One sentence gives the writer the real denominator, which is what the report rests on, and a date turns the shortfall into something the room can hold. It beats saying the calls are done and ringing the remaining six straight afterwards, because the report is agreed in the meeting, so a claim made true later was false when it was acted on. It beats saying the calls went well and offering to send the detail round, because a good impression is not a response rate. The least effective response is saying the calls are done when six were never reached: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with the six being reached or the detail circulated, while this closes the question by reasoning about what six unreached customers would probably have said. The principle: when asked whether something is finished, give the number you reached and the number you did not, with a date on the remainder.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. A customer emails you directly because yesterday’s release changed a screen her staff use all day and she cannot find a setting they rely on. She has written to you because your name was on the release note. You know where the setting has moved to. The support queue is running at three days. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket yourself so that the change gets documented for everybody else who will hit it.
   2. Reply asking her to raise it through the support portal, where her question will be picked up by whoever is on the queue that day.
   3. Reply with where the setting has moved to and leave it there, since her question is answered and the release note is somebody else's document to maintain.
   4. Forward her email to the team who wrote the screen and ask them to reply to her directly, as they will explain the change far better than you could.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket yourself so that the change gets documented for everybody else who will hit it.

   Least effective: B. Reply asking her to raise it through the support portal, where her question will be picked up by whoever is on the queue that day.

   B: Passes the problem on without owning it: she wrote to the one person who knows the answer, and is sent to a three-day queue to be told what you could say now.

   C: Answers her and stops: the next twenty customers hit the same wall, and the note that caused it stays exactly as wrong as it was this morning.

   D: Adds a hop she did not ask for: they may well explain it better, and she is now waiting on people who have not agreed to write to her.

   The most effective response is to reply to her today telling her where the setting has moved, and raise a ticket so the change gets documented. She needs one sentence you already have, and the fact that she had to ask is evidence the release note is missing something others will need. It beats replying with where the setting has moved and leaving it there, because that leaves the same gap for everyone behind her, and the note carries your name. It beats forwarding her email to the team who wrote the screen, because they have not agreed to write to customers and she gets no faster answer. The least effective response is asking her to raise it through the support portal: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with her being told something, while this sends the person who reached the only individual holding the answer into a three-day queue. The principle: when a customer reaches the person who knows, answer, and fix the thing that made her have to ask.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a graduate software engineer. You volunteered months ago to run the team’s Friday session where people share what they have learned. This week your estimate for a piece of work was questioned in planning and the team agreed a shorter one. Nobody was unpleasant and the shorter estimate may well be right. Two people are booked to speak at Friday’s session. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Run Friday's session as usual, and separately ask the person who challenged the estimate to walk you through how they got to the shorter number.
   2. Run Friday's session and tell the team afterwards that you would like somebody else to take it on from next month, without saying why you have changed your mind.
   3. Stop running the Friday session after that, and let whoever wants it pick it up, including the two people who are already booked to speak.
   4. Run Friday's session but stop preparing for it, so the time you were giving to the team goes back into the work you are apparently expected to do faster.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Run Friday's session as usual, and separately ask the person who challenged the estimate to walk you through how they got to the shorter number.

   Least effective: C. Stop running the Friday session after that, and let whoever wants it pick it up, including the two people who are already booked to speak.

   B: Withdraws with the reason removed: the team loses the session's organiser and never learns that a planning discussion is what did it.

   C: Withdraws a voluntary duty after a challenge: two booked speakers and the whole team pay for a disagreement about an estimate that had nothing to do with them.

   D: Reduces the thing quietly: the session still has your name on it and it is now worth less, which nobody has agreed to or been told.

