drupal problem-solving techniques

Is it true that my slide template is

best?

Monday, July 15, 13

Co-founder / CTO

Drupal Genie

Jody Hamilton

Monday, July 15, 13

Have you ever played 20

questions?

Monday, July 15, 13

ReproducingScopingArticulatingResearchingExperimentingHackingRefiningShippingBilling

Steps to Solve a Problem

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I can reproduce the problem.

Reproducing

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I have tried to narrow the problem.

I have tried to broaden the problem.

I know the scope of the problem.

Scoping

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Is your problem visual in nature?

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Can you reproduce your

problem in a different browser?

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Does your problem relate

to data?

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Does your problem interact

with caching?

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Is your problem new?

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Can you reproduce the problem with

javascript disabled?

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Can you reproduce the problem in a

different theme?

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Can you reproduce the

problem with a different user

role?

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Can you reproduce the

problem on another page?

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Can you reproduce the

problem on last week’s codebase?

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Can you reproduce the

problem locally?

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Can you reproduce the

problem if you turn off a module?

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Can you reproduce the

problem if you turn off

aggregation?

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Can you reproduce the

problem on the dev version of the module?

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Can you reproduce the problem when

you bypass Varnish?

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Is the problem possibly related

to input formats?

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Does the problem have a human shape?

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I have rephrased the problem IN WRITING.

I have a timebox for looking into the issue.

Articulating

Problem: Users with the Editor role do not see fields for Title and Alt Text after uploading an image to the Media library in WYSIWYG. Admins do see the fields currently.

Goal: Both Editors and Admins should see the fields.

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I have searched for fixes and recorded potentially useful links.

I have checked error logs.

Researching

http://drupal.org/node/123456

http://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/123456

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I have proven or disproven hypotheses .

I have determined the cause of the problem and written it down.

Experimenting

The problem is due to the og_moderation module not being compatible with the diff module.

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I have a rough fix.

I have recorded the hack.

Hacking

By hacking the diff module I can eliminate the problem.

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I have fixed the problem responsibly.

I’ll never have this problem again.

Refining

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The fix is deployed.

Shipping

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All interested parties have been informed.

Billing

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LinuxApacheMySQLPHP

The Stack of Problems

Drupal code: core, contrib, custom, config

HTMLCSSJSBrowserPEBKAC

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Write down everything.

Bad assumptions are costly.

Watch out for rabbit holes.

Isolate issues.

Take breaks.

Take Aways

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Peer review & manual testingAutomated testingZero toleranceLog gardeningGitConsistent environmentsPractice Safe Contrib

How to Have Fewer Bugs

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