Huawei Assessment Tests

Huawei Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a junior data engineer. A supplier who provides a daily data feed has told you their file will be late every day for the next fortnight while they move systems. The team that publishes the morning figures depends on that feed and has committed to a customer deadline of nine o’clock each day. Nobody outside your inbox knows. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Keep pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time. It is their commitment to meet, and chasing them is the fastest route back to a nine o'clock file.
   2. Tell the publishing team that the feed may be late occasionally over the next two weeks, without going into the supplier's system move or the full fortnight.
   3. Tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need from you to protect their nine o'clock commitment.
   4. Put a note in the shared channel about the supplier's system move, so that anybody depending on the feed can see it and plan around it themselves.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need from you to protect their nine o'clock commitment.

   Least effective: A. Keep pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time. It is their commitment to meet, and chasing them is the fastest route back to a nine o'clock file.

   A: Passes the problem on without owning it: the supplier has already said a fortnight, and the team promising nine o'clock still does not know it is at risk.

   B: Softens a warning until it cannot be planned with: occasionally and a fortnight every day are different problems and only one of them can be prepared for.

   D: Publishes to nobody in particular: the team with the nine o'clock commitment has no reason to be reading that channel this morning.

   The most effective response is to tell the publishing team today that the feed will be late every day for a fortnight, and ask what they need to protect their nine o’clock commitment. A fortnight of late files against a daily deadline is their problem to solve, and they can only solve it knowing the shape of it. It beats telling them the feed may be late occasionally over the next two weeks, because that produces no plan and every day for two weeks is a different problem. It beats putting a note in the shared channel about the supplier’s system move, because that is not the same as telling the people with a customer commitment. The least effective response is pressing the supplier every day to deliver on time: it is worse than either of the other two, because both put something in front of the affected team, while this spends a fortnight chasing a supplier who has already given their answer. The principle: when a supplier’s problem lands on somebody else’s promise, tell the people who made the promise first.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an access administrator. A colleague asks whether the permission changes she requested a fortnight ago went into last night’s update. You have not looked. Her team is running a training session this afternoon that assumes the new permissions are live, and there are about twenty minutes before it starts. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Assure her the changes went in last night, since they were requested a fortnight ago and everything in that queue was cleared before the update ran.
   2. Tell her you have not checked and that she should test one of the new permissions herself before the session, since she has twenty minutes to do it in.
   3. Tell her you will confirm it after her session, when there is time to look at the update log properly rather than rushing it in twenty minutes.
   4. Check the update log now, which takes a few minutes, and tell her plainly whether the permissions are live before her session starts this afternoon.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Check the update log now, which takes a few minutes, and tell her plainly whether the permissions are live before her session starts this afternoon.

   Least effective: A. Assure her the changes went in last night, since they were requested a fortnight ago and everything in that queue was cleared before the update ran.

   A: Confirms something you have not looked at: twenty people may sit down to a training session built on permissions that are not there.

   B: Hands the check to the person who asked: it works, and it spends her last twenty minutes on something you could establish faster.

   C: Answers after the moment it mattered: the session runs on an assumption, and the confirmation arrives once it can no longer change anything.

   The most effective response is to check the update log now, which takes a few minutes, and tell her plainly whether the permissions are live. The answer is minutes of reading away, twenty minutes is enough, and she is about to run a session on the assumption. It beats telling her you have not checked and that she should test one of the new permissions herself, because you can look it up faster than she can test it and her twenty minutes are the ones under pressure. It beats offering to confirm it after her session, because a confirmation then tells her only what already went wrong. The least effective response is assuring her the changes went in last night because everything in that queue was cleared: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her knowing nobody has checked, while this confirms from the queue’s usual behaviour and a room full of people relies on it. The principle: when the answer is minutes of reading away and somebody is about to act on it, read it, and never confirm from what usually happens.

3. Question 3 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.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. A customer has waited three weeks for a fix to a fault that stops her staff exporting their reports. The engineer who owns it says only that the cause is still not understood. The customer’s contact emails you asking for a date. Your team meets on Thursday and may know more then. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.
   2. Wait until Thursday so that your reply can carry something definite, rather than writing now with nothing useful to tell her about the fault.
   3. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.
   4. Send her email over to the engineer who owns the fault so he can answer her directly, since he is the only person who knows where it currently stands.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way.

