For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests

Practice Test 3

Q1. Progress on a release burndown chart is indicated by__________.

1. the amount of completed work and the velocity of the team
2. the amount of remaining work and the velocity of the team
3. the amount of remaining work and the number of iterations to be done
4. the amount of completed work and the number of iterations to be done

Answer: D. the amount of completed work and the number of iterations to be done

In the end, the release burndown chart reaches zero.

Q2. Which of the following is NOT a recommended practice in Agile estimation and planning?

1. Plan at different levels
2. Acknowledge the importance of learning
3. Leave some slack
4. Plan the iteration during the iteration-planning meeting

Answer: C. Leave some slack

Slacks and buffers are not recommended approaches in Agile estimation.

Q3. A team has 5 members working with an average billable rate of $500 per day each. It is estimated that the project will need 5 iterations, each of which will have 10 days. What is the projected cost of the project?

1. $7,500
2. $75,000
3. $1,875,000
4. $125,000

Answer: D. $125,000

Daily rate of the team is 5 * 500 = 2,500 daily rate

Total days to complete iterations are 5 * 10 = 50 days

Total cost of the project is 2,500 * 50 = 125,000

Q4. A new Agile team estimates that it can complete forty-five ideal days of work in the first iteration. The Product Owner insists that the team should raise the goal to sixty ideal days. The Project Manager should __________.

1. vocally support the team’s estimate by politely explaining the risks and the team’s maturity to the Product Owner
2. accept the Product Owner’s request as a way to challenge the team
3. ask the Product Owner to leave the room, so the team can devise a plan for a compromise
4. remain quiet, allowing the team to decide how much work it can take on, but ready to support the team

Answer D. remain quiet, allowing the team to decide how much work it can take on, but ready to support the team

The project manager’s role is to support the team while letting them make a decision about what they can or cannot do.

Q5. Common characteristics of iteration reviews are:

1. Four-hour time limit
2. Updates to Product Owner
3. Plans for next Iteration
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

The iteration review session is held at the end of each iteration, as agreed upon before the iteration cycle begins.

Q6. ________ estimating is the process of grouping requirements into categories or collections.

1. Root Cause
2. Fish bone
3. Affinity
4. Fibonacci

Answer: C. Affinity

Affinity estimating is the process of grouping requirements into categories or collections. It is more suitable for product backlog or large features because it provides a high-level estimate of the items.

Q7. _________ is a top-level vision that may span one or more product backlogs.

1. User story
2. Epic
3. Theme
4. Vision

Answer: C. Theme

Themes can be used at the project level to drive strategic alignment.

Q8. The product backlog for a project reflects that 1,125 story points remain for the first release. The average velocity of 5 teams working on this release is 125 story points per iteration of two weeks each. How many more iterations will the project need to complete the backlog for the release?

1. Nine iterations of two weeks each
2. Eighteen iterations of two weeks each
3. Six twenty-five days
4. Not able to calculate with provided data

Answer: A. Nine iterations of two weeks each

Remaining story points: 1,125

Velocity: 125 per iteration

1,125 / 125 = 9 more iteration

Q9. A team estimated twelve ideal days for a user story. What will be the elapsed time for the story?

1. Equal to twelve days
2. Greater than twelve days
3. Less than twelve days
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Greater than twelve days

Ideal days are the amount of time it will take it to finish a user story uninterrupted (without including non-development time, i.e., lunch break). Elapsed time is the actual amount of the time it will take to complete the story.

Q10. Stakeholders should NOT be invited to which of the following meetings?

1. Daily stand-ups
2. Planning meetings
3. Review meetings
4. Technical meetings

Answer: D. Technical meetings

Technical teams run by the technical team members and no other users, product owners, or stakeholders are invited.

Q11. Scrum is best suited for what kind of scenario?

1. Requirements are known and fixed
2. Requirements are unknown, unknowable, and fixed
3. Requirements are unknown, complex and chaotic
4. Requirements are known, knowable, or fixed

Answer: C. Requirements are unknown, complex and chaotic

Scrum was originally formalized for software development projects but worked well for any complex, innovative scope of work. The Scrum framework is deceptively simple and easy to use. Option “a” is not the best answer, “c” best suits the Scrum.

Q12. Which of the following consensus-based techniques allow developers to estimate the length and complexity of iterations?

1. Extreme programming
2. Planning poker
3. Wideband Delphi
4. DSDM

Answer: B. Planning poker

Planning Poker is one of the consensus-based techniques mostly used to estimate the effort or the relative size of tasks in development projects. The members of the project team come together and estimate each item in a few rounds using the planning poker cards until the team reaches consensus on the size of each item or task.

Q13. Due to an impediment, an Agile team cannot meet its iteration goal. To remove the impediment, the team should share the impediment__________.

