Question Cookbook
2 min read
Every question on this page is one Oracle answers — they are drawn from the set it is tested against before each release, not invented for the documentation.
Copy one as it is written, or use it as the shape for your own.
Repository Hygiene
Section titled “Repository Hygiene”The questions that find what has quietly gone stale. Most of these are hard to build as a filter and trivial to ask.
| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Test cases that have never been executed | Cases written and then forgotten |
Test cases that have never been added to any run | Worse than never executed — never even scheduled |
Test cases not run in the last 10 days | Coverage that has gone cold |
Test cases with no requirement linked | Cases nobody can trace to a reason |
Labels nobody uses | Vocabulary that has outlived its purpose |
Shared steps nobody uses | The same, for shared steps |
Which labels do we use most | Which of your labels actually carry meaning |
Automation Drift
Section titled “Automation Drift”Where what a case says about itself and what a pipeline does have come apart.
| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Automated test cases no pipeline has ever run | Marked automated, never actually automated |
Test cases a pipeline runs that are not marked automated | The reverse — real automation, wrong label |
Automated test cases created in the last 10 days that have never been executed | New automation that has not proven itself yet |
Flaky test cases | Cases that pass and fail without the code changing |
These two are worth running as a pair. Each one finds a different half of the same problem, and a repository can have plenty of both.
Coverage Gaps
Section titled “Coverage Gaps”| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Requirements with no test coverage | Promises nothing tests |
Approved requirements with no test coverage | The same, narrowed to what is actually agreed |
Requirements that have tests but nothing passing | Covered on paper, unproven in practice |
Defects with no test case linked | Bugs found once that could be found again |
Open critical defects with no test case linked | The urgent half of that |
Requirements that have tests but nothing passing is the one people do not think to ask. A coverage report counts the link; this counts the result.
Release Readiness
Section titled “Release Readiness”| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Releases that are risky | Anything not on track to ship |
Releases with open blocker or critical defects | The specific bar that most often fails |
Releases where failures have no defect recorded | Failures nobody wrote up |
Explain why the August release is not healthy | The reason, in words, for one release |
Test runs signed off with unassigned work left in them | Runs closed with work still unclaimed |
Test runs still in progress that are healthy | What is going fine, so you can leave it alone |
Test runs that are failing heavily | Where to look first |
Release executions that have stalled | Started, then abandoned |
See Readiness Questions for what these signals mean and how they are computed.
Defect Triage
Section titled “Defect Triage”| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Open critical or blocker defects | The queue that matters today |
Open defects that are overdue | What has slipped its date |
Defects assigned to Priya | One person’s load |
Defects with no test case linked | Bugs with no regression guard |
Your Own Work
Section titled “Your Own Work”| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
My open defects | Yours, without naming yourself |
Test cases assigned to me that are blocked | What you cannot move |
Recent test cases | What you have been working on |
Test cases in the Reporting folder that I have looked at | Narrowed to what you have actually opened |
me and my resolve to you, so these work unchanged for everyone on the team.
Finding Things by Your Own Vocabulary
Section titled “Finding Things by Your Own Vocabulary”Your folders, labels, releases and runs are all askable by name:
High priority test cases in the Checkout folderTest cases labelled smokeTest cases in the Smoke runTest cases that are in a release/Test cases that are in no releaseTest cases about signing in or out
That last one matches on the subject of a case rather than on a field, which is useful when your team has never agreed on a label for it.
Settings and Configuration
Section titled “Settings and Configuration”The records behind your project are queryable too, which makes them auditable.
| Ask | Finds |
|---|---|
Which custom fields are required | What your team is forced to fill in |
Custom fields shown on defects | What a defect form actually asks for |
Custom fields that are not set up in this project | Workspace fields this project never configured |
Workspace level parameters | Parameters shared beyond this project |
Shared steps in this project only | The ones not shared workspace-wide |