Agile Business Analysis Strategy and Initiative Horizons 3

Question 1

An agile organization wants to balance innovation investment with core business maintenance. Which framework explicitly categorizes this balance as Horizon 1, 2, and 3?

Accepted Answer

McKinsey Three Horizons of Growth

Answer

McKinsey's Three Horizons of Growth explicitly categorizes investments into core maintenance, emerging growth, and future options.

Question 2

When an initiative's business case is reviewed and found to have a negative NPV but high strategic alignment, what should the business analyst recommend?

Accepted Answer

Escalate for executive decision, highlighting the strategic value beyond financial return

Answer

Strategic value can justify investments with negative NPV, but the decision requires executive judgment with full transparency about trade-offs.

Question 3

In SAFe, what is the primary purpose of the Portfolio Vision?

Accepted Answer

To articulate the future state the portfolio is working toward and guide investment decisions

Answer

The Portfolio Vision describes the intended future state and aligns investment decisions across the portfolio with organizational strategy.

Question 4

A BA is facilitating a capability gap analysis. What is the MAIN output of this analysis?

Accepted Answer

Identification of current vs. desired capabilities and the gaps that initiatives must close

Answer

Capability gap analysis compares current state capabilities to the desired future state, revealing which gaps initiatives must address.

Question 5

Which metric BEST indicates whether a portfolio's strategic initiative mix is appropriately balanced across time horizons?

Accepted Answer

Percentage of budget allocated to Horizon 1 vs. 2 vs. 3 initiatives

Answer

Tracking budget allocation across horizons directly shows whether the organization is over-indexed on core operations or under-investing in future growth.

Agile Business Analysis Practice Test

Agile Business Analysis Practice Test

Agile Business Analysis Strategy and Initiative Horizons 3