1. with the senior management quickly to resolve the issue
2. at the next iteration planning meeting and assign ownership
3. at the daily stand-up with team members
4. at the retrospective meeting

Answer: C. at the daily stand-up with team members

Daily Stand-ups’ where all participants provide a status update to other team members about what they are working on.

Q14. Which of the following is NOT a feedback technique?

1. Prototype
2. Demonstration
3. Flip chart
4. Simulation

Answer: C. Flip chart

Common feedback techniques are Release, Evaluation, Prototyping, Demonstration, Simulation, Mockup and Wireframe

Q15. Which of the following is NOT a good choice for information radiators?

1. Online files
2. Sticky notes
3. Flip chart
4. Whiteboard

Answer: A. Online files

An information radiator is a board kept in a place where everyone can easily see and read the content. It shows the project status – which iterations, current tasks, key deliverables, test results, and more.

Q16. Read the scenario given below and answer the question: Project Genesis has a co-located team. One of the test engineers of the team needed clarification from a developer of the same team. According to the Agile manifesto, which of the following forms of communication is most appropriate?

1. Phone
2. Instant Message
3. Wiki
4. Face-to-face

Answer: D. Face-to-face

Emphasis on the relationship between the team members rather than institutionalized processes and tools. The team should be empowered to make decisions about activities they are responsible for, who will be doing what and when

Q17. A product tester complains to the Agile Project Manager that she has taken too many tasks. The Project Manager should:

1. Call an emergency team meeting to resolve the issue
2. Encourage the tester to find another job
3. Redistribute the team’s assignments at the next daily standup meeting
4. Mentor her to take action to resolve the issue

Answer: D. Mentor her to take action to resolve the issue.

The Agile Project Manager is expected to be a valuable coach and a

mentor to the team.

Q18. __________ is a visual process management system that tells what to produce when to produce it, and how much to produce.

1. Lean
2. DSDM
3. Kanban
4. AUP

Answer: C. Kanban

The work and the workflow are made visible to make activities and issues, like backups obvious. It helps to organize the chaos; provides a clear focus within the delivery team. 

Q19. __________ is the practice of supporting a person or team to achieve specific goals of those individuals or teams.

1. Mentoring
2. Coaching
3. Leading
4. Directing

Answer: B. Coaching

A coach helps a team to achieve their goal and make the project a success.

Q20. What should be the duration of a daily stand-up meeting?

1. One hour
2. Not more than thirty minutes
3. Not more than fifteen minutes
4. Two hours

Answer: C. Not more than fifteen minutes

It is a daily meeting held every morning with the core team members to discuss upcoming activities where everyone stand-ups to show that It is a quick gathering.

Q 21. __________ is an iterative and incremental software development process driven from a client-valued functionality (feature) perspective.

1. TDD
2. FDD
3. DSDM
4. AUP

Answer: B. FDD

Feature-Driven Development (FDD) is an Agile approach to developing software iterative and incremental.

Q 22. Spike is a task included in an iteration plan that is being undertaken for_________.

1. fixing all bugs in the previous iteration
2. gaining knowledge or answering a question
3. completing the pending task of the previous iteration
4. having a meeting separately with all the stakeholders

Answer: B. gaining knowledge or answering a question

A Spike is a special type of story that cannot be estimated until a development team runs a time-boxed investigation. It is used for activities such as exploration or research.

Q 23. Burnup and burndown charts used to measure the team’s capacity and the lead time and cycle time used to measure the team’s predictability. All of these measurements are useful for the _________.

1. in the moment measurements
2. long range measurements
3. cost performance measurements
4. schedule performance measurements

Answer: A. in the moment measurements

These measurements help a team understand how much more work

they have and whether the team might finish on time.

Q 24. The team has been assigned a feature for iteration. The team must choose between two approaches to build the feature. One approach is not yet proven but offers technical flexibility. The other is known, but may not offer technical flexibility that the team is looking for. How should the team make a decision?

1. Implement a spike to learn more about the technical considerations
2. Implement the feature using one of the approaches, and make the necessary changes in the project at a later stage when new information arrives
3. Place the feature on the impediments backlog
4. Defer the item, until detail technical information comes from the customer

Answer: A. Implement a spike to learn more about the technical considerations

A spike is an exceptional way of working when we feel we do not have enough information to give the customer realistic expectations. The goal of a spike is to establish those “expectations.”

Q 25. You just started working on a multimillion-dollar project with a small but dedicated team. You are assisting the product owner to prioritize the backlog by taking into account ______________.

1. high value and medium or low-risk features first
2. high risk features first
3. high risk and high value features last
4. high risk and high value features first

Answer: A. high value and medium or low-risk features first

The team is new and the project is just starting, there are many unknowns. It is always better to start with high value but medium to low-level risk features to understand team capabilities while delivering high value.

Q 26. What is osmotic communication?

