1) As a tester what should be your approach when requirements changecontinuously? When requirement keeps changing, continuously agile tester should take following approach Write generic test plans and test cases, which focuses on the intent of the requirement rather than its exact details To understand the scope of change, work closely with the product owners or business analyst Make sure team understand the risks involved in changing requirements especially at the end of the sprint Until the feature is stable, and the requirements are finalized, it is best to wait if you are going to automate the feature Changes can be kept to a minimum by negotiating or implement the changes in the next sprint 2) List out the pros and cons of exploratory testing (used in Agile) and scripted testing? Exploratory Testing Scripted Testing Pros - It requires less preparationEasy to modify when requirement changes – Works well when documentation is scarce - In case testing against legal or regulatory requirements it is very useful Cons - Presenting progress and Coverage to project management is difficult - Test preparation is usually time-consuming- Same steps are tested over and again – When requirement changes it is difficult to modify 3) Explain the difference between Extreme programming and Scrum? Scrum - Scrum teams usually have to work in iterations called sprints which usually last up to two weeks to one month long - Scrum teams do not allow change into their sprints - In scrum, the product owner prioritizes the product backlog but the team decides the sequence in which they will develop the backlog items - Scrum does not prescribe any engineering practices Extreme Programing (XP) - XP team works in iteration that last for one or two weeks - XP teams are more flexible and change their iterations - XP team work in strict priority order, features developed are prioritized by the customer - XP does prescribe engineering practices 4) What is an epic, user stories and task? Epic: A customer described software feature that is itemized in the product backlog is known as epic. Epics are sub-divided into stories User Stories: From the client perspective user stories are prepared which defines project or business functions, and it is delivered in a particular sprint as expected. Task: Further down user stories are broken down into different task 5) Explain what is re-factoring? To improve the performance, the existing code is modified; this is re-factoring. During refactoring the code functionality remains same 6) Explain how you can measure the velocity of the sprint with varying team capacity? When planning a sprint usually, the velocity of the sprint is measured on the basis of professional judgement based on historical data. However, the mathematical formula used to measure the velocity of the sprint are, first – completed story points X team capacity: If you measure capacity as a percentage of a 40 hours weeks Second – completed story points / team capacity: If you measure capacity in man-hours For our scenario second method is applicable. 7) Mention the key difference between sprint backlog and product backlog? Product backlog: It contains a list of all desired features and is owned by the product owner Sprint backlog: It is a subset of the product backlog owned by development team and commits to deliver it in a sprint. It is created in Sprint Planning Meeting 8) In Agile mention what is the difference between the Incremental and Iterative development? Iterative: Iterative method is a continuous process of software development where the software development cycles are repeated (Sprint & Releases) till the final product is achieved. Release 1: Sprint 1, 2… n Release n: Sprint 1, 2….n Incremental: Incremental development segregates the system functionality into increments or portions. In each increment, each segment of functionality is delivered through cross-discipline work, from the requirements to the deployment. 9) Explain what is Spike and Zero sprint in Agile? What is the purpose of it? Sprint Zero: It is introduced to perform some research before initiating the first sprint. Usually this sprint is used during the start of the project for activities like setting development environment, preparing product backlog and so on. Spikes: Spikes are type of stories that are used for activities like research, exploration, design and even prototyping. In between sprints, you can take spikes for the work related to any technical or design issue. Spikes are of two types Technical Spikes and Functional Spikes. 10) What is test driven development? Powers of 2 (1. charts are used Burnup Chart: It shows the progress of stories done over time Burndown Chart: It shows how much work was left to do overtime 14) Explain what is Scrum ban? Scrum ban is a software development model based on Scrum and Kanban.4….2. Using these approach.L. developer first writes an automated test case which describes new function or improvement and then creates small codes to pass that test. the team’s workflow is guided in a way that allows minimum completion time for each user story or programming error. It is specially designed for project that requires frequent maintenance. In this method.2. current technology set which results in production quality code. the current set of best practices.….Test driven development or TDD is also known as test-driven design. The most common scale used is a Fibonacci sequence ( 1.3. 15) What is story points/efforts/ scales? It is used to discuss the difficulty of the story without assigning actual hours.5.M.). S . 11) Prototypes and Wireframes are widely used as part of? Prototypes and Wireframes are prototypes that are widely used as part of Empirical Design 12) Explain what is Application Binary Interface? Across different system platforms and environments a specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary form is known as Application Binary Interface 13) Explain in Agile. 17) What is a test stub? . having unexpected user stories and programming errors.8.100) although some teams use linear scale (1.13. It is not a throw away code but might just be a narrow implementation of the functionality.8……) and cloth size (XS.3. burn-up and burn-down chart? To track the project progress burnup and burn down.2. and later re-factors the new code to meet the acceptable standards. XL) 16) Explain what is tracer bullet? The tracer bullet is a spike with the current architecture.4. Operational software is the only formal artifacts . but some workflows can be concurrent . Each next iteration plan is determined at the end of the current iteration . scope can be revised.Scope is predefined ahead of the project start and documented in the scope document.Formal Cycle is defined across four phases. formal functional requirements package. development plan. .No end to end project plan.Recommended for long term. Though. . enterprise level projects with medium to high complexity SCRUM . associated with multiple iterations is used. stable quality of build is a must and continuous integration ensures that In helps to maintain the quality and bug free state of code-base Continuous integration helps to check the impact of work on branches to the main trunk if development work is going on branches using automatic building and merging function 20) What testing is done during Agile? The primary testing activities during Agile is automated unit testing and exploratory testing. .It uses a project backlog instead of scope scrum . test scripts. .Each sprint is a complete cycle .Formal project plan. 18) What are the differences between RUP (Rational Unified Process) and Scrum methodologies? RUP . depending on project requirements. During the project. large. a tester may execute Functional and Nonfunctional tests on the Application Under Test (AUT). system architecture document.Artifacts include Scope Document.A test stub is a small code that replaces an undeveloped or fully developed component within a system being tested.Recommended for quick enhancements and organization that are not dependent on a deadline 19) Why Continuous Integration is important for Agile? Continuous Integration is important for Agile for following reasons It helps to maintain release schedule on time by detecting bugs or integration errors Due to frequent agile code delivery usually every sprint of 2-3 weeks. etc. Test stub is designed in such a way that it mimics the actual component by generating specifically known outputs and substitute the actual component. 