3. Focus Area Test - Agile Foundation

c. Agile The Agile approach is recommended for projects that require a high degree of change and high frequency of project deliveries. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 19]

Project life cycles can be shown on a continuum ranging from predictive cycles on one end, to Agile cycles on the other end, with more iterative or incremental cycles in the middle. Another approach is to visualize the continuum with a two-dimensional chart with the frequency of delivery on the Y-axis and degree of change on the X-axis. What project life cycle should be proposed for the quadrant with a high degree of change and high frequency of delivery? a. Incremental b. Iterative c. Agile d. Predictive

c. Complete the current iteration, reprioritize the backlog and adapt the new plan for the next iteration. Agile teams typically don't adjust their long term plan during a sprint unless all of the items being developed are dropped from the backlog. It is recommended to complete the current sprint and then re-plan and adjust accordingly. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 25]

The product owner has requested some major changes that will have a significant impact on the project and require reprioritizing the remaining backlog items. What should you do? a. Cancel the current sprint and immediately call a retrospective. b. Terminate the current sprint and reprioritize the entire project. c. Complete the current iteration, reprioritize the backlog and adapt the new plan for the next iteration. d. Complete the started stories but do not bring any more "Ready" stories into "WIP".

c. Establish a Kanban board and set WIP limits The problem is unmanageable WIP. The solution is to limit the WIP based on team capacity. A Kanban board can be really helpful in setting this up. A Kanban board provides a means to visualize the flow of work, make impediments easily visible, and allow flow to be managed by adjusting the work in process limits. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 31]

You are leading a massive knowledge work project. Some team members have complained they have to work overtime in order to complete some of the assigned work. What should you do to resolve this issue? a. Call a team retrospective b. Launch a root cause analysis c. Establish a Kanban board and set WIP limits d. Establish working agreements

c. A sprint size needs to be determined that maximizes customer value and satisfaction. The highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. A sprint size needs to be determined that maximizes customer value and satisfaction. More information would be required to determine the best duration. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 9]

You are managing an ecommerce-enabled website for a retailing giant. Both the project team and the client organization are happy with the clarity of the original functional and non-functional requirements set out in the contract's SOW. You have recommended the Agile project management approach to the client and they are happy with any management approach as long as they receive a working product. You and your team have a tough decision to make regarding sprint durations. A sprint duration of two weeks would add a lot of pressure on the team as complex requirements will be tough to build in a single sprint. A sprint duration of six weeks would make the project less Agile but the project might get finished early as the customer won't get to see many prototypes. What sprint size should be selected? a. Four weeks should be selected as that is the average of two numbers. b. Two weeks should be selected since Agile Manifesto mandates frequent delivery of working software. c. A sprint size needs to be determined that maximizes customer value and satisfaction. d. Six weeks should be selected since the project would get finished early and satisfy the customer.

c. Frequent retrospection and selecting improvements. Deferring the development until the design is complete is a waterfall approach. Using a Kanban board can help managing the work but frequent retrospectives can really facilitate process improvement by allowing the team to brainstorm on what went well and what went wrong. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 32]

A project team is currently building a warehouse management system. Due to the complexity of the project and ambiguous requirements, the team decided to adopt an Agile management approach. If a higher rate of management process improvement is required by the project team, which of the following can help achieve this objective? a. Adopting XP for the development phase. b. Deferring the development until all requirements have been collected. c. Frequent retrospection and selecting improvements. d. Using a Kanban board to enable visual management.

a. Agile and Kanban are subsets of Lean because they are named instances of Lean thinking. Agile and Kanban are subsets of Lean because they are named instances of Lean thinking that share Lean concepts such as "focus on value", "small batch sizes", and "elimination of waste". [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 11]

