Verizon Assessment Tests

Verizon Online Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a release coordinator. You are twenty minutes from a release window that closes at noon and cannot reopen until next week. A customer who has been passed between two teams this morning rings you directly. From the notes you can see her question is about a change that went out yesterday, and you happen to know the answer. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Finish the release first, since the window is the only thing here that cannot be reopened, and ring her back at noon once the checks are safely done.
   2. Give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks with the eighteen minutes that are left before the window closes.
   3. Ask her to hold on the line while you work through the checks, and come back to her question as soon as the release is safely out of the door.
   4. Transfer her back to the team who own customer calls, since the window closes in twenty minutes and their queue is where a question like hers belongs.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks with the eighteen minutes that are left before the window closes.

   Least effective: D. Transfer her back to the team who own customer calls, since the window closes in twenty minutes and their queue is where a question like hers belongs.

   A: Ranks the fixed deadline above a two-minute answer: the window is real, but twenty minutes is ample for both, and she has already waited through two teams.

   C: Splits attention across a task that needs neither half: the checks want your full attention and she wants two minutes, and holding gives each of them less.

   D: Passes the problem on without owning it: it makes her third transfer of the morning the answer to a question you could have closed in two minutes.

   The most effective response is to give her the answer now, which takes two minutes, then finish the release checks in the eighteen that are left. Two minutes against twenty is not a real conflict, and you are holding an answer two other teams did not have. It beats finishing the release first and ringing her back at noon, because that costs her another hour for no gain when the window is in no danger from two minutes. It beats asking her to hold while you work through the checks, because a release check done while somebody waits on hold is the kind that misses things. The least effective response is transferring her back to the team who own customer calls: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get her the answer today from the person who has it, while this returns her to a queue after a morning of queues. The principle: when you are holding the answer and it costs two minutes, holding it is not prioritisation.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. Every Friday you send a note confirming that all sixty open tickets have been reviewed and updated. This week you have got through forty-five; the last fifteen belong to a colleague who is off sick and whose notes you cannot see. Three managers use that note to decide where to put people next week. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Record all sixty as checked and updated. The fifteen have not changed hands this week, and nobody reading a Friday note is going to open them one by one.
   2. Send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen.
   3. Hold the note until Monday when your colleague is back, and tell the three managers that this week's version is going to arrive late.
   4. Send the note covering only the forty-five you did review, without mentioning anywhere that another fifteen tickets exist behind it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen.

   Least effective: A. Record all sixty as checked and updated. The fifteen have not changed hands this week, and nobody reading a Friday note is going to open them one by one.

   A: Certifies work that was not done: the note's only value is that somebody looked, and three managers will place people next week on fifteen tickets nobody read.

   C: Delays a note that is used before Monday: the placement decisions are made on Friday, so a complete note on Monday informs nothing at all.

   D: Omits the part that matters: a clean note about forty-five reads as a clean note about everything, and the gap is invisible to the people relying on it.

   The most effective response is to send the note saying forty-five were reviewed and fifteen could not be, name why, and say when you expect to reach the last fifteen. The managers need to know what was checked and what was not, on Friday, and the reason turns your problem into one somebody can cover. It beats holding the note until Monday when your colleague is back, because the decisions are taken on Friday. It beats sending a note covering only the forty-five you did review, because a note listing forty-five reads as a note about the whole queue. The least effective response is recording all sixty as checked and updated: it is worse than either of the other two, because both leave a reader able to work out what was covered, late or incomplete, while this states that all sixty were reviewed when fifteen were not. The principle: a status note earns its value from being accurate about its own gaps, so report the part you did and name the part you could not.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a support analyst. You are the only person who knows the reporting tool will be unavailable all of next Wednesday, because you took the call from the vendor. The finance team meets this afternoon and is about to fix Wednesday as the day they run their month-end reports. You have a backlog of thirty tickets and your manager has asked you to clear it today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Clear the backlog first as instructed, then send the outage note this evening, since thirty waiting customers plainly outrank one internal planning meeting.
   2. Work through the backlog without telling anybody about Wednesday. The outage is a week away, and the vendor will very likely have told finance as well.
   3. Spend five minutes now sending the finance team the outage date before their meeting, then return to the backlog and tell your manager why you paused for it.
   4. Put a note about Wednesday into the shared channel and carry on with the backlog, so that the information is at least somewhere people are able to find it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Spend five minutes now sending the finance team the outage date before their meeting, then return to the backlog and tell your manager why you paused for it.