1. What obstacles do you need to be removed? Sprint Review It is demonstration of the new features the team has completed during the sprint. In this meeting team discuss on following points: 1. release date of software into Production. 2. Clients are more involved and have greater satisfaction. it is used to gather early feedback. What can be improved? . What’s the benefit of using Agile over conventional Waterfall methodology for developing software? Benefit of Agile Methodology It provides greater visibility to stakeholder from the start of the sprint. What went well? 3. Products can be delivered early. number of iterations/sprints for that release etc. changes could be incorporated early. Daily Scrum Meeting Daily Scrum Meeting is for answering the following 3 questions: 1. Spring Planning In this product Owner presents the set of features he would like and the team asks questions to understand the requirements in sufficient detail to enable them to commit to delivering the listed features in sprint. the way in which the Scrum team is working together. What are the different meetings in Agile? What is purpose of Release Planning. Retrospection? Release Planning In this release plan is prepared. Scrum Meeting. Sprint Planning meetings. Risks are greatly reduced and handled in better way in agile. which in turn provide early feedback and ensures project success. What went wrong? 2. Greater agility. which include list of features that needs to be delivered. Development could be started early. including their technical skills and the software development practices and tools they are using. What have you done since yesterday’s meeting? 2. What are you going to get done today? 3. It is focused on the process. Sprint Review Meeting. Sprint Retrospection It follows immediately after the sprint review. 13. What is difference between Epic. How you do Estimation in Agile? How to estimate using Planning Poker? In Agile often estimation is done using planning poker: Each member of team is given deck of card which contains stories points in Fibonacci sequence: 0. the driver. 8. The two programmers switch roles frequently” Benefits of Pair Programming: It helps in business and technical knowledge transfer within the team. What is difference between Product backlog & Sprint Backlog? Product backlog is owned by the product owner. who commits it to deliver in a sprint. Later on all estimates are revealed and people having low estimates and high estimates need to provide justification for the same and after discussion within team story point is finalized for use story. Epic is a group of related User Stories.. User stories & Tasks? Who should create User stories & Task? User Stories defines business requirement from the client perspective and it is supposed to be delivered in particular sprint. . 6. Tasks should be created by someone from Development Team who is aware about them from technical perspective. 2. Sprint backlog is created in Sprint Planning Meeting. 7. the observer or navigator. Same is repeated for all user stories. which contains list of all desired features. or it is large use story which cannot be completed in single Sprint. 5. 3. What is Continuous Integration and why it is important for Agile? What are the software/tools available for the same? Check this Continuous Integration 5. writes code while the other. Scrum Master lists the user stories and provides brief overview of them. Each team member privately assigns a card representing his estimate of the size for the user story. User stories should be created by Product Owner as these are written from client perspective. Team discusses and clarifies any questions/risks. It is subset of product backlog which is owned by development Team.3. reviews each line of code as it is typed in. Task: User Stories are further broken down into different task from technical perspective. 1. 4. What is Pair Programming? What’s the benefit of that? As per Wiki Pair programming is defined as: “Pair programming is an agile software development technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation. One.. 2…n Incremental: As per Wiki Incremental Development defined as: “Incremental development slices the system functionality into increments (portions). The unified process groups increments/iterations into phases: inception. developed. then produces the minimum amount of code to pass that test. of stories that can be delivered in particular sprint based on previous delivery. software development is done in repeated cycles (Releases & Sprints). What do you mean by Iterative and Incremental Development in Agile? Iterative: In iterative development. of user stories completed. construction. Burnup Chart shows progress of stories done over time. 11.” 10. Generally it has following columns: . of user stories remaining. What do you mean by Velocity in Agile? As per Wiki Velocity is defined as: “The velocity is calculated by counting the number of units of work completed in a certain interval. X Axis: Time. In short term there may be loss of productivity but it increase productivity of resource due to gain in business or technical knowledge. tested and deployed for customer's feedback. 2…n . the length of which is determined at the start of the project” Velocity is used in Agile to calculate the no. Y Axis: no. and transition. Y Axis: no. X Axis: Time. Burndown Chart shows how much work was left to do over time. Release 1: Sprint 1. from the requirements to the deployment. Release n: Sprint 1. elaboration. What is Burn-Down or Burn-Up Chart in Agile? Burn Up and Burn Down charts are used to track project progress. 8. What does Task board indicates in Agile? Task board is used to track progress in agile.. and finally refactors the new code to acceptable standards. 2…n Release 1: Sprint 1. 9. 12. It improves code quality and helps in building better design. What is TDD (Test Driven Development)? As per Wiki TDD is defined as: Test-DrivenDevelopment (TDD) is a software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle: first the developer writes an (initially failing) automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function. a slice of functionality is delivered through cross-discipline work. In each increment.In each iteration planned use stories are designed. biochemistry or physics. Can agile methodology be applied also in other than software testing and development projects? While asking these sort of questions. the testers (developers) ensure that the whole process of testing (development) is broke into as small steps as possible and just a small unit of code is tested (developed) in each of this steps. The team of testers (developers) is communicating consistently the results of their work. it could be used in many other areas too. To Verify: Tasks that needs to verified/tested.Use Story: Use Story under consideration for current sprint. employers try to recognize if you really understand the benefits of this methodology and can see a practical application in various areas of business. is a good answer. or where many unpredictable variables take place. Frequently used agile methodology interview questions In what does the agile testing(development) methodology differs from the other testing (development) methodologies? Anytime