DA DA Metrics, KPIs & Performance Measurement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In DA, what does 'cycle time' specifically measure in a software delivery context?
- Time from project kickoff to final release
- Time from when work starts on an item to when it is delivered (Correct answer)
- Time between successive sprint releases
- Time spent in testing per work item
Correct answer: Time from when work starts on an item to when it is delivered
Cycle time measures the elapsed time from when a team begins actively working on an item until it is delivered to the customer or released.
Question 2: Which Disciplined Agile metric best captures the total customer wait time from initial request to delivery?
- Cycle time
- Lead time (Correct answer)
- Throughput
- Work in progress (WIP)
Correct answer: Lead time
Lead time spans from the moment a customer makes a request to when the work is delivered, capturing the full wait experience from the customer's perspective.
Question 3: According to DA, why is limiting Work in Progress (WIP) an important practice for improving team performance metrics?
- It reduces the number of requirements that need to be tracked
- It lowers cycle time and improves flow by reducing multitasking and context switching (Correct answer)
- It ensures each developer works on only one technology at a time
- It simplifies sprint planning calculations
Correct answer: It lowers cycle time and improves flow by reducing multitasking and context switching
DA advocates WIP limits because reducing the number of items in progress simultaneously shortens cycle time and improves flow by eliminating costly context switching.
Question 4: In Disciplined Agile performance measurement, what is a 'fitness for purpose' metric?
- A metric that evaluates whether a team follows the prescribed DA process
- A metric that evaluates whether the product meets actual customer needs and expectations (Correct answer)
- A metric that measures code quality against industry benchmarks
- A metric used by auditors to assess compliance
Correct answer: A metric that evaluates whether the product meets actual customer needs and expectations
Fitness for purpose metrics assess whether the delivered product or service satisfies the real needs of customers, focusing on effectiveness over technical correctness.
Question 5: Which DA concept suggests teams should choose their metrics based on their specific context rather than adopting a universal set of KPIs?
- Guided continuous improvement
- Choose your WoW (Way of Working) (Correct answer)
- Enterprise awareness
- Lean self-organization
Correct answer: Choose your WoW (Way of Working)
DA's 'Choose Your WoW' philosophy extends to metrics — teams select the measurements most meaningful to their situation rather than following a prescribed list.
Question 6: In DA, what does a 'cumulative flow diagram' (CFD) primarily help teams visualize?
- The distribution of story points across sprints
- The flow of work items through different stages over time, revealing bottlenecks (Correct answer)
- The cumulative number of defects found per release
- The team's budget burn rate across a project
Correct answer: The flow of work items through different stages over time, revealing bottlenecks
A CFD shows how work items accumulate and move through workflow stages over time, making bottlenecks and blockages visually obvious for flow-based teams.
DA DA Metrics, KPIs & Performance Measurement 2
In DA, what does 'cycle time' specifically measure in a software delivery context?