Which testing type is purely discussion-based?

Which testing type is purely discussion-based?

• A. Tabletop exercises (discussion-based).
• B. Failover tests (actual switch to DR site).
• C. Parallel tests (simulated operations).
• D. Unit tests.

Answer: (A)

Discussion-based exercises focus on how the team would respond to an incident in a meeting setting, emphasizing roles, responsibilities, communication flow, decision points, and escalation timing, with no changes made to live systems. This makes tabletop exercises purely discussion-based, because participants walk through a scenario and talk through the steps they would take rather than performing any operational actions. In contrast, failover tests require actually switching to a disaster recovery site, testing whether systems and processes can run from the alternate location. Parallel tests simulate operations but still involve executing processes and handling data to some extent. Unit tests focus on individual components or code, verifying they work in isolation. These approaches involve real actions or verifications beyond discussion, not just talk.

Discussion-based exercises focus on how the team would respond to an incident in a meeting setting, emphasizing roles, responsibilities, communication flow, decision points, and escalation timing, with no changes made to live systems. This makes tabletop exercises purely discussion-based, because participants walk through a scenario and talk through the steps they would take rather than performing any operational actions.

In contrast, failover tests require actually switching to a disaster recovery site, testing whether systems and processes can run from the alternate location. Parallel tests simulate operations but still involve executing processes and handling data to some extent. Unit tests focus on individual components or code, verifying they work in isolation. These approaches involve real actions or verifications beyond discussion, not just talk.