applying agile methodology. To state that this methodology can be. applied in all the instances and test cases where we have insufficient entry data. Just let your imagination work and you’ll find a good answer… . In Progress: Tasks that are currently in progress. Agile methodology encourages flexible and rapid response to change which should lead to a better end result. and maybe even should be. and change the short term strategy and even the development plan on the go. Done: Tasks that are completed. or simply work within a small team. based on the results of agile testing. It is in fact used quite commonly in bio-medicine. To Do: Tasks that needs to be picked up. Anyway. or work in an unknown area. This question is very important. prepare a situation you will talk about later and focus on the positive results associated with the implementation of AM in your project.Are you able to name five main characteristics of agile methodology? Every person can approach agile methodology from a different angle. if you look for characteristics that are usually “positive” for the company. So in fact. Which of the following best describes the approach for determining the iteration (timebox) length? A. One little experience is more useful than the entire book of theory. Iterations (timeboxes) should always be two weeks D. We wish you good luck! Sample Agile Foundation Examination Questions: 1. Tester B. Process oriented C. Lead Developer D. The employer tries to find out what your opinion is. try to find it in personal life. working solution as a primary metric of progress. Task focused B. solving problems immediately after these are identified. you should do well with things like cross-functional team composition. It providea a consistent means of measuring team velocity D. The team determines iteration (timebox) length by dividing the total number of story points by the average velocity of the team C. It helps the team to objectively measure progress C. Iterations (timeboxes) should always be 30 days B. Disengaged 3. and if it is the one they are looking for. Supportive D. Before the interview. What are the advantages of maintaining consistent iteration (timebox) length throughout the project? A. Think about it in advance. the right answer really depends on your point of view. If you do not like our suggestions. Developer Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 3 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . The team should agree on the length of the iteration (timebox). Project Manager C. If you can not find any example in your professional life. Functional Manager D. Project Leader C. you should be well prepared for all these practical questions. Product Owner B. Doing it. taking the size and complexity of the project into consideration 2. Who is responsible for prioritizing the product backlog? A. face-to face communication. However. Tracking project issues in an Agile project is the primary responsibility of the… A. Business Analyst 4. All of the above 5. you will have to figure out something on your own. think carefully about your own application of agile methodology. Which of the following is a characteristic of an Agile leader? A. Describe a situation when you personally used the agile methodology (or was a part of a team that used it). It helps to establish a consistent pattern of delivery B. . The whole team including Product Owner and developers (together they can consider both business value and practicality) Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 4 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . The Project Leader (they can give an independent. pragmatic view) D. The developers alone (they know what the customer wants) B. Which of the following best represents the Agile approach to planning? A. The Project Manager does not then have to keep a project schedule D. An effective workshop facilitator will always . who should re-prioritise? A. High trust teams do not have to be accountable to each other B. Planning should all be done by the Project Manager 9.. The Business Analyst D. Planning should be done in detail at the outset of a project and not revisited C. Who should define the business value of a Feature within an Agile project? A. The individual end-users B. Why is it important to trust the team? A. because Agile is exploratory B.. If a timebox (iteration) plan needs to be reprioritised in a hurry. Involve only those team members who will commit to doing further work after the workshop D. The Product Owner (the developers would only choose the easy things as top priority) C. A. The Product Owner C. Planning should involve the whole team. Agree the process and participants of the workshop with the workshop owner before the workshop C. The presence of trust is positively correlated with the team performance 7. The Business Sponsor 10. Involve the whole project team in all project workshops B. Planning is not part of an Agile approach. not just the Project Manager D. Act as a proxy for any invited participant who is unable to attend the workshop on the day 8.6. High trust teams do not require a user representative C. What is the effect of having a large visible project plan on a wall? A. at the start of the deployment B. record the assumptions and ask the customer later for input. Which one of the following is a key feature of documentation that you would expect to find in an Agile project? A. User Story cards containing only enough detail for planning and development. Draw the problem to the attention of the Scrum Master (Team Leader) 14. It removes the need to create any other reports for management B. B. as it does not allow the team to innovate and change 12.11. Encourage an environment of competition and personal advantage C. within appropriate limits B. User Stories held in a spreadsheet or specialist database. The most complex tasks should be allocated by the Team Leader (Scrum Master) 13. It continuously communicates progress within the team and to other stakeholders C. How should work be allocated to the team in an Agile project? A. using Planning Poker C. It is restrictive. It allows the Project Manager to allocate tasks to specific team members D. as all good communication is face-to-face 15. The Team Leader (Scrum Master) should allocate specific tasks to individuals B. Send the customer a written warning that the end product will be completed on time. like handover to maintenance or support C. but may not meet their needs C. What should the developers do if the customer representative is repeatedly too busy to be available? A. When handling team dynamics. Team members should self-select tasks appropriate to their skills D. Give clear directives to the team about what they should do and how D. Expect team members to be proactive and each work to their own priorities and objectives Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 5 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . Allow the Business Analyst to take on the role of Proxy Customer Representative D. which will need to be supplemented by further faceto-face conversations D. Tasks should be randomly allocated to team members. the Agile Leader should … A Empower the team members. Continue the work. No written documentation. System documentation created at the end of each increment. where full details of user conversations are recorded for future purposes. The team will “burn out” if they have to work overtime for more than two sprints (timeboxes. 