Mock 3

45. Four members of an agile team are co-located while two others are working remotely in a different time zone. Given the team arrangement, what tools from the agile toolkit should an agile practitioner recommend for this team to use? A. White boards, index cards, sticky notes, flip charts, toys B. Instant messaging applications, web cameras, microphones C. Gantt charts, technical documentation, internal wiki sites D. White boards, index cards, sticky notes, web cameras, microphones

D. Correct. Although this set of tools is not complete, it is the best option among the choices given. This collection contains tools that would help both the co-located and the remote team members to communicate better than any other set of tools listed in the other answer choices.

109. The facilitator on a retrospective conducted the ESVP activity, where half of the participants reported that they are Ps, one quarter said they were Ss while the remainder said they were Es. What should the facilitator do? A. Call for a break so that the facilitator can reset the tone of the meeting. B. Motivate participants since E means that only a quarter of the participants are Eager. C. Emphasize the importance of communication since S means that those participants intend to be Silent throughout the meeting. D. Nothing. Half of the room is Ps, which means that they are Passionate about the project.

A. Correct. Call for a break so that the facilitator can reset the tone of the meeting.

16. When grooming the backlog, which of the following is the greatest determinant for priority? A. Value B. Risk reduction C. Dependencies D. Politics

A. Correct. Value is the greatest determinant for priority.

57. Which of the following aspects of participatory decision making focuses on who should be involved in the decision? A. Consensus decision making B. Decision framing C. Decision triage D. Decision retrospective

B. Correct. Decision framing focuses on who gets involved in the decision process and considers the values and principles that the participants share.

99. An agile team lead is facilitating a team retrospective meeting, where a team member is complaining how they would not be in this predicament if the other team member had created the back up as agreed before the storm knocked out the power. One of the team's working agreements is that they should avoid personal criticism or blame. What should the team lead do next? A. Ignore the comment and let the meeting continue B. Remind the team of the working agreements C. Focus on the impact of not creating back-ups D. Call for a break to reduce the tension

B. Correct. The team lead should use this opportunity to remind the team of their working agreements.

92. At the release planning meeting, the stakeholders are arguing over what user stories should be included in the upcoming release. Everyone wants the product to be released as soon as possible. The decision is made that the product will be released as soon as the must-have user stories are developed, tested, and done. What type of release is described in this scenario? A. Must-have driven B. Test-driven C. Feature-driven D. Date-driven

C. Correct. A feature-driven release is one that is released as soon as the pre-defined and the most important features (user stories) are developed, tested, and done.

93. In order to identify and respond to risks early on and at minimal cost, which of the following actions is the best for an agile team to take? A. Prioritize high user stories with the agile coach B. Implement pair programming with the scrum master C. Increase review frequency with appropriate stakeholders D. Conduct risk based spikes with the product owner

C. Correct. Agile teams limit increment size and increase review frequency with appropriate stakeholders in order to identify and respond to risks early on and at minimal cost.

71. An agile team wants to experiment with new technology during their next sprint. They believe if this trial run were successful, the new technology would produce a better product and increase efficiency in the long run. The product owner opposes this idea saying it may cause the sprint to fail. What is the best course of action for the agile coach? A. Support the team in their endeavor B. Support the product owner in their argument C. Consult with the customer D. Estimate the issue to the project sponsor

A. Correct. By supporting the team, the agile coach will be demonstrating proper servant leadership which encourages the team to experiment, improve, and achieve higher levels of performance.

113. A company recalled its product due to a production issue. At a retrospective, the team agreed to a process improvement so that defects can be identified and fixed earlier in the project life cycle. They also agreed that a simpler design would be easier to maintain and be more adaptable. Which of the following agile concepts were the team members trying to implement? A. Keep quality high and the cost of change low B. Keep value high and the defect rate low C. Keep motivation high and frustration low D. Keep quality high and the change rate low

A. Correct. Catching the errors earlier in the project life cycle and making the design simple, will keep quality high and the cost of change low.

110. During a series of agile workshops with different project stakeholders, the product vision was defined, then broken down into features, and, lastly, prioritized according to business value. Which of the following agile principle tool & techniques is described in this situation? A. Value based analysis and decomposition B. Work in progress C. Progressive elaboration D. Rolling wave planning

A. Correct. Defining the product vision, breaking it down into features, and prioritizing them according to value, is referred to as 'Value based analysis and decomposition'.

4. In what sequence would the following activities typically take place on an agile project before the first iteration starts? A. Estimate size, determine velocity, schedule the work B. Determine velocity, schedule the work, estimate size C. Schedule the work, estimate size, determine velocity D. Determine velocity, estimate size, schedule the work

A. Correct. Estimate size, determine velocity, schedule the work

74. An agile team has decided to use a brand-new technology to develop a high priority user story. However, after several unsuccessful attempts, they concluded they could not proceed. The team tried out other approaches, brought external experts but nothing worked. What is the next step for the team to take? A. Give up, inform the project stakeholders, and reset expectations accordingly B. Escalate the issue to the scrum master and request them to provide a solution C. Create an alternative user story of similar size that can be develop properly D. Implement appropriate risk response from the project risk management plan

A. Correct. Even though 'giving up' has a negative connotation, sometimes there is no other choice if all other alternatives have been exploited and did not work. The team tried everything in their power. The team should 'give up', update all relevant project stakeholders, and reset the expectations.

43. After a major company reorganization, an agile team is assigned to a new manager who announces that the project has dropped in priority and will lose two of its ten members, but would still need to be delivered on time. What is the best course of action for the team leader given these new circumstances? A. Work with all project stakeholders to reprioritize the remaining features preparing a new product roadmap and backlog to meet the original project completion date B. Continue working with the current product roadmap and backlog and have the remaining team members work overtime to meet the original project completion date C. Continue working with the current product roadmap and backlog, and create a risk register to track instances where planned work is not completed due to reduced resources D. Evaluate the skill sets of the remaining team members and redistribute the team members where they will be most effective at bridging the gaps caused by the staff reduction

A. Correct. Given the project has lost resources, it is unlikely that all of the features or user stories will be able to be completed within the established timeline with reduced resources. Reprioritizing the remaining features in the product backlog is an agile best practice whenever scope, resources, or deadline changes.

80. The product owner is disappointed that no business value has been delivered by the team in the recent iteration, which resulted in a loss of interest from some business stakeholders. What should the team lead say to the product owner in the team's defense? A. The team spent time learning a critical technical element to reduce risk. B. Business value on agile projects can be delivered in the last iteration. C. Delivering value is more important than keeping stakeholders engaged. D. Agile teams are empowered to decide on the content of the iterations.

A. Correct. If the team feels there is a risk on a project, it is better to investigate it now, even at the expense of not delivering any value to the customer in the short term. Waiting until this risk 'explodes' later on may potentially result in the entire project to fail. Therefore, of the choices provided, spending time learning a critical technical element to reduce risk is the most reasonable explanation the team lead can provide to the product owner.

86. A software development project is just getting underway, and the team is deciding what to use as an information radiator. Which of the following would an agile practitioner recommend when using burn charts? A. Use smaller non-expandable units of measure on a burnup chart B. Use a burndown chart if the total amount of work is not stable C. Use a burnup chart on a project that is fixed in scope for simplicity D. Use a burndown chart to show the customer the impact of adding features

A. Correct. It is best to choose units that are more granular. Alistair Cockburn gives the example of plotting the progress of packing up a house, where one is better off plotting rooms to pack rather than the number of floors to pack since it would give a more precise measure of how much work still needs to be accomplished.

64. For their upcoming project, agile team members have selected a method that limits the number of tasks being worked on by the team members at any given time. This method will also allow the team to increase visibility of issues and bottlenecks in their work process. Which of the following agile methods did the team members select? A. Kanban B. Product road map C. Agile-traditional hybrid model D. Value stream mapping

A. Correct. Kanban is an agile method for managing work with an emphasis on, among the others, limiting work in progress (WIP).

28. During a product demonstration, stakeholders are impressed by the agile team's ability to include so many features into the product. The stakeholders are curious as to the method employed. The team responds they are using Kanban. The stakeholders are eager to hear how the method works. What is the best response the team can provide to the stakeholders? A. As work items are pulled through the system and are consequently completed, new items from the backlog are added to completed next. B. Work is pushed through the system by the product owner based on her understanding of the team's velocity, as reflected by the burndown charts. C. Work in progress (WIP) limits are defined for every team member depending on the team member's knowledge, skills, and experience. D. Work is pushed through the system based on the changes that can be requested by the customer or stakeholders at any time during the iteration.