1. Communication between two developers
2. A communication received by the subconscious brain
3. Verbal communication in daily stand-ups
4. A communication between upper management and product owner

Answer: B. A communication received by the subconscious brain

Osmotic communication means that the information flows into the background hearing of the team so that they pick up relevant information as though by osmosis.

Q 27. ________ is a software development framework to give customer satisfaction and deliver frequently.

1. XP
2. Scrum
3. Kanban
4. RUP

Answer: A. XP

XP is a software development framework to give customer satisfaction, deliver frequently and be able to respond to requirement changes even late in the lifecycle.

Q 28. Below the benefits of Collective Code Ownership, EXCEPT:

1. Shared knowledge of the code
2. Simpler code
3. Get things done quickly
4. Coded, tested, integrated, and ready to deploy in production

Answer: D. Coded, tested, integrated, and ready to deploy in production

Collective code ownership spreads responsibility for maintaining the code to all programmers; everyone shares responsibility for the quality of the code developed. Nothing to do with the development process. 

Q 29. Technical debt refers to the work that the team

1. Completes during iteration
2. Inform the customer and perform the next step
3. Make a note to fix the build in the next iteration
4. Fails to do during iterations

Answer: D. Fails to do during iterations

These tasks accumulate from iteration to iteration and ultimately lead to requirements of more time and cost at the end of the project.

Q 30. Which of the following should NOT be reported on the information radiator?

1. The current work assignments, the important dates, and people in the project
2. A graph showing the progress of work
3. The number of stories delivered
4. The URL for test servers

Answer: D. The URL for test servers

An information radiator is a board kept in a place where everyone can easily see and read the content. It shows the project status – which iterations, current tasks, key deliverables, test results, and more.

Q 31. What are the characteristics of a good 

information radiator?

1. Information that is detailed and updated periodicallyInformation that is easy to notice
2. Information that is not easily accessible to everyone
3. Information that exists in electronic format for easy transmission

Answer: B. Information that is easy to notice

This board allows the sharing of sufficient communication available with fewer interruptions to the team.

Q 32. Which chart helps an agile practitioner understand changes in scope over iterations?

1. Task graph
2. Release bar chart
3. Product backlog
4. Release burnup chart

Answer: D. Release burnup chart

Any changes to the release backlog will show in the release burnup

chart.

Q 33. The _______ diagram provides a full view of activities happening in the project.

1. Cumulative flow
2. Burnup
3. Burndown
4. Control chart

Answer: A. Cumulative flow

The cumulative flow diagram provides a full view of the activities happening in the project. This diagram tracks total scope and progress, various stages on the way to being complete.

Q 34. Which of the following performance parameters set for an Agile project is primary?

1. Value
2. Quality
3. Scope
4. Schedule

Answer: A. Value

Delivering business value is a major goal of agile philosophy. The agile manifesto states that “Working software over comprehensive documentation” and Agile principles ensures that the team produces value by delivering a working software or product. 

Q 35. Priority should be given to delivering ____________.

1. wireframe
2. sprint planning
3. product backlog planning
4. working product

Answer: D. working product

Working software over comprehensive documentation (value) recommends providing a value such as a working product and then enough documentation.

Q 36. The primary objective of continuous integration is to ensure that______________.

1. proper feedback mechanisms consistently and accurately collect data and information for process improvement
2. teams operate effectively throughout all phases of a project
3. product features fit together into an integrated whole early and reduce costs in testing
4. external stakeholder expectations are integrated into project milestones

Answer: C. product features fit together into an integrated whole early and reduce costs in testing

Continuous integration allows teams to integrate all this work on a regular basis.

Q 37. Agile project management is ________________ model and not ________________ model.

1. adaptive, a control
2. a planning and control, an execution-biased
3. an execution-biased, a value-driven
4. a planning and control biased ,a value-driven

Answer: A. adaptive, a control

Agile Project management is adaptive to the changing project environment and plans as needed.

Q 38. Refactoring involves__________.

1. converting to the final production version
2. improving efficiency and performance
3. reorganizing the code without affecting functionality
4. Editing software coding to use the team’s global parameters

Answer: C. reorganizing the code without affecting functionality

Refactoring is the process of code improvement where code is reorganized and rewritten to make it more clear, efficient and easier to understand.

Q 39. Which of the following activities will not add value to product development when a project leader executes a project?

1. Reaching critical design decision
2. Prioritization of product backlog
3. Preparing a presentation
4. Participating in retrospectives

Answer: C. Preparing a presentation

Preparing a time-consuming presentation not seen as a value-added activity.

Q 40. Which of the following best summarizes what is happening in the iteration, according to the burn-up chart pictured here?

1. The team is on track to complete all the items in the sprint.
2. The team is at risk of having items incomplete at the end of the iterations; the team may need to consider making an adjustment.
3. The team is on track to complete all the items in the sprint early. If the trend continues, they may need to add a scope.
4. The team is trending toward an early release; they should negotiate a new deadline

Answer: B. The team is at risk of having items incomplete at the end of the iterations; the team may need to consider making an adjustment.