17. The products produced by an Agile project should be cheaper than those produced by any other approach. iterations) in a row Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 6 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . Which one of the following statements is correct regarding quality of deliverables from an Agile Project? A. Get something delivered once it has been fully documented and the documentation has been signed off as complete 20. as guided by the customer representative involved throughout the development process 18. The team should get acceptance of project deliverables from the appropriate stakeholders at least at the end of every timebox / iteration C. The products will be of appropriate quality.16. Which one of the following statements is correct regarding acceptance of any deliverables on an Agile Project? A. The team should strive for a sustainable pace and a normal working week D. Design has no place in an Agile project 19. No design up front is the best approach as most of the fun of a project is in discovery of the unexpected D. The products will be more expensive than by any other approach but will be top quality C. to save time B. Get something “quick and dirty” delivered. but may not do what the customer wanted D. What is the Agile approach to doing design early in a project? A. The team should plan to work a small amount of overtime regularly throughout the project B. An Agile approach advocates which of the following approaches? A. The team should allow only senior managers to sign off deliverables B. The team should get acceptance of project deliverables from the users during a UAT phase at the end of the project D. Get something business-valuable delivered as quickly as possible. The team should expect to work longer hours towards the end of the sprint (timebox). without wasting unnecessarily time C. The products will be fit for purpose. but quality will suffer B. Just enough design up front gives a good foundation to start from and helps to mitigate risk. A big design up front is always a good idea B. Acceptance of any particular deliverable on the project is gained from all stakeholders at the same time. consistent with the right level of quality D. Get something simple released as quickly as possible C. in order to deliver all that was committed to C. Which of these best describes the Agile approach to team-working? A. All project stakeholders should attend requirements workshops B. No-one is allowed to leave the stand-up meeting until all problems raised have been solved 23. Which one of the following is an important feature of the daily stand-up / wash up / Scrum meeting? A. Retrospectives are only run at the end of a project C. The entire team 24. It is best if the Project Manager facilitates the project’s workshops D. Completely uninterrupted by the customer C. to keep the meeting short B. Which one of the following statements about workshops is true for Agile projects? A. The meeting must be kept short and well structured C. Project Leader and Customer Representatives only D. Warming C. Cloning D. Who should attend the stand-up meetings? A. Everyone is expected to stand for the whole time. Sponsor and Executive Management only B. One of the development stages you would expect to see a team go through is: A. Able to contact the customer to clarify aspects of the work B. When estimating is done for a project. Be in total control of the estimating process C. Able to work without needing to disturb the customer Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 7 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . The meeting should ensure that it is clear to all which team members are not performing D. Not make estimates unless velocity is already known 26. the developers should: A. During an iteration (sprint) (timebox) the developers should be: A. Be consulted after the Team Leader (Scrum Master) has made the estimates for the team’s work D. Storming B. In twice-daily contact with the customer D. An independent facilitator will manage the structure of a facilitated workshop but not input to the content 22. Yawning 25. Project Manager and Technical Leads only C. Be fully involved in the estimating process B.21. A product of a professional quality which fits the business need B. Should allocate tasks to the team members each day at the stand-up meeting B. The Agile Leader … A. Will always receive lower-quality products than their non-Agile counterparts C. The Agile process … A. Should direct the work of the team. The set of Can Have stories for a project C.27. A list of activities banned by the team. Encourages the team to meet regularly B. What is Kan Ban? A. Will typically get business value delivered early and often D. for Agile to work B. A product of almost as good a quality as a Waterfall development C. re-factored solution 28. A graph of tasks partially-completed by the team Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 8 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . in relation to Team Norms B. The end result of an Agile development is: A. A technically-perfect. An Agile team … A. work in progress and work done D. Will need to understand the technical aspects of development. Should involve the team in their own work-allocation C. A product which is barely sufficient for its purpose and deliberately not maintainable D. to contribute effectively 29. if they are inexperienced 32. Has no reporting requirements 31. Ensures blame is allocated fairly 30. Has no meetings C. Has lengthy reporting requirements D. Must have a thorough understanding of Agile techniques. with each member having the same technical skills B. A visible chart of work to do. An Agile customer … A. Collaborates and supports its team members C. Should give detailed work-plans to the team each day D. Is self-organizing. Ensures that weak members of the team are allocated the simpler tasks D. Use a previous design – it will be “good enough” 36. The Agile Leader might lose their job. but re-engineer later Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 9 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . but no finished product until the end of the project D. Many projects are evolutionary. To produce simple prototypes early. What is the personal risk that an Agile Leader takes in empowering the team? A. It creates a better relationship between the developers and customer representatives B. Do sufficient documentation to prove you have done a good job C. Estimating is as futile as predicting the weather 34. but still has the responsibility for their outcomes D. we plan to “learn as we go” because… A. To produce working product of the right quality. The Agile Leader has less direct control over the team’s work. Do the necessary documentation to support the development and use of the product D. What is meant by “Yesterday’s Weather” in an Agile project? A. Do no documentation because it is a waste of time B. In Agile projects. early and incrementally B. To produce working product after documentation has been signed off C. Just enough design up front D. Retrospectives should include less important topics. because Agile is risky 38. Do more documentation than usual. No design up front B. The Agile Leader cannot share the glory of team success 37. Big design up front C. To produce products without technical integrity. and a better solution emerges this way C. The recommended approach to design in an Agile project is: A. It prevents late delivery of the project 35. The Agile approach to documentation is: A. as the team is doing all the work B. If the team fails. the Agile leader will not get a performance bonus C. such as the weather. as ice-breakers D. The Agile way is: A.33. Teams work less well when it rains B. Keeping metrics of earlier work to help with future estimates C. It is time-consuming to analyse everything at the beginning of a project D. but the business has the final decision 40. The working culture of an Agile team is … A. The leadership style of an Agile Leader is … A. Working software should have priority over comprehensive documentation C. People are more important than contracts B. Has no control over the prioritization of delivered features B. Feature-based 43. Plans should have priority over ability to respond