A. Correct. Kanban is one of the agile development methods that use a board to manage the workflow. In Kanban, work is 'pulled' through the system. As the work items are completed, the next items from the backlog are pulled again by the team members to be completed next.

66. An XP development team discusses the size of the software release to be delivered in each iteration by their new project. What advice should an agile practitioner give to the team? A. Deliver small releases to demonstrate progress to the customer and stakeholders B. Deliver large releases to provide as much value to the customer as possible in one iteration C. For small projects deliver small releases, for big projects use large ones D. For small teams deliver small releases, for large teams use large ones

A. Correct. One of the XP core practices is to deliver software to the customer in small releases to demonstrate progress, increase visibility, and get feedback from the customer and stakeholders.

70. An agile project that the company is about to undertake, is anticipated to last for two years. The project has not even started yet, but the project stakeholders are already discussing its failure. Which of the following collaboration games are the stakeholders engaged in to make this scenario possible? A. Project pre-mortem B. Project post-mortem C. Remember the future D. Back to the future

A. Correct. Project Pre-Mortem is a collaboration game aiming to identify the possible failure points on a project before they happen. The word 'game' may sound too light when being used with the 'pre-mortem'. It's more of a discussion about a pessimistic hypothetical scenario, rather than a playful funny game.

85. Agile practitioners facilitate awareness among project stakeholders in order to align expectations and build trust. Managing stakeholder expectations is achieved by which of the following? A. Establishing a shared understanding of success criteria and acceptable trade-offs B. Facilitating face-to-face communication between the team and the project stakeholders C. Maintaining proper stakeholder involvement and continually assessing changes D. Identifying, engaging, and managing motivated and empowered business stakeholders

A. Correct. Shared understanding of success criteria is what defines whether stakeholder expectations regarding the delivered product will be met or not. Trade-offs may have to be made when project priorities are changed. Stakeholders must be engaged throughout the project execution and be part of the process in determining acceptable trade-offs.

81. An agile practitioner is looking for a quick way to estimate the relative size of a user story. The practitioner is looking for a simple and easy gross estimation technique to use with stakeholders and customers to provide a rough estimate of user story size. Which approach would be the best choice for the agile practitioner use? A. T-shirt sizing B. Simple voting C. Fist-of-five D. Monopoly money

A. Correct. T-shirt sizing is a common estimation technique used by agile project teams for a quick and simple way to estimate the relative sizes of product features or user stories. With this technique, the product features or user stories are estimated using t-shirt sizes ranging from extra small through extra-extra large.

55. An experienced agile practitioner was explaining the benefits of empowered, self-organizing, and self-directing teams. Some agile team members then complained that their manager is not very agile as demonstrated by their very directive style of communication. How would the agile practitioner most likely respond to this comment? A. The team is still in the storming stage, which requires a lot of directing. B. The team is already in the norming stage, which requires a lot of direction. C. The project has a very tight schedule and must be managed by directives. D. Theory is one thing, and real life is a totally different story.

A. Correct. Teams in storming stage of their formation need a lot of support and direction from their managers.

62. Based on the below burndown chart, what should the agile team do next? A. Keep user stories as is B. Add user stories C. Re-prioritize user stories D. Remove user stories

A. Correct. The graph shows that the amount of time to complete the initial user stories is higher than expected. The team has made a commitment to try to complete this set of user stories, so the team has to act adjust and adapt in order to attain sprint goals.

96. An agile team is discussing a user story planned for the next iteration. Although the user story appears to be clear, the product owner has yet to address a few related questions on the user story. The agile coach recommends redefining the final requirements with the product owner before making the decision. Which of the following agile principle is described in this scenario? A. The last responsible moment B. The last possible moment C. Use a release plan D. Respect the decision of a self-organizing team

A. Correct. The last responsible moment is the best choice. The team is deferring the decision until they have more up-to-date details on the final requirements.

120. An agile team has to implement a new payroll system. The product owner is a payroll expert but is not familiar with agile planning. What advice should an agile coach offer to the product owner? A. Create an environment that facilitates face-to-face planning events involving all project stakeholders B. Generate a requirements document for the team to develop the product exactly per customer specifications C. Draft a project plan and send it to stakeholders for approval to ensure everybody are on the same page D. Develop a Gantt chart listing project deliverables to get necessary resources from the project sponsor

A. Correct. The product owner will need to collaborate with team members. Agile communication management relies on face-to face feedback. The coach may need to mentor the product owner in this situation.

40. After several sprints, the productivity of a scrum team had dropped. A new stakeholder has recently been involved and has frequently been contacting the development team to request information and question their methods. Assuming this stakeholder is the main reason for productivity drop, what is the best course of action for the scrum master to take to address this issue? A. Remove impediments to progress B. Communicate and re-communicate the project vision C. Isolate the team from any outside influence D. Provide the team with things that will motivate them to be more productive

A. Correct. The scrum master, as a servant leader, must protect the development team from distractions that may negatively affect productivity. Isolating or insulating the development team by requiring stakeholders and customers to direct development inquiries to the scrum master is a common agile practice.

67. A scrum master is monitoring work items being processed and completed on an agile project. The scrum master is measuring the project performance for its effectiveness by calculating lead and cycle time. Which Kanban principle is described in this situation? A. Manage flow B. Improve collaboratively C. Visualize the workflow D. Make process policies explicit

A. Correct. The third Kanban core principle is 'manage flow'. Teams should track the flow of work items and measure for effectiveness, monitor the value currently flowing through the system, and implement changes as needed.

117. An agile team has been working on a large IT project for several months, and so far the project was on track. However, in the current iteration, the scrum master notices that the number of completed story points is significantly lower that the number of planned story points. What is the scrum master's next logical step? A. Work with the team to determine the root cause B. Discuss performance issues at the project retrospective C. Adjust the sprint goal based on the actual velocity D. Bring in more developers to the project team

A. Correct. This sudden drop in performance is an example of a special cause variation. When such a variation is determined, project leaders may consider using variance analysis to determine the cause and adjust as needed to ensure the project is back on track.

108. An agile practitioner wants to make sure that a virtual development team delivers the highest value results to project stakeholders. Looking for ways to reduce or eliminate non-value added activities, the agile practitioner made a list of ideas to improve some of the existing project processes. Which of the following is a valid method to reduce waste? A. Visualize the process using a value stream mapping technique B. Replace the high-tech/low-touch tools with the high-touch/low-tech tools C. Encourage multitasking to reduce downtime D. Encourage team members to become highly specialized with their work assignments

A. Correct. Visualize the process using a value stream mapping technique would allow the team to identify steps that do not add value and, consequently, enable the team members to reduce the impact of those steps or remove them entirely.

100. Agile team members meet for the first time to review the charter for their upcoming project. The charter outlines the project vision, key deliverables, exit criteria, and roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders. What else should the team include in the project charter? A. Working agreements B. User story estimates C. Information radiators D. Agile Manifesto values

A. Correct. Working agreements, also known as a team charter, or social contract, are the values, agreements, and operating guidelines the team members establish for themselves to guide them as they perform the project work. On agile projects, it is not uncommon to include the working agreements in the project charter.

78. Agile team members worked in pairs during programming, ran automated tests, improved the code's structure, integrated code, deployed the software on customer premises for evaluation, and reviewed their process to reflect on how well did they work during the previous iteration. These practices are collectively known as: A. Continuous integration and refactoring B. Frequent verification and validation C. Customer driven development D. Pair programming deployment

B. Correct. Pair programming, automated testing, continuous integration, customer evaluation, team retrospectives, are all examples of and collectively known as frequent verification and validation.

111. When comparing two agile practitioners, the older one has less overall software development experience, but the younger one has far more experience using new technology. In their culture, older people are customarily given utmost respect and authority. The younger practitioner has notices some errors in the code turned in by the more senior teammate. What should the agile practitioner do next? A. Say nothing out of respect for the senior teammate and their culture B. Set up a code review, where everyone reviews each other's work C. Write a respectful email to avoid engaging with the senior team member directly D. Request another team member who is more or less the same age as the programmer to provide the feedback

B. Correct. A code review would be an equitable and respectful way to address the errors, where all members of the team can help to improve each other's code.

119. During an agile project chartering session, the project stakeholders were developing a product vision and created two artifacts. The first one was the vision box. The second one was just a couple of sentences that indicated the target customer, the key benefit, and competitive advantage. What was the second artifact created by the project stakeholders? A. Project charter B. Project elevator statement C. Business case D. Statement of work

B. Correct. A project elevator statement, sometimes called the elevator test statement, is a brief explanation of the project that can be described to someone within two minutes. The purpose of the elevator statement is to indicate the target customer, key benefits, and competitive advantage.