   Least effective: C. Reply that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly, which is the answer she is hoping for and buys the engineer a little more time.

   B: Delays the decision: it treats having no news as a reason to send nothing, and leaves a customer who has already waited three weeks waiting in silence.

   C: Over-promises: it converts an unknown cause into a near-certain date, so when the fix does not arrive she has been misled by you rather than merely kept waiting.

   D: Passes responsibility to others: the engineer did not agree to write to customers, and the person she wrote to is the one who owes her the reply.

   The most effective response is to reply today saying the cause is still being worked on, that you cannot give a date yet, and that you will come back to her on Thursday either way. She needs to plan, knowing there is no date is something she can act on, and a promised Thursday reply gives her something to hold you to. It beats waiting until Thursday so your reply can carry something definite, because three weeks of waiting is what makes silence expensive. It beats sending her email to the engineer who owns the fault, because she wrote to the person who owns the release, and moving her adds a step without adding an answer. The least effective response is replying that the fix is on its way and should reach her shortly: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her with an accurate picture, late or second-hand, while this leaves her with a false one she will plan around. The principle: when you have no date, say so and commit to a next contact, rather than lending a customer a certainty you do not have.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a test analyst. A batch of two thousand records has to be checked against the customer’s own list before a migration. Checking them properly means a day of work. Checking a sample of two hundred takes an hour and would almost certainly find any systematic error. The migration is tomorrow and nobody has said which is expected. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Check the sample of two hundred and report the batch as checked, since a sample finds any systematic problem and a full check would cost a day nobody has.
   2. Check the full two thousand and let the migration slip by a day, since the check exists to be done and a sample is not the thing that was asked for.
   3. Check the sample and note in the report that two hundred of two thousand were checked, then get on with preparing for tomorrow's migration.
   4. Ask whoever owns tomorrow's migration whether a sample or the full batch is wanted, so that the trade is theirs, and do whichever they choose today.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Ask whoever owns tomorrow's migration whether a sample or the full batch is wanted, so that the trade is theirs, and do whichever they choose today.

   Least effective: A. Check the sample of two hundred and report the batch as checked, since a sample finds any systematic problem and a full check would cost a day nobody has.

   A: Breaches the check where it counts: the report will say two thousand records were checked against the customer's list when two hundred were.

   B: Spends a day without asking whether it was wanted: nobody has said which check is expected, and the migration date belongs to somebody else.

   C: Records the limit and decides the question: the note is honest, and the choice between a day and an hour was still made by the person with least standing to make it.

   The most effective response is to ask whoever owns tomorrow’s migration whether a sample or the full batch is wanted, and do whichever they choose today. Nobody has said which check is expected, and the trade of a day’s schedule against a class of error a sample might miss belongs to them. It beats checking the full two thousand and letting the migration slip by a day, because that is a real cost to somebody else’s date and they have not been asked whether they will pay it. It beats checking the sample and noting that two hundred of two thousand were done, because an honest note still leaves the decision with the person least placed to weigh it. The least effective response is checking the sample and reporting the batch as checked: it is worse than either of the other two, because one does the fuller check and the other records what was done, while this reports two thousand records as checked when two hundred were. The principle: when the choice is between somebody else’s day and somebody else’s risk, ask them, and never let a report describe a check that was not performed.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a junior developer. A colleague has asked you to approve a change of four hundred lines so that it can go out before he leaves at five. You have not read it and you have about ten minutes. Nobody assigned you the review; he picked you because you were online. The change touches how customers’ orders are priced. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Read the ten minutes' worth that you can, approve it on that basis, and note in the comment which parts of it you actually managed to look at.
   2. Tell him you cannot approve four hundred lines in ten minutes, offer to read the pricing part properly first thing tomorrow, and let him decide about five o'clock.
   3. Ask somebody with more experience of the pricing code to look at it instead, even though nobody at all is likely to be free before five o'clock today.
   4. Approve it unread so that he makes his five o'clock, on the basis that these reviews almost never turn anything up and he knows the pricing code far better than you.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell him you cannot approve four hundred lines in ten minutes, offer to read the pricing part properly first thing tomorrow, and let him decide about five o'clock.

   Least effective: D. Approve it unread so that he makes his five o'clock, on the basis that these reviews almost never turn anything up and he knows the pricing code far better than you.