D. Collective B. Trust of fellow team members to do the work C. Has total control over the prioritization of features C. Must Have D. In the popular prioritization technique called “MoSCoW”. May have B. Contemplative 42. Collaborates with the developers over prioritization of features. A.. Which of the following are attributes of an Agile team? A. All of these Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 10 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . Courage to change and adapt B.39.. Mandatory 41. A. The customer in an Agile project …. but the developers have the final decision D. Responsiveness to change D. the “M” stands for . Facilitative D. Connective D. Collaborates with the developers over prioritization of features. Contracts should be negotiated which allow control over the people 44. Major C. Assertive C. Collaborative C. Directive B. The Agile Manifesto states the following values: A. An Agile project … A. points) to complete before the iteration (timebox) end C. It is normal to need to plan and re-plan as the project progresses C. The remaining work (effort. It gives management information to use in team members’ performance reviews C. Occasional early deliveries. Is always out of control D. The energy level and velocity of the team B. Is controlled by the velocity of the most junior team member 50. If the team members work long hours regularly they will get used to it. Others can do more. Plans should never be changed B. the approach to planning is: A. The rate of spending of the budget for a project 47. A 40 hour week is only for the weaker members of the team. Plans should only be changed with full approval of all stakeholders D. The reason for holding regular Retrospectives is: A. and be able to sustain it B. It allows learning which can be used to improve team performance during the project D. Should have no control over its progress B.. An irregular and unpredictable delivery of products Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 11 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . It prevents deviation from the process which the team has been following 48. It allows the team to take a necessary break from work B. The team should establish a velocity which can be sustained within normal working hours D. A sustainable pace means … A..45. Plans are not required as Agile is incremental 49. A. C. Once a project is underway. A regular pattern of delivery of developer-focused products C. An Agile project should have . Should be able to demonstrate control of its progress C. Working long hours is the only way to deliver on time 46. if the business is prepared to accept lower quality B. The number of hours worked by each team member during the iteration (timebox) D. A regular pattern of delivery of business-valued increments D. A burn-down chart shows … A. Apply standard design patterns B. It should not celebrate success. Prescribed roles such as technical coordinators are not part of an Agile team C. A. You have been engaged as the Technical Coordinator in a product development team. The customer (Product Owner) and Team Leader (Scrum Master) are happy because the team always delivers business value on time. displacing less important requirements D. Break the project into small. if sufficiently important to the business. If a new requirement emerges once an Agile project is running. However. Ensure testers define their entry criteria for quality.. included in the project.51. as this makes less successful teams feel bad 52. How could maintainability of the developing product be improved in a development team? A. developer and test teams 53. When an Agile team is successful … A. Automatically included in the work of the project B. Make refactoring a common practice D. you worry that the technical debt is increasing. It should not celebrate success. Operate with separate customer. it should be: A. It should be encouraged to celebrate success only when the project is over B. Nothing. Operate with one team of less than 10 people D. Put on the backlog for consideration by the wider group of stakeholders after the project has been completed 54 . On time delivery and happy end users are the only quality measures in Agile development 55. Keep team-size large. as this wastes project budget D.. Make sure that the maintainability quality attribute is addressed D. All of these C. self-organising teams C. Assessed for importance and. What would be your primary goal to ensure the right quality? A. to avoid stakeholders feeling left out B. Ensure unit testing is included in the “done” criteria Sample Questions with Answers for Web Revised Jan 2013 v0 4 12 22 January 2013 Author D J Tudor . In order to communicate well. which they impose on the development team B. It should be encouraged to celebrate even small successes immediately C. Automatically excluded and left until a later project or increment C. mixed-skill. the Agile project should . End users should NOT be in the development team. Prioritizing requirements C. Scrum Master (or Team Leader) is just a better term than Project Manager in an Agile project B. Project Managers are not needed in Agile methods because teams are selforganising D.perficient. Agile methods are described as “adaptive” because… A.56. All of these How to Choose Quality Candidates/Consultants for Your Large Company Agile Initiative Daryl Kulak & Anita Shankar. Agile teams have the empowerment to frequently respond to change and to learn on a project by changing the plan B. How could you benefit from having an End User Representative in your development team? A. Workshops held at the beginning and the end of every iteration (timebox) allow the team to adapt the product specification 57. The End User Representative will be able to clearly tell the developers what will work for an end user 60. fixed iteration (timebox) length B. What is one difference in responsibility between a Project Manager and a Scrum Master (Team Leader) in an Agile project? A. The rate of development progress on an Agile project is constantly tracked to allow adaptation C.com/ We created this set of questions to help corporate managers select Agileexperienced consultants and candidate employees for project work. The End User Representative assures that user stories are documented properly D. Managing the project budget D. Project Manager communicates with project governance authorities when necessary D. It's basically the same. 59. A prescribed. The Project Manager creates the detailed delivery plans while the Team Leader monitors execution within the team C. None. Requirements are always communicated to the developers by the Product Owner. What do all Agile approaches have in common? A. The End User Representative will be solely responsible for acceptance tests within the team C. A strict focus on on-time delivery D. Business processes diagramming B. The responsibilities of a Product Owner will include … A. Iterative development and incremental delivery C. who is part of the customer team B. The Project Manager monitors the realisation of benefits in the business case. A large set of clearly defined roles 58. http://www. but the fact that . Assembling a team of qualified Agile people is one thing. We developed this questionnaire to make those distinctions. Are you a Certified Scrum Master (CSM)? If so. The goal here is to make sure that your project team member is comfortable with structure as each iteration progresses. 