A software vendor has recently hired you to manage some of its key projects. During your orientation at the organization you were told that the organization has recently adopted Agile practices for project management. A chart was then shown to you where Agile and Kanban were shown as subset of Lean. What is your view on this? a. Agile and Kanban are subsets of Lean because they are named instances of Lean thinking. b. The chart is wrong because Kanban is a subset of Lean while Agile is not. c. The chart is wrong because Agile is a subset of Lean while Kanban is not. d. The chart is wrong because Agile, Kanban and Lean are three different approaches to project management.

a. Showed "Attention to detail" as a value instead of showing "Individuals and Interactions". "Attention to detail" is not a value of the Agile Manifesto. Chris has incorrectly showed "Attention to detail" as a value instead of showing "Individuals and Interactions". [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 8]

Chris will be conducting an introduction to Agile workshop in the next few days. On one of the slides, he put a number of areas that Agile teams highly value. The list included customer collaboration, working software, responding to change and attention to detail. What mistake did Chris make? a. Showed "Working software" as a value instead of showing "Individuals and Interactions". b. Showed "Attention to detail" as a value instead of showing "Individuals and Interactions". c. Showed "Responding to change" as a value instead of showing "Change management". d. Showed "Customer collaboration" as a value instead of showing "Contract negotiation".

b. Tackle the project via small increments of work. Migrating the non-critical applications is not in the scope. Breaking the interconnections might render the critical applications inoperative. Waterfall approach is not recommended in this scenario as the project has high uncertainties. Tackling the project via small increments of work sounds like the most reasonable approach among the given options. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 13]

Jane is responsible for migrating critical applications used in the organization over to a cloud platform. The non-critical applications that are currently integrated with these critical applications will be moved to the cloud once the current migration project is successful. Which of the following is the best approach for Jane given the high uncertainties associated with the project? a. Tackle the project via strict waterfall approach. b. Tackle the project via small increments of work. c. Break the interconnections and migrate one application at a time. d. Migrate the critical and non-critical applications at the same time.

3. Focus Area Test - Agile Foundation

Start

b. Revoke the detailed schedule and explain your reasons to the sponsor. Agile projects are not plan driven and do not follow detailed plans as this compromises the team agility in responding to changes. You need to revoke the detailed schedule and explain the reason to the project sponsor. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 17]

The project sponsor took over the leadership of your Agile project while you were away on a holiday. In your absence, the sponsor asked for a detailed project schedule and the team developed a detailed task-level, resource loaded Gantt chart. What should be your next step now? a. Retain the schedule but drop the resource assignments. b. Revoke the detailed schedule and explain your reasons to the sponsor. c. Continue tracking the project against the recently developed schedule. d. Create feeding buffers and pad the schedule.

a. Project teams sometime blend various methods to achieve project objectives. Although Kanban and Agile approaches can slightly differ, both focus on delivering value, respect for people, minimizing waste, adapting to change, and continuous improvement. Project teams sometime blend various methods to achieve project objectives. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 12]

Two of the senior subject matter experts have different opinions on the use of management tools on a project. The use of Kanban and Agile approaches are being proposed by these experts. In case you decide to use both of the approaches on your project, which of the following can be a valid justification for such a decision? a. Project teams sometime blend various methods to achieve project objectives. b. Senior subject matter experts cannot be turned down. c. Kanban is a part of the Agile Manifesto; the debate was irrelevant. d. Management approaches are irrelevant as long as majority of the stakeholders are happy.

a. Trying the new techniques on a less risky pilot project. Trying the new techniques on a less risky project with a medium to low degree of uncertainty is advisable. The lower the risk, more the chances of success. You need some quick wins to help smooth transition to the new approaches. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 30]

When introducing Agile methods to an organization that has historically managed all its project using predictive life cycles, which of the following approaches is more likely to succeed? a. Trying the new techniques on a less risky pilot project. b. Trying the new techniques on high-value projects. c. Trying the new techniques on ongoing projects. d. Trying the new techniques on completed projects.