47. During the last few iterations of the agile project, the team members found themselves with many partially completed user stories. One team member suggested imposing an upper limit on the amount of work that the team takes on at any point during an iteration. What should an agile practitioner advise in this situation? A. The team should not set an upper limit on the work in progress because that would reduce the team's velocity. B. The team should set an upper limit on the work in progress to reduce waste. C. Consult the customer before setting an upper limit on the work in progress as the project goal is to add value to the customer. D. Only the sponsor can approve limits that lower resource utilization and may lead to wasting project funds.

B. Correct. Adding WIP limits reduces waste and increases business value being delivered.

52. An agile project is on track, the team performance is stable, and the project stakeholders are happy. Despite this, the team members decide to implement a new development approach for the next iteration, hoping to enhance project performance even further. Unfortunately, the approach fails, and, as a result, the iteration goal is not met. Was the team right trying to implement the new approach? A. No. When a project is on track and the stakeholders are happy, the team should stick to the approach that works and refrain from trying other approaches. B. Yes. Even when a project is on track and the stakeholders are happy, the team members may try a new approach if they feel the approach can maximize the value. C. No. The team should have set up a meeting with the stakeholders and proceed with the new approach only if the stakeholders were all in agreement. D. Yes. Regardless of how well project is doing, agile project management is all about exploration and experimentation, trial and error, success and failure.

B. Correct. Agile leaders should create a safe environment for the team members to experiment with and explore new approaches even is the team risks failure. If the team feels that a new approach could result in maximizing the value delivered, they should feel empowered, through their leader's support, to try this new approach.

27. An agile team is comprised of eighteen team members. Half of them are co-located, while the others are distributed globally. The team lead has made several suggestions to an experienced agile practitioner to help the team deliver effective results. However, the agile practitioner indicates that one of the suggestions may be problematic. Which of the following did the agile practitioner view as problematic? A. Use webcams, to establish a feeling of presence and awareness with fellow teammates B. Utilize a lightweight agile methodology for teams of a bigger size, to reduce overhead C. Implement automated build reports sent over email in real-time, to communicate status D. Establish caves and commons, to improve osmotic communication while allowing privacy when needed

B. Correct. As teams get larger, they need a heavyweight rather than a lightweight methodology. For example, an 18-person team is larger than the optimal size (6 to 12 members) recommended by agile best practices. Therefore, lighter-agile methodologies would not be very effective.

14. An agile practitioner would like to see their company start using Scrum for future projects, but getting buy-in at the executive level has been challenging since executives are not familiar with the benefits of Agile methodologies. Which of the following is correct in describing the benefits of using Scrum over other agile methodologies? A. Scrum does not have many roles or artifacts because it's more of a general agile mindset than a true methodology. B. Scrum has strict artifacts, roles, and rules, and although it's not flexible, it is most successful in providing benefits when applied correctly. C. Scrum is lightweight and easily paired with other methodologies, making it flexible to anyone with any type of previous project management experience. D. Scrum is the least likely agile methodology to be used by organizations due to its overly strict roles, rules, and artifacts.

B. Correct. By being strict with artifacts, roles, and rules, Scrum allows teams to cope with the changes and unpredictability that are part of continuous discovery and learning.

95. An experienced agile practitioner is introducing agile values to a newly formed team. The practitioner explains that agile approaches are value-driven in two ways: one way is focusing on features that provide the highest value to the customer. The other way is focusing on the practices that: A. Promote company's success and prosperity B. Endorse courage, respect, and communication C. Respect practitioners from different cultures D. Encourage use of the best technology

B. Correct. Courage, respect, and communication are all outlined in the Agile Manifesto and are key to the successful implementation of any agile method.

115. An agile team is holding a retrospective session. Which order of steps would be most logical for the team to follow? A. Create story cards or backlog items; ask why; create working agreement; use facilitation technique such as mad, glad, or color code dots; perform a retrospective on the retrospective B. Create working agreement; use facilitation technique such as mad, sad, glad, or color code dots; ask why; create story cards or backlog items; perform a retrospective on the retrospective C. Ask why; create working agreement; use facilitation technique such as mad, sad, glad, or color code dots; perform a retrospective on the retrospective; create story cards or backlog items D. Use facilitation technique such as mad, sad, glad, or color code dots; ask why; create story cards or backlog items; perform a retrospective on the retrospective; create working agreement

B. Correct. Create working agreement; use facilitation technique such as mad, sad, glad, or color code dots; ask why; create story cards or backlog items; perform a retrospective on the retrospective

51. Agile methodology provides frequent opportunities for teams to reflect and refine. Which of the following activities might agile team members be doing to explore these opportunities? A. Inspecting performance of individual team members B. Inspecting the work that has been done during project execution C. Grooming the backlog as needed D. Determining what will be delivered in the upcoming sprint

B. Correct. Inspection is one of the pillars of Scrum. Inspecting the work that has been done during project execution is one of the activities the scrum team members would likely be doing to improve their performance.

35. While some of the company executives believe that Agile does not utilize managers, as teams are self-directed and self-organizing, an agile coach thinks that Agile still needs good leaders to keep projects on track. Which of the following is considered a best practice of agile leaders? A. Set goals for what will be accomplished during each iteration B. Enhance focus, personal safety, and communications within teams C. Protect teams from customer input that would change prioritization of project work D. Maintain confidentiality by only sharing project progress with the project team

B. Correct. Monitoring and enhancing focus, personal safety, and communications within teams are among the tasks agile leaders are expected to perform to improve team performance.

12. Some agile project stakeholders are scrutinizing the amount of story points that the team have completed in each iteration, thereby placing pressure on team members to perform better. In the next iteration, the team took steps that resulted in higher velocity without actually completing more work than what was originally planned. What has the team most likely done? A. Increased their velocity B. Inflated their point estimates C. Reduced the project risk D. Completed more of complex stories

B. Correct. One of the undesired side effects of too much scrutiny from the stakeholders on the amount of story points completed in each iteration, is the story point inflation effect. Trying to reduce the pressure put upon them, the team members are inflating their story point estimates to make it appear like the velocity targets are met to calm down the worried stakeholders.

11. During the feasibility stage, stakeholders who are unfamiliar with Agile are concerned about preliminary estimates being too uncertain. Which statement about agile estimating and planning at the feasibility stage should the product owner communicate to allay fears of stakeholders that the project would most likely exceed budget and last longer than expected? A. Planning and estimating at the feasibility stage is simply about determining an appropriate deadline or schedule for the project. B. The value of the work as well as planning and estimating for the work to be done are determined iteratively and incrementally. C. Estimates are not needed to create plans for purposes of marketing, training, and release activities until deliverables are produced. D. Accurate estimates will be available during iteration Zero, therefore by the time the actual work starts, precise plan can be provided

B. Correct. Planning and estimating during a feasibility stage is focused on determining value to the customers by asking questions like, "What should we build?" As the project progresses past the feasibility stage, the cost, the budget, and the overall project schedule become clearer and easier to control.

32. What should be the main focus of the team in order to better detect and resolve problems with process or execution? A. Conducting a complex cost benefit analysis B. Holding retrospectives C. Completing the demonstration version of the product D. Stabilizing their velocity

B. Correct. Retrospectives can help the team analyze their process of problem detection and resolution and see how this process can be improved.

30. An agile practitioner used return on time invested or ROTI to determine the effectiveness of a recent retrospective. A similar metric, return on investment ROI, is used to determine the benefits or "return" received for the entire project given the money invested to derive those benefits. Which of the following is true about ROTI? A. ROTI is similar to ROI, but the formula includes 'time ' as an additional variable. B. ROTI is computed in a subjective way and its value may not be the same when evaluated be different people. C. The value of ROTI is unique for a given meeting and could be based on historical data from prior projects. D. The value of ROTI is unique for a given meeting and may need inputs from ROI or NPV to be computed.

B. Correct. Roti is computed using a scale of values, whole numbers, between 0 and 4. Participants are asked to give a value between 0 and 4 based on what their opinion is of whether a meeting provided decisions or actions that moved the group forward, or whether information sharing or problem solving was effective. This is a very subjective evaluation and scoring method where ROI is more objectively determined.