The team is lagging behind the planned development. Unless the team makes adjustments, they might not be able to finish as planned. 

Q 41. An Agile team exhibits a Level 3 conflict. Its members are using personal attacks to win the argument. The most appropriate response to this situation is to:

1. Initiate a collaboration session to solve the problem.
2. Generate a Force Field diagram to visualize the conflict.
3. Encourage the team to accommodate each other’s views.
4. Call for a democratic team vote on the opposing sides of the argument.

Answer: C. Encourage the team to accommodate each other’s views.

Level 3 conflict, people begin to align themselves with one side or the other and may not be ready to move beyond blaming. It is better to encourage the team to accommodate each other’s views.

Q 42. Individual coaching is most appropriate during:

1. Daily Standups
2. Iteration Review
3. Iteration Retrospective
4. None of the above

Answer: D. None of the above

Individual coaching should be done one on one, while no other team

members around. 

Q 43. Self-assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to understand:

1. Likes & dislikes
2. Values
3. Personal characteristics
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Self-assessment is the process of looking at oneself in order to understand strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, values, needs and personal characteristics. It is one of the key elements that drive self evaluation, along with self-verification and self-enhancement.

Q 44. Which of the following terms refers to the ability to feel one’s instinctive reaction to a situation, notice it, and consciously decide what to do with it?

1. Rapid analysis
2. Emotional intelligence
3. Empowerment
4. Coaching

Answer: B. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor, control and influence the emotions and feelings of oneself and other people’s emotions to guide the thinking and behavior of others.

Q 45. How to build effective team communications?

1. Teach the team to how to be an effective communicator
2. Avoid communication blockers
3. Have a team space
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Building and maintaining internal and external team communication is a key success factor for any project. 

Q 46. What are the four processes that a team will go through according to the Bruce Tuckman model?

1. Forming, Storming, Exceeding, Normalizing
2. Succeeding, Excelling, Devoting, Leading
3. Performing, Normalizing, Succeeding, Acting
4. Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing

Answer: D. Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing

An Agile team, similar to a regular team, goes through team formation stages to reach the collaborative performing stage.

Q 47. Among the following activities, which one is NOT performed by an Agile team?

1. Estimate the iteration backlog items
2. Participate in daily stand-up meetings
3. Work on iteration backlog items
4. Prioritize the product backlog

Answer: D. Prioritize the product backlog

The product owner is responsible for prioritizing the product backlog.

Q 48. An ideal way to forecast velocity is to_________.

1. use cone of uncertainty
2. use expert judgment
3. use analogy based method
4. observe velocity

Answer: D. observe velocity

To find out the team’s velocity, the team should have completed at least one iteration.

Q 49. Which of the following is NOT a method of getting product feedback?

1. Release into market
2. Daily stand-up
3. Focus group
4. Iteration demo

Answer: B. Daily stand-up

Daily stands for the team to update other team members about their current work and inform them if they have any impediments.

Q 50. As part of the iteration goal, the Agile team worked on six user stories. At the end of the iteration, the customer accepted four user stories and rejected two. What should the team do with the rejected stories?

1. Moves rejected stories back onto the backlog
2. Converts the rejected stories into defects
3. Negotiates with the customer to accept the stories
4. Requests an extension of the current iteration to finish the rejected user stories

Answer: A. Moves rejected stories back onto the backlog

The product owner can re-prioritize the backlog

Q 51. In an agile environment, the product quality is measured with the help of_________.

1. total defects logged by the testers.
2. total defects fixed by the development team
3. total tests passed with customer acceptance
4. total tests automated by an Agile team

Answer: B. total tests passed with customer acceptance

Customer or Product Owner is the only one who accepts or rejects the product developed.

Q 52. What is test-driven development?

1. Writing acceptance tests for the developed feature.
2. Writing unit tests for each method before writing the code.
3. Writing unit tests for each method after writing the code.
4. Writing integration tests for the developed feature.

Answer: C. Writing unit tests for each method before writing the code.

Tests are written as programs rather than data so that they can be executed automatically. The test includes a check that it has executed correctly.

Q 53. The Managing Director (MD) of the organization stops by the task board of the team and makes a suggestion of an important feature that the development team should deliver in the current iteration. What should the development team do?

1. Since it is coming from the MD, it must be done at any cost. So drop an item of equal size from the backlog.
2. Say yes to the MD and then ask the team members to work overtime to achieve their target.
3. Ask the product owner so that he can discuss the value and priorities with the MD.
4. Ignore it, the MD will most likely forget what he said a few weeks later

Answer: C. Ask the product owner so that he can discuss the value and priorities with the MD.

Q 54. A newly formed development team is working on Sprint zero. In terms of doing the following activities, which is false?