2. A consultant or potential employee who has great Agile experience in small product companies may be exactly the wrong type of person to help you inside a large corporation. How long were the iterations (or sprints) on the projects you worked on? Agile project methodology moves at a fast pace and you should already have a good idea of the length of the iterations for the pending project. Is she comfortable working with a project manager. An Agile evangelist from a small product company may actually be horrified by some of the compromises that are absolutely necessary in your large company environment. The theory that big companies need longer iterations is not based in fact.some Agile practices and principles mean different things to different people makes it even harder to succeed in staffing your initiatives. We’ve done many big company projects in the 1 to 2 week iteration range. If your candidate has worked on Agile projects which have long iterations (4 weeks or longer). how do you view the way Scrum projects need to be organized? Often we use certifications as a golden way to qualify candidates. A steady set of fixed-length iterations that are fairly short is best. Certainly there will be questions you want to ask about things like the person’s outlook towards businesspeople and technical people working closely together. 1. Answers of between 1-week to 3-weeks are ideal. Depending on the role you are interviewing for. it will make sense to determine if this person is comfortable with the iterations as defined for your project. or wildly variable-length iterations. or communicating to a team lead? Working inside a large corporation. But be somewhat careful with people who have gone through the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) training. you may want to leave certain questions out or perhaps add some of your own. you personally might feel that a project manager or team lead position is required on all but the smallest effort. But certain Agile consultants will insist that project managers are no longer necessary under Agile because teams will "self . which is important no matter whether the project is waterfall or Agile. great. perhaps a few times a week. perhaps each night. Does your organization have defined roles and career paths like project manager. you need to know what your own strategy is for Agile adoption and then hire accordingly. NOTE: There is nothing systemically wrong with self-organization. the CVS repository would have a set of triggers that automatically built. Here you want to get a pretty detailed explanation of how the candidate has used continuous integration on previous projects. Agile project team members should have experience (or at the very least. so pursue the line of questioning either way." Steer clear of these candidates unless that is clearly the direction you want to go. or even . 3. the desire) to use automated testing tools for regression and performance testing of each iteration. if you were using Java and CVS." Automated testing allows quick identification and isolation of development defects as well as the ability to test development work completed in previous iterations. Have you done continuous integration on a project before? Describe. Continuous integration is a set of automated build. If the person is not a CSM. integrated and unit tested the code often. Also expect them to discuss the need for manual testing as well as automated testing. avoid the candidates who tell you there is no alternative to self-organization. but as a hiring manager. continuous integration and testing and even performance testing techniques and tools. 4. At the end of each iteration you want to have something that your customer/client can "see. I personally haven’t met many corporate managers who are terribly comfortable with self-organizing teams.? Do you have a strategy for muddying those career paths for the employees you bring onto this Agile initiative? If so. Did you use automated test tools on your projects? Explain how that worked.organize. due to the ever-changing nature of the code base in Agile. For instance. Expect the candidate to talk about automated regression testing. tester. you may still encounter these issues. business analyst. If not. integration and test steps that executes against the code base in a configuration management repository. etc. developing. test analyst. However.) and career paths then this candidate may have a tough time fitting into your structure. etc) with business information which has been documented in some way. coding and testing and who each participate in those activities almost equally. Not only is it important to test that the . this is a matter of matching the Agile candidate’s experience with your organization’s needs. Again. 6." This type of team consists of a set of generic team members who all have the skills and enthusiasm for requirements. were the testers still testing Iteration 6 while Iteration 5 was being designed/developed? There are many views of how iterative/incremental projects should run under Agile. 5. Each of these is a valid continuous integration story.every time someone checked in new code. you want to understand if your potential team member is comfortable working with requirements in a structured development environment (versus brief summaries from which the developers build code). testing. Did your iterations overlap? For instance." This may tell you that the candidate is used to having what is called "multidisciplinary teams. How did you manage traceability of the requirements to testing? The point here is to make sure testing goes all the way back to requirements for validation. Agile projects are associated with the use of story cards. Often. By asking this question. nothing wrong with multidisciplinary teams. Have you used story cards or use cases? Explain how that worked for the team. The danger is to pay attention to the candidate if they say that "iterations should never overlap. They will want BAs to code and testers to do design. Again. The requirements (story cards or use cases or a combination of both) should have enough information to provide guidelines for developing and testing and also allow the development team to come up with a creative and effective solution. our goal is to simply understand if our potential team member is comfortable implementing a project (designing. 7. If your company has defined roles (business analyst. but your organization must be able to handle the change if you decide to go that way. Is that okay? It is your decision. etc. design. Overlapping iterations is certainly one strategy. Does it meet the requirements defined in the story card / use case? Your team members should understand the importance of this concept and if they understand and accept traceability. What project management tools were used on your project? . your interview candidate may have difficulty on your team if she is more comfortable working in Agile projects where she has had the ability to play multiple roles (Scrum for example). Did people play multiple roles on your development team? Here we get back to multidisciplinary teams. Conversely. it is also important to determine if it functions the way the business wanted it to function.functionality a developer has created during an iteration actually functions. it does not mean that requirements are loosey-goosey! The advantage of Agile and its short iterations is that it is easy to quickly recognize that work is not progressing as desired – that what the customer ‘asked for’ is not what they ‘wanted’ – and the requirements must be changed. 9. and very little at the end. you should be able to count on this person to help you meet project goals. then he may be uncomfortable in an organization where team members can play any role on a project to achieve its end goal. What you are really trying to understand from this question is how well an individual would fit into your organization and your style of Agile development. How comfortable are you with ever-changing requirements? Many development methodologies specify that requirements are locked down at the beginning of a project. if your candidate’s primary experience was developed on projects where roles were clearly defined and individuals did not work in multiple capacities. other roles are harder to be "multifunctional. Team members should be able to handle such changes on an Agile project. Two particular roles that are more easily interchanged are business analysts and testers. The general idea is that requirements can change a lot at the beginning of the release. You must choose the candidate which fits your organization well and is flexible enough to suit the needs of your Agile project implementation." 