87. In a recent iteration, an agile team completed 15 user stories out of 20 planned. The project stakeholders were unhappy and demanded answers. The team members responded that they had to do the routine work of supporting prior releases which caused them to miss the iteration goal. Should the routine work of supporting prior releases be included in the iteration? A. No, routine work of supporting prior releases should not be included in the iteration. B. Yes, routine work of supporting prior releases should be included in the iteration. C. Yes, routine work of supporting prior releases should be included, but only in iteration Zero. D. It depends on how many user stories have to be removed by including the work of supporting prior releases.

B. Correct. Routine work of supporting prior releases should be included as part of the iteration. This routine work should be planned ahead and discussed at iteration planning meetings.

31. All the work performed in Scrum needs a set of values to serve as the foundation for the team's processes and interactions. One of these important values is openness. Which of the following represents one of the questions that the team addresses in the spirit of openness during the daily standup meeting? A. What went well on the last iteration? B. What is in our way? C. How do we best develop a user story? D. What do we plan to accomplish in the upcoming sprint?

B. Correct. Sharing any impediments to progress is one of the key aspects of the daily standup meeting. The scrum master is responsible for removing any impediments to progress so the team can focus on delivering value to the customer.

91. An agile development team has a diverse mix of members including a stellar programmer, who is quite an introvert and dislikes conflict. In the past, when paired with other coders, the programmer avoided providing feedback when mistakes were made and corrected the code quickly and quietly, thus avoiding conflict. What should the team do? A. Replace the programmer with another one who communicates better and is able to mentor junior developers B. Raise this issue at the next retrospective meeting C. Consider pairing the programmer with a junior developer D. Do nothing since the programmer is fulfilling the objective of creating business value with minimal delay

B. Correct. Since this affects the entire team, not just that particular programmer, the issue is best discussed on the next retrospective meeting.

5. An experienced scrum master introduces the newly hired scrum team members to the scrum guide. The scrum master explains that scrum teams are typically concerned with what level of planning? A. Visioning and chartering B. Sprint C. Roadmap D. Release

B. Correct. Sprint

114. An agile practitioner is asked by the project sponsor to provide the number of hours it would take the team to build a new software application. As an experienced software developer intimately familiar with agile methodologies, the agile practitioner steers the conversation towards relative sizing and away from time estimating. How does relative sizing make use of story points? A. Story points attempt to define work effort, such as determining hours for each task in an iteration. B. Story points define a unit of work size, and are used to compare how large one story is with respect to another. C. Story points use lines-of-code and function-points for early estimates. D. Story points overestimate workloads, especially as teams grow in size, requiring less of team members to estimate user stories.

B. Correct. Story point is a relative size unit of measure used to estimate the effort required to implement a user story.

116. Several product increments recently completed by the agile team during the last few iterations have been suffering from the defects detected in customer production environment. What course of action would an agile practitioner recommend to the team to take in order to determine the reason causing this issue? A. Establish coding compliance standards B. Carry out the Five Why's exercise C. Execute manual tests before launching into production D. Allow only senior programmers to integrate code

B. Correct. The Five Why's is a technique used by agile teams to determine the cause-and-effect relationships involved in a particular problem in order to get to the root causes of the problem.

36. An agile team is developing custom manufacturing equipment for a client. After three iterations, a functional prototype is ready, but it lacks critical safety features as well as several enhancements that can be installed onsite in future releases. To get early feedback from the client, the product owner requests that the team deliver an MVP as soon as possible. What should the team do to address the product owner's request? A. Install safety features and enhancements on the prototype and deliver it to the client B. Install only the safety features on the prototype and deliver in to the client C. Deliver the prototype to the client in its current condition as it is already functional D. Install only the enhancements on the prototype and deliver it to the client

B. Correct. The agile team can only release a product (a prototype in this case) once it meets the criteria for a minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP may include a minimal set of features but still must be consumer-ready. Safety features must be included and tested before releasing an MVP to the client.

1. The members of an agile team are trying to understand how long will it take for the project to be completed. To answer this question, they are analyzing the burndown chart, the cumulative flow diagram, and the schedule performance index of the project. Which analysis technique is the team using? A. SWOT analysis B. Trend analysis C. Schedule analysis D. Variance analysis

B. Correct. The team is looking at different patterns or trends over time in order to assess a future performance of the project.

118. Agile teams plan at multiple levels. First, they determine the project scope, schedule, and resources, as well as the user stories to be developed in the release. Then, in coordination with the product owner, they prioritize the user stories according to their value to the customer. And lastly, there is a daily planning, where agile teams are: A. Carrying out an architectural spike to reduce technical risks as early as possible on the project B. Synchronizing and coordinating the individual activities that lead up to the completion of a task C. Acquiring project team members and assigning the tasks per the resource management plan D. Coordination their activities with other agile teams working on the same project within the organization

B. Correct. The three main levels of planning used by agile teams are: release, iteration, and daily. Reviewing tasks and coordinating the individual activities that lead up to the completion of a task is an example of the daily planning, which typically occurs at the daily standup meeting.

104. A new developer has joined an agile team in the middle of a project executing. During the tour of the work area, the scrum master gave a brief overview of the agile practices used by the team and introduced the new developer to the team members. What should the scrum master do next? A. Set up a project kick-off meeting to introduce the new developer B. Let the team members introduce the project to the new developer C. Assign the new developer a project task that they can easily accomplish D. Ask the new developer to read the team's ground rules and processes

B. Correct. This opportunity empowers team members. It provides a leadership opportunity as well as a strong sense of ownership for the project.

49. There is a delay in delivering orders to customers. An agile practitioner maps out the current process to track the steps from when the order is placed, to when it is pulled from the shelf, packed, and shipped. The agile practitioner notices that packers wait until the cart that picks up the orders is full before they start packing. What is the agile practitioner doing? A. Grooming the product backlog B. Visualizing the process C. Determining the root cause of delays D. Creating a story map

B. Correct. Value stream mapping is a process improvement tool in which the current process is visually mapped in order to see any delays, waste, and constraints.

101. Agile team members are estimating how long it would take to develop features for a new application without being overly concerned about accuracy. A new team member is concerned that a lack of planning now would cause scheduling problems later on. What is the best advice that the agile practitioner can give to this new team member on agile sizing and estimating the project duration? A. Project duration is determined using bottom-up estimating by adding up the duration of the tasks comprising the user stories. B. Once the velocity is established, the total amount of story points divided by velocity will determine the project duration. C. To determine the project duration, velocity should be calculated prior to the start of the first iteration. D. The project duration can be determined by adding the number of story points completed by the team in each iteration.

B. Correct. Velocity is usually known after the team has run a few iterations (typically two to three). Dividing the total amount of story points by velocity would result in the number of iterations required to complete the project. With a time-boxed iteration length (for example 2weeks), an estimated project duration can then be calculated.

75. An agile team has just finished an iteration in which one of the user stories is only partially complete. Which of the following is true regarding incomplete user stories? A. The project team must complete the user story with the next iteration B. Incomplete user stories are excluded from velocity estimates C. Partially completed stories represent partial value for the customer D. Partially completed stories are included in velocity estimates

B. Correct. Velocity represents the rate of completion rather than the time or effort expended. Therefore, incomplete user stories are excluded from velocity estimates.

89. An agile team is working on a project to develop an e-commerce portal. They met to determine the best approach among several proposed ways to develop the back-end functionality of the portal. However, after a very long discussion, they were unable to reach a consensus. What is the best way to approach this situation if it is essential that an approach be selected by the end of the meeting? A. Call the project sponsor and have them make the decision. B. The team should use a simple voting technique. C. A user story should be created to determine the approach. D. The team should carry out an architectural spike.

B. Correct. While not ideal, simple voting is a quick way to make a decision when time is of the essence.

50. After creating a simple design, an XP team held a brainstorming session in order to explain this design to the project stakeholders and establish a shared technical vision. Which of the following agile practices is described in this scenario? A. Drafting a project elevator statement B. Designing a system metaphor C. Establishing a collective code ownership D. Documenting the team code standards

B. Correct. XP teams use metaphors to describe their program or system's vision. It is an easy way to communicate to all stakeholders how the system should work.

24. An agile team is in the process of estimating the level of effort needed to complete the user stories for their project. After the team presents the effort expressed in story points to the project manager, the project manager is shocked, stating that the number of story points is much higher than the one completed by another team in a similar project. What does the project manager most likely not understand? A. Estimates in story points always look high. B. Each agile team has its own capacity. C. The team is using padding to secure its estimates. D. The two projects are not similar.