1. Team completes the entire architecture and high-level design for the project, leaving out the low-level design.
2. Develop the detailed project plan.
3. Deliver a few stories.
4. All of the above.

Answer: D. All of the above

Q 55. Who makes the final call on priority order in the Product Backlog?

1. The Development Team
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Product Owner
4. Someone in senior leadership like the MD or the CEO

Answer: C. The Product Owner

Q 56. With respect to the roles on a Scrum team, choose the odd one out?

1. Scrum Master
2. Product Owner
3. Development Team
4. Project Manager

Answer: D. Project Manager

Q 57. The Development Team is expected to have all the skills needed to:

1. Complete the project by the given deadline and budget shared upfront with the sponsor.
2. Do analysis and development work, but leave out all forms of testing since that is handled by another specialized team.
3. Turn the Product Backlog items into potentially shippable product increments.
4. Master all state-of-the-art technology practices and tools available.

Answer: C. Turn the Product Backlog items into potentially shippable product increments.

Q 58. What is the main way that a Scrum Master contributes to maximizing the productivity in the development team?

1. By maintaining a risk-adjusted Product Backlog in priority order.
2. By making sure hygiene is maintained on meeting – agendas, start & end times, capturing and sending out minutes, etc.
3. By facilitating Development Team decisions and removing impediments.
4. By providing news about the newest technology trends in the market.

Answer: C. By facilitating Development Team decisions and removing impediments.

Q 59. All of the following are Scrum artifacts except:

1. Product backlog
2. Gantt chart
3. Sprint backlog
4. Burndown chart

Answer: B. Gantt chart

Q 60. During an estimation session each team member is asked to provide an estimate. Which of the following is correct?

1. The team member provides estimates for only the story that will be assigned to him.
2. The developer provides a development estimate, the analyst provides an analysis estimate and the tester does his part. Ultimately all the estimates are aggregated.
3. The team members provide a relative estimate in units of ideal days.
4. Participation of a team member is voluntary as the Scrum Master can fillin wherever necessary.

Answer: C. The team members provide a relative estimate in units of ideal days.

Q 61. A project stakeholder wants to have a look at how the Agile team is progressing in the middle of an iteration. As a member of the Agile team, you can guide him to:

1. The most recent weekly status report.
2. The sprint backlog.
3. The defect log.
4. The combined burnup and burndown charts.

Answer: D. The combined burnup and burndown charts.

Q 62. XP teams take collective ownership of code. For such a team,________ and ________are the key.

1. Definition of done and pair programming.
2. Trust and collaboration.
3. Velocity and co-location.
4. Onsite customer and test-driven development.

Answer: B. Trust and collaboration.

Q 63. Barry is a team member currently in a sprint planning session. After hearing about the requirement from the product owner, he estimates the amount of effort required by taking account that he will be working on this story and nothing else. He assumes that he will not face any interruptions. Which unit of estimate is he using?

1. Story points
2. T-shirt sizes
3. Ideal days
4. Either A or C

Answer: C. Ideal days

Q 64. What is the primary role of a Product Owner?

1. The PO is basically a project manager who balances scope, time, cost and risk.
2. Maximizing the Return on Investment (ROI) of the software developed.
3. People management for the Team.
4. Avoiding distracting and keeping stakeholders at bay.

Answer: B. Maximizing the Return on Investment (ROI) of the software developed.

Q 65. Which of the two ceremonies are executed after all development for a sprint and beginning of the next one?

1. Sprint review and sprint retrospective
2. Sprint review and sprint planning
3. Daily stand-up and sprint review
4. Sprint retrospective and sprint planning

Answer: A. Sprint review and sprint retrospective

Q 66. Kanban board is an example of:

1. Toyota production system
2. Information refrigerator
3. High-tech and low-touch system
4. Information radiator

Answer: D. Information radiator

Q 67. What happens during a Sprint Review?

1. Review of what the team could do more or less off during the next sprint.
2. Figure out the scope for the next sprint.
3. End of the sprint demo for everyone to solicit feedback on the work done in the sprint.
4. It is an opportunity to brainstorm and do a root cause analysis of work items that could not get done.

Answer: C. End of the sprint demo for everyone to solicit feedback on the work done in the sprint.

Q 68. How do we know when a sprint isover?

1. When all items in the sprint goal have met their definition of done.
2. When the Product Meeting owner accepts all the work that was committed in the sprint planning 
3. When the timebox expires.
4. None of the above.

Answer: C. When the timebox expires.

Q 69. While inspecting a release burndown chart, it is observed that the bar graph moves below its X-axis. Choose the best conclusion.

1. This is normal. Scope could have gotten added by the product owner.
2. This is normal. The developers would have underestimated the complexity of the story.
3. This is abnormal and indicates poor data quality being plotted on the burndown chart. The bar graph can touch the X-axis, but not go below it.
4. This is abnormal. The team should have completed what was committed by them.