   A: Signs for a sample and calls it a review: the note is honest, but the approval it carries covers four hundred lines and reads the same as any other.

   C: Moves a request you could partly meet to somebody who cannot: it is the right instinct at the wrong hour, and he is left with nothing before he goes.

   D: Breaches a control by approving unread: the approval exists so that a second person has looked, and this makes the record say somebody did when nobody did.

   The most effective response is to tell him you cannot approve four hundred lines in ten minutes, offer to read the pricing part properly first thing tomorrow, and let him decide about five o’clock. You cannot do what is being asked in the time available, saying so is quick, and the offer gives him a real option rather than a refusal. It beats reading the ten minutes’ worth you can and noting in the comment which parts you looked at, because a partial reading still produces a full approval and the qualifying comment will not travel with it. It beats asking somebody with more experience of the pricing code, because nobody senior is free before five. The least effective response is approving it unread so he makes his five o’clock: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave the record honest about how much was looked at, while this puts a second name on four hundred unread lines of pricing code. The principle: when you cannot do the review that is being asked for, say what you can do and by when, and never let an approval assert a reading that did not happen.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are an operations analyst. A colleague told you in confidence that she is applying for a job elsewhere and asked you not to say anything. Your team is now planning who covers the on-call rota for the next six months, and the plan being drawn up assumes she is on it throughout. You are the only person who knows. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself, or to let you say that her availability is uncertain.
   2. Tell the person drawing up the rota that she may not be here in six months, and the six-month plan is then built on something realistic rather than an untested assumption.
   3. Say nothing and let the rota be drawn up as it stands, since her application may come to nothing and the plan can be changed if it does not.
   4. Suggest to the planner that six months is too long a horizon for any rota, and press for a three-month plan without giving any reason for it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself, or to let you say that her availability is uncertain.

   Least effective: B. Tell the person drawing up the rota that she may not be here in six months, and the six-month plan is then built on something realistic rather than an untested assumption.

   B: Breaches a confidence because repeating it would be useful: it was given to you privately, and passing it on may cost her the job she currently has.

   C: Leaves a plan built on a fact only you hold: six months of cover is being committed on an assumption you know may not survive the month.

   D: Argues for a change you cannot justify: the reasoning stays hidden, so the planner weighs an odd request rather than a real risk.

   The most effective response is to tell her the six-month rota is being drawn up around her, and ask her to say something to the planner herself or to let you say her availability is uncertain. The confidence is hers to lift and the rota problem is real, so the move that respects both is to let her choose how it is handled. It beats saying nothing and letting the rota be drawn up as it stands, because a six-month commitment is being made on a fact only you know. It beats pressing the planner for a three- month horizon without giving any reason, because that asks them to weigh a preference instead of a risk. The least effective response is repeating what she told you so the plan rests on something realistic rather than an untested assumption: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave her confidence intact, while this passes on a private disclosure and may cost her the job she currently holds. The principle: when a confidence collides with a plan, take it back to the person who gave it and let them choose, rather than deciding on their behalf in either direction.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a technical support adviser. Your team is choosing between two companies to supply replacement laptops, and you have been asked to write up how each one handled a trial. A salesperson from one of them offers you a pair of tickets to a match this weekend, and says it has nothing whatever to do with the trial. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Accept the gift of the tickets and keep your write-up neutral. The match has nothing to do with the trial, and refusing would make an issue of an ordinary kindness.
   2. Refuse the tickets politely and keep the approach to yourself, so the salesperson is not embarrassed and the trial carries on exactly as it was.
   3. Decline the tickets, and tell whoever is running the choice that they were offered, so that your write-up can be read without anyone wondering about it.
   4. Accept the tickets but ask to be taken off the write-up, so that somebody with no connection at all to the salesperson does the assessment instead.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Decline the tickets, and tell whoever is running the choice that they were offered, so that your write-up can be read without anyone wondering about it.

   Least effective: A. Accept the gift of the tickets and keep your write-up neutral. The match has nothing to do with the trial, and refusing would make an issue of an ordinary kindness.

   A: Takes an advantage the role forbids: your write-up decides which of them wins, and its value depends on nobody having given you anything at all.

   B: Leaves an approach nobody else can weigh: declining is right, but the firm that made the offer is assessed by people who never learn it was made.

   D: Keeps the benefit and hands away the duty: the team loses the person who actually watched both trials, and you are still holding the tickets.