   The most effective response is to run Friday’s session as usual, and separately ask the person who challenged the estimate to walk you through how they got to the shorter number. The session and the estimate are unrelated, two people are booked, and finding out how they reached it is the honestly useful response. It beats running Friday’s session and asking the team afterwards for somebody else to take it on without saying why, because that costs the team its organiser and teaches nobody anything. It beats running it but no longer preparing, because your name is still on a session you have quietly stopped preparing for. The least effective response is letting whoever wants it pick the session up, including the two already booked to speak: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep it running at least once more, while this drops it on the speakers themselves, over a planning discussion they had no part in. The principle: a challenge to your estimate is a thing to ask about, and never something a voluntary commitment to other people should pay for.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a procurement assistant helping to compare two training suppliers. One of them runs a half-day workshop you have wanted to attend, normally closed to non-customers. Their account manager says he can put you on next month’s session, and adds that he hopes the comparison is going their way. Your write-up is due on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.
   2. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.
   3. Take the place but say nothing about it, since declining would be awkward and the workshop has no bearing at all on how the two suppliers actually performed.
   4. Ask the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, so that the place is not connected to the comparison and can be accepted cleanly afterwards.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered, so that they read your write-up knowing about it.

   Least effective: A. Accept the gift of the place and write the comparison as you would have anyway, since half a day of training is small and the answer was never in any doubt.

   A: Takes an advantage the role forbids: the place is offered by a supplier whose fate you are writing up, and its worth does not depend on whether it changed your mind.

   C: Keeps a benefit the decision-makers cannot see: they read the write-up without the one fact that would make them read it differently.

   D: Reschedules the problem rather than removing it: the offer still arrived while you were writing, and the timing is the only thing that has changed.

   The most effective response is to say you cannot take the place while the comparison is open, and tell whoever owns the decision it was offered. Your write-up is an input to a decision between two suppliers, so its value rests on being visibly uninfluenced, and reporting the offer settles that at no cost. It beats asking the account manager to hold the offer open until after Friday, because moving the date does not change that it was made by an interested party during the comparison. It beats taking the place and saying nothing about it, because the people deciding cannot weigh something they have not been told. The least effective response is accepting the place and writing the comparison as you would have anyway: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the timing or the silence as the only problem, while this takes the benefit and reasons that doing so was harmless because the answer was already settled. The principle: when you hold a say in who wins, decline what the parties offer and tell the people who own the choice that it was offered.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a test analyst. A supplier who provides the test devices has told you the twelve you ordered will arrive a week after the date the team agreed with the customer. You are mid-way through a test run due this afternoon. Nobody else knows about the delay, and the customer’s date was agreed on the basis that the devices arrive on time. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Finish this afternoon's run first and raise the device delay tomorrow, when there will be room to explain what it means for the customer's date properly.
    2. Keep the supplier chasing it and leave the customer's date alone for now, since the delivery is their commitment and a week can often be pulled back.
    3. Put the supplier's email into the team channel and carry on with the run, so that anybody who needs to know about the devices can read it there.
    4. Tell whoever agreed the customer's date now, in one message, that the devices are a week late, then go back and finish this afternoon's run.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Tell whoever agreed the customer's date now, in one message, that the devices are a week late, then go back and finish this afternoon's run.

    Least effective: B. Keep the supplier chasing it and leave the customer's date alone for now, since the delivery is their commitment and a week can often be pulled back.

    A: Ranks a run that has no external date above one that has: the customer's date is the thing at risk, and tomorrow is a day less to do anything about it.

    B: Passes the problem back to the supplier and stops there: the team that promised the customer a date still does not know the devices will be late.

    C: Publishes to nobody in particular: the people who agreed the customer's date have no reason to be reading the channel this afternoon.

    The most effective response is to tell whoever agreed the customer’s date, in one message, that the devices are a week late, then go back and finish the run. A week’s slip against a date already given is somebody else’s problem to solve and they cannot start until they know. It beats finishing this afternoon’s run first and raising the delay tomorrow, because a day lost is a day of options lost and the run carries no external commitment. It beats putting the supplier’s email into the team channel and carrying on, because a channel post is not the same as telling the people who made the promise. The least effective response is keeping the supplier chasing it and leaving the customer’s date alone: it is worse than either of the other two, because both surface it somewhere eventually, while this leaves the people holding the date entirely unaware. The principle: when a supplier’s slip lands on somebody else’s promise, the promise-holders are told first and told today.