CAD Agile Frameworks and Methodologies 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary role of an Agile Release Train (ART) in SAFe?
- A team of developers who specialize in release management
- A long-lived team of Agile teams that develops and delivers solutions incrementally (Correct answer)
- A committee that approves releases to production
- A tool used to automate the deployment pipeline
Correct answer: A long-lived team of Agile teams that develops and delivers solutions incrementally
An ART is a virtual organization of 50-125 people (5-12 Agile teams) who deliver value by building solutions in a shared, cadence-based Program Increment.
Question 2: In Scrum-ban, which characteristic from Kanban is typically adopted into Scrum?
- Fixed-length sprints
- WIP limits on the sprint board (Correct answer)
- Daily Scrum ceremonies
- A Product Owner role
Correct answer: WIP limits on the sprint board
Scrum-ban combines Scrum's structure with Kanban's WIP limits, allowing teams to manage flow within their sprint while maintaining Scrum ceremonies.
Question 3: Which Agile framework uses the concept of 'value streams' as the fundamental organizing principle for enterprise agility?
- LeSS
- Crystal
- SAFe (Correct answer)
- XP
Correct answer: SAFe
SAFe organizes around value streams — the series of steps an organization uses to build solutions that provide continuous value to a customer.
Question 4: In XP, what does the 'sustainable pace' practice mean for a development team?
- Teams should always work at maximum speed to deliver as much as possible
- Teams should work at a pace they can maintain indefinitely without burning out (Correct answer)
- Teams should slow down during releases to avoid defects
- Teams should work overtime only during the last week of each iteration
Correct answer: Teams should work at a pace they can maintain indefinitely without burning out
Sustainable pace (formerly 'no overtime') holds that teams should work at a pace that can be maintained long-term, preserving quality and team health.
Question 5: Which statement best describes the NEXUS framework for scaling Scrum?
- It replaces the Scrum Master role with a Nexus Integration Team
- It adds a Nexus Integration Team to coordinate 3-9 Scrum teams sharing one Product Backlog (Correct answer)
- It requires each team to have its own Product Backlog
- It eliminates Daily Scrums and replaces them with weekly syncs
Correct answer: It adds a Nexus Integration Team to coordinate 3-9 Scrum teams sharing one Product Backlog
Nexus adds a Nexus Integration Team on top of standard Scrum to identify and resolve integration issues when 3-9 teams work from a single Product Backlog.
Question 6: In the context of Feature-Driven Development (FDD), what is a 'feature' defined as?
- Any user story with more than 13 story points
- A client-valued function that can be delivered in two weeks or less (Correct answer)
- A complete module of software functionality
- An epic broken down into smaller tasks
Correct answer: A client-valued function that can be delivered in two weeks or less
FDD defines a feature as a small, client-valued function expressible as 'action, result, object' that can be designed, built, and tested within two weeks.
Question 7: What distinguishes a 'pull system' in Kanban from a 'push system' in traditional project management?
- Pull systems assign work to team members; push systems let members self-select tasks
- Pull systems start new work only when capacity is available; push systems start work based on schedules (Correct answer)
- Pull systems require management approval; push systems are self-organizing
- Pull systems use physical boards; push systems use digital tools
Correct answer: Pull systems start new work only when capacity is available; push systems start work based on schedules
In a Kanban pull system, team members pull new work only when they have capacity, preventing overload; push systems schedule work regardless of current capacity.
CAD Agile Frameworks and Methodologies 3
What is the primary role of an Agile Release Train (ART) in SAFe?