B.Correct. A story point is a relative unit of measure. Each agile team would likely have its own understanding of how much work is involved in completing one story point. Hence, each agile team will have its own capacity and, therefore, cannot be compared with another team, regardless of how similar the projects the teams are working on may look like.

17. A project manager facilitates an iteration retrospective meeting. The team members acknowledge that they were unable to meet the iteration goal. To gain insights into velocity and see what can be improved going forward, the participants analyze the burndown chart of the iteration, trying to correlate working days with the number of story points completed on those days. Assuming no scope has been added throughout the iteration, during which period did the team complete the largest number of story points? A. A B. B C. C D. D

C. Correct. Area C represents the longest period of the iteration, approximately 4 days. During this period, the team accumulated the largest gap between the planned and actual work. For example, one can see that on days 7 and 8, the gap was around 15 story points. During this period, however, the team has completed the largest amount of work, between 15 to 20 story points.

102. The following image represents an agile information radiator that is often used to display the work in progress across a board over time. Two of the principal pieces of information that the team can glean from this type of tool are work in progress (WIP) and lead time. Which of the following best describes this information radiator? A. Burndown chart B. Burnup chart C. Cumulative flow diagram D. Work in progress chart

C. Correct. A cumulative flow diagram shows the work in progress across a board over time. Only a cumulative flow diagram can display work in progress (WIP) and lead time, making a cumulative flow diagram the best answer to the question asked.

90. A company authorizes an internal scrum project to develop a reporting tool for senior management. Due to a limited budget, the company requests the technical lead to also act as a product owner. The lead works with the management to develop user stories. At the sprint review, the management representative is disappointed as the tool is not what they expected. What is the technical lead's best course of action going forward? A. Ask the scrum master to fill in for the product owner B. Delegate the product owner responsibilities to the team members C. Ask the company to provide a dedicated product owner D. Continue to perform the duties of both the technical lead and product owner

C. Correct. According to scrum best practices, the product owner role should be assigned to a dedicated individual. This separation should help reduce potential misunderstandings between the development team and senior management.

15. An agile coach was recently hired because of their experience in software development and lean manufacturing. During the interview, the agile coach made an important point regarding the advantages of using agile methods on projects. Which of the following did the agile coach most likely mention as an advantage of agile methods? A. Use comprehensive documentation to improve agility and reduce defects B. Improve schedule performance by using manual testing rather than automated testing C. Improve schedule performance while reducing defect levels D. Only fail due to having the wrong processes, not the wrong people

C. Correct. Agile best practices, such as pair programming, continuous integration, automated testing, incremental and continuous delivery of value, when properly implemented, have shown better results than traditional projects in terms of better schedule performance and lower defect rates.

26. In traditional project management, the term for frequent changes in scope, is called 'scope creep'. In agile project management, what is true of frequent changes in scope? A. It does not exist because the scope is defined upfront B. It is expected and accepted because the requirements are unknown upfront and change regularly C. It is expected because the scope and requirements often change during the execution of agile projects D. It is expected and managed using agile change control management system

C. Correct. Although changing scope or requirements have negative connotations and impact in traditional project management approaches, one of the basic assumptions in agile projects is that scope or requirements will change over the course of the project to reflect what the customer or business deems valuable.

105. An organization has a planning cycle, where they approve their budgets and project hiring requirements annually. Senior executives want to implement agile principles and methodology in their product development and rollout. Which of the following should they adhere to? A. Plan resourcing around individuals rather than teams B. Approve and prioritize features annually C. Focus on minimal marketable features D. Inspect and adapt annually

C. Correct. By focusing on minimal marketable features, the organization can gain significant value. This is the best option among the answer choices given to reflect the agile approach and best practices.

38. During the retrospective meeting, the project manager encouraged the team members to go beyond answering the three basic questions. Which activities did the team perform during the retrospective meeting? A. Demonstrate the working code B. Discuss the recommendations for the following iteration and comment on the number of defects found in the previous iteration C. Conduct a root cause analysis and identify action items D. Define team working activities and analyze the release burndown chart

C. Correct. Conducting root cause analysis and identifying action items may occur during a retrospective meeting.

37. A project manager is responsible for their first agile project. They want to document rough product requirements to enable further discussion and validation with project stakeholders. Which of the following agile practices, commonly used to document the product requirements during the discovery process, will assist the project manager in this situation? A. Listing the requirements in the product backlog B. Creating a requirements traceability matrix C. Applying the three Cs of used stories D. Converting the requirements to use cases

C. Correct. Converting the rough product requirements into user stories that emphasize the value being delivered is a key difference between traditional and agile methods for capturing requirements. A good user story consists of three elements, commonly referred to as the three Cs: Card, Conversation, and Confirmation.

19. In a retrospective, an agile team has identified that many times testing on a user story cannot continue, pending a developer's availability to run database queries. The team lead notes that a couple of team members would benefit from acquiring basic database skills, so they can independently write and run these database queries and complete the testing themselves. What should the team do next? A. Prioritize the development of the high-value product features B. Pair more competent database developers with those who are less skilled C. Provide opportunity for the team members to improve their database query skills D. Remove the team members whose lack of database skills is causing a bottleneck in the process

C. Correct. Creating an environment of continued learning by providing opportunities for people to develop their skills, creates a more productive team of generalizing specialists. In this scenario, these generalizing specialists will no longer be reliant on the database developers to complete these specific tests, which they now can do themselves.

76. Software development projects may suffer from various delays, such as time passing between stating and verifying requirements, writing and testing code, and asking customers to clarify requirements and receiving clarifications, to name a few. Lean-agile project management approach copes with such delays by: A. Developing and rigorously following a detailed project management plan B. Using value stream mapping analysis to find bottlenecks in the process C. Creating self-directed teams and providing them with the resources they need D. Making conference calls with the customers to clarify requirements

C. Correct. Having all the necessary resources on the team, for example, business representatives, developers, testers, will reduce the delays caused by some of the factors described in the question. Business representatives should work with the customer to answer any questions that arise by the team.

88. You have been assigned to lead a complex agile project at an organization with historically high employee turnover. Given high turnover can be disruptive and result in a loss of critical project knowledge and experience, what approach below is most likely to increase project knowledge across the team and thus minimize the impact of such a loss due to turnover? A. Set up more team building exercises B. Contact the Human Resources department and determine the root cause of high employee turnover rate C. Have the team co-located and developers work closely with the customer in developing user stories D. Work with resource managers to add more team members

C. Correct. Having team members work together face-to-face will increase the familiarity with each other's work. Having developers work closely with customers when user stories are developed will also increase project knowledge across the team.

3. During an iteration planning meeting, after user stories in the iteration backlog are discussed, the team pushed for a re-prioritization of the user stories. Which of the following is a valid reason for re-prioritizing these user stories at this time? A. Although a user story can be completed within one iteration, it must be sliced because it is a compound story. B. The sprint is nearly full, but a user story that has not yet been considered must be included in the iteration because of a lack of interdependencies with other user stories. C. The completion of the remaining user stories prioritized for the iteration is based on technical expertise, which is in short supply on the team. D. Based on historical velocity, the product owner does not feel that the development team can complete the user stories discussed by the end of the iteration.

C. Correct. If there is a constraint such as availability of a technical expert, then the availability of this technical expert needs to be taken into consideration when prioritizing user stories.

63. Which of the following is true about lagging metrics? A. Lagging metrics indicate how soon users can gain value from a new release. B. Lagging metrics cannot be used in a feedback loop. C. Lagging metrics show team progress to the management. D. Lagging metrics include the number of story points that have to be moved to the next iteration.

C. Correct. Lagging metrics show team progress to the management.

34. Programmers developed just enough code to demonstrate working features. They used a minimal number of code classes and avoided any code duplication. They intend to adapt the code further based on customer feedback. Which of the following is described in this scenario? A. Refactoring B. Continuous integration C. Simple design D. Sustainable pace

C. Correct. One of the XP goals is to build the simplest design and just enough to make the feature work. The design should deliver features the customer needs.

73. Two agile coaches are discussing which methodology to use to improve their relationship with their clients. They have observed that in general, their stakeholders do not want to be involved in the details as the team works through a process or what is required in a deliverable. However, the same stakeholders are quick to complain when the deliverable does not meet their expectations. What type of methodology should the agile coaches use to help them better engage their stakeholders? A. Heuristic methodologies B. Normative methodologies C. Participative methodologies D. Rational methodologies

C. Correct. Participative methodologies capture certain aspects of customer involvement. This type of approach is stakeholder-based.

