Information Integration and Analysis Flashcards
Give an example of a time when you had to use your fact-finding skills to get information to solve a problem - then describe how you analyzed the information to come to a decision.
Information Integration and Analysis. To absorb and retain complex information drawn from a variety of sources; to draw reasoned conclusions from analysis and synthesis of available information; to evaluate the importance, reliability, and usefulness of information; to remember details of a meeting or event without the benefit of notes.
“Situation: Our QA cycle happens about once every three months and is very time consuming.
Task: Despite previous QA cycles taking 5 or 6 weeks, management had stated they wanted it all completed in 3 weeks this time.
Action: So to figure out what was actually achieveable in 3 weeks, I decided to download the timecards from the team for the last cycle, I looked at how many cases we did during that time, and divided to get how many test cases we get per hour of work. With the team’s forcasted ability, I was projecting that if we tested every test case on every configuration (of device) it would take 9 weeks. We could hit 3 weeks if we limited to 1800 test cases which meant management had to make decisions about which configurations to target (risk vs. reward). I put all the informatin in a spreadsheet and walked management through the data and decision points. Management then decided on Android Tablet and random iOS devices.
Result: I took the QA team through the same data so they knew what information management was making a decision from and then also revealed to them the decision about targeting Android Tablet and ramdom iOS devices.
Lesson: It’s easy to get buy in when you do analysis, show your work, present options and then share management decisions.”
Tell me about a recent situation in which you received a significant assignment that was confusing or unclear.
Information Integration and Analysis. To absorb and retain complex information drawn from a variety of sources; to draw reasoned conclusions from analysis and synthesis of available information; to evaluate the importance, reliability, and usefulness of information; to remember details of a meeting or event without the benefit of notes.
(Eleos) I was asked to start managing our Support and Testing teams in January 2019. I as told that developers are spending 80 hours a month doing support and so there was significant opportunity to reduce that amount. Second, testing work is very cyclical, hard to staff for, and also takes a lot of time from development. I was asked to help improve in both areas but not provided any targets or starting guidance. So I set off to do analysis and more fully flesh out the problem. 1) I found that if we could staff up our testing team we could have them handle support inbetween testing cycles. Further, I determined with analsys that we could reduce developer support work by 40% which equates to 32 hours a month. I then outlined a plan to hire more testers, a process review and improvement plan for support, and a training plan for cross training the testers in support work. 2) I analyzed and found that we could hire more testers which would: reduce our testing time from 8 days per sprint to 5 days and would free up development to focus on development work. I then presented this plan to management along with the impact of me taking on this role would be to my current workload. I aslo documented other decisions or questions that would need their input.
Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.
Information Integration and Analysis. To absorb and retain complex information drawn from a variety of sources; to draw reasoned conclusions from analysis and synthesis of available information; to evaluate the importance, reliability, and usefulness of information; to remember details of a meeting or event without the benefit of notes.
(Eleos) Asana: Identified (integration and analysis) a gap in where maturity needed to be and where we could get with our current tools (pre-Asana). Communicated the gap to the Director of Engineering to get buy in and feedback. Created a prioritized list of requirements (resourcefulness) for the director to review. Presented all data to stakeholders for decision buy-in. Then take responsibility of administering the new tool.
