CDA Lean-Agile Delivery & Continuous Improvement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Disciplined Agile, which metric is MOST directly associated with measuring the efficiency of a team's delivery pipeline?
- Velocity
- Cycle time (Correct answer)
- Story points completed
- Number of features shipped
Correct answer: Cycle time
Cycle time measures how long work items take to move through the pipeline, making it the most direct indicator of delivery efficiency.
Question 2: A team notices their WIP (Work in Progress) limits are frequently exceeded. What is the MOST likely consequence if this pattern continues?
- Faster feature delivery
- Increased context switching and longer cycle times (Correct answer)
- Higher team morale due to more work variety
- Improved stakeholder satisfaction
Correct answer: Increased context switching and longer cycle times
Exceeding WIP limits leads to context switching, which reduces focus and extends the time each item takes to complete.
Question 3: Which Lean principle focuses on creating value for the customer while eliminating activities that consume resources without adding value?
- Respect for people
- Eliminate waste (Correct answer)
- Amplify learning
- Defer commitment
Correct answer: Eliminate waste
Eliminating waste (muda) is a foundational Lean principle that targets non-value-adding activities to improve flow and efficiency.
Question 4: In a Kanban-based DA workflow, what is the purpose of setting explicit WIP limits?
- To restrict the team's ability to take on new work indefinitely
- To expose bottlenecks and promote flow by limiting multitasking (Correct answer)
- To ensure each team member works on exactly one task
- To satisfy regulatory compliance requirements
Correct answer: To expose bottlenecks and promote flow by limiting multitasking
WIP limits surface bottlenecks and reduce multitasking, which improves flow and helps the team focus on completing work rather than starting new work.
Question 5: A scrum-based team uses 'definition of done' (DoD). How does a strong DoD contribute to continuous improvement?
- It slows delivery by adding more acceptance criteria
- It ensures consistent quality standards and reduces rework in future sprints (Correct answer)
- It replaces the need for retrospectives
- It documents what each team member is responsible for
Correct answer: It ensures consistent quality standards and reduces rework in future sprints
A strong DoD establishes consistent quality gates that prevent technical debt from accumulating, reducing rework and supporting sustainable delivery.
Question 6: During a retrospective, the team identifies that handoffs between sub-teams cause significant delays. Which Lean concept BEST describes this waste?
- Overproduction
- Transportation waste (Correct answer)
- Defects
- Overprocessing
Correct answer: Transportation waste
Transportation waste in Lean refers to unnecessary movement of work, information, or materials—including handoffs between teams that add delay without value.
Question 7: Which DA practice best supports 'amplifying learning' as a Lean principle during delivery?
- Reducing sprint length to eliminate feedback loops
- Running frequent experiments and validating assumptions early with stakeholders (Correct answer)
- Delaying integration until end of release
- Assigning a dedicated learning team separate from delivery
Correct answer: Running frequent experiments and validating assumptions early with stakeholders
Frequent experiments and early stakeholder validation create rapid feedback loops, which is the core mechanism for amplifying learning in Lean-Agile delivery.
CDA Lean-Agile Delivery & Continuous Improvement 2
In Disciplined Agile, which metric is MOST directly associated with measuring the efficiency of a team's delivery pipeline?