46. A distributed team has members living in different countries and time zones. They met in person at the start of the project, but they have primarily used video conferencing since the first meeting. Which type of communication can the team only experience when co-located, no matter how much time and effort the team is willing to invest? A. Tacit communication B. Oral communication C. Osmotic communication D. Written communication

C. Correct. Team members can only experience continuous osmotic communication when team members are co-located no matter what digital tools are provided to the team.

6. Agile project stakeholders are having a meeting to plan their upcoming project and to decide on which tools to use for tracking project performance. One of the tools suggested is the S-curve. Which of the following is true about the S-curve and agile projects? A. The S-curve provides information on the schedule on agile projects. B. The S-curve is an example of an earned value management tool that is used on agile projects. C. The S-curve is useful to track spending over time on agile projects. D. The S-curve is never used on agile projects.

C. Correct. The S-curve is a tool commonly used to track project spending over time. Its name is derived from the shape of the curve, which is the typical shape of project expenditures over time.

77. At each iteration planning meeting, one of the project stakeholders is suggesting new product features. However, these features are not aligned with the overarching goal agreed to by all the project stakeholders. Given this situation, the agile project leader should do which of the following? A. Remove impediments to progress B. Recognize team conflict as a positive thing C. Continually communicate the project vision D. Be flexible and agile and look for a way to incorporate the suggestions into the project goals and objective

C. Correct. The agile project leader at regular intervals needs to communicate and re-communicate the project vision to all project stakeholders. Such communication should help to minimize suggestions for product features that are not aligned with the project vision. The iteration planning meeting presents a good opportunity to align the project stakeholders with the project vision.

2. The product roadmap for a customized longing software system consists of, on-line room reservations, payment system, customer reward program, employee on-line scheduling, and in-room checkout. The client requested the reservation system up and running as soon as possible to bring in revenue. What advice should the agile practitioner offer in this situation? A. Ask the client to delay the opening until the team can finish developing all features B. Recommend the client purchasing pre-packaged off-the-shelf software instead of the customized one C. Coach and influence the product owner to reduce requirements and prioritize by value D. Hire more developers to have all features ready for the date required by the customer

C. Correct. The best answer is to only build a simple and basic design to get the reservation system up and running to bring in revenue for the client as soon as possible. Low value requirements can be added later in the project.

18. During the first iteration planning meeting, an agile team was struggling to provide an accurate estimation of their velocity. Someone quoted a well-known British economist, John Maynard Keynes, by saying: "It is better to be roughly right than precisely wrong." Which of the following best describes the meaning and intent of this statement? A. The velocity estimation B. Rolling wave planning C. The cone of uncertainty D. Progressive elaboration

C. Correct. The cone of uncertainty shows that estimates on projects typically move from a very broad range early in the project, to a narrower or more predictable range once more details about the project are available. To provide the velocity for the first iteration, the team should give a wide range (being roughly right), rather than providing a narrow, more precise estimate, which the cone of uncertainty suggests would be inaccurate (precisely wrong).

69. A product owner and a scrum master are working with their new development team to estimate the effort of user stories to be developed in a sprint. They are using planning poker as their estimation tool. What is the goal of planning poker? A. To derive an estimate that will withstand the future scrutiny of project stakeholders B. To use multiple rounds of discussion to arrive at precise estimates C. To reach consensus on reasonable estimates quickly, efficiently, and in an enjoyable way D. To create an open and collaborative working environment among the team members

C. Correct. The goal of planning poker is to reach consensus on reasonable estimates quickly and efficiently. Studies have shown that many agile teams find planning poker to be an enjoyable way to estimate user stories.

29. The agile team is in the middle of a sprint when the sponsor asks the team lead to stop work on a couple of user stories in the current sprint. With a recent news announcement of a new technology soon to hit the market, the sponsor is inclined to think that these user stories would be of little value. What should the team lead do? A. Have the development team stop working on those stories and focus on the others B. Tell the team to continue working on the stories because they were agreed to as a sprint goal C. Contact the product owner and ask if the user stories are still a priority D. Have the team swarm on the user stories so they are ready before the technology is released

C. Correct. The product owner is ultimately responsible for the sprint and product backlog and determines the priority of the user stories. Of the choices provided, this answer is the best.

58. New team members who come from a traditional waterfall background and have no agile experience joined the team a few weeks ago. Around the same time, customer satisfaction with the team's deliverables started to drop. Which of the following would be the most likely reason for the decline in customer's satisfaction? A. These new team members did not productively contribute to the team's velocity. B. These new team members did not get along with each other and refused to work collaboratively. C. These new team members resisted changes in the initial customer requirements. D. These new team members preferred oral communication over exchanging emails.

C. Correct. The reason for the customer's dissatisfaction was specifically linked to the project's product component deliverables, which are the customer requirements. These new team members mostly likely resisted changes in the initial customer requirements because of their traditional/waterfall background and lack of understanding of basic agile principles.

56. An agile team is working on a software release with an initial backlog of 720 story points. During iterations two to four, new user stories have been added. The following burndown chart represents the progress the team has made so far. Which of the following is the most likely interpretation of this chart? A. There is not enough information to provide any interpretation of the chart. B. The project team will not be able to complete the release on time. C. The team was only able to keep up with the scope added during these iterations. D. The project is progressing more quickly than initially planned.

C. Correct. The team completed originally planned user stories, but due to new user stories that were added during those iterations, the burndown chart looked like no progress has been made.

65. An agile team has created a set of team agreements for their current project. When would the review of team agreements as a team have the greatest impact? A. During pair programming B. During the adjourning stage of team development C. During sprint zero of every release D. During daily stand-up meetings

C. Correct. The team members typically actively review and potentially revise agreements during sprint zero of every release. Of the available options, this is the most impactful time to review team agreements as a team.

107. An organization has project management methodology standards for large-scale projects, which they have successfully used on many multi-year, large engagements. At present, the organization aims to experiment using agile methodology. They have a new agile team and have successfully completed project objectives using tailored down process standards. What is the best thing for the team to do? A. Share the success of the team with senior management B. Maintain team's competitive advantage by retaining what they have learned within the team C. Share the success of this practice with other groups within the organization D. Discourage this practice of tailoring as it did not conform to the organization's standard way of doing things

C. Correct. The team should spread their learning, best practices, and improvements to other parts of the organization for the benefit of the organization.

59. At the beginning of the iteration, specific tasks were assigned to different members of the agile team. Towards the end of the iteration, the lead developer hit a roadblock and asked for help, but other team members refused since they did not want to delay their own tasks. What is wrong with this scenario? A. Nothing is wrong. The team member's decision not to help their peer was justified. B. The team members' decision was wrong. They are obliged to help their peer at any cost. C. The planning approach was wrong. Tasks are not assigned to the agile team members. D. The lead developer should not have asked for help. Leads are expected to complete their tasks.

C. Correct. This is the answer to the specific question being asked, "What is wrong with this scenario?" On agile projects, tasks are not assigned to team members. Rather, the team members choose what task they can accomplish and then work as a team towards the iteration goal.

72. Scrum team members are geographically distributed across the globe. The team was in a video conference discussing steps to troubleshoot a critical defect found in the customer production system. The discussion turned into a heated debate where the team members blamed each other for the defect. How should the scrum master respond? A. Have the development team members work together to resolve this issue on their own B. Request that all development team members be on site for these types of troubleshooting sessions C. Facilitate the team discussion to ensure that the problem is resolve collaboratively in a professional way D. Wait until the retrospective meeting and review the team working agreements with the team

C. Correct. When a conflict arises, and the team is unable to resolve it on their own, the scrum master as a servant leader should step in and facilitate the discussion to ensure the team members work with each other in a professional and collaborative manner.

79. Agile teams may opt to use one or more demonstration techniques, such as wireframes, prototypes, and simulations, in order to get early feedback from the customer and avoid developing a product that does not deliver any value to the customer. What is another important reason for doing these demonstrations? A. To allow the customer to see a working software as early as possible B. To show the customer the exact time required to develop the product C. To enable the customer to visualize how the product will function D. To make sure the developed product will satisfy customer needs

C. Correct. While delivering knowledge projects, such as software products, it's hard for the customers, just by reading the documentation, to visualize the way the product will function upon its completion. This is one of the reasons agile teams use demonstration techniques, especially early in the project.