10. Although that is not the case in Agile. a story card or any other component of work that prevents providing a solution which meets the customer’s needs. 8. If your organization is one in which individuals select a specialized role (such as Java Developer) as part of their career path. It shouldn’t be so tied to code. you want to see how the candidate will link their burndown/burnup chart into your overall project management structure. What does project velocity mean? This is a PM question. If your candidate is more comfortable using one of these Agile PM tools. giving a fairly good view towards what can be accomplished by a release date." That means that so far. References: . the team has been able to identify. it is considered to be "burned" and the graph will reflect this. change requests. Again. 12. although all Agile people should know the answer. Do you have corporate PM tool standards? If so. Hopefully. The graph should show a steady movement down until it is clear that the team will have completed the story point backlog by the release date. These tools bear no resemblance to the waterfall PM tools like MS-Project or Clarity. etc. so a possible velocity might be "30 story points per iteration. this question becomes quite important. 11.This question is more for Agile project managers." The work is usually put in terms of a set of "story points" which represent functionality. There is also a variation called a "burnup chart" that works the same way but can handle scope changes more easily than the burndown variety.) into your company’s structure. Project velocity is the rate at which a team is "burning" through story points. code and test 30 units of functionality (story points) in an average iteration and can expect to do about that much in future iterations. Can you explain the purpose of a burndown chart? This is more of a question for candidate project managers. try to identify if they will be able to fit their Agile project plans (and issues. Version One and XPlanner. milestones. culture and PM standards. Our hope is that you can build a highly-qualified team that will fit in well with your corporate development process. A burndown chart is a graph that shows the progress of the team in terms of work "burned through. Once a piece of functionality is coded and tested and reviewed by the user. Agile has a new breed of PM tools including Rally Software. these twelve questions can be a good start for your qualification process in bringing in new Agile consultants or candidate employees. but most Agile people should know the answer. ning.typepad.com/forum/topic/show?id=2075814%3ATopic %3A565 Here is some good reading on Agile in the enterprise: Augustine. 2004). Hong Li. 312p Leffingwell. The paper is available here: http://agileplusrigor.Our work is based on the research paper by Dr. J. 384p Possible related articles and blogs of interest: LitheSpeed Blog: lithespeed.blogspot. S.com The Agile Executive: trailridgeconsulting. – Agile Project Management (Addison-Wesley.com Scaling Software Agility: scalingsoftwareagility. 2005).com Related Agile Articles Adopting an Agile Method Creating an Agile Environment Five Symptoms of Mechanical Agile More Agile Knowledge Scrum Expert Agile Tutorials and Videos Agile Software Development Related Agile and Scrum Books Coaching Agile Teams . – Scaling Software Agility (Addison-Wesley.wordpress. D. 2007). 264p Highsmith. .com/blog Leading Answers: leadinganswers.Managing Agile Projects (Prentice Hall PTR. Limit WIP (work in progress) – assign explicit limits to how many items may be in progress at each workflow state. Most agile methods such as Scrum and XP are already well aligned with lean principles. How can we take our process to the next level?” o “Our needs and priorities shift on a daily basis” o “We don’t like fixed-length. At Toyota. write each item on a card and put on the wall. Does Kanban matter to me? Do any of these sound familiar? o “We’ve done Scrum for a long time now and our process improvement has levelled off. Literally. In 2004. fixed-commitment iterations” o “We are spending too much time planning and estimating” If so. . Kanban means many things. Actually. and which most people now simply refer to as “Kanban”.in/2014/01/105-top-agile-testing-multiple-choice. Under the guidance of experts such as Don Reinertsen. o Use named columns to illustrate where each item is in the workflow. this evolved into what David called a “Kanban system for software development”.html ************************************************************************ Kanban Kanban is a lean approach to agile software development. Visualize the workflow o Split the work into pieces. Kanban is the term used for the visual & physical signalling system that ties together the whole Lean Production system. read on. Kanban should be part of the process toolkit of any agile company. however. Kanban as used in Lean Production is over a half century old. How does Kanban work? There are many flavors.Succeeding with Agile http://atozmcqs.blogspot. So while Kanban as applied to software development is new. but the core of Kanban means: 1. The choice of where & when to use it can only be made by you though. Along with Scrum and XP. Kanban is a Japanese word that means “visual card”. 2. David Anderson pioneered a more direct implementation of Lean Thinking and Theory of Constraints to software development. Here’s an example of a simple Kanban board. o Tends to naturally spread throughout the organization to other departments such as HR and sales. o Provides a way to do agile software development without necessarily having to use timeboxed fixed-commitment iterations such as Scrum sprints. thereby increasing visibility of everything that is going on at the company. Measure the lead time (average time to complete one item. This leads people to collaborate to optimize the whole value chain rather than just their part. such as operations and support teams with a high rate of uncertainty and variabilty. This is a direct implementation of a lean pull scheduling system. Here’s a more complex one (see Kanban kick-start example for a closer look & description) What are the benefits of Kanban? Some commonly observed benefits are: o Bottlenecks become clearly visible in real-time. o Provides a more gradual evolution path from waterfall to agile software development. with WIP limits in red. optimize the process to make lead time as small and predictable as possible.3. thereby helping companies that previously have been unable or unwilling to try agile methods. Useful for situations where sprints don’t make much sense. . sometimes called “cycle time”). Do it only if you have a need for it in your context. and there is no such thing as a universally good or bad tool. visualize it. Then you introduce WIP limits and start a path of evolution that may or may not modify or replace your current process over time. Do it only if you have a need for it in your context. you should combine it. In Kanban you start with whatever process you have. in order to see where the bottlenecks are. however. It hardly replaces anything. Myth: With Kanban you don’t estimate Fact: With Kanban estimation is optional. Myth: Kanban is a drop-in replacement to Scrum/XP/RUP/whatever Fact: Kanban is just about managing workflow. Developerdays 2009 David Anderson’s case study – and why lead time is best metric David Joyce shows how a Scrum team improves by moving to Kanban with