   Least effective: B. Work through the backlog without telling anybody about Wednesday. The outage is a week away, and the vendor will very likely have told finance as well.

   A: Ranks the instruction above the deadline that cannot move: the note is worth far less after the meeting has fixed the date it was meant to influence.

   B: Withholds a dependency only you hold: the meeting will fix a date on a day the tool does not run, and nobody in the room has any way of knowing that.

   D: Publishes to nobody in particular: the note exists, the finance team has no reason to look for it this afternoon, and the meeting goes ahead unaware.

   The most effective response is to spend five minutes now sending the finance team the outage date before their meeting, then return to the backlog and tell your manager why you paused. Five minutes before the meeting is worth more than an hour after it, and telling your manager keeps the backlog instruction honest rather than quietly disobeyed. It beats clearing the backlog first and sending the outage note this evening, because the value of the note collapses the moment the date is fixed. It beats putting a note about Wednesday into the shared channel and carrying on, because a channel post is not the same as telling the people about to decide. The least effective response is working through the backlog without telling anybody about Wednesday: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get the fact out eventually or somewhere, while this leaves a room fixing a date on a day the tool will not run. The principle: when a five-minute message is the difference between a team planning correctly and planning wrongly, it outranks the queue.

4. Question 4 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.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a service desk analyst. Working late in a busy week, you and a colleague restored a customer’s mailbox without the confirmation step that the customer is meant to give first. It worked and nobody was harmed. She has asked you not to raise it, because she is three weeks from a promotion decision and has had a difficult year. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell her you will not raise it now but that you will if it ever comes up, so she is not caught out and the promotion decision runs its course first.
   2. Raise it with your manager without naming her, so that the missed step is recorded and the promotion decision is not affected by something you reported.
   3. Agree not to mention it. Nobody was harmed, the mailbox was restored, and raising it now would cost her a promotion over a step in a process nobody checks.
   4. Tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today.

   Least effective: C. Agree not to mention it. Nobody was harmed, the mailbox was restored, and raising it now would cost her a promotion over a step in a process nobody checks.

   A: Trades a disclosure for a date: the step was skipped either way, and the condition simply moves the decision three weeks and makes it hers.

   B: Reports a fact and withholds half of it: two people did this, and an account with one of them removed is a version rather than a record.

   C: Conceals a missed step by agreement: the confirmation exists so a customer authorises access to their own mailbox, and now two people have a reason to stay quiet.

   The most effective response is to tell her you are going to raise it, that you will say plainly it was both of you and why the week was what it was, and then raise it today. The step exists so a customer authorises access to their own mailbox, so it is not yours to waive, and telling her first means she is not ambushed. It beats promising not to raise it now but to do so if it ever comes up, because that leaves the same gap unrecorded and hands her the timing. It beats raising it with your manager without naming her, because you were both there and an account with her removed is a version rather than the record. The least effective response is agreeing not to mention it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both end with the missed step reaching somebody, while this turns a lapse into an agreement between two people to say nothing. The principle: when somebody asks you to be quiet about something you both did, the pressure they are under is a reason to tell them first, not a reason to agree.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are an automation tester. Two colleagues have each spent a day writing a test for the same new screen, neither aware of the other, and both have now asked you to review theirs. You have three hours before your own deadline. Reviewing both would take all of it. Reviewing one and telling them would take twenty minutes. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Review both properly and let your own deadline slip by an evening, because each of them asked you and a day of somebody's work deserves a real answer.
   2. Review the better of the two and say nothing to the other about it, so that at least one usable test exists on the screen by the end of the day.
   3. Review neither and assume the pair of them will spot the duplication themselves, since they are both capable of it and you have your own deadline to meet.
   4. Tell them both that they have written the same test, and offer to review whichever one they agree to keep, so that your three hours are not spent twice over.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell them both that they have written the same test, and offer to review whichever one they agree to keep, so that your three hours are not spent twice over.

   Least effective: C. Review neither and assume the pair of them will spot the duplication themselves, since they are both capable of it and you have your own deadline to meet.

   A: Pays for their duplication with your own deadline: the evening is a real cost, and at the end of it the team still has two tests for one screen.

   B: Chooses for them without telling them there was a choice: one of them spends tomorrow wondering why their day produced nothing anybody wanted.

   C: Assumes the problem away: they have each worked a full day without noticing, so the evidence is that they will not spot it, and both days stay wasted.

