CAD Agile Fundamentals and Manifesto 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of a sprint retrospective in Agile development?
- Review completed user stories with the product owner
- Demonstrate working software to stakeholders
- Inspect and adapt the team's process for continuous improvement (Correct answer)
- Estimate effort for the next sprint's backlog items
Correct answer: Inspect and adapt the team's process for continuous improvement
The retrospective is a ceremony focused on how the team works together, identifying improvements to process, tools, and collaboration—not on product features.
Question 2: In Agile, what distinguishes an 'empirical process' from a 'defined process'?
- Empirical processes rely on inspection and adaptation based on actual experience (Correct answer)
- Empirical processes follow a fixed sequence of predefined steps
- Empirical processes require full upfront requirements documentation
- Empirical processes eliminate all planning activities
Correct answer: Empirical processes rely on inspection and adaptation based on actual experience
Empirical process control relies on transparency, inspection, and adaptation of real outcomes, whereas defined processes assume work is fully understood upfront.
Question 3: Which statement correctly describes 'technical excellence' as referenced in the Agile Manifesto principles?
- Technical excellence is secondary to delivering features quickly
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility (Correct answer)
- Technical debt should be deferred until after the product launches
- Architecture decisions must be finalized before any coding begins
Correct answer: Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility
Principle 9 states that continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility, linking code quality directly to long-term flexibility.
Question 4: What is the key difference between Agile and traditional Waterfall project management?
- Agile uses no planning while Waterfall plans extensively
- Agile delivers in iterative increments while Waterfall delivers the full product at the end (Correct answer)
- Agile requires more documentation than Waterfall
- Agile is only suitable for small teams while Waterfall scales to large programs
Correct answer: Agile delivers in iterative increments while Waterfall delivers the full product at the end
Agile's iterative, incremental delivery model allows frequent feedback and adaptation, whereas Waterfall delivers a complete product after all sequential phases are done.
Question 5: A Scrum Master notices the team is adding unplanned features during a sprint. Which Agile principle does this violate?
- Simplicity—maximizing work not done (Correct answer)
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Responding to change over following a plan
Correct answer: Simplicity—maximizing work not done
Principle 10 promotes simplicity by maximizing the amount of work NOT done; adding unplanned scope inflates effort without agreed-upon value.
Question 6: Which Agile Manifesto principle directly addresses project progress measurement?
- Working software is the primary measure of progress (Correct answer)
- Velocity is the primary measure of team productivity
- Story points completed determine project health
- Customer satisfaction scores measure Agile success
Correct answer: Working software is the primary measure of progress
Principle 7 explicitly states that working software is the primary measure of progress, not documentation, plans, or abstract metrics.
Question 7: What role does 'trust' play in Agile teams according to the Manifesto principle on self-organization?
- Trust is irrelevant; processes enforce quality
- Management must verify all team decisions daily
- The best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams that are trusted to make decisions (Correct answer)
- Only senior developers can be trusted with architectural decisions
Correct answer: The best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams that are trusted to make decisions
Principle 11 states that the best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams, implying management must trust teams with decision-making authority.
CAD Agile Fundamentals and Manifesto 3
What is the primary purpose of a sprint retrospective in Agile development?