CDA Governance, Metrics & Risk Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In DA governance, what is the primary purpose of an Architecture Owner's role regarding risk?
- To eliminate all technical debt immediately
- To identify and mitigate technical and architectural risks for the team (Correct answer)
- To approve all external vendor contracts
- To chair the portfolio governance board
Correct answer: To identify and mitigate technical and architectural risks for the team
The Architecture Owner identifies and manages technical and architectural risks, guiding the team toward sound design decisions.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes a 'risk burndown chart' in agile governance?
- A chart showing the number of bugs fixed per sprint
- A visual showing the reduction of identified risks over time as they are resolved (Correct answer)
- A velocity chart adjusted for team capacity
- A burn rate chart for project budget
Correct answer: A visual showing the reduction of identified risks over time as they are resolved
A risk burndown chart tracks how the total number or severity of open risks decreases over time as the team addresses them.
Question 3: In the DA Toolkit, 'Disciplined DevOps' governance includes which of the following practices?
- Waterfall release gates only
- Continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing pipelines (Correct answer)
- Manual code review by enterprise architects before every release
- Quarterly release train ceremonies
Correct answer: Continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing pipelines
Disciplined DevOps emphasizes CI/CD pipelines and automated testing as key governance and quality controls for rapid, reliable delivery.
Question 4: A DA team is asked to report metrics to enterprise leadership. Which DA guidance BEST applies?
- Report only velocity and burn-down charts
- Choose metrics that reflect both team health and business outcomes (Correct answer)
- Use only financial metrics approved by the PMO
- Report the same metrics as every other team for consistency
Correct answer: Choose metrics that reflect both team health and business outcomes
DA recommends choosing metrics that balance team-level health indicators with business outcome measures relevant to stakeholders.
Question 5: What is the DA term for the risk response strategy where a team transfers responsibility for a risk to another party (e.g., insurance or a vendor)?
- Risk avoidance
- Risk acceptance
- Risk transfer (Correct answer)
- Risk mitigation
Correct answer: Risk transfer
Risk transfer moves the financial or operational responsibility for a risk to a third party, such as through insurance or contractual agreements.
Question 6: In DA, 'technical governance' is BEST described as which of the following?
- Controlling who can access source code repositories
- Establishing and evolving architectural standards, coding guidelines, and technical debt policies (Correct answer)
- Scheduling code reviews on a quarterly basis
- Assigning technical tasks through a centralized PMO
Correct answer: Establishing and evolving architectural standards, coding guidelines, and technical debt policies
Technical governance in DA covers architectural standards, coding practices, and technical debt policies that guide consistent, quality engineering decisions.
Question 7: When implementing metrics in a DA context, what does 'vanity metric' refer to?
- A metric that measures team morale
- A metric that looks impressive but does not drive meaningful business decisions (Correct answer)
- A financial metric used for executive reporting
- A metric focused exclusively on customer satisfaction
Correct answer: A metric that looks impressive but does not drive meaningful business decisions
Vanity metrics appear positive but lack actionable insight, such as tracking total downloads without measuring active use or value delivered.
CDA Governance, Metrics & Risk Management 3
In DA governance, what is the primary purpose of an Architecture Owner's role regarding risk?