   The most effective response is to tell them both that they have written the same test, and offer to review whichever one they agree to keep. The duplication is the fact neither has, telling them costs a message, and reviewing the survivor fits inside twenty minutes with your own deadline intact. It beats reviewing both properly and letting your deadline slip by an evening, because an evening spent on two tests for one screen buys nothing that twenty minutes would not. It beats reviewing the better of the two and saying nothing to the other, because picking a winner silently wastes a colleague’s day twice. The least effective response is reviewing neither and assuming they will spot the duplication themselves: it is worse than either of the other two, because both produce a reviewed test, while this leaves two days of work unreviewed on an assumption a whole day has already disproved. The principle: when two people are duplicating each other, the cheapest thing you can give them is the fact, not your afternoon.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a site reliability assistant. A customer’s overnight job has failed and the ticket has come to you because your name is on a runbook you wrote a year ago. The job belongs to the data team. You have an incident summary due at four. Reading the ticket and either fixing it or telling the data team what the runbook covers would take twenty minutes. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply on the ticket that the runbook is out of date and that the data team owns the job now, then get back to writing the incident summary.
   2. Spend twenty minutes now reading it and either fix it or tell the data team what the runbook actually covers, so that the customer's job runs tonight.
   3. Pass the ticket to the data team without reading it and get back to the summary. The job is theirs, and the runbook was written a year ago.
   4. Read the ticket, add what you know to it, and leave it assigned to yourself until after four so that the summary is not interrupted.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Spend twenty minutes now reading it and either fix it or tell the data team what the runbook actually covers, so that the customer's job runs tonight.

   Least effective: C. Pass the ticket to the data team without reading it and get back to the summary. The job is theirs, and the runbook was written a year ago.

   A: Corrects the record and leaves the job failed: the ownership note is accurate, and the customer's overnight run is exactly where it was.

   C: Passes the problem on without owning it: they receive a failed job with none of the context that only the runbook's author has.

   D: Holds a ticket you have already understood: the context is captured and the customer waits until after four for something you could have said at once.

   The most effective response is to spend twenty minutes now reading it and either fix it or tell the data team what the runbook actually covers. Twenty minutes is affordable against a four o’clock deadline, and you are the only person who knows what that runbook does and does not cover. It beats replying on the ticket that the runbook is out of date and the data team owns the job now, because a note about ownership does not make the overnight job run. It beats reading the ticket, adding what you know and holding it until after four, because once you know the answer, sitting on it costs the customer a night. The least effective response is passing the ticket to the data team without reading it: it is worse than either of the other two, because both add something they could use, while this forwards a failed job with none of the context only you hold. The principle: when you are the person who knows what a document means, twenty minutes of yours is cheaper than anybody else’s hour.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a site reliability assistant. You and a colleague check each other’s incident write-ups before they go out. Last week he wrote, in a comment the whole team can see, that your last write-up read as though you had not been there. You disagreed and said so, and it has not been settled. Two of his write-ups are now waiting for your check. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Check both write-ups and add nothing beyond the bare minimum, so that the work goes out on time and you are not drawn back into last week's argument.
   2. Check the two write-ups on their merits now, and separately ask him for ten minutes to settle what he meant, so the disagreement stops sitting under the work.
   3. Ask somebody else on the team to take over checking his write-ups, since neither of you is likely to be objective about the other's work at the moment.
   4. Withdraw from checking his write-ups after this and leave them sitting in the queue for whoever picks them up next to judge for themselves.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Check the two write-ups on their merits now, and separately ask him for ten minutes to settle what he meant, so the disagreement stops sitting under the work.

   Least effective: D. Withdraw from checking his write-ups after this and leave them sitting in the queue for whoever picks them up next to judge for themselves.

   A: Prioritises quiet over the quality of the check: the write-ups get a signature rather than a review, and the disagreement is still there underneath them.

   C: Removes the people rather than the problem: it is a reasonable precaution that quietly makes last week permanent, and somebody else absorbs the cost of it.

   D: Retaliates by withdrawing: the two write-ups now sit unowned as an answer to a comment about a different piece of work, and nobody is told why they stopped.