9. Agile team members want to create an application for a new video game console. While the team wants to appeal to early adopters by hitting their targeted release window, they do not want to end up with a lackluster game. What strategy would best allow the team to balance building the game rapidly while meeting their objectives? A. Focus on reactive thinking to improve the speed of development B. Depend on refactoring at later stages to fix errors made early on C. Arrange prioritized elements in the form of a wireframe D. Delay requirements gathering until more is known about the system

C. Correct. Wireframes assist the project's development by laying out content and functionality so the project has a visual structure and basis for development.

25. Two days before the end of the last iteration of the project, an agile coach has noticed that performance of one of the developers significantly degraded risking the iteration goal. The coach and the developer have a one-on-one coaching meeting scheduled a day after the iteration's end date. What is the best course of action for the agile coach to take in this situation? A. Conduct the performance appraisal of the developer after the iteration ends B. Ask the team members to swarm on the tasks assigned to the developed C. Employ real-time feedback to address the issue with the team member D. Discuss the issue with the team member on the scheduled one-on-one meeting

C. Correct. With only two days left until the end of the iteration and the whole project, the agile coach should do everything in their power to help the team member resolve the issue and accomplish the iteration goal. Then, at the one-on-one meeting, after the iteration ends, further action can be considered including a more in-depth analysis of the situation.

21. An agile team was discussing several design options sketched on the flip charts to implement a product feature that would allow students to enroll in different courses offered by the university. After the discussion, the team members were asked to provide their high-level estimates for the development of this feature. One of the team members provided an estimate that was significantly higher than everyone else's. What tool or technique would help the team member to support their estimate? A.The personas of the students requesting enrollment and the course instructors B.A burndown chart of the story points to be completed to implement the requirement C.A data model of the many-to-many relationship between students and courses D.A Kanban board showing the tasks associated with the implementation of the requirement

C.Correct. A data model is a diagram that depicts data entities and their inter-relationship. Data models, among other agile modeling techniques, are used on agile projects to capture designs at a high level and often help to describe the complexity associated with designs required to implement product features and requirements.

10. After a few successful iterations, agile team members held a sprint planning meeting for the next sprint. Which of the following would be a result this meeting? A. An increment of the product B. Prioritized list of backlog items C. A sprint toolbox with storyboard, code repository, and wireframes D. A sprint goal as agreed upon by the product owner and the team members

D. Correct. A sprint goal includes a description of what the product owner and the team have agreed to accomplish during the sprint. A sprint goal is among the artifacts produced during the sprint planning meeting.

98. To better understand the required design of a new system, an agile team is discussing a set of interactions between the system and its targeted users. Per customer request, the users should be able to search, reserve, and pay for tickets to different events. Given the discussion and its goal, which of the following agile models would an agile practitioner recommend to the team? A. A wireframe B. A persona C. A user story D. A use case

D. Correct. A use case is a generalized description of a set of interactions between the system and the users. This is precisely what is being described in the question: high-level interactions between the system and users, which are critical when considering system design.

13. A product owner followed the INVEST mnemonic while writing user stories for the release. During the first sprint planning meeting, the agile team determined that one high priority user story would not be completed in the upcoming sprint due to its size. What is the best action for the team to take in this situation? A. Rewrite the user story, but without using the INVEST mnemonic B. Postpone the user story to the second sprint because the team will have more experience after running the first one C. Proceed as usual, since the user story was written using INVEST mnemonic D. Write replacement user stories such that each provides some level of end-to-end functionality

D. Correct. Although not ideal, writing replacement user stories would allow the project team to deliver value to the customer.

42. To engage the newly identified stakeholders in the project at the earliest opportunity, the scrum master suggests inviting them to the upcoming sprint review meeting to demonstrate to the stakeholders that the team is moving in the right direction and get feedback from the stakeholders about what the team has accomplished. Which of the following is another reason for inviting the stakeholders to this meeting? A. To reflect on the team performance B. To reprioritize the release backlog C. To prioritize high-risk user stories for the next sprint D. To discuss the high-level plans for the next sprint

D. Correct. Among other items the work to be completed at the next sprint is discussed at the sprint review meeting. The discussion is conducted at a high-level only and does not replace the session held at the sprint planning meeting.

61. During a retrospective, agile team members applied a value stream mapping technique to identify waste in their process. They concluded that performing software testing at the end of the last iteration was wasteful. Which of the following was the team most likely doing during the last iteration that would have led them to this conclusion at the retrospective? A. Focusing on preventing defects rather than finding them B. Implementing too many changes requested by the customer C. Looking for root causes rather than for individual problems D. Performing quality control rather than trying to build quality in

D. Correct. Building quality in is one of the seven lean core concepts aiming to eliminate waste. Control quality is a reactive approach, which is applied after the fact. Therefore, performing quality control rather than trying to build quality in, has most likely lead to the waste.

7. A company specializing in robotics and system automation was hired to develop an automated system to improve the efficiency of a production line. The company produced the automated system exactly per the customer's specifications which were documented in the agreement at the start of the project. However, upon delivery, the system did not produce the customer's expected results. Which value of the Agile Manifesto might have prevented this situation? A. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project B. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools C. Responding to change over following a plan D. Customer collaboration over contract negotiations

D. Correct. Customer collaboration forms the basis for joint decision-making and establishes connections between the customer and the development team to ensure the customer receives the intended benefits of the project.

41. After several successful sprints, the agile team demonstrated an on-line shopping site to the customer who loved it so much that they wanted to launch it immediately! The team needs one more sprint to complete the documentation required by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) regulations. What advice should an agile practitioner offer in this situation? A. Launch the site B. Discuss the paperwork as a roadblock at the next scrum meeting C. Remove the documentation user story from the sprint D. Carry out one more sprint to complete the documentation

D. Correct. Documentation is required for certain projects with regulations and/or mandatory compliance. Documentation user story was added to the project to protect the company from fines and potential contract disputes. Therefore, the team has to carry out one more sprint to complete the documentation.

8. The PMBOK Guide defines project charter as a document that "formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities." Developing project charters on agile projects: A. Must follow the PMBOK Guide process B. Must not follow the PMBOK Guide process C. Is not required because Agile is paperless D. Does not necessarily require an internal document

D. Correct. In some instances, agile projects do not require internal documents when it comes to project charters. Examples include, but are not limited to, teams that accept contracts from outside sources, teams that are working on special projects, teams that are working in smaller organizations.

68. A company was contracted by a sponsor to deliver a project using agile best practices. The sponsor chooses to pay the company each time a new product increment is successfully delivered and accepted. What is the best type of contract to be used between the sponsor and the contracted company in this case? A. Not-to-exceed with fixed-fee B. Fixed scope with incremental delivery and payment C. Fixed price, fixed scope D. Incremental delivery with payment on incremental acceptance

D. Correct. Incremental delivery with payment on incremental acceptance type of contract is used when a sponsor chooses to pay the contracted company after each successful incremental acceptance.

39. An agile practitioner discovers that the team's cycle time is very high. What is the best course of action to reduce the cycle time? A. Decrease WIP and throughput B. Increase team velocity C. Increase WIP and throughput D. Decrease WIP and increase throughput

D. Correct. Limit the number of items in WIP, so the team can focus on the roadblocks. Increase throughput will reduce cycle time as moving items through the process faster. In combination, this will result in decreasing the cycle time.

112. The technology market is very competitive and getting its product out to market quickly is one of the critical factors for the success of a technology startup. An agile team launches the product with minimal features and plans to learn from the early adopters' feedback. What agile tool or technique is the team embracing in this situation? A. Kano Analysis B. MMP C. Early launch D. MVP

D. Correct. Minimal viable product (MVP) is a technique that allows the team to create a new product with minimal features but in a sufficient manner to be able to share with early adopters to collect relevant data, and to learn from it.

20. A company's senior management has realized that although a lot of work is being accomplished by their agile development teams on various projects, few product components are being delivered. The company has hired an experienced agile practitioner to examine the company's practices. The agile practitioner determined that the teams are having challenges with their throughput. Which of the following might have the agile practitioner identified as a cause of the throughput issue? A. Reduction in the number of projects B. Increased staffing on projects C. Assigning dedicated staff to projects D. Allowing staff members to multitask

D. Correct. Multitasking leads to task switching which is a form of waste. Multitasking is one of the main causes that leads to a large amount of work in progress, which slows throughput.

44. For the upcoming sprint, the product owner created and groomed the backlog to include software features only. The product owner then set up a product review meeting. What is the main purpose of this meeting? A. To capture and record requirements B. To demonstrate the team progress to the project stakeholders C. To provide opportunity for end-users to test and verify that the system is working as designed D. To demonstrate product to the customer in order to obtain feedback

D. Correct. Obtaining feedback during product reviews is the best way of determining if team's effort adds value and is to the customer's satisfaction.

