CS461 Midterm Review

Which of the following are true regarding product backlog items and tasks.

1. A PBI is more about the what than the how. A task is more about the how 2. A well-formed PBI represents distinct business value, ideally from the customers perspective. A task is just a step by the team to create that value. 3. A task should be no bigger than one day of work. 4. Some teams who have learned how to define small enough PBIs no longer find tasks necessary.

How can one Scrum team build a potentially shippable product increment within one sprint

1. By checking code in multiple times per day, and by reducing or eliminating branches in the version control system. 2. By using Modern software engineering approaches, such as test-driven development, continuous integration, merciless refactoring 3. By full-time allocation to one team, focusing on only one set of sprint goals. 4. By organizing teams around features rather than architectural components. 5. By improving collaboration techniques; pair programming, working in a team room, and elimination over the wall hand offs. 6. By agreeing to a smaller amount of feature scope at the sprint planning meeting, allowing more time for integration, testing and fixing during each sprint.

What did this team previously agree should be in their definition of done

1. Properly tested 2. Code is refactored 3. Potentially shippable

To avoid technical debt, what should the team write down in their definition of done?

1. Regression tests for new functionality run automatically with every build 2. All previous regression trusts pass 3. Manual, exploratory testing has been conducted, 4. Code has been written by pairs, or atleast reviewed by other team members 5. Messy and poorly designed code has been cleaned up through refactoring 6. Checkout and build are fully reproductible, typically with one or two commands 7. Duplicate code has been removed through refactoring

Question for Standup Meeting (reminder)

1. What have you completed since the last meeting? 2. What are you planning to do now? 3. What obstacles are preventing you from completing tasks?

What is the timebox for daily scrum (standup) meeting

15 mins

What is the longest allowed iteration, or sprint, in scrum

30 days, or one calendar month, but one or two weeks is recommended.

A 30-day sprint uses a 1-day timebox for the sprint planning meeting, How long should the sprint Planning Meeting be for a two-week sprint?

4 hours maximum

Which statement best describes scrum

A framework with built-in reality checks for complex work in uncertain domains.

Visual TV Size Comparison : 35 inch 21x9 display vs 49 inch 21x9 display (displaywars.com)

A learning team. A learning team can become efficient when necessary.

What's the first thing we should see at the sprint review meeting

A live demonstration of a potentially shippable (properly tested) product increment.

Groups often fool themselves with "pseudo-solutions" that don't really change anything.*Which of the following are more effective?

A volunteer agrees to a specific action by a specific date. Team writes concrete adjustments to its working agreements. Team agrees to try a different approach as an experiment for one Sprint.

What is the recommended size of a scrum team

About 6 people

Which is not an effective way to encourage collaboration between the scrum development team and external departments or other teams.

Act as a go-between for them

When should the product backlog be re-prioritized

Always. The Product Owner should re-prioritize the product backlog constantly, as we learn more.

In Scrum, what does a team attempt to do during its very first sprint?

Analyze, design, build, integrate, and test potentially shippable product increment, even if its features are initially simple and small.

During sprint execution, when are new sprint tasks added

As soon as possible after they are identified, unless they endanger the sprint goals

According to Roger Schwarz, facilitators should remain neutral about content and attempt to decrease the group's dependence on the facilitator. Therefore, what should the ScrumMaster do next?

Ask the group to interpret the safety check histogram results.

When should a retrospective Meeting be held?

At the end of each Sprint, after the sprint review meeting

In a good retrospective, when are decisions made

At the end of the meeting, after all team members have expressed themselves.

Which skills are often useful or necessary on a scrum development team

Business domain knowledge, technical writing, testing, user interface design user experience, information architecture, data, coding, software design/ architecture

Imagine you are developing a self-driving car. Which Product Backlog Item is most consistent with the S (Small) in INVEST?

Car can drive itself along a straight road in daylight conditions without help from the driver, except for construction zones.

Some Scrum teams fully embrace Agile technical practices. How often do these teams integrate their work and rerun the regression tests?

Continuously as things change; potentially many times per day.

The team and product owner feel this PBI is done, but there are other related things we want. What should we do.

Declare this PBI done. The additional functionality should be identified by other PBI's

What's the difference between acceptance criteria and definition of done?

Definition of done applies globally to all PBIs for a product, while acceptance criteria pertain to specific items. Acceptance criteria could also form the basis of new PBIs.

When is the sprint backlog created

During the sprint planning meeting, though the tasks needed to accomplish the fixed goals will change during sprint execution

According to Bill Wake, the acronym "INVEST" can help you remember what a well-formed Product Backlog Item looks like. What do the last three letters stand for?

Estimable, Small, Testable.

In Scrum, how often is the Sprint Retrospective conducted?

Every Sprint.

How often should backlog refinement occur

Every sprint

How frequently do experience agile software developers test

Every time the code changes

Most organizations that claims to be doing Scrum ___

Have Modified the difficult, uncomfortable parts that could have led to breakthroughs.

In a Scrum organization, which is a responsibility of management external to the scrum team

Help resolve team-reported impediments and improve the larger organization.

Which is a better measure of progress

How much work has been finished.

Martin Fowler's book Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code helped popularize the term "refactoring". The term is often misused. What does this term mean when applied to source code?

Improving internal structure only, e.g. removing duplicate code.

According to Bill Wake, the acronym "INVEST" can help you remember what a well-formed Product Backlog Item looks like. What do the first three letters stand for?

Independent, Negotiable , Valuable.

The CEO asks a team member to do some work outside the goals of the current sprint in progress. What should the team member do.

Inform the product owner so (s)he can work with the CEO

What often happens to the product backlog as development continues from sprint to sprint

It gets larger, because every sprint review demonstration prompts requests for more or different features.

