Answering Questions
The questionnaire is the input source a test plan is built from. Answering it is the bulk of the work in Discovery, and it is the part only you can do. The agent asks, records, and keeps track of what remains.
How the questionnaire is organized
The questionnaire has two phases, and they serve different purposes.
Orientation establishes how the system is used at all. These are broad questions about the interfaces people work with, the functions the operation performs, and how the system connects to others. Answer orientation first, because these answers determine which of the detailed sections apply to you.
Exploration covers the detail within each functional area that orientation opened up. These questions are specific to how your operation runs.
Sections and individual questions can depend on earlier answers. Anything whose dependencies are not met is never asked. This is why the questionnaire has no fixed length: it is scoped to the system you described, so an operation that uses a handful of functions answers far fewer questions than one that uses all of them.
Working through the questions
Before asking, the agent presents a summary of the applicable sections and how many questions remain in each. Use it to see the shape of the work ahead and to decide where to spend your attention.
The agent then asks in small batches, at most four questions at a time, and keeps every batch within a single section. It repeats until no applicable question is left unanswered.
You do not have to finish in one sitting. Progress is saved as each answer is recorded. See Resuming Discovery.
Recording an answer
Each question can be left in one of four states:
| State | Use it when |
|---|---|
| answered | You know the answer. Multiple-choice questions accept more than one selection. |
| unsure | You do not know yet and want to come back to it. |
| inapplicable | The question does not apply to your operation. |
| unanswered | You want to clear an answer you already gave. |
Marking a question unsure or inapplicable does not complete it. Those questions stay outstanding, so the questionnaire remains incomplete and no test plan can be generated. Resolve them before you generate.
Changing an answer
Ask the agent to review a section, and it reports every applicable question there with its current value and who supplied it. This is read-only, so you can look without disturbing anything. Change any answer you want from that review.
When you change an answer that other questions depend on, those dependent answers are cleared. This is deliberate: an answer that is no longer visible must never shape a test plan. An entire section can reopen this way, and a questionnaire that was complete can become incomplete again.
Check the hub after a change of this kind so you can see what reopened.
Checking progress
Ask the agent for discovery status at any point. It reports answered and applicable counts with a percentage, broken out per section, per phase, and overall. Percentages count applicable questions only, so a question that was never asked does not count against you.
Example
You say:
I want to work on the questions.
The agent:
- Takes you into the questionnaire and shows the applicable sections with the number of questions outstanding in each.
- Asks the first batch, all from one orientation section, no more than four at a time.
- Records each answer as you give it, and clears any dependent answers that a change invalidated.
- Continues through the remaining batches, opening exploration sections as your orientation answers make them applicable.
- Returns you to the hub, with the questionnaire status updated.
You say:
What is my progress so far?
The agent:
- Reports completion per section, per phase, and overall, counting applicable questions only.
Finishing Discovery
- Making a Test Plan: Generate the recommended tests once the questionnaire is complete.
- Ingesting Documents: The other input source, which runs independently of your answers.