94. An experienced agile coach is explaining the advantages of the test-driven development to the research and development personnel. One such advantage is that: A. Continuous integration is no longer required. B. The communication among team members improves. C. Pair programming can be merged with refactoring. D. Designs become simpler, cleaner, and easier to change.

D. Correct. Practitioners who applied test-driven development found that when they thought carefully about the tests they were writing one at a time, and how to make each test pass just after it was written, they came up with designs that were different from what they expected. The designs were simpler, cleaner, and easier to change.

97. During a meeting, agile team members are reflecting on the following questions: "Are we self-organized or title-based? Are we empowered to make decisions? Do we truly believe that we can solve any problem? Are we committed to the team success or individual success at any cost? Do we trust each other? Are we consensus-driven?" In what activity the team is engaged? A. Peer review B. Performance appraisal C. Iteration retrospective D. Self-assessment

D. Correct. Reflection is one of the most effective techniques available to an agile project team. This honest self-reflection or self-assessment is an opportunity to evaluate whether "we" as a team, have adopted and are operating per core agile principles and values that define collaborative high performance teams. Each of the questions being considered starts with either "Are we..." or "Do we...?" This "we" is the team and not focused on any individual team member.

82. A new agile practitioner has learned several agile methods, principles, and values. In addition to incorporating stakeholder values into projects, what two agile methods specifically incorporate the two community values of respect and courage? A. Dynamic Systems Development Method and the Crystal family of methods B. Feature Driven Development and Test Driven Development C. Lean and Kanban D. Scrum and Extreme Programming

D. Correct. Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) have defined their own set of values and they both include respect and courage.

48. A team member is new to agile and has not been accomplishing all the work required to complete user stories while reporting them finished. What key concept of agile project management is this team member not fully comprehending and is the most likely the cause for this team member to not complete their work? A. Individuals and interactions over process and tools B. Working software over comprehensive documentation C. The practice of developing user stories to describe requirements D. Definition of done

D. Correct. The definition of done is an essential agile concept and a difference between agile and traditional non-adaptive projects. It is very likely that the team member does not understanding this important concept or these definitions within the team. While the team member feels that they are finishing the work to complete the story, this is not what has been defined and agreed to during iteration planning as "done" for these user stories.

54. A scrum master is tasked with removing impediments and resolving conflicts, which serve as roadblocks for the newly formed team. However, at the daily stand-up meetings, the team members avoid conflict altogether due to lack of trust among them. What stage of Tuckman's model is being extended in this situation, and what can the scrum master do to help the team to move onto the next stage? A. Storming, and the scrum master needs to help navigate the conflict towards high performance B. Norming, and the scrum master needs to help team put conflict aside as unhealthy and nonproductive C. Performing, and the scrum master needs to ensure conflict is mitigated to keep the team on task at this stage D. Forming, and the scrum master needs to help the team acknowledge that conflict is productive and necessary

D. Correct. The forming stage of team development is characterized by low level of trust and conflict avoidance among the team members. Agile leaders should help the team members build trust and understand that conflict is a positive thing that stimulates constructive disagreement and healthy decision making process.

60. During the kick-off meeting, the customer assures the product owner that they know every feature needed for the new product and have already written over a dozen user stories. What is the product owner's best course of action in this situation? A. Write an agile project charter. B. Establish a user acceptance testing plan. C. Create the sprint backlog. D. Prioritize the user stories.

D. Correct. The product owner should work with the team to set up several user story workshops. At these workshops, the product owner, customers and developers can collaborate to determine business value, determine if user stories require further decomposition, and identify incremental units for prioritization.

33. During a recent sprint retrospective, the product owner expresses their concerns to the scrum master about the lack of communication between the members of the development team and the customer. What is the scrum master's best course of action in this situation? A. Send an email to the team requesting for more communication with the customer B. Ignore the product owner's concern C. Escalate the issue to the team members' direct managers D. Facilitate a meeting with the team and let them decide on the resolution

D. Correct. The scrum master can have the team discuss their communication during the retrospective (or sooner) and decide if communication needs to be improved. The team members and the product owner should attend this meeting.

84. An XP team has an aggressive schedule deadline for the next product release. As a result, the code being produced is functional but the effort to develop code for new features of the release was taking longer than anticipated. Upon inspection, the code was found to have unnecessary duplication and more than normal instances of code coupling. What practice below should be implemented to address the current situation? A. Implement pair programming B. Have a project pre-mortem C. Increase manual functional testing D. Reduce the technical debt

D. Correct. The team has produced code that has "technical debt" or a backlog of work caused by not doing regular cleanup, maintenance, and adhering to the proper coding standards. This question describes a situation where technical debt has reached a point where adding new functionality is being made more and more difficult. Refactoring the code is one of XP's principle methods for reducing technical debt.

53. There are three key elements that agile teams can use to analyze the product and create a backlog. Which of the following activities represents one of the key elements? A. Ensuring that user stories have interdependencies with other stories B. Aggregating user stories into features C. Breaking the value stream map down into individual activities and steps D. Identifying the roles, or personas, that exist in the customer environment

D. Correct. This choice represents the first key element in product analysis and backlog creation. The two other elements are: identifying the functions performed by the personas in the customer environment; and, breaking the functionality down into implementable chunks, or user stories.

103. An agile practitioner introduces agile values and principles to the new team members. The practitioner explains that agile teams provide transparency about their work status by communicating team progress, work quality, impediments, and risks. One of the team members asks about the importance of transparency. The agile practitioner replies that transparency is important to: A. Support change at the system and organization level B. Contribute to a safe and trusting team environment C. Encourage emergent leadership within the team D. Help the primary stakeholders make informed decisions

D. Correct. Transparent communication allows the project stakeholder to see the whole picture of the project, its status, progress, roadblocks, and helps them make informed decisions.

83. Applying systems thinking principles on agile projects implies which of the following? A. Agile teams should not try to understand the level of uncertainty of their project. B. Agile teams should iteratively create order within chaos. C. Agile teams should focus only on simple projects. D. Agile teams should consider that their actions to solve a problem may not fix it or may actually make it worse.

D. Correct. When a team is making a change, they should aim to understand the systems-level environment. They should view problem holistically, so that they do not apply a fix that may actually make things worse.

106. An agile team has to provide a rough estimate of their velocity for an upcoming project. The project is expected to be very similar to the last three projects that the team delivered recently in terms of the domain, environment, and tools. Is it advisable for the team to use historical velocities in order to estimate their velocity on the new project if the technology to be used would be different? A. No, agile projects are characterized by constant change, which makes initial estimations useless. B. Yes, the team may use historical velocities because the new project is almost identical to the last three projects that they delivered. C. No, using historical velocities based on previously delivered projects is always bad practice in agile. D. Yes, the team may use historical velocities, but the range of the estimate should reflect the underlying uncertainty.

D. Correct. When one of the factors on the new project is different from what it was in the previous ones (i.e. different technology), historical velocity still can be used. However, the team should put a larger range around the velocity values to consider uncertainty in the estimate due to these differences.

22. An agile project will be using a new technology. At the release planning meeting, the project manager insisted on getting a forecast for the release's completion date despite team members protesting that they need to run a few iterations first to provide an estimate. What should an agile practitioner do in this situation? A.Recommend using historical values of velocity from previous projects to make a forecast B.Support the project manager's demand and force the team to provide a forecast C.Recommend using the cone of uncertainty to calculate a velocity and make a forecast based on this D.Support the team's response to run a few iterations first before providing a forecast

D.Correct. No comparable historical velocity value exists because a new technology is being used. In these situations, the best approach is to run a few iterations to establish an actual velocity using this new technology. Once an actual velocity has been established, the team can provide a meaningful forecast to the project manager.

23. A new coach on an agile team completed a preliminary assessment, which indicates that with the exception of a couple of members, the team appears ready and excited about this new project. What is the next logical step for the agile coach to take to motivate each team member? A.Remove the team members who do not appear to be ready to work. B.Plan an exciting kick-off meeting to increase project interest. C.Suggest that the team members that do not seem as interested or excited, not be given important or critical roles on the project. D.Schedule and conduct one-on-one meetings with all team members to elicit their interest and thoughts about the project.

D.Correct. The coach should meet one-on-one with all your team members, not just the ones who didn't appear as interested or excited about new project. Learning about each team member and their interests will give the agile coach the best perspective with which to make recommendations and perhaps identify project tasks that individuals would be passionate about executing.