CDA Agile Leadership & Coaching 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Disciplined Agile, 'Choose Your WoW' (Way of Working) primarily empowers whom?
- Executive leadership to mandate processes
- Project managers to select methodologies
- Teams to tailor their own process to fit their context (Correct answer)
- Customers to define development approaches
Correct answer: Teams to tailor their own process to fit their context
'Choose Your WoW' is a core DA principle that empowers teams to select and tailor their way of working based on their specific context, constraints, and goals.
Question 2: According to Disciplined Agile, what is the recommended approach when an agile team faces an internal conflict?
- Escalate immediately to senior management
- Let the conflict resolve naturally without intervention
- The Team Lead makes the final decision for the team
- Address the conflict transparently, using facilitation to help the team reach consensus (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Address the conflict transparently, using facilitation to help the team reach consensus
DA advocates that conflicts be addressed openly and transparently, with the Team Lead facilitating discussion to help the team reach their own resolution through consensus.
Question 3: Which DA role is primarily responsible for coordinating technical aspects and guiding architecture decisions?
- Team Lead
- Product Owner
- Architecture Owner (Correct answer)
- Stakeholder
Correct answer: Architecture Owner
The Architecture Owner in Disciplined Agile is responsible for guiding the team's architecture decisions and ensuring technical integrity, coordinating with enterprise architects as needed.
Question 4: How does a DA Team Lead best support team self-organization?
- By making all key decisions to ensure efficiency
- By creating clear guidelines and then stepping back to let the team operate (Correct answer)
- By assigning specific roles to each team member based on expertise
- By reporting all team activities to management daily
Correct answer: By creating clear guidelines and then stepping back to let the team operate
A DA Team Lead supports self-organization by establishing a clear framework, removing impediments, and then trusting the team to make their own decisions within that structure.
Question 5: What is a 'process blade' in Disciplined Agile, and how does leadership relate to it?
- A specialized tool for cutting through organizational bureaucracy
- A modular process element that teams can choose to address specific workflow concerns (Correct answer)
- A blade server configuration used for agile development environments
- A cutting-edge leadership methodology for executive teams
Correct answer: A modular process element that teams can choose to address specific workflow concerns
In DA, process blades are modular process elements (such as continuous delivery, finance, or portfolio management) that teams can selectively adopt to address specific workflow concerns.
Question 6: In Disciplined Agile, what does 'leading by example' mean for a Team Lead?
- Demonstrating the behavior and work ethic you expect from team members (Correct answer)
- Being the first to complete all assigned tasks before the team
- Having the most seniority and technical expertise on the team
- Leading all sprint ceremonies and facilitated meetings
Correct answer: Demonstrating the behavior and work ethic you expect from team members
Leading by example in DA means the Team Lead models the behaviors, values, and mindset they want to see in the team, including transparency, continuous learning, and collaboration.
Question 7: How should DA leaders respond to team failures or mistakes?
- Use failures to identify and address underperformers
- Treat failures as learning opportunities and encourage experimentation (Correct answer)
- Minimize risk by preventing teams from trying new or unproven approaches
- Report all failures immediately to senior leadership for resolution
Correct answer: Treat failures as learning opportunities and encourage experimentation
DA leaders treat failures as learning opportunities that support continuous improvement, creating a safe environment for experimentation and growth rather than focusing on blame.
CDA Agile Leadership & Coaching 2
In Disciplined Agile, 'Choose Your WoW' (Way of Working) primarily empowers whom?