Answer: A. This is normal. Scope could have gotten added by the product owner.

Q 70. Under what condition can a sprint be abnormally terminated?

1. When the PO determines that it no longer makes sense to carry on with a sprint.
2. The team has overcommitted and the sprint scope is too large to be achieved.
3. A production defect needs to be addressed by priority.
4. There is another project for which some analysis needs to be completed by the SME’s in the current team.

Answer: A. When the PO determines that it no longer makes sense to carry on with a sprint.

Q 71. During a planning session, the product owner and the team sit down together and sort the stories from the backlog into must-have, should-have, could-have and won’t-have. The must-haves top the chart and along with those a few should-haves get selected for implementation during the iteration. Which prioritization technique did the team follow?

1. Kano model analysis.
2. Weighted prioritization technique.
3. Simple ranking technique.
4. MoSCoW.

Answer: D. MoSCoW.

Q 72. In Agile vocabulary. a spike is a:

1. Sudden increase in the quantum of work received.
2. Sudden increase in the quantum of risks.
3. Sudden increase in the resource demand.
4. A task that the team undertakes to experiment on a hypothesis or a new technology.

Answer: D. A task that the team undertakes to experiment on a hypothesis or a new technology.

Q 73. Fill in the blanks for the following Agile principle.

Build projects around_______individuals. Give them the environment and________they need and______them to get the job done.

1. cross-functional, training, trust
2. empowered, support, believe
3. self-motivated, support, believe
4. motivated, morale boost, trust

Answer: C. self-motivated, support, believe

Q 74. An XP team realizes that a story is more complex than estimated earlier and so it cannot be completed in the current iteration. Which option should the team exercise?

1. At the next daily stand-up, propose that the “definition of done” condition be relaxed to allow the partially completed story to look close to being completed.
2. Extend the iteration by 3-4 days, as you cannot let the team’s velocity go down.
3. Discard the code and put the story back to the backlog for future prioritization and implementation in a successive sprint.
4. Keep the code commented so it does not do any harm and tell the customer you will pick up and complete in the next iteration.

Answer: C. Discard the code and put the story back to the backlog for future prioritization and implementation in a successive sprint.

Q 75. Some teams use a hardening sprint ahead of a release to:

1. Train the operations team so that they can support the product post-release.
2. Complete some of the final tasks related to productionizing of the code.
3. Perform acceptance testing for all the previous sprints that were part of the release.
4. Ask all programmers to check-in all the code in version control.

Answer: B

Q 76. An Agile team is using relative sizing to estimate for stories on the backlog. What are the most common units of estimates used?

1. Days / weeks / months
2. Story points
3. Ideal days
4. Either B or C

Answer: D. Either B or C

Q 77. Bill has worked hard over the last few days and finds that the build is broken because Richard has checked in code without properly unit testing it. It will mean that Bill will have to wait until Richard comes back and fixes the issue. Bill is furious at Richard and he makes statements like, “I know Richard. He is always careless and doesn’t bother how others get affected by his actions.”

Which stage of conflict do you think is reflected in Bill’s language?

1. Level 1: Problem to Solve
2. Level 2: Disagreement
3. Level 3: Contest
4. Level 5: World War

Answer: C. Level 3: Contest

Q 78. The two highest levels of conflict are Level 4: Crusade where there is hardly any direct speaking terms and Level 5: World war where the conflict is escalated to a level that is beyond repair and resolutions.

As a manager encountering the situation, which are the best approaches you will follow to resolve conflicts?

1. For Level 4: use shuttle diplomacy until the intensity of the conflict is lowered and team members can be brought into a table discussion. For Level 5: separate the team members such that they do not cause harm to each other or to the environment.
2. For Level 4: use problem solving to get to the bottom of the issue. For Level 5: ask one party to compromise on a stand that they have rigidly held.
3. For level 4: separate the team members such that they do not cause harm to each other or to the environment. For Level 5: bring in a third party and take the two team members to battle out in the court.
4. For Level 4: remind the two members that they need to collaborate and reach consensus, even if that means that they will have to sacrifice. For Level 5: avoid the situation since nothing can be done about it.

Answer: A. For Level 4: use shuttle diplomacy until the intensity of the conflict is lowered and team members can be brought into a table discussion. For Level 5: separate the team members such that they do not cause harm to each other or to the environment.

Q 79. What is the formula for Risk severity? And how do you expect risks to change during a project?

1. Risk severity = Risk probability + Risk impact. We expect risks to be highest at the beginning and decrease over time.
2. Risk severity = Risk probability × Risk impact. We expect risks to be highest at the beginning and decrease over time.
3. Risk severity = Risk probability × Risk impact. We expect risks to be lowest at the beginning and increase over time.
4. Risk severity = Risk probability × Risk impact. We expect risks to be highest at the beginning and remain static until the project is over.

