{TOTAL} exercises — select the Slack message that uses each expression naturally and correctly. Learn not just what these idioms mean, but how real developers actually use them.
0 / 18 completed
1 / 18
You are writing a Slack message to your team after a long troubleshooting session. You eventually solved the issue by re-reading the documentation — not by any complex debugging. Which message naturally and correctly uses the expression "rubber duck debugging"?
Option B uses "rubber duck debugging" correctly and naturally. The expression means explaining a problem to yourself (or to an inanimate object) out loud to trigger your own epiphany. In this context, the developer spent time talking through the problem and ultimately found the obvious answer. The casual tone and self-deprecating "Classic." at the end are perfect for Slack.
Option A is wrong — "rubber duck debugging tool" makes no sense; it is not a software tool, it is a cognitive technique. Option C uses "debug the rubber duck" — reversing the idiom incorrectly. Option D uses it as an adjective for a process — "rubber duck our deployment" — which is not how the expression is used.
Real Slack usage:"Just rubber-ducked my way to a solution — turns out I was appending instead of prepending. 🦆"
2 / 18
In a sprint planning meeting, your team is discussing which tasks to tackle this sprint. The product manager wants to prioritise some quick improvements that will have immediate visible impact. Which sentence naturally uses"low-hanging fruit"?
Option B is the natural, professional use of "low-hanging fruit". The idiom describes easy wins — tasks with low effort but high visibility or impact. Option B correctly: (1) uses "pick the low-hanging fruit" (the standard verb phrase — you pick fruit), (2) immediately provides concrete examples, and (3) quantifies with "1–2 point tickets and high visibility", which mirrors how a real PM would use this expression.
Option A says "harvest the low-hanging fruit in the backlog" — "harvest" can work but sounds odd; more critically, "all tickets created before Q3" is not particularly low-effort. Option C pluralises it as "low-hanging fruits" — this is a minor error; as a fixed idiom, "low-hanging fruit" is typically uncountable/singular as a mass noun. Option D turns it into a verb ("low-hang-fruit") — this is not a real usage.
3 / 18
A senior developer asks why you spent two days on a configuration problem before realising it was caused by a missing environment variable. You want to describe the experience using "yak shaving". Which Slack message is correct?
Option B uses "yak shaving" correctly and with exactly the right structure. Yak shaving describes a chain of (seemingly necessary) prerequisite tasks that pull you away from the original goal. The hallmark pattern is: "I needed X, but to get X I had to do Y, and for Y I needed Z…" — and Option B demonstrates this perfectly.
Option A uses "yak shave the production server" as if it were a transitive verb with a direct object — you do not "yak shave" a specific thing; the expression describes the act of being drawn into a chain of tasks. Option C pluralises it as "yak shavings" — the expression is used as a mass noun or gerund phrase, not as a countable plural. Option D suggests a "yak shaving session" as a planned activity — this misunderstands the idiom; yak shaving is always accidental, not intentional.
Correct Slack usage:"I went full yak shaving this morning — just wanted to run the tests, ended up half-rewriting the CI config. 🐃"
4 / 18
Your team's sprint review keeps getting derailed by detailed discussions about the colour of buttons, icon sizes, and tab label wording — rather than the architectural decisions that need sign-off. How would you use "bikeshedding" to describe this to a colleague?
Option A correctly uses "bikeshedding" as a gerund (noun form of the verb "to bikeshed") in a natural professional context. The canonical structure is "stop bikeshedding on [trivial detail]" — this is exactly how engineers and PMs use the term in meetings and Slack. It names the problem clearly and redirects attention.
The origin: Parkinson's Law of Triviality — a nuclear committee spends 2 minutes approving a reactor design and 45 minutes debating the bike shed colour, because everyone has an opinion on a bike shed but few can evaluate a reactor. Option B treats "bikeshed" as a concrete object rather than the idiom — "the bikeshed in our sprint review is the button colour" would confuse listeners. Option C says "bikeshare" — this is a completely different word (a bike-sharing scheme). Option D makes it sound like "bikeshedding work" is a workload category — the expression refers to the behaviour of over-discussing trivialities, not a type of task.
Real usage:"Let's not bikeshed the variable naming convention for an hour again — @team please vote async and we'll go with majority."
5 / 18
Your team is discussing a new initiative to build a feature that already exists in a widely-used open source library. You want to advise against it using the expression "reinventing the wheel". Which response would a senior engineer most likely write in Slack?
