Question 1

Continuous Delivery

Accepted Answer

Continuous Delivery is the practice of delivering small changes to software quickly, frequently and continually.

With a Continuous Delivery system, software builds are checked regularly using automated tests for quality and deployed to test and then to production environments as soon as they pass. Due to automation it is often possible to release multiple changes to the software per day.

This approach often accelerates software release cycles and minimizes the amount of time between when code is developed and released, shortening feedback cycle and improving adaptability.

Question 2

Self-Managing Team

Accepted Answer

A self-managing team is empowered to internally decide who does what, when, and how. It is responsible and accountable for all or most aspects / decisions of planning and producing a product or delivering a service.

Self-Management requires the team members must be empowered and kept shielded from hierarchy.

See also: Self-Management

Question 3

Release Planning

Accepted Answer

Release Planning is the process of planning a product release, identifying the capabilities that need to be released, stakeholders and team members involved, budget and timelines.

In Scrum, every Sprint enables inspection and adaptation of progress toward a Product Goal. Every Sprint begins with Sprint Planning and results in at least one increment that is usable to customers.

Some teams release increments multiple times a sprint, other teams group features from more than a sprint before releasing to the customers.

Those releasing at least once a sprint, do not need seperate release planning besides the Sprint Planning that already exists.

Question 4

Value Stream Mapping

Accepted Answer

Value-stream mapping, is a powerful visual technique originating from Lean Management to determine the efficiency of a value stream.

The Value-stream map visualizes the flow of both materials and information as they progress through the process from Idea to Solution. It involves labelling and quantifing the activity time, and waiting (idle) time to calculate the effeciency of the value creation process.

Value flow efficiency of 5-10% is typical for a large number of manufacturing processes, product development in large organization, etc.

Mapping the time taken during the value creating activities and idle time between two activities, helps identify the process improvement areas in an organization.

Question 5

Forecast

Accepted Answer

Forecast is selecting how much work can be completed within a Sprint. Developers use empirical information to forecast their Sprint scope during Sprint Planning. Forecast is not a guarantee.

Also see: Sprint Planning

Question 6

Scrum Values

Accepted Answer

Scrum Values offer overarching guiding-rails to how team members behave, act, work, and collaborate as a team.

Scrum offers five Scrum Values: Focus, Openness, Respect, Commitment and Courage.

When a Scrum Team and the people they work with embody these Scrum Values, they a build high trust environment.

Question 7

WIP Limit

Accepted Answer

The maximum amount of Work-In-Process (WIP) that can be pulled in for processing / implementation within a workflow. This is a limit on the total amount of items that can be in process.

The purpose of having a WIP Limit is to increase the focus on the flow of value. Due to the limits on WIP, the remaining work items can be either Waiting to be Picked up or Completed (Done).

In a Scrum environment, to improve the flow of value delivery, it's recommended that the number of work items in progress may be lesser than the number of developers available to execute the work items.

Question 8

Methodology

Accepted Answer

Methodology is a body of methods, rules, procedures and processes to achieve a goal. Usually methodology tries to define steps and answers to various situations. Most methodologies are bulky and rigid due to being prescriptive.

Question 9

Cycle Time

Accepted Answer

Cycle Time in Scrum refers to the time it takes for a Product Backlog Item or a task to be completed from the moment work starts on it until it's considered done. It provides valuable insights into the Scrum team's efficiency in delivering work items. A shorter cycle time generally indicates better efficiency and faster delivery.

A shorter cycle time means the team is working more swiftly and getting things done quickly, while a longer cycle time might indicate potential bottlenecks or areas for improvement.

Slicing the PBIs thinner usually helps keep the Cycle Time low. If your team is consistently able to sliced the PBIs to a point where most PBIs can be completed within a day, in such cases there would be usually no benefit of measuring Cycle Time.

Question 10

OKRs

Accepted Answer

Objectives and Key Results (OKR) is a goal-setting framwork to establish focus towards delivering results that truely matter and to direct all initiatives toward measurable strategic outcomes.

