Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Asking for help
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Is there someone else who can help us?
“I telegraphed to the head of the police at Cleveland, limiting my inquiry to the circumstances connected with the marriage of Enoch Drebber. The answer was conclusive.”
or perhaps the help of street kids:
“There’s more work to be got out of one of those little beggars than out of a dozen of the force,” Holmes remarked. “The mere sight of an official-looking person seals men’s lips. These youngsters, however, go everywhere and hear everything. They are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organization.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Confirming it’s really a problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
How do we know this is really a problem?
Holmes’s user community was the police force. It was his problem because it was theirs:
“Still I recognized that justice must be done, and that the depravity of the victim was no condonement in the eyes of the law.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Do we already know about this problem?
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Is this problem, or any variant of it, already known?
“‘Then, of course, this blood belongs to a second individual — presumably the murderer, if murder has been committed. It reminds me of the circumstances attendant on the death of Van Jansen, in Utrecht, in the year ‘34. Do you remember the case, Gregson?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Read it up — you really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.’”
or perhaps:
“The forcible administration of poison is by no means a new thing in criminal annals. The cases of Dolsky in Odessa, and of Leturier in Montpellier, will occur at once to any toxicologist.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Issue priority
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Is it important to investigate this problem right now?
While not the answer we might look for, this topic does come up. Holmes does make a conscious decision of determining if the problem is important to him:
"I was amazed at the calm way in which he rippled on. 'Surely there is not a moment to be lost,' I cried, 'shall I go and order you a cab?'
'I'm not sure about whether I shall go. I am the most incurably lazy devil that ever stood in shoe leather — that is, when the fit is on me, for I can be spry enough at times.'
'Why, it is just such a chance as you have been longing for.'
'My dear fellow, what does it matter to me? Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you may be sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will pocket all the credit. That comes of being an unofficial personage.'"
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Reporting the problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Do we know enough about the problem to report it?
“I have now in my hands,” my companion said, confidently, “all the threads which have formed such a tangle. There are, of course, details to be filled in, but I am as certain of all the main facts, from the time that Drebber parted from Stangerson at the station, up to the discovery of the body of the latter, as if I had seen them with my own eyes. I will give you a proof of my knowledge.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Cause of the problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
What might be causing the problem?
Lestrade and Gregson glanced at each other with an incredulous smile.
“If this man was murdered, how was it done?” asked the former.
“Poison,” said Sherlock Holmes curtly, and strode off.
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Severity of the problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
How severe could the problem be?
“Any delay in arresting the assassin,” I observed, “might give him time to perpetrate some fresh atrocity.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Symptoms of the problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
What are the symptoms of the problem?
“There has been murder done, and the murderer was a man. He was more than six feet high, was in the prime of life, had small feet for his height, wore coarse, square-toed boots and smoked a Trichinopoly cigar. He came here with his victim in a four-wheeled cab, which was drawn by a horse with three old shoes and one new one on his off fore-leg. In all probability the murderer had a florid face, and the finger-nails of his right hand were remarkably long. These are only a few indications, but they may assist you.”
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Reproducing the problem
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
How can the problem be reproduced?
The cause of death (which could be considered the bug by some) was poison. Here Holmes proves it:
“Give them here,” said Holmes. “Now, Doctor,” turning to me, “are those ordinary pills?”
They certainly were not. They were of a pearly gray colour, small, round, and almost transparent against the light. “From their lightness and transparency, I should imagine that they are soluble in water,” I remarked.
“Precisely so,” answered Holmes. ‘Now would you mind going down and fetching that poor little devil of a terrier which has been bad so long, and which the landlady wanted you to put out of its pain yesterday?”
I went downstairs and carried the dog upstairs in my arms. Its laboured breathing and glazing eye showed that it was not far from its end. Indeed, its snow-white muzzle proclaimed that it had already exceeded the usual term of canine existence. I placed it upon a cushion on the rug.
(…)
With a perfect shriek of delight he rushed to the box, cut the other pill in two, dissolved it, added milk, and presented it to the terrier. The unfortunate creature’s tongue seemed hardly to have been moistened in it before it gave a convulsive shiver in every limb, and lay as rigid and lifeless as if it had been struck by lightning.
Skilled Bug Investigation Illustrated – Consider possibility of tester error
In a presentation titled Skilled Testers and Their Enemies, James Bach identifies the steps involved in skilled bug investigation:
The following post is part of a 13-part series illustrating those points using A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
Consider possibility of tester error
Holmes is certainly not the poster child for modesty. In fact, in this case he is completely confident of his abilities. It should be noted that in others he is not always so confident. In this tale, the closest I could come to admitting error is the following:
“‘Commonplace,’ said Holmes, though I thought from his expression that he was pleased at my evident surprise and admiration. ‘I said just now that there were no criminals. It appears that I am wrong — look at this!’ He threw me over the note which the commissionaire had brought.”
