DAC Backlog Refinement & Prioritization 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Disciplined Agile, which prioritization technique uses the ratio of delivered value to cost or risk to rank backlog items?
- MoSCoW analysis
- Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) (Correct answer)
- Kano model scoring
- Dot voting
Correct answer: Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF)
WSJF ranks items by dividing Cost of Delay by job size/duration, prioritizing high-value, low-cost items first.
Question 2: A DAC practitioner observes that the team spends over 20% of each sprint on backlog refinement. What is the recommended DA guideline for refinement time-boxing?
- No more than 5% of sprint capacity
- No more than 10% of sprint capacity (Correct answer)
- No more than 15% of sprint capacity
- No more than 25% of sprint capacity
Correct answer: No more than 10% of sprint capacity
DA guidance recommends capping refinement at roughly 10% of the team's capacity to preserve delivery throughput.
Question 3: Which DA principle best explains why a team should avoid refining stories that are many sprints away?
- Optimize flow
- Be awesome
- Embrace and manage change (Correct answer)
- Keep workitems small
Correct answer: Embrace and manage change
Embracing and managing change means distant items are likely to change, so over-refining them wastes effort.
Question 4: During a backlog refinement session, stakeholders disagree about the priority of two features. As a DA Coach, what is the BEST facilitation approach?
- Let the product owner decide unilaterally
- Use a structured technique like Buy-a-Feature to surface relative value (Correct answer)
- Defer the decision to the next iteration review
- Assign equal priority and implement both simultaneously
Correct answer: Use a structured technique like Buy-a-Feature to surface relative value
Collaborative prioritization games like Buy-a-Feature make implicit value judgments explicit and build stakeholder consensus.
Question 5: What does 'just-in-time' elaboration mean in the context of DA backlog refinement?
- All stories are fully detailed before the project starts
- Stories are refined only when they are near the top of the backlog and about to be scheduled (Correct answer)
- Stories are elaborated by offshore teams in advance to save sprint time
- The product owner writes all acceptance criteria before any refinement sessions
Correct answer: Stories are refined only when they are near the top of the backlog and about to be scheduled
Just-in-time elaboration means detailing work items only when they are about to be pulled into an iteration, avoiding waste from premature specification.
Question 6: Which artifact in DA serves as the ranked list of work items that a team selects from during iteration planning?
- Release roadmap
- Work item list (WIL) (Correct answer)
- Risk register
- Architecture backlog
Correct answer: Work item list (WIL)
DA uses the term 'Work Item List' rather than 'product backlog' to reflect that it can contain any type of work, not just product features.
Question 7: A Disciplined Agile team discovers that many backlog items lack clear acceptance criteria during sprint execution. What refinement practice should the coach introduce?
- Retrospectives after every story
- Definition of Ready (DoR) checklist applied before pulling items into sprints (Correct answer)
- Pair programming for all ambiguous stories
- Daily standups focused on backlog review
Correct answer: Definition of Ready (DoR) checklist applied before pulling items into sprints
A Definition of Ready ensures items meet minimum quality standards—including acceptance criteria—before entering an iteration.
DAC Backlog Refinement & Prioritization 2
In Disciplined Agile, which prioritization technique uses the ratio of delivered value to cost or risk to rank backlog items?