Question 1

Product Roadmap

Accepted Answer

Product Roadmap visually represents the strategy and vision of the Product Owner. It may contain the high level requirements in order of customer value, and the direction of the product over time.

Question 2

Systems Thinking

Accepted Answer

Systems thinking is an approach to solving complex problems that seeks to understand the system as a whole, recognizing patterns and considering connections.

Systems thinking recognizes that complex systems are made up of not just parts, but also of interactions and rules. These rules are important decisions that guide the behavior of the system.

Systems thinking also recognizes relationships between parts and that relationships between parts influence each other.

A systems thinking approach focuses on a system’s properties, such as its relationship to other elements in the system, and the relationships among these elements and behavior of the system as a whole.

An excellent reference on Systems Thinking is the book 'The Fifth Discipline' by Peter Senge. In it, Peter describes 11 laws:

Today’s problems come from yesterday’s ‘solutions.’
The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back.
Behavior will grow worse before it grows better.
The easy way out usually leads back in.
The cure can be worse than the disease.
Faster is slower.
Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space.
Small changes can produce big results…but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious.
You can have your cake and eat it too—but not all at once.
Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants.
There is no blame.

Developing Systems Thinking improves the ability of leaders, coaches, Product Owners and Scrum Masters to holistically solve the problems at hand, rather than solving the symptoms.

Question 3

One-Piece Flow

Accepted Answer

One-piece flow is a lean (manufacturing) practice, in which customers receive a valuable product that is produced from start to finish, per the customer's needs. Such a process limits work-in-progress, eliminates waste, excess processing, and over-production, which increases efficiency and lowers costs.

Due to reduced work in progress, the flow of the value increases, overhead costs go down, the inventory carrying costs signifiacntly reduces, the throughput increases.

Question 4

Timebox

Accepted Answer

Timebox is a maximum duration allocated for an activity / event. Scrum Events are Timeboxed to keep everyone focused on the agenda of the event. Timeboxing also reduced risk by limiting the time a team would spend on a particular activity.

Question 5

Test Driven Development

Accepted Answer

Test-driven development (TDD) is a practice specific to software development that relies on automated tests to ensure high-quality code.

In TDD developers write a test for a feature or module prior to writing the actual code.

Programmers first write a test which ensures that the code they are writing does what they are supposed to, then they write the minimum amount of code that passes the test. The programmer may write another test to make sure the implementation is correct, then write the code to pass that test. After the programmer has written and tested each test, the tests are run against the program to ensure that the program does what it should.

Test Driven Development starts by focusing on a single feature in isolation, and mocking or stubbing out other code until it’s ready to become part of broader product.

Question 6

Task Board

Accepted Answer

Please see Scrum Board.

Question 7

Swarming

Accepted Answer

Swarming is a simple way where as many team members as possible work simultaneously on one highest value item. All team members focus on completing this one item before picking the next highest value item.

Working on many items / initiatives at a time increases work in progress, that causes delays and eventually waste of time.

Question 8

Sprint Retrospective Action Item Completion

Accepted Answer

The Sprint Retrospective Action Item Completion measures how well the team follows through on the action items they identified and committed to during the sprint retrospective. It helps the team assess their responsiveness to improvement opportunities and their ability to make meaningful changes.

A higher completion rate indicates the team's dedication to continuous improvement.

Measuring this metric can be beneficial for new Scrum Teams; however, as they take ownership of continuous improvement and act on Retrospective Action Items, its significance decreases.

Question 9

Sprint Review Attendee Satisfaction

Accepted Answer

Sprint Review Attendee Satisfaction is a measure of how satisfied the stakeholders, and customers, are with the outcomes and demonstrations presented during the Sprint Review. It helps the team gauge whether their work aligns with the stakeholders' expectations and if improvements are needed.

Like a movie rating, it's not possible to get 10/10 rating from everyone. It's important to observe a pattern, rather than individual rating and make adaptations as needed.

Question 10

Team Happiness Index

Accepted Answer

The Team Happiness Index is a measure of the overall satisfaction and well-being of the team members. It gauges their morale, engagement, and job satisfaction.

A high Team Happiness Index signifies that team members are satisfied with their roles, have a positive relationship with their colleagues, and feel supported by the organization.

A high Team Happiness Index can positively impact team's performance and creativity.

A low index might suggest potential issues that need attention to maintain team motivation and well-being.

Question 11

Evidence Based Management

Accepted Answer

Evidence-based Management refers to a decision-making approach that relies on objective and verifiable evidence, data, and research to inform and guide managerial actions and choices within an organization.

By using rigorous analysis and empirical evidence, this approach seeks to minimize biases and subjectivity, leading to more informed and effective decision-making.

It emphasizes the integration of scientific findings and real-world factual data to optimize organizational processes, enhance performance, and achieve desired outcomes.

Also see: Empiricism

Question 12

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Accepted Answer

Net Promoter Score is a customer loyalty metric used to gauge the likelihood of customers recommending a company's product or service to others.

Customers are asked to rate their willingness to refer the company or their product or service on a scale from 0 to 10.

Based on their responses, customers are classified into three categories: Promoters (score 9-10), Passives (score 7-8), and Detractors (score 0-6).

The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters, yielding a score between -100 and 100.

Higher NPS score means the customers are very likely to spread positive word-of-mouth about the company's offerings to others and that can also lead to increased customer retention and business growth.