CAE Kanban & Lean Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following best describes the Kanban practice of 'making policies explicit'?
- Documenting sprint goals in a shared wiki
- Clearly defining and displaying the rules that govern how work flows through the system (Correct answer)
- Publishing team velocity to all stakeholders
- Creating a written escalation path for blockers
Correct answer: Clearly defining and displaying the rules that govern how work flows through the system
Making policies explicit means clearly defining and visibly displaying the rules (e.g., WIP limits, DoD, pull criteria) that govern the workflow.
Question 2: In Lean thinking, which of the seven wastes applies when a developer waits for code review approval?
- Overproduction
- Waiting (Correct answer)
- Defects
- Extra processing
Correct answer: Waiting
Waiting is the Lean waste that occurs when people or work items are idle, such as waiting for a review, approval, or dependency.
Question 3: A team wants to use a cumulative flow diagram (CFD). What does a widening band in the CFD indicate?
- Increasing throughput
- Growing work in progress and a potential bottleneck (Correct answer)
- Decreasing cycle time
- Successful WIP limit enforcement
Correct answer: Growing work in progress and a potential bottleneck
A widening band in a CFD indicates that work is accumulating in a stage, signaling a bottleneck or growing WIP.
Question 4: What is 'pull' in the context of a Kanban system?
- Assigning work to team members based on their skills
- Downstream steps signal upstream steps to provide more work when capacity is available (Correct answer)
- The product owner prioritizing the backlog
- Automatically starting new work when sprint begins
Correct answer: Downstream steps signal upstream steps to provide more work when capacity is available
Pull means downstream stages signal upstream stages to provide more work only when there is available capacity, preventing overproduction.
Question 5: Which Lean principle is best demonstrated by a team holding a brief daily standup at the Kanban board?
- Eliminate waste
- Visual management (Correct answer)
- Respect for people
- Continuous flow
Correct answer: Visual management
Visual management is demonstrated by using the Kanban board as the centerpiece for communication, making work status visible to all.
Question 6: A team's Kanban board shows several items stuck in 'In Review' for many days. Which action aligns with Lean principles?
- Move items forward and review later to maintain flow
- Conduct a root cause analysis to identify why reviews are delayed (Correct answer)
- Increase the WIP limit for the review column
- Remove the review stage to speed up delivery
Correct answer: Conduct a root cause analysis to identify why reviews are delayed
Root cause analysis (like a 5 Whys) identifies the underlying reason for delays, which is the Lean approach to eliminating recurring waste.
Question 7: What distinguishes a Kanban system from a Scrum system in terms of time structure?
- Kanban uses two-week sprints while Scrum uses four-week sprints
- Kanban is flow-based with no fixed iterations; Scrum uses fixed-length sprints (Correct answer)
- Kanban requires daily standups; Scrum does not
- Kanban uses story points; Scrum uses cycle time
Correct answer: Kanban is flow-based with no fixed iterations; Scrum uses fixed-length sprints
Kanban is a continuous flow system with no fixed iterations, while Scrum structures work into fixed-length sprints (typically 1-4 weeks).
CAE Kanban & Lean Principles 3
Which of the following best describes the Kanban practice of 'making policies explicit'?