Agile Project Management Kanban Principles and Practices 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does cycle time measure in a Kanban system?
- Time an item spends actively being worked on (Correct answer)
- Total items in the backlog
- Number of columns on the board
- Time between two releases regardless of items
Correct answer: Time an item spends actively being worked on
Cycle time is the elapsed time a work item spends in progress, from start of work to completion.
Question 2: A team wants to deliver more predictably. Which metric should they monitor to forecast delivery?
- Number of meetings held
- Cycle time distribution (Correct answer)
- Count of email threads
- Size of the office
Correct answer: Cycle time distribution
A stable cycle time distribution lets a team forecast how long future items are likely to take.
Question 3: What is a 'class of service' in Kanban?
- A grade of employee seniority
- A policy for handling different urgency/risk categories of work (Correct answer)
- A column on every board
- A type of retrospective
Correct answer: A policy for handling different urgency/risk categories of work
Classes of service define handling policies (e.g., expedite, standard, fixed-date) based on risk and urgency.
Question 4: An urgent production bug arrives. Which class of service typically applies?
- Standard
- Expedite (Correct answer)
- Intangible
- Fixed-date
Correct answer: Expedite
Expedite (or 'silver bullet') class lets critical items bypass WIP limits to be resolved immediately.
Question 5: Why might a team add an explicit 'Done' sub-column (e.g., 'Dev Done') before the next stage?
- To hide blocked work
- To make handoff readiness and pull points visible (Correct answer)
- To increase WIP limits automatically
- To remove the need for testing
Correct answer: To make handoff readiness and pull points visible
Splitting columns into 'doing' and 'done' clarifies when an item is ready to be pulled downstream.
Question 6: Little's Law relates average lead time to which two quantities?
- WIP and throughput (Correct answer)
- Story points and velocity
- Team size and salary
- Backlog size and sprint length
Correct answer: WIP and throughput
Little's Law states average lead time equals average WIP divided by average throughput.
Question 7: What is the main benefit of conducting regular flow-focused reviews (e.g., service delivery review) in Kanban?
- To assign blame for delays
- To inspect flow metrics and drive continuous improvement (Correct answer)
- To replace all visualization
- To eliminate WIP limits
Correct answer: To inspect flow metrics and drive continuous improvement
Cadenced reviews examine flow metrics and feedback to fuel evolutionary, data-driven improvement.
Agile Project Management Kanban Principles and Practices 3
What does cycle time measure in a Kanban system?