   The most effective response is to decline the tickets, and tell whoever is running the choice that they were offered. Your write-up is the input to the decision, so its worth depends on being visibly uninfluenced, and saying the offer was made costs nothing. It beats refusing the tickets politely and keeping the approach to yourself, because the offer itself is information the people choosing would want. It beats accepting the tickets but asking to be taken off the write-up, because stepping aside costs the team its only witness to both trials while you keep the thing that created the problem. The least effective response is accepting the tickets and keeping your write-up neutral: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with you uninfluenced or off the decision, while this has you taking a personal benefit from a firm whose fate you are about to write up. The principle: when you hold a say in who wins, decline what is offered and tell the people who own the choice that it was offered.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a build engineer. You and a colleague have argued twice this week about whose checks run first in the release, and neither of you has given ground. The releases are now going out later each day because of it. This morning the person who owns the release schedule asks you, casually, how the two of you are getting along. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it, so that it stops being decided by whoever pushes hardest.
   2. Raise his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back, so that the order gets decided by somebody who has heard only one side of the argument.
   3. Say the two of you are getting along fine and sort the order out with him yourself, without involving the person who owns the schedule in something small.
   4. Describe it as a process problem without saying who is on which side, and leave him to work out for himself who he ought to be asking about it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it, so that it stops being decided by whoever pushes hardest.

   Least effective: B. Raise his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back, so that the order gets decided by somebody who has heard only one side of the argument.

   B: Personalises the conflict: it converts a disagreement about sequencing into a verdict on him, delivered to the one person with power over both your weeks.

   C: Reports a problem as solved while it is still costing time: two failed attempts is evidence you cannot settle it, and the releases keep slipping meanwhile.

   D: Names the problem but not the people: he cannot resolve a dispute whose parties are hidden, so the disclosure buys nothing and costs another day.

   The most effective response is to say the two of you disagree about the order of the checks and that it is costing time, and ask him to settle it. The disagreement is about sequencing, which is what the schedule owner owns, and it has already failed twice to settle itself. It beats saying the two of you are getting along fine and sorting the order out yourselves, because two attempts have proved you cannot, and the daily slippage keeps running. It beats describing it as a process problem without saying who is on which side, because a dispute with its parties removed cannot be arbitrated. The least effective response is raising his judgement with the schedule owner behind his back: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep the conversation about the checks, while this puts his judgement in front of the person who decides his work, in a conversation he is not in. The principle: take a sequencing dispute to whoever owns the sequence, describe both sides, and never make the argument about the other person while they are absent.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a security analyst. A password reset system stopped working overnight and a manager asks you in the corridor what happened. You know a certificate expired at midnight. You have not confirmed that this caused the failure. Certificates expiring is the usual cause of this kind of outage, and he is on his way to tell his team something. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that this is almost always the cause, so that he has something definite to give his team on his way past.
    2. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know, so that he can tell his team that much.
    3. Tell him the expired certificate caused the outage, even though you cannot yet show that it did. That is nearly always what this turns out to be.
    4. Tell him you cannot say anything until the investigation is finished, and ask him to hold off telling his team until there is a confirmed answer.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know, so that he can tell his team that much.

    Least effective: C. Tell him the expired certificate caused the outage, even though you cannot yet show that it did. That is nearly always what this turns out to be.

    A: Hands over a likely cause as a settled one: the qualification will not survive the retelling, and his team hears a confirmed explanation.

    C: States as fact the cause you assume: nobody has established the link, and an entire team is told a confirmed explanation that may be wrong.

    D: Withholds a fact you are sure of: the certificate did expire at midnight, and that alone is something his team can be told.

    The most effective response is to tell him a certificate expired at midnight and that you have not yet confirmed it caused this, and say when you will know. You have one certain fact and one open question, and separating them lets him tell his team something true. It beats telling him the expiry is almost always the cause so he has something definite, because that qualifier will be dropped in the retelling. It beats telling him you cannot say anything until the investigation is finished, because the expiry itself is confirmed and worth passing on. The least effective response is telling him the expired certificate caused the outage: it is worse than either of the other two, because one qualifies it and the other says nothing untrue, while this supplies a causal link nobody has established to a manager on his way to brief his team. The principle: separate what you know from what you assume, give both, and put a time on when the second becomes the first.