Answer: B. Risk severity = Risk probability × Risk impact. We expect risks to be highest at the beginning and decrease over time.

Q 80. The product owner is not able to commit enough time for the Scrum team. He is however, very supportive and leading the cause for the project. Who could be the best choice of a proxy user?

1. Technical lead of the project who knows the ins and outs of the product.
2. UX designers because they have close proximity to the business and knows how the UI is expected to behave.
3. A business analyst reporting to the product owner since she will be able to articulate the user stories in plain business language that is free from technical jargon.
4. A customer care representative who interacts with the real users on a daily basis and resolves support tickets.

Answer: C. A business analyst reporting to the product owner since she will be able to articulate the user stories in plain business language that is free from technical jargon.

Q 81. Which is the odd line out of the following?

1. Responding to change over following a plan.
2. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
3. Customer interactions over processes and tools.
4. Working software over comprehensive documentation.

Answer: C. Customer interactions over processes and tools.

Q 82. A reflection workshop is also called:

1. Sprint review
2. Sprint retrospective
3. Backlog grooming session
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Sprint retrospective

Q 83. Richard joins as an Agile coach and observes that there are a few Scrum teams working on a single product that is used by financial planners. The teams are struggling to arrive at a common “definition of done.” What should Richard do?

1. Richard should give each development team freedom to choose their definition of done. Reconcile differences only during the hardening sprint.
2. Richard should give each development team freedom to choose their definition of done, as far as there is convergence and common ground at the time of integration such that the product is potentially releasable.
3. Richard should ignore the situation. It’s too messy too get involved in day-to-day work of the development.
4. Richard should get hands-on, laying out the definition of done himself and teach all development teams how to follow them.

Answer: B. Richard should give each development team freedom to choose their definition of done, as far as there is convergence and common ground at the time of integration such that the product is potentially releasable.

Q 84. Agile teams use personas that are imaginary user roles to provide a real-life flavor of the users interacting with the system. While building a persona, which of the following relevant information should they include?

1. Age and gender
2. Educational and Professional background
3. A name and a picture
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Q 85. Agile teams practice value-based delivery. While determining and delivering value, who are we targeting?

1. Users
2. Developers
3. Product owners
4. Testers

Answer: A. Users

Q 86. Alistair Cockburn has introduced the Crystal family of methodologies, which consists of Crystal clear, Crystal yellow, crystal red, crystal maroon. What are the core differences between them?

1. From left to right, they denote progressively increasing complexity of projects.
2. From left to right, they denote progressively increasing complexity of projects.
3. From left to right, they denote progressively increasing size of teams working on projects.
4. All of the above.

Answer: D. All of the above.

Q 87. A team hires you as an Agile coach to see if the team’s efficiency could be enhanced and the velocity improved. What could be your recommendation to improve velocity?

1. Have the team commit to fewer stories every sprint, so the probability of getting them completed in time are more.
2. Reduce the daily-stand-up meetings from 15 to 10 minutes.
3. Suggest bringing in the business representative to sit together with the development team.
4. Compare velocities of similar projects running in the same organization and present them to the team.

Answer: C. Suggest bringing in the business representative to sit together with the development team.

Q 88. Barry joined as an Agile coach and he wants to improve the way the team conducts retrospective meetings. He states that there are 5 stages for effective retrospectives. They follow the sequence of:

1. Set the Stage, Gather Data, Generating Insights, Decide What to Do, Wrap up.
2. Set the Stage, Generating Insights, Gather Data, Decide What to Do, Wrap up.
3. Set the Stage, Decide What to Do, Generating Insights, Gather Data, Wrap up.
4. Set the Stage, Gather Data, Decide What to Do, Generating Insights, Wrap up.

Answer: A. Set the Stage, Gather Data, Generating Insights, Decide What to Do, Wrap up.

Q 89. The Scrum team owns the sprint burndown chart. What is the primary significance of the chart?

1. Use as a base for weekly status reports for senior management.
2. An Agile team is characterized with information radiators on team walls. A sprint burndown chart is a relevant artifact for putting up on the team wall.
3. Team can view their daily progress and adapt based on the situation.
4. Keep other stakeholders at bay. Those who are interested in knowing the status can view the sprint burndown chart and not bother the development team.

Answer: C. Team can view their daily progress and adapt based on the situation.

Q 90. The acronym TIMWOOD is used to describe the 7 wastes in Lean. The letters T, M and D stand for:

1. Transport, Machine, Defects
2. Turnaround time, Motion, Defects
3. Transport, Machine, Deliberate
4. Transport, Motion, Defects

Answer: D. Transport, Motion, Defects

Q 91. The Japanese words Muda, Kanban and Kaizen respectively mean:

1. Waste, signboard, continuous improvement
2. Waste, billboard, continuous integration
3. Improvement, signboard, continuous removal of waste
4. None of these

Answer: A. Waste, signboard, continuous improvement

Q 92. A new team member Billy, fresh from college, joins the team and sees that at every workstation two developers are sitting next to each other. One of them is typing code and the other is looking on and giving some suggestions at times. Billy thinks that privacy could be lost and discusses this with his mentor. His mentor explains that the team is following XP methodology and are involved in _________.