OKRs are goal-setting metrics that are meant to be measurable, time-bound, achievable, relevant, and specific.

OKRs are expressed in a format that employees can easily understand. The use of OKRs allows all employees to focus on what’s most important to the company as a whole.

Question 11

Lean Coffee

Accepted Answer

Imagine yourself in a dynamic Scrum team, where open communication and collaboration are essential for success. That's where the Lean Coffee technique comes in, bringing a touch of magic to your discussions. It all begins with each team member jotting down their thoughts and ideas on colorful sticky notes. These notes are then organized and prioritized using a group voting system, ensuring everyone's voice is heard.

Now comes the exciting part: the conversations! Each topic is given its moment in the spotlight, with a fixed time frame set by the team per topic. This ensures a fair balance, preventing any one person or topic from dominating the stage. By embracing this iterative approach, you dive deep into the most relevant and valuable topics, uncovering hidden gems along the way.

But it doesn't stop there. Lean Coffee empowers your team to make the most of their precious meeting time, channeling their energy into focused discussions that truly matter. This technique brings out the best in your team, fostering a sense of togetherness and shared purpose. So let the Lean Coffee aroma fill the room, and watch as your Agile team flourishes with each sip of conversation.

Question 12

Facilitation

Accepted Answer

Facilitation is an intervention through which a group improves the way it communicates, examines and addresses problems, and makes decisions.

A neutral and unbiased facilitator would create the environment, design the structure and may use various facilitation techniques to help a group improve it's effectiveness.

Question 13

Antipattern

Accepted Answer

An antipattern is solution applied to a particular problem that is considered harmful or undesirable, but is used on a regular basis.

An antipattern can be applied to a process, product design, company policy of an org, etc. A key characteristic of antipatterns is that they are used in situations where other, better, alternatives exist.

Antipatterns can include such practices as over-engineering, reinventing the wheel, establishing too many dependencies, overcomplicating the situation and adding more complexity to a situation.

Question 14

PDCA

Accepted Answer

Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) is an iterative problem solving framework developed around 1950s by Edward Deming.

PDCA is used to improve processes, products, and services, by improving upon quality, reliability, productivity, and effectiveness. PDCA is an improvement cycle, and is also known as dynamic improvement.

Plan: Involves gathering data, defining the issue, and identifying potential solutions.

The PDCA cycle is repeated until the desired improvement is achieved.

Question 15

Sprint Demo

Accepted Answer

Please see: Sprint Review

Question 16

Stakeholders

Accepted Answer

Anyone with a stake / interest in the Scrum Team and it's outcomes could be a stakeholder to the Scrum Team. Stakeholders could be internal as well as external to the organization.

Internal stakeholders may be people from various functions / departments of the organization such as: finance, sales-marketing, infrastructure, customer support, release management, etc.

External stakeholders may include clients, paying customers, end users, consumers, prospects, etc.

Question 17

Definition of Ready

Accepted Answer

The Definition of Ready isn't a practice defined in the Scrum Guide. However, some teams have created a checklist while refining the PBIs, to ensure that the PBIs entering the Sprint Planning are well refined, clear and free from dependencies.

Caution must be excercised to avoid the definition of ready from becoming an extensive list that eventually hinders the emergence of right details later.

The Scrum Guide hints about readiness of PBIs, however doesn't prescribe any such DOR criteria:

Question 18

Scrum Board

Accepted Answer

Visualizing the work of the Scrum Team via a board (either virtual or physical) is a common practice used by Scrum Teams. The purpose of creating such a board is to create transparency of information.

While the Scrum Guide doesn't prescribe any specific practice or a board, it's valuable tool to enhance shared understanding and empiricism.

The Scrum Board may contain the list of everything that's needed in the product (a Product Backlog) and the work of the current sprint (Sprint Backlog).

Question 19

Scrum of Scrums (SoS)

Accepted Answer

A techinque to coordinate work and dependencies across multiple Scrum teams. A member from each team joins a short daily sync up to discsus dependencies, impediments and opportunities to collaborate among various teams.