What does the Grades PBI need additional refinement?

It's not Estimable, Small, or Testable. Note: Officially in Scrum: Product Backlog Item (PBI) Not parts of Scrum, but commonly used: User Story, Epic User Story is an example small Product Backlog Item. Epic is an example large Product Backlog Item, not ready for a Sprint.

In effective Scrum, how are priorities represented in the Product backlog?

Items on top are more important than items on the bottom. No two items can be exactly the same priority, especially at the top.

What should happen in the sprint review meeting

Live demonstration of a potentially shippable (properly tested) product increment. Feedback from stakeholders resulting in additional items added to the product backlog.

What should the Scrum Master say next?

Maybe your background and skills were mostly in testing, but now you are a Scrum Team Member. A Scrum Development Team is collectively responsible for thin slices of properly tested product every Spring. Let's ask the team what they think of your involvement.

How is the product backlog arranged

Most important items at the top to least important items at the bottom

Should the product backlog contain tasks

No

Does scrum have a role called "project manager"

No Scrum has product owner and team, with the scrumMaster creating an environment to help this succeed.

Do most people use most features of most software products?

No, Many people wish the 20% of features they actually use the most had been properly tested.

TDD involves creating tests and code nearly simultaneously, while constantly improving the design. Many Agile developers believe TDD helps ensure correct implementation while reducing the cost of change. Is TDD part of Scrum?

No, Scrum is only a feedback framework. It does not specify particular technical practices. Note: 15 min is the time frame for daily scrum meeting.

Does scrum have a concept of a partially done PBI

No, it's important to avoid self deception

Is a safety check by itself a complete Sprint Retrospective?

No.

Should the team expect to know all the tasks necessary to complete the committed PBI's during the sprint planning meeting.

No. According to Agile Project management with scrum, only 60% of the tasks are likely to be identified during the sprint planning meeting. Other tasks, such as unanticipated dependencies, will be discovered during execution.

Is retrospective safety enhanced by inviting outside spectators who weren't working on the team?

No. If the team needs to discuss issues with outsiders it's usually better to do this after the retrospective

In scrum, is it acceptable to postpone testing until another sprint.

No. In Scrum, teams attempt to develop a potentially shippable product increment every sprint.

What is a good size for a Sprint Task?

One person-day or less, so other team members can easily detect when a task is stuck.

How many sprints are planned during a sprint planning meeting

One sprint only. Once the team has established a consistent pace, the product owner may use this to make longer range forecasts and release plans.

Imagine you are developing an airliner that will use weight-on-wheels sensors to detect when it's resting on the ground. Which Product Backlog Item is most consistent with the V (Valuable) in INVEST?

Passenger doors automatically unlock when the plane is on the ground.

Which of the following is the team responsible for

Resolving internal conflicts, Increasing productivity and learning, planning how to meet a sprint goal, coordinating daily during the sprint to meet the sprint goal.

Does scrum have rules, or just guidelines

Scrum has had a few simple rules for a decade or two with minor refinements. Appendix A .....

The Daily Scrum is one technique to encourage team collaboration. Which physical arrangement encourages collaboration the most?

Standing in an unobstructed circle, without laptops or phones.

Which is NOT an effective way to encourage collaboration between the Scrum development team and product owner

Teach the product owner about technologies the team uses

What is a scrum development team expected to do during the first sprint

Test the product

Who is ultimately responsible for prioritizing the Product Backlog Items?

The Product Owner.

During Sprint Execution, a Scrum Team uses information radiators such as the taskboard or sometimes a Sprint Burndown Chart. Who are these for?

The Team, so they can take responsibility for their own work habits.

In an organization that embraces Agile values, who would be responsible for tool selection and configuration?

The Teams, who would have to coordinate with each other.

Who is responsible for selecting work in the sprint planning meeting.

The [Development] Team

What's the difference between the product backlog and the sprint backlog

The product backlog contains everything we might work on, while the sprint backlog contains just the things we'll work on during one Sprint.

If we keep the product visible and encourage open communication, will the product backlog usually get bigger or smaller over time.

The product backlog will grow because people ask for things in response to what they've seen.

To whom should the stakeholder direct his complaint about priorities?

The product owner

When were the four PBIs selected for the sprint?

The product owner.

Who estimates the effort to complete a product backlog item

The scrum development team, after clarifying the requirement

Who owns sprint plans

The team owns them collectively

Other than Eddie, who is responsible for the integrity of Eddie's agreement with is team?

The team, and the Scrum Master must help create the circumstances for the team to take this responsibility. This may include techniques such as nudging people and modeling behavior.

Which is the more important reason to demonstrate working products frequently

To accelerate our understanding of the users real needs

What is a more important objective of the Backlog Refinement Meeting?

To get a better understanding of upcoming work and split it to form smaller PBIs.

What is the purpose of sprint review?

To inspect the potentially shippable product increment (the outcome of the sprint) and adapt the product backlog.

Many people have discovered that pair programming reduces errors and Increases maintainability. What is pair programming?

Two people share one workstation. One navigates while the other drives the keyboard. They swap every few minutes.

What should the Scrum Master say next?

We're here to refine the requirements together. Success at Agile requires business people and developers to work together daily throughout the project. In this meeting let's focus on the top few items only.

When should a product backlog item be considered done?

When the team and product owner agree it meets the definition of done.

When is Sprint execution completed?

When the timebox expires, or in rare cases when the Product Owner cancels the Sprint.

What should the Scrum Master say next?

Yes writing down agreements is a way to confirm you understand each other. However, since you own your internal agreements they don't have to leave this room.

Do you agree the PBI will need some testing tasks

Yes, if the team learns to use Test Driven Development, some of this will be handled implicitly and repeatably. Manual exploratory testing is also important.