CAE Agile Planning & Delivery 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A team uses Kanban and notices the 'In Progress' column frequently has 8 items when the WIP limit is 5. What should the team do?
- Increase the WIP limit to match actual usage
- Stop pulling new work and swarm to finish in-progress items (Correct answer)
- Remove the WIP limits as they are impractical
- Split the In Progress column into sub-stages
Correct answer: Stop pulling new work and swarm to finish in-progress items
Exceeding WIP limits signals a flow problem; the Kanban principle is to stop starting and start finishing to restore flow.
Question 2: What is the key difference between a Product Roadmap and a Sprint backlog?
- The Product Roadmap is only for external stakeholders while the Sprint backlog is internal
- The Product Roadmap shows strategic direction over time; the Sprint backlog is committed work for the current iteration (Correct answer)
- The Sprint backlog contains epics while the roadmap contains user stories
- They serve the same purpose but at different companies
Correct answer: The Product Roadmap shows strategic direction over time; the Sprint backlog is committed work for the current iteration
The roadmap communicates long-term product direction and goals, while the Sprint backlog is a short-term, team-committed plan for one Sprint.
Question 3: Which estimation technique uses consensus-based voting with cards labeled 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc.?
- T-shirt sizing
- Planning Poker (Correct answer)
- Dot voting
- Affinity mapping
Correct answer: Planning Poker
Planning Poker uses Fibonacci-sequenced cards where team members simultaneously reveal their estimates, then discuss discrepancies to reach consensus.
Question 4: In SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), what event aligns multiple Agile teams on a shared plan for a Program Increment?
- Sprint Review
- Scrum of Scrums
- PI Planning (Correct answer)
- Big Room Planning
Correct answer: PI Planning
PI (Program Increment) Planning is a cadence-based event in SAFe where all teams on the Agile Release Train align on objectives and identify dependencies.
Question 5: A team's burndown chart shows a flat line for three days mid-Sprint. What does this most likely indicate?
- The team is ahead of schedule
- Work is blocked or not being updated in the tracking system (Correct answer)
- Velocity has permanently decreased
- The Sprint goal has been achieved early
Correct answer: Work is blocked or not being updated in the tracking system
A flat burndown line indicates no progress is being recorded, suggesting impediments, blocked work, or failure to update the tracking tool.
Question 6: What is 'cone of uncertainty' in Agile project planning?
- A Scrum ceremony for managing risk
- The decreasing range of estimation error as a project progresses and more is known (Correct answer)
- A technique for splitting user stories
- A method for prioritizing backlog items by risk
Correct answer: The decreasing range of estimation error as a project progresses and more is known
The cone of uncertainty illustrates that estimates are most inaccurate at the start of a project and become more precise as the team learns and delivers.
Question 7: Which of the following BEST describes Continuous Delivery in an Agile context?
- Releasing software to production automatically after every commit
- Ensuring software is always in a releasable state through automated testing and integration (Correct answer)
- Delivering user stories within 24 hours of completion
- Running daily deployments to staging environments only
Correct answer: Ensuring software is always in a releasable state through automated testing and integration
Continuous Delivery is the practice of keeping software in a deployable state at all times through automated builds, tests, and integration pipelines.
CAE Agile Planning & Delivery 3
A team uses Kanban and notices the 'In Progress' column frequently has 8 items when the WIP limit is 5.
What should the team do?