c. Develop the required documentation as part of the project. Although according to the Agile Manifesto working software is valued over comprehensive documentation, this doesn't mean that Agile teams do not produce detailed documentation. If documentation is required of the project, the team must develop it. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 8]

You and your Agile team are developing a new workflow management system for your organization. According to the ICT Systems & Tools Development Policy, you are required to produce detailed software documentation. What should you do? a. Educate the higher management on why you will not be developing detailed documentation on this project. b. Use traditional project management practices to manage this project. c. Develop the required documentation as part of the project. d. Reject the policy as it is against the Agile Manifesto.

c. No; the iterations are time-boxed. Iteration durations are time-boxed and cannot be extended. All incomplete stories need to be returned to the product backlog where they will get re-prioritized along with the other stories in the backlog. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 25]

You and your team are executing the first Agile project in the organization. This is a special project for the organization as Agile is being piloted for the first time. You are nearing the end of the first iteration on the project and not all of the assigned user stories are complete. Can the team extend the iteration duration by a couple of days in order to complete all assigned stories in the iteration plan? a. Yes; but requires the approval of the Scrum Master. b. Yes; but requires the approval of the product owner. c. No; the iterations are time-boxed. d. Yes; but the extension cannot be more than 2 days.

d. Show Anu how you have had success in the past using Agile approaches and why they are better. The best thing to be done at this stage is help the project manager understand and realize the benefits of Agile approaches and why these are better than traditional approaches if there is a significant degree of change associated with the project work. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 7]

You are an Agile process analyst and are assigned to work for Anu who is leading a complex Student Services Design project for a university. Anu insists that the team create highly detailed project plans before commencing the work. What should you do? a. Put your foot down and don't compromise on Agile values and principles. b. Escalate the issue to the project sponsor. c. Brush up your resume and start applying for external jobs. d. Show Anu how you have had success in the past using Agile approaches and why they are better.

c. An Agile mindset. Although Agile Manifesto, methods and techniques originated in the software industry, these have since spread to many other industries. Agile is a mindset defined by values, guided by principles, and manifested through many different practices. As the first step, any organization wishing to embark on an Agile journey, needs to adopt an Agile mindset. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 10]

You are considering adopting an Agile project management approach in your construction business. You are not sure how to do this as a number of Agile techniques are more suitable to software development. For this initiative, what is the first thing the organization needs to adopt? a. 12 Agile Principles. b. Agile Manifesto. c. An Agile mindset. d. Agile Methods.

a. Kanban board A Kanban board provides a means to visualize the flow of work, make impediments easily visible, and allow flow to be managed by adjusting the work-in-process limits. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 31]

You are currently managing a complex project that requires a lot of knowledge work. You want some sort of visual management system that can help you visualize the flow of work, make impediments easily visible, and allow flow to be managed by adjusting the work-in-process limits. Which of the following tools can help you in this regard? a. Sprint retrospective b. 5S c. Product backlog d. Kanban board

d. The value customers associate with that product or feature. A successful project, product or feature is the one that delivers value to the customer. Customers usually do not care how teams develop products, however they do care if the product delivers value to them or not. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 4]

You are helping a software development team transition from traditional to Agile approaches. You tell the team that the single most important attribute of any product or feature is: a. The ideal days estimated to develop the minimum viable product or feature. b. The time required to deliver the product or feature. c. The velocity at which the team takes on the development of that product or feature. d. The value customers associate with that product or feature.

a. Couple of months; this will allow the least distraction. According to the Agile principles, the shortest possible delivery timescale should be selected. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 9]

You are leading a complex Agile project. During the project kick-off meeting, the team is considering the frequency of delivery. Based on the project conditions, you and the team believe that the delivery frequency can be planned from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. What frequency should you select? a. Couple of months; this will allow the least distraction. b. This cannot be determined based on the information provided. c. Couple of weeks; this is shortest possible timescale. d. One month; this will be the expected average.

