Mixed Deck — All CAE Topics Flashcards

Which retrospective activity BEST helps a team that avoids discussing interpersonal conflicts?

Answer: Team health checks or relationship-focused activities like 'Team Radar'

Team health checks and radar activities create a safe, structured way to surface interpersonal and collaboration issues that might otherwise go unspoken.

What is the main focus of Kanban?

Answer: Visualizing work and managing flow

Kanban emphasizes visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and managing flow to improve delivery speed and efficiency.

A stakeholder insists a new feature be placed at the top of the backlog despite the Product Owner's objections. Who has final authority?

Answer: The Product Owner, as the backlog is their responsibility

The Product Owner holds sole authority over backlog ordering; stakeholders can provide input but cannot override that decision.

An Agile coach notices that the team delivers features but never shows them to real users. What Agile principle is being violated?

Answer: Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery

Agile Principle 1 calls for early and continuous delivery to satisfy the customer, which requires actual users to see and use the working software.

What does 'creating alignment' mean for an Agile leader?

Answer: Ensuring teams share a common vision and purpose while having autonomy in execution

Alignment means teams share a unified vision and purpose but retain autonomy over how they achieve it, balancing coherence with flexibility.

How is velocity used in Agile planning?

Answer: To forecast work capacity for sprints

Velocity indicates how much work a team can handle in a sprint, allowing for better forecasting of future work completion.

Which metric best helps a Product Owner determine whether to split a large backlog item?

Answer: Whether the item can be completed within a single sprint

Items that cannot fit within a single sprint are typically too large and should be split into smaller deliverable pieces.

A Scrum team consistently finishes sprints under capacity and wants to improve forecasting. Which approach should they take FIRST?

Answer: Analyze historical velocity to establish a realistic planning range

Reviewing historical velocity data gives the team empirical evidence to set a realistic planning range rather than over- or under-committing.

Which of the following is NOT one of the three pillars of empiricism that Scrum is founded upon?

Answer: Collaboration

The three pillars of empiricism in Scrum are Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation; Collaboration is a Scrum value but not a pillar.

Which of the following BEST illustrates the Agile principle of 'simplicity — the art of maximizing work not done'?

Answer: Building only the features customers actually need rather than speculative functionality

Simplicity in Agile means avoiding unnecessary features or work that doesn't directly deliver customer value.

A team's cumulative flow diagram shows bands widening in the 'In Progress' stage over three sprints. What does this most likely indicate?

Answer: Work-in-progress limits are being violated or work is piling up

Widening bands in the 'In Progress' column of a CFD indicate accumulation of WIP, often signaling bottlenecks or violated WIP limits.

A team member raises a technical concern during a sprint that could affect the sprint goal. The BEST immediate action is:

Answer: Raise it at the Daily Scrum so the team can collectively decide how to respond

The Daily Scrum exists precisely to surface impediments and risks quickly so the team can respond as a unit before they become crises.

In Agile, what is the purpose of 'timeboxing'?

Answer: To fix a maximum duration for an activity, forcing prioritization and focus

Timeboxing sets a fixed maximum duration for activities like Sprints or meetings, creating urgency and forcing the team to prioritize what matters most.

Who is responsible for creating and maintaining the Definition of Done in Scrum?

Answer: The entire Scrum Team

The Definition of Done is collaboratively created and maintained by the entire Scrum Team to ensure a shared understanding of what completeness means.

During a Sprint Review, a stakeholder requests a major feature change that wasn't in the original Sprint Goal. What should the Scrum Team do?

Answer: Note the feedback and add it to the Product Backlog for future consideration

Sprint Reviews generate feedback that is captured in the Product Backlog; changes are not added mid-Sprint.

Which statement about technical debt items in the product backlog is MOST accurate?

Answer: Technical debt items compete with feature work and should be visible in the backlog

Making technical debt visible in the backlog allows the Product Owner and team to make informed trade-off decisions about when to address it.

Which of the following BEST describes a 'throughput' metric in agile?

Answer: The number of work items completed per unit of time

Throughput measures how many work items a team completes within a given time period, regardless of their size or complexity.

When a conflict arises between standard procedures and a unique situation in Product Backlog Management, what should a CAE professional prioritize?

Answer: Safety and ethical obligations while seeking expert consultation

Safety and ethics always take priority in Product Backlog Management. When standard procedures don't adequately address a unique situation, consulting with experienced colleagues or supervisors ensures both safety and professional standards are maintained.

Which framework uses the concept of 'Tribes,' 'Squads,' 'Chapters,' and 'Guilds' to organize teams?

Answer: Spotify Model

The Spotify Model organizes engineering around Squads (small teams), Tribes (collections of squads), Chapters (skill groups), and Guilds (communities of interest).

What is a sprint goal?

Answer: A summary of planned sprint outcomes

A sprint goal provides direction and purpose, helping the team stay focused on delivering specific value within a sprint.