CDA Agile Testing & Quality Practices 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Disciplined Agile, 'behavior-driven development' (BDD) primarily uses which format to express acceptance criteria?
- UML sequence diagrams
- Given-When-Then scenarios (Correct answer)
- User story maps
- IEEE test case templates
Correct answer: Given-When-Then scenarios
BDD uses Given-When-Then format to express acceptance criteria in plain language that both business stakeholders and developers can understand and automate.
Question 2: A DA team consistently finds bugs in production that were not caught in testing. Which practice would MOST directly address this issue?
- Hiring more testers
- Implementing risk-based testing to prioritize high-impact areas (Correct answer)
- Increasing the number of test environments
- Running production canary releases
Correct answer: Implementing risk-based testing to prioritize high-impact areas
Risk-based testing focuses effort on the areas most likely to fail and most critical to the business, reducing the chance of high-impact bugs reaching production.
Question 3: What does 'continuous testing' mean in a Disciplined Agile context?
- Testers work 24 hours a day in shifts
- Automated tests run as an integral part of the CI/CD pipeline after every code commit (Correct answer)
- Testing is performed at the end of every sprint
- QA reviews requirements continuously throughout the project
Correct answer: Automated tests run as an integral part of the CI/CD pipeline after every code commit
Continuous testing integrates automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline so every commit triggers a test run, providing immediate feedback on code quality.
Question 4: Which metric is MOST useful for a DA team tracking the effectiveness of their test automation suite?
- Number of test cases written per sprint
- Defect escape rate (bugs found in production vs. total bugs found) (Correct answer)
- Percentage of stories with automated tests
- Total hours spent on testing
Correct answer: Defect escape rate (bugs found in production vs. total bugs found)
Defect escape rate measures how many defects slip past testing into production, directly reflecting the suite's effectiveness at catching real issues.
Question 5: In the DA toolkit, what is the key difference between 'validation' and 'verification' in testing?
- Verification checks code syntax; validation checks runtime behavior
- Verification ensures we built the product right; validation ensures we built the right product (Correct answer)
- Validation is done by developers; verification is done by QA
- They are synonymous in Agile contexts
Correct answer: Verification ensures we built the product right; validation ensures we built the right product
Verification confirms the product meets its specifications, while validation confirms the product meets the actual needs and expectations of the customer.
Question 6: A Disciplined Agile team is using 'specification by example.' What is the PRIMARY benefit of this approach?
- It reduces the need for any automated testing
- It creates living documentation that serves as both specification and acceptance tests (Correct answer)
- It eliminates the need for a product owner
- It replaces unit testing with integration testing
Correct answer: It creates living documentation that serves as both specification and acceptance tests
Specification by example creates concrete examples that define behavior, which double as executable acceptance tests and always-current documentation.
Question 7: When should a DA team add new tests to their regression suite?
- Only at the end of the release
- Whenever a new bug is found or new functionality is added (Correct answer)
- Once per quarter during a dedicated testing sprint
- Only when mandated by the QA manager
Correct answer: Whenever a new bug is found or new functionality is added
Tests should be added continuously — each new feature needs test coverage, and each bug fix should have a test to prevent recurrence.
CDA Agile Testing & Quality Practices 3
In Disciplined Agile, 'behavior-driven development' (BDD) primarily uses which format to express acceptance criteria?