Agile Metrics and Reporting Questions and Answers

Question 1

A team is reviewing their Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD). They notice that the band representing the 'In Progress' stage is consistently widening over time, while the 'Done' band is flattening. What is the most likely interpretation of this pattern?

Accepted Answer

A bottleneck exists where work is entering the 'In Progress' stage faster than it is leaving.

Answer

A widening band in a CFD for a particular stage indicates that the rate of items entering that stage is greater than the rate of items leaving it. This is a classic sign of a bottleneck, where work is piling up. A flattening 'Done' band further confirms that the rate of completion has slowed or stopped.

Question 2

An Agile team wants to measure the total time from when a customer request is first made until it is delivered to the customer to better understand the customer's experience. Which metric should they use?

Accepted Answer

Lead Time

Answer

Lead Time measures the total elapsed time from the moment a work item is requested until it is delivered to the customer. Cycle Time is a subset of this, measuring only the time from when work actively begins on an item until it is completed. Velocity measures output per iteration, and Throughput measures the number of items completed per time unit.

Question 3

A team is using a burn-up chart to track progress towards a release. Midway through the project, the product owner adds a significant number of new user stories to the scope. How would this event be reflected on the burn-up chart?

Accepted Answer

The line representing total scope would show a distinct upward step.

Answer

A burn-up chart tracks two key lines: the total scope of work and the amount of work completed. When new scope is added, the line representing the total work will jump up, reflecting the new total. The line for completed work continues to climb from its previous point as the team completes tasks.

Question 4

A manager who oversees several Scrum teams wants to use velocity as the primary metric to compare their performance. Which of the following is the most significant reason this is a flawed approach?

Accepted Answer

Comparing velocities is misleading because each team's estimation scale is unique and relative to that team.

Answer

Velocity is a measure of a team's capacity based on its own relative estimation scale (e.g., story points). Because each team develops its own understanding of what a 'story point' represents, their scales are not comparable. Comparing the velocity of two teams is like comparing apples to oranges and provides no meaningful insight into performance.

Question 5

A Kanban team wants to improve the predictability of their delivery. They decide to track the number of work items finished per week to understand their delivery rate. What is this metric called?

Accepted Answer

Throughput

Answer

Throughput is a key flow metric that measures the number of work items completed within a specific time period (e.g., per day or per week). It provides a direct measure of the team's delivery rate and is often used for forecasting.

Agile Practice Test

Agile Practice Test

Agile Metrics and Reporting Questions and Answers