Option A is the correct, natural, and persuasive use of "reinventing the wheel". It: (1) states the concern clearly using the idiom, (2) names concrete existing alternatives (making it actionable rather than just a complaint), and (3) proposes a sensible next step. This is exactly how a senior engineer communicates in a team discussion.
"Re-inventing the wheel" (with or without the hyphen) means creating something from scratch that already exists without meaningful improvement — it implies wasted effort. Option B reverses the meaning — using a library instead of building your own is the opposite of reinventing the wheel. Option C uses it for a process/management action — the idiom is almost exclusively used for technical or product decisions, not administrative actions. Option D uses "reinvented wheels that need to be spun up" — this mixes metaphors in a confusing way; "spin up" means to start a service/process, not to re-examine an implementation.
Also correct:"Before we build this from scratch: aren't we reinventing the wheel? lodash already does this in one line."
6 / 18
Sarah from the frontend team just posted this Slack message: 'I've been banging my head against this CSS issue for hours, but I still can't figure it out. Any ideas?' Which of the following best describes what Sarah is doing?
'Rubber duck debugging' involves verbalizing a problem to an inanimate object (like a rubber duck) in order to clarify your understanding and potentially identify the solution. Sarah is following this classic technique by explaining her issue aloud – a key element of the idiom. The other options represent different debugging approaches that don't involve this specific method.
7 / 18
Maria is explaining a frustrating situation to her team during a standup. 'We've spent the last week trying to optimize this API endpoint, but all we've achieved is refining existing code without any real performance gains.' Which phrase best captures Maria's experience using 'yak shaving'?
'Yak shaving' describes a situation where you spend considerable time making small, unproductive improvements to something that doesn't fundamentally change its nature. Maria's description perfectly illustrates this – refining code without any substantial gains is classic 'yak shaving'. The other options involve more significant and impactful changes.
8 / 18
Ben notices that during a sprint review, the team is spending most of the time debating the precise shade of blue for a button. He wants to gently point out this distraction using 'bikeshedding'. Which Slack message would he send?
'Bikeshedding' refers to wasting time discussing trivial matters that have no impact on the project's goals. Ben's message directly addresses this – highlighting the focus on core decisions and pushing back against unproductive debate. The other options either agree with or participate in the distraction.
9 / 18
Chloe is reviewing a colleague's pull request for a new feature. She sees that her colleague has implemented a completely new solution to a problem that already had an established library with a mature API. Chloe wants to advise against this using 'reinventing the wheel'. Which response would she most likely provide in Slack?
'Reinventing the wheel' means to unnecessarily duplicate effort by creating something that already exists. Chloe is pointing out that a well-established library offers a proven solution – suggesting her colleague should leverage it instead of building a new one. This avoids redundant work and potential issues with maintaining a custom solution.
10 / 18
Sarah from the frontend team just posted this Slack message: 'I've been banging my head against this CSS issue for hours, but I still can't figure it out. Any ideas?' Which of the following best describes what Sarah is doing?
'Rubber duck debugging' involves verbalizing a problem to an inanimate object (like a rubber duck) in order to clarify your understanding and potentially identify the solution. Sarah is following this classic technique by explaining her issue aloud – a key element of the idiom. The other options represent different debugging approaches that don't involve this specific method.
11 / 18
Maria is explaining a frustrating situation to her team during a standup. 'We've spent the last week trying to optimize this API endpoint, but all we've achieved is refining existing code without any real performance gains.' Which phrase best captures Maria's experience using 'yak shaving'?
'Yak shaving' describes a situation where you spend considerable time making small, unproductive improvements to something that doesn't fundamentally change its nature. Maria's description perfectly illustrates this – refining code without any substantial gains is classic 'yak shaving'. The other options involve more significant and impactful changes.
12 / 18
Ben notices that during a sprint review, the team is spending most of the time debating the precise shade of blue for a button. He wants to gently point out this distraction using 'bikeshedding'. Which Slack message would he send?
'Bikeshedding' refers to wasting time discussing trivial matters that have no impact on the project's goals. Ben's message directly addresses this – highlighting the focus on core decisions and pushing back against unproductive debate. The other options either agree with or participate in the distraction.
13 / 18
Chloe is reviewing a colleague's pull request for a new feature. She sees that her colleague has implemented a completely new solution to a problem that already had an established library with a mature API. Chloe wants to advise against this using 'reinventing the wheel'. Which response would she most likely provide in Slack?
'Reinventing the wheel' means to unnecessarily duplicate effort by creating something that already exists. Chloe is pointing out that a well-established library offers a proven solution – suggesting her colleague should leverage it instead of building a new one. This avoids redundant work and potential issues with maintaining a custom solution.
