Agile Business Analysis Delivery Horizon and Feedback 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which agile technique helps teams visualize work across multiple delivery horizons on a single board?
- Kanban with swim lanes for horizon tiers (Correct answer)
- A burndown chart
- A risk register
- A RACI matrix
Correct answer: Kanban with swim lanes for horizon tiers
Kanban boards with swim lanes or columns representing different horizons allow teams to see near-term, mid-term, and long-term work simultaneously.
Question 2: In the context of agile BA, what is 'validated learning'?
- Training that has been approved by the PMO
- Evidence gathered from real user interactions with delivered software that confirms or refutes an assumption (Correct answer)
- A formal sign-off from stakeholders on requirements
- A review of lessons learned at project close
Correct answer: Evidence gathered from real user interactions with delivered software that confirms or refutes an assumption
Validated learning is the confirmation or refutation of a business assumption through evidence gathered from actual users interacting with delivered software.
Question 3: A team consistently delivers features on time but receives negative feedback from users each sprint. What should the BA recommend first?
- Extend the sprint length to allow more refinement
- Examine whether the team is solving the right problems by revisiting user needs (Correct answer)
- Hire more developers to improve quality
- Move to a waterfall approach for better control
Correct answer: Examine whether the team is solving the right problems by revisiting user needs
Consistent negative feedback signals a misalignment between what is built and what users need, requiring the team to revisit and validate user needs.
Question 4: Which metric best indicates whether a delivery horizon is appropriately scoped for feedback?
- Number of story points completed per sprint
- Time-to-feedback: the elapsed time from delivery to receiving actionable user response (Correct answer)
- Number of bugs found in QA
- Percentage of backlog items estimated
Correct answer: Time-to-feedback: the elapsed time from delivery to receiving actionable user response
Time-to-feedback measures how quickly a team receives actionable user response after delivering, indicating whether the delivery horizon enables fast learning.
Question 5: How does a product roadmap relate to delivery horizons in agile business analysis?
- The roadmap replaces the need for delivery horizons
- The roadmap provides directional intent across horizons, while delivery horizons guide what is built in each increment (Correct answer)
- The roadmap is only relevant for Horizon 3 work
- The roadmap is a fixed contract that overrides sprint feedback
Correct answer: The roadmap provides directional intent across horizons, while delivery horizons guide what is built in each increment
A product roadmap communicates directional intent across horizons, while delivery horizons ensure teams have the right level of detail for each layer of work.
Question 6: What is the risk of having a delivery horizon that is too long (e.g., 6-month releases)?
- The team will run out of backlog items
- Feedback arrives too late to influence the product direction cost-effectively (Correct answer)
- Stakeholders will lose interest in sprint reviews
- The Scrum framework cannot support releases longer than one sprint
Correct answer: Feedback arrives too late to influence the product direction cost-effectively
Long delivery horizons delay feedback, meaning costly mistakes and misaligned features are discovered only after significant investment has already been made.
Question 7: In agile BA, what does 'inspect and adapt' most directly apply to within a delivery horizon?
- Reviewing the team's code quality standards
- Using sprint retrospectives to adjust team processes only
- Examining delivery outcomes and adjusting product direction based on what was learned (Correct answer)
- Updating the project charter after each milestone
Correct answer: Examining delivery outcomes and adjusting product direction based on what was learned
Inspect and adapt applies to both product and process: teams examine outcomes delivered within a horizon and adjust the next horizon's direction based on those learnings.
Agile Business Analysis Delivery Horizon and Feedback 3
Which agile technique helps teams visualize work across multiple delivery horizons on a single board?