CDA Lean-Agile Delivery & Continuous Improvement 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Disciplined Agile's GuidedContinuousImprovement (GCI), what is the primary driver for choosing which process improvement to tackle next?
- The improvement that takes the least time to implement
- The improvement that addresses the team's biggest constraint or pain point (Correct answer)
- The improvement suggested by the most senior team member
- The improvement recommended by the DA toolkit without team input
Correct answer: The improvement that addresses the team's biggest constraint or pain point
GCI focuses improvement efforts on the team's most significant constraint or pain point to maximize the impact of each improvement cycle.
Question 2: A team practicing Continuous Integration (CI) commits code multiple times per day. What is the PRIMARY benefit of this frequency?
- Reduces the need for testing
- Detects integration problems early when they are easier to fix (Correct answer)
- Eliminates the need for code reviews
- Allows team members to skip daily standups
Correct answer: Detects integration problems early when they are easier to fix
Frequent integration surfaces conflicts and defects early, when the context is fresh and the cost of fixing is low.
Question 3: Which of the following is an example of 'pull' rather than 'push' in a Lean-Agile delivery system?
- Managers assigning work items to developers at the start of each sprint
- Developers pulling the next highest-priority item from the backlog when they have capacity (Correct answer)
- Product owners pushing features into the sprint based on sales requests
- Stakeholders pushing new requirements into an active sprint
Correct answer: Developers pulling the next highest-priority item from the backlog when they have capacity
Pull systems let workers take on new work only when they have capacity, reducing WIP and improving flow compared to push-based assignment.
Question 4: A DA team wants to move toward Continuous Deployment. Which prerequisite is MOST critical before enabling automated production releases?
- A dedicated release manager for each environment
- A comprehensive automated test suite that provides high confidence in code quality (Correct answer)
- Stakeholder approval for every deployment
- Completion of all planned features for the release
Correct answer: A comprehensive automated test suite that provides high confidence in code quality
Automated testing is the key enabler of Continuous Deployment; without high test coverage and confidence, automated production releases introduce unacceptable risk.
Question 5: In the context of the DA toolkit, which team structure is MOST aligned with Lean's goal of reducing handoffs and improving flow?
- Siloed teams organized by technical layer (front-end, back-end, QA)
- Cross-functional teams that can take a feature from concept to production (Correct answer)
- Teams organized by product line with shared QA resources
- Teams that rely on a central architecture group for all design decisions
Correct answer: Cross-functional teams that can take a feature from concept to production
Cross-functional teams minimize handoffs by keeping all necessary skills within one team, directly supporting Lean's goal of smooth, uninterrupted flow.
Question 6: What does 'technical debt' represent in the context of Lean-Agile continuous improvement?
- The cost of software licenses carried over from previous projects
- Shortcuts and deferred quality work that will require additional effort later (Correct answer)
- Time spent on spike stories to investigate new technologies
- Documentation that was not completed during a sprint
Correct answer: Shortcuts and deferred quality work that will require additional effort later
Technical debt refers to the implied future cost of rework caused by choosing an expedient solution now instead of a better, more complete approach.
Question 7: A Lean-Agile team is reviewing their value stream map. They notice a 3-day wait between development completion and QA testing. This is an example of which type of waste?
- Defects
- Inventory (Correct answer)
- Overproduction
- Overprocessing
Correct answer: Inventory
Waiting for QA represents inventory waste—completed work sitting idle, not yet delivering value to the customer.
CDA Lean-Agile Delivery & Continuous Improvement 3
In Disciplined Agile's GuidedContinuousImprovement (GCI), what is the primary driver for choosing which process improvement to tackle next?