14 / 18
David: 'I'm spending hours debugging this intermittent issue with the payment gateway. It seems to work fine sometimes, but fails randomly. I've tried every common troubleshooting step—checking logs, validating inputs, even restarting the server.'
Which Slack message best captures David's frustration and subtly suggests a possible cause using the idiom 'throwing spaghetti at the wall'?
David's situation perfectly lends itself to 'throwing spaghetti at the wall,' which describes a haphazard and often unproductive approach to debugging. Option A is too formal; B accurately reflects the frustration but doesn't utilize the idiom; C directly uses the expression, highlighting the lack of targeted problem-solving. D is simply an exclamation of frustration.
15 / 18
Liam: 'We've been battling with this API integration all week. We're trying to get the data transformed into a specific format, but the response is always returning a JSON object with nested arrays. We've tried different query parameters and request headers, but nothing seems to work.'
Which Slack message does Liam use to describe the situation in a way that acknowledges wasted effort while subtly suggesting a more focused approach?
Using 'reinventing the wheel' in this context suggests that Liam and his team are repeating work already done by others. This idiom accurately reflects the unproductive nature of their efforts when facing a well-documented API response structure. Options A is too verbose; B directly describes the problem but doesn't use the idiom; D is simply an expression of frustration.
16 / 18
Elena: 'I've spent the last three days trying to optimize this database query. I've added indexes, rewritten the joins, and even experimented with different database configurations—but the performance hasn't improved significantly. It seems like we're just spending time polishing a problem that isn't fundamentally solvable.'
Which Slack message does Elena use to convey her frustration while employing the idiom 'moving the deck chairs'?
Elena is frustrated with efforts that provide no tangible benefit. 'Moving the deck chairs' describes focusing on superficial improvements while ignoring the core issue – in this case, the fundamental limitations of the database design. Option A is too simple; B doesn't use the idiom; D is simply an expression of frustration.
17 / 18
Rajesh: 'I've been reviewing this pull request and noticed that the developer has implemented a completely new algorithm to solve a problem that already had a well-established solution using a standard library. It seems like they're creating unnecessary complexity.'
Which Slack message does Rajesh use to politely point out this situation, employing the idiom 'biting off more than you can chew'?
'Biting off more than you can chew' highlights the risk of over-engineering and attempting to solve problems with excessive complexity. Option A is too vague; B directly uses the idiom, explaining the issue clearly; D simply expresses a general concern about the code.
18 / 18
Olivia: 'I've been struggling to debug this memory leak for the past two days. I've used every profiling tool and debugging technique available, but I can't seem to pinpoint the source of the problem. It feels like we're chasing shadows.'
Which Slack message does Olivia use to describe her situation using the idiom 'chasing ghosts'?
The idiom 'chasing ghosts' perfectly captures the frustrating experience of debugging elusive problems that appear intermittently and are difficult to reproduce. It emphasizes the feeling of futility and wasted effort. Option A is too simple; B doesn't use the idiom; D is an expression of concern.
What will I practise in "Use IT Idioms in a Sentence — Slack Message Writing Exercises"?
Practice using tech idioms naturally in Slack messages and professional communication. 5 exercises: rubber duck debugging, low-hanging fruit, yak shaving, bikeshedding, reinventing the wheel.
How many exercises are in this module?
This module has 18 multiple-choice exercises, each with instant feedback and a full explanation of the correct answer.
Is this exercise free to use?
Yes. Every exercise on CoderSlingo, including this one, is free to use with no account, sign-up, or paywall.
Do I need to create an account to do these exercises?
No account is required. Just click an option to answer — your score for this session is tracked automatically in the progress bar above.
What happens if I choose the wrong answer?
You'll immediately see which answer was correct, plus a full explanation covering the idiom's meaning and the tone it carries — mistakes are where most of the learning happens.
Can I retry the exercises if I want a higher score?
Yes — use the "Try again" button on the results screen to reset and go through all the questions again.
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No. Progress is tracked only for your current visit; reloading or leaving the page resets the counter. This keeps the exercise simple and account-free.
Where can I find more Idioms & Expressions exercises?
Browse the full Idioms & Expressions hub for related drills, or check the "Next up" link below to continue with a connected topic.
How is this different from reading an article on the same topic?
Articles explain idioms and their context in prose; this exercise tests and reinforces that recognition through active recall with immediate feedback — the two work best together.
Who writes these exercises?
Every exercise is written by the CoderSlingo team, drawing on real workplace English used in IT roles, then reviewed for accuracy and clarity.