   The most effective response is to check the two write-ups on their merits now, and separately ask him for ten minutes to settle what he meant. The write-ups are separable from the disagreement, so both get dealt with properly, and ten minutes is the only thing here that could actually settle it. It beats checking both and adding nothing beyond the bare minimum, because a check reduced to a formality is worth nothing to the people who rely on it, and the argument survives anyway. It beats asking somebody else to take over checking his write-ups, because that makes a temporary falling-out permanent and charges it to a third person. The least effective response is withdrawing from checking his write-ups and leaving them in the queue: it is worse than either of the other two, because both keep them moving, thinly or through somebody else, while this leaves them sitting with no one able to know why. The principle: settle the disagreement with the person, and never let work in the queue become the way you answer them.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a build engineer. Last night’s release has left customers unable to log in, and the team has worked since six this morning on the theory that a supplier’s change caused it. You have just realised the cause is a setting you altered on Tuesday and did not record. The room is tired, tempers are short, and your manager has spent the morning defending the team. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Test your theory quietly first and raise it only once you are certain, so that you do not send an exhausted team down a second wrong path this morning.
   2. Say now, to the whole room, that a change you made on Tuesday is the likely cause, give them the detail they need to check it, and stay to help fix it.
   3. Tell your manager privately and let her decide what to say to the room and when, since she has been the one holding the line for the team all morning.
   4. Let the team carry on with the supplier theory and hope nobody has noticed the Tuesday change. The fix will be found either way before very long.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Say now, to the whole room, that a change you made on Tuesday is the likely cause, give them the detail they need to check it, and stay to help fix it.

   Least effective: D. Let the team carry on with the supplier theory and hope nobody has noticed the Tuesday change. The fix will be found either way before very long.

   A: Delays the one fact that would stop the search: while you are making sure, five other people are still spending the morning on a supplier who did nothing.

   C: Hands the difficult telling to somebody else: she now carries your error into a tired room, and the delay while she decides how is time the team is still losing.

   D: Conceals your own fault: it is the only option that spends other people's morning to protect you, and every hour it survives makes the eventual discovery worse.

   The most effective response is to say now, to the whole room, that a change you made on Tuesday is the likely cause, give them the detail to check it, and stay to help fix it. The expensive thing in the room is not embarrassment, it is five people searching in the wrong place, and only you can stop that. It beats testing your theory quietly first and raising it once you are certain, because certainty costs time the team is spending on a false trail. It beats telling your manager privately and letting her decide what to say, because the delay is more of the same lost morning and it makes her carry something that is yours. The least effective response is letting the team carry on with the supplier theory: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get the fact to the people who need it, slowly or indirectly, while this keeps a tired team on a supplier who did nothing. The principle: under pressure, the cost of your own mistake is what other people are spending on it, and that stops the moment you speak.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a release coordinator. A director emails asking why last month’s releases slipped, copying six people. You know the answer: two of the four slips were a supplier and two were the team’s own testing. The person who normally handles director questions is on leave for a fortnight, and the email has been sitting unanswered for two days. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Reply saying two of the four were a supplier and leave the other two slips for your colleague to explain to him when she returns in a fortnight.
    2. Reply to the director alone with the full answer, leaving the six copied people out of it, so that the detail goes to the person who actually asked.
    3. Send the director's email on to your colleague's inbox, so that she picks it up when she returns, and reply saying she will answer it in a fortnight.
    4. Reply to all today with the full answer, two supplier slips and two on the team's own testing, and say your colleague can add to it when she is back.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: D. Reply to all today with the full answer, two supplier slips and two on the team's own testing, and say your colleague can add to it when she is back.

    Least effective: C. Send the director's email on to your colleague's inbox, so that she picks it up when she returns, and reply saying she will answer it in a fortnight.

    A: Answers the comfortable half: the director reads a supplier explanation for a month in which half the slips were the team's own.

    B: Narrows the audience the sender chose: six people were copied for a reason, and they are left with a question they saw and no answer.

    C: Passes a question you can answer to somebody who is away: a director waits a fortnight for something you could have written in ten minutes.

    The most effective response is to reply to all today with the full answer, two supplier slips and two on the team’s own testing, and say your colleague can add to it when she is back. You have the whole answer, two days have passed, and replying to everyone he copied keeps the record straight with the same people who saw the question. It beats replying that two of the four were a supplier and leaving the other two for her to explain, because that leaves him with a false picture of a month in which half were the team’s. It beats replying to the director alone and leaving the six copied people out, because they were copied deliberately. The least effective response is forwarding his email to her inbox and saying she will answer in a fortnight: it is worse than either of the other two, because both get something accurate to somebody today, while this holds a director for a fortnight for an answer you already have. The principle: when you can answer, answer, to the audience the question was asked in front of, and let the absent colleague add to it later.