b. Let the team know that producing the user instruction set with the released prototype is a contractual requirement. Although according to the Agile Manifesto a working software is preferred over comprehensive documentation, that doesn't not mean Agile approaches do not allow documentation. It is the project manager's duty to conform to all contractual requirements and that needs to be communicated to the team. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 8]

You are responsible for deploying a new supply chain management system for a client organization. You need to analyze the client organization's current processes and procedures, design future-state processes in consultation with the subject matter experts at the client organization, and customize the supply chain system to suit these processes. According to the contract, all prototypes presented to the client must accompany user instruction sets. Your team is objecting to this documentation requirements and insist in developing a user manual only at the very end of the project. What should you do? a. Incorrect response: Negotiate with the team and convince them to develop comprehensive documentation before releasing any prototypes. b. Let the team know that producing the user instruction set with the released prototype is a contractual requirement. c. Accept the team's demand; Agile Manifesto values working software over comprehensive documentation. d. Negotiate with the client organization and convince them to drop the documentation requirement.

a. Predictive Once the system is successfully designed and built, user training may be an extensive task but this can be planned in advance. Predictive life cycle should be the most structured approach for this phase of the project. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 26]

You are responsible for designing a new lessons learned management system for an organization. As a part of the project, you need to consult with a number of senior stakeholders and assess their needs and requirements. You then have to facilitate consensus on the system features, workflows, processes and procedures. Once the system is developed, it has to be rolled out across the organization and all employees have to be trained in effective use of the system. You have chosen to use a hybrid project life cycle. Which of the following life cycles should be adopted for the user training phase of the project? a. Predictive b. Incremental c. Agile d. Iterative

d. Using a hybrid model; Agile approaches for the design phase followed by a predictive approach for the rollout. Since the product requirements are not known upfront and can only be discovered through a series of prototyping iterations, an Agile approach is suitable for the design phase. Once the product is developed, the mass rollout can be manage using a predictive life cycle. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 26]

You are responsible for designing and a new handheld gadget followed by a mass rollout to the market. The project has been requested as a result of your organization's blue ocean strategy, and if successful, will creating a market for its own. However there is a high degree of uncertainty around the requirements which can only be uncovered through prototyping. Which of the following approaches is most likely to succeed? a. Using an Agile approach for both design and rollout. b. Using a hybrid model; predictive approach for the design phase followed by an Agile approach for the rollout. c. Using a predictive approach for both design and rollout. d. Using a hybrid model; Agile approaches for the design phase followed by a predictive approach for the rollout.

a. "Plan conservatively and deliver aggressively". "Plan conservatively and deliver aggressively" is not a valid Agile principle. The rest of the choices are all valid Agile principles. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 9]

You have asked a publisher to print some Agile principles on posters. When the posters were delivered, you found out that some of them had incorrect Agile principles printed on them. Which of the following posters has an incorrect Agile principle printed on it? a. "Plan conservatively and deliver aggressively". b. "Focus on technical excellence". c. "Working software is the primary measure of progress". d. "Continuous delivery of valuable software".

b. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage disruptive technologies, scope changes and project risk. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage disruptive technologies, scope changes and project risk. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 2]

You have been assigned a new project. The project involves disruptive technologies. The project scope is not clear which has introduced a lot of risk into the project. You have requested to use Agile to manage this project. Why? a. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage scope changes. b. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage disruptive technologies, scope changes and project risk. c. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage disruptive technologies. d. Agile techniques and approaches effectively manage scope changes.

d. Any or all of these terms could apply depending on the situation. Agile can be viewed as an approach, a method, a practice, a technique, or a framework depending on the context of use. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 11]

You have been hired by an organization to introduce Agile to its project management office. During one of your initial presentations to the team you have been asked a tough question: Is Agile an approach, a method, a practice, a technique, or a framework? What should be your response? a. Agile is a framework that contains methods and techniques. b. Agile is neither an approach nor a framework, however it contains some methods and techniques. c. Agile is an approach and not a framework, it contains methods and techniques. d. Any or all of these terms could apply depending on the situation.

