AAC Agile Requirements & Documentation 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A business analyst is working on a product where requirements frequently change. Which documentation approach best supports this in an agile context?
- Create detailed upfront specification documents
- Maintain a living backlog with just-in-time elaboration (Correct answer)
- Document all requirements before any development begins
- Use formal change control boards for every update
Correct answer: Maintain a living backlog with just-in-time elaboration
A living backlog with just-in-time elaboration allows requirements to evolve while keeping documentation lean and current.
Question 2: What distinguishes an epic from a user story in agile requirements?
- Epics are written by developers; user stories by business analysts
- An epic is a large body of work that can be broken down into smaller user stories (Correct answer)
- Epics always span multiple sprints; user stories must fit within one day
- An epic has no acceptance criteria while user stories always do
Correct answer: An epic is a large body of work that can be broken down into smaller user stories
An epic is a large, high-level requirement that is too big to complete in a single sprint and is decomposed into smaller user stories.
Question 3: When writing acceptance criteria using the Gherkin 'Given-When-Then' format, what does the 'Given' clause represent?
- The expected outcome of the feature
- The action taken by the user
- The precondition or initial context of the scenario (Correct answer)
- The business rule being tested
Correct answer: The precondition or initial context of the scenario
The 'Given' clause describes the preconditions or initial state of the system before the action occurs.
Question 4: A product owner wants to prioritize backlog items based on customer value and risk. Which technique is most appropriate?
- MoSCoW prioritization
- Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) (Correct answer)
- Story point estimation
- Affinity mapping
Correct answer: Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
WSJF calculates priority by dividing cost of delay by job duration, incorporating value, risk, and time criticality.
Question 5: Which statement best describes the purpose of a Definition of Ready (DoR) for user stories?
- It confirms that a story has been tested and deployed
- It ensures a story has enough detail for a team to begin work in a sprint (Correct answer)
- It replaces the need for acceptance criteria
- It defines when the product increment is releasable
Correct answer: It ensures a story has enough detail for a team to begin work in a sprint
A Definition of Ready ensures stories are sufficiently understood, estimated, and small enough to be taken into a sprint.
Question 6: In agile analysis, what is the primary purpose of story mapping?
- To estimate the cost of each user story
- To assign stories to individual developers
- To organize user stories by user journey and identify gaps in product scope (Correct answer)
- To document technical architecture dependencies
Correct answer: To organize user stories by user journey and identify gaps in product scope
Story mapping arranges stories along a user journey backbone, helping teams visualize the whole product and find missing functionality.
Question 7: A team's backlog contains many user stories with unclear scope, causing frequent mid-sprint scope changes. What refinement practice should the BA recommend?
- Increase sprint length to accommodate changes
- Conduct regular backlog refinement sessions to clarify and split stories before sprint planning (Correct answer)
- Move all unclear stories to the icebox permanently
- Let developers define acceptance criteria during development
Correct answer: Conduct regular backlog refinement sessions to clarify and split stories before sprint planning
Regular backlog refinement (grooming) sessions ensure stories are clarified and properly sized before they enter a sprint, reducing mid-sprint disruption.
AAC Agile Requirements & Documentation 2
A business analyst is working on a product where requirements frequently change.
Which documentation approach best supports this in an agile context?