Statistical process control data Common misunderstandings about Kanban o o o o o o o o Myth: With Kanban you don’t use iterations Fact: With Kanban iterations are optional. a surprising number of our clients have found that Kanban is an extremely useful complement (or sometimes even a replacement) to other popular agile methods such as Scrum. Typical manager comment: “It really helps us visualize our projects and situation”. In fact.Can I combine Kanban with my current process? Yes. Case examples .limitedwipsociety. and then evolve from there. See “Kanban & Scrum – making the most of both”. where Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin illustrate how Kanban and Scrum relate to each other. introduce WIP limits. Mattias Skarin. In Kanban the first step is to visualize your current process. just as it is. Here are a few examples: o o o Improving operations using Kanban. What it does do. See this article for more info. Where is Kanban used? Our coaches at Crisp have helped several clients use Kanban to improve their process.org. There is also an increasing number of case studies available atwww. In fact. Myth: Kanban is better than Scrum/XP/RUP/whatever Fact: Kanban is just a process tool. It all depends on your context. is drive change. incremental framework for projects and product or application development.Marketing o o Kanban in inbound marketing Bringing kanban into marketing Enterprise o Enterprise Kanban (article by Mattias) . and take place one after the other without pause. In fact. Scrum Summary Scrum is an iterative. the chosen items do not change. making the most of both (book by Henrik & Mattias) 10 kanban boards and their context (article by Mattias) Converting a Scrum team to Kanban (article by Mattias) www. Every day the team gathers briefly to inspect its progress. At the beginning of each Sprint. At the end of the . you have to experiment. The team commits to complete the items by the end of the Sprint.limitedwipsociety. a cross-functional team selects items 5 (customer requirements) from a prioritized list. Neither Scrum nor Kanban provide all the answers – they just give you a basic set of constraints to drive your own process improvement. making the most of both (book by Henrik & Mattias) Further reading o o o o o o o o o o o Kanban (book by David J Anderson) Kanban & Scrum. It structures development in cycles of work called Sprints.shows how Kanban can be used to improve the full value stream Multi team projects o Lean from the Trenches – Managing Large Scale Projects with Kanban (book by Henrik) – shows advanced application of Kanban in a 60-person project Operations o Kanban & Scrum. The Sprints are timeboxed – they end on a specific date whether the work has been completed or not. During the Sprint. These iterations are no more than one month each.org – main Kanban resource site One day in Kanban land (comic strip by Henrik) Kanban kick-start example (template by Henrik) How can support and operations be Agile (slides by Mattias) Mattias’ blog entries on Kanban and more Henrik’s blog entries on Kanban and more Queue utilization is a leading indicator (Corey Ladas) Scrum Scrum and Kanban are both empirical in the sense that you are expected to experiment with the process and customize it to your environment. and adjust the next steps needed to complete the work remaining. and are never extended. this means code that is integrated. and surprises. For a given situation. a particular tool is better 2. and Kanban constrains you to use visible boards and limit the size of your queues. Scrum It constrains you to have timeboxed iterations and cross-functional teams Scrum prescribes 3 roles: Product Owner (sets product vision &priorities) Team (implements the product) Scrum Master (removes impediments and provides process leadership) It limits WIP per iteration Kanban It constrains you to use visible boards and limit the size of your queues i. Process = how you work.e. Scrum and Kanban are neither perfect nor complete. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t have a Product Owner role in Kanban! It just means you don’t have to. telling you what to do. Scrum emphasizes working product at the end of the Sprint that is really “done”. They don’t tell you everything that you need to do. No tool is complete and no tool is perfect. in the case of software. to a certain extent. inspecting both the resulting product and the efficacy of current practices. It limits WIP per workflow state Points to be noted: 1. and then adapting the product goals and process practices. fully tested and potentially shippable.” Since development inevitably involves learning. Like any tools. Which tool is better depends upon your context. 2. Scrum emphasizes taking a short step of development. Scrum and Kanban are process tools in that they help you work more effectively by. They don’t tell you everything that you need to do. 3. Scrum and Kanban are neither perfect nor complete. innovation. For example. .Sprint. In both Scrum and Kanban you are free to add whatever additional roles you need. Like any tools.No 1. A major theme in Scrum is “inspect and adapt. they just provide certain constraints & guidelines. the team reviews the Sprint with stakeholders. they just provide certain constraints & guidelines S. People obtain feedback that can be incorporated in the next Sprint. Tool = anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose. Scrum constrains you to have timeboxed iterations and cross-functional teams. and demonstrates what it has built. Repeat forever. limit WIP(Work-in-progress) Kanban doesn’t prescribe any roles at all. In Scrum you get too little. Mix and match the tools as you need! I can hardly imagine a successful Scrum team that doesn’t include most elements of XP for example. but will not guarantee success. Some Scrum teams write some of their backlog items as Use Cases (a RUP practice) or limit their queue sizes (a Kanban practice).. Kanban leaves almost everything open. A process tool that lets you do anything is not very useful. Prescriptive means “more rules to follow” and adaptive means “fewer rules to follow”. A project may fail despite a great tool. Interestingly enough. Whatever works for you. XP (eXtreme Programming) is pretty prescriptive compared to Scrum. specifically because they are less prescriptive than traditional methods. The general mindset in both Scrum and Kanban is “less is more”. It's easy to confuse project success/failure with tool success/failure. 9.3. We might call that process “Do Whatever” or how about “Do The Right Thing” 4. Kanban doesn’t 7. 100% adaptive means Do Whatever. 6. A project may succeed despite a lousy tool. Scrum and Kanban are both highly adaptive. Scrum gives you more constraints. For example Scrum prescribes the use of timeboxed iterations. there are no rules or constraints at all. 10. there is a rule for everything. Agile methods are sometimes called lightweight methods. One of the main differences between Scrum and RUP is that in RUP you get too much. Using the right tools will help you succeed. 5. So when in doubt. and you are supposed to remove the stuff you don’t need. the value of a tool is that it limits your options. A project may fail because of a lousy tool. . It includes most of Scrum + a bunch of fairly specific engineering practices such as test-driven development and pair programming 8. A project may succeed because of a great tool. Scrum is more prescriptive than Kanban. start with less. 100% prescriptive means you don’t get to use your brain. The only constraints are Visualize Your Workflow and Limit Your WIP. but still surprisingly powerful. Don’t limit yourself to one tool. and thereby leaves fewer options open. Many Kanban teams use daily standup meetings (a Scrum practice). but relatively speaking. Just inches from Do Whatever. and you are supposed to add the stuff that is missing.