a. Kanban board This is an example of Kanban board. A Kanban board provides a means to visualize the flow of work, make impediments easily visible, and allow flow to be managed by adjusting the work in process limits. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 31]

You have been invited by your colleague to attend one of the project standup meetings. You notice that the team has got a big chart on a wall, divided into sections such as "Ready", "In Development", "Being Tested", and "Completed". What tool are they using? a. Kanban board b. Burndown chart c. Activity matrix d. War room

d. Exclusive use of a life cycle on all projects is not recommended. No life cycle can be perfect for all projects. Instead, each project finds a spot on the continuum that provides an optimum balance of characteristics of its context. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 19]

You have called in key stakeholders for a brainstorming session. The main agenda item is to identify suitable project life cycles for a number of new initiatives launched by the organization. Two of the stakeholders are proposing exclusive use of predictive and Agile life cycles respectively. What should be your response? a. A blended life cycle needs to be designed which can then be exclusively used on all projects. b. Exclusive use of Agile life cycle is recommended as this is new way to manage projects. c. Exclusive use of Predictive life cycle is recommended as this is a tried and tested method. d. Exclusive use of a life cycle on all projects is not recommended.

b. Create a proof of concept. If the business is unsure of how the new business service might work in practice, create a proof of concept with evaluation criteria to explore desired outcomes. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 22]

You have recently been assigned as the project manager to a new service design project. This project resulted from the new corporate strategy your company has adopted. However, the organization is not sure how the new requested service would work in practice. What should you do? a. Develop a product backlog. b. Create a proof of concept. c. Conduct a root cause analysis. d. Determine the conditions of satisfactions.

d. Train the team members in the fundamentals of the Agile Mindset and principles. Consider starting by training team members in the fundamentals of the Agile Mindset and principles. If the team decides to use a specific approach such as Scrum or Kanban, provide a workshop on that approach so that team members can learn how to use it. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 32]

You have recently been hired by a major airport operator to head its project management office. The PMO has been following a waterfall-based project management approach consistently across all projects. You want to pilot Agile approaches on a couple of new projects and see how these approaches can benefit the organization. However, the team members are not experienced in the use of Agile approaches. What should you do first? a. Train the team members in effectively using the Scrum methodology. b. Train the team members in effectively using the XP approach. c. Train the team members in effectively using the Kanban approach. d. Train the team members in the fundamentals of the Agile Mindset and principles.

d. Deliver the project in increments, one line at a time and adjust the designs as new information becomes available. According to the scenario, since the network of geysers and hot springs cannot be accurately mapped, freezing the design upfront is not recommended. Delivering the project in small increments can manage this risk. This might require design changes as new information becomes available. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 16]

Your firm, a tunnel construction company, has recently won a contract to construct a network of underground tunnels for a new metro project in the city. The project site contains a network of interconnected geysers and hot springs. These network paths cannot be accurately mapped due to the complexity of the terrain and available technology. Which of the following is the best approach to be used on this project? a. Start all lines at the same time and be prepared to tackle probable flooding of the lines. b. Do a detailed design before commencing project work and keep the costs under budget. c. Given the complexities, the project needs to be abandoned. d. Deliver the project in increments, one line at a time and adjust the designs as new information becomes available.

a. Efficient and effective communication. The most efficient and effective method of communication is face-to-face conversation. When a project has a virtual team, the biggest challenge is ensuring efficient and effective communications. None of the other choices are more significant than this. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 9]

Your organization has been awarded a contract to develop and implement a new resource management system for a client based in Asia. Your development team is distributed across Europe. You are also planned to relocate the implementation team to the client location. What would be your biggest challenge in such a setup? a. Efficient and effective communication. b. Monitoring project progress. c. Documenting sprint retrospectives. d. Controlling project costs.