1. Sharing best practices sitting next to each other.
2. Pair programming.
3. One is coding and the other is deciding on test cases based on the code written.
4. Coaching session for coding skills.

Answer: C. One is coding and the other is deciding on test cases based on the code written.

Q 93. The_________is also called “the voice of the customer”?

1. Development manager
2. Scrum Master
3. Product Owner
4. Sponsor

Answer: C. Product Owner

Q 94. An Agile team is in its formative stage. One of the first few things that they want to do is determine the length of an iteration. Which is the most important factor to make this decision?

1. Determine the estimate of the longest story, convert from story points to man-days and then choose the iteration size to accommodate that.
2. Look up historical data from other projects and teams.
3. Discuss with project stakeholders on how long they can go without demonstrating progress or giving feedback.
4. Follow guidelines from the Scrum Master since he is the most seasoned player in the team and has had a varied experience running Scrum teams elsewhere.

Answer: C. Discuss with project stakeholders on how long they can go without demonstrating progress or giving feedback.

Q 95. The commitments made by the product owner to the team include the following EXCEPT?

1. Bring a prioritized list of features from the backlog to the planning meeting.
2. Clarify requirements as and when asked by the team.
3. Resist any temptation of changing scope midway through a sprint.
4. Mandatorily attend every daily-standup meeting.

Answer: D. Mandatorily attend every daily-standup meeting.

Q 96. The product owner creates an elevator speech to articulate the vision of a product to the Agile team and its stakeholders. The elevator speech is expected to contain all of the following attributes EXCEPT:

1. Who is the target customer?
2. What is the key benefit that the customer will get by using the product?
3. Location and the technology where the product will be developed and tested.
4. What differentiates it from its competitors?

Answer: C. Location and the technology where the product will be developed and tested.

Q 97. All the following are Agile methodologies EXCEPT:

1. Test-driven development
2. Feature-driven development
3. Extreme Programming
4. Scrumban

Answer: A. Test-driven development

Q 98. Who is responsible for prioritization of stories, epics and features in the product backlog?

1. Product owner
2. Product owner with inputs gathered from
3. ScrumMaster
4. Development team

Answer: B. Product owner with inputs gathered from

Q 99. The Scrum team has committed for a sprint goal. Midway during the sprint, the team discovers that there are some new tasks that need to be done before the committed stories are completed. However, given the time constraint, the team feels it cannot be done. What are the things the team should do now?

1. Abandon the sprint.
2. Bring it up during the daily-standup and then discuss proactively with the product owner.
3. Hope for the best and let the stakeholders know during the sprint review that some stories were not completed.
4. Find someone to blame.

Answer: B. Bring it up during the daily-standup and then discuss proactively with the product owner.

Q 100. The marketing team is looking for firm commitments from an Agile team based on the estimates that came out of the Affinity estimation session held by the team. What could possibly be wrong in that approach?

1. Affinity estimation is a very quick estimation technique used for release planning and generally precision of estimates is not the goal.
2. The marketing team should direct all their requirements to the product owner and not approach the Agile team directly.
3. Agile estimates are a relative measure of size. They should not be treated as commitments.
4. A and C.

Answer: D. A and C.

Q 101. At the time of release planning, an epic was estimated to have 13 story points. However, during iteration planning, when the epic was broken down into stories and tasks, the sum of the estimates came to about 15 story points. Choose the most appropriate option below.

1. This is likely to happen as the estimates don’t necessarily add up.
2. This is likely to happen as the estimates are done by different people at different times.
3. This is likely to happen as the estimates are less accurate at a release level.
4. This is a mistake, as it appears that somewhere there was a scope creep, that is, addition of 2 story points.

Answer: A. This is likely to happen as the estimates don’t necessarily add up.

Q 102. All the following could belong to the definition of done of a team EXCEPT:

1. Code has been checked into version control.
2. Code has passed through the integration test cases and regression suite.
3. Acceptance test cases have passed.
4. Daily Scrum meetings have been attended.

Answer: D. Daily Scrum meetings have been attended.

Q 103. An Agile team is coming together for the first time. They have no prior experience working together, but would like to estimate an initial velocity to target. All the following options are possible EXCEPT:

1. Use historical values as the working environment and the technology used is the same as a previous project.
2. Run an iteration and observe the velocity.
3. Make a forecast by breaking stories into tasks and see what fits.
4. Use the velocity from any arbitrary project team. The level of accuracy does not matter since the team is new.

Answer: D. Use the velocity from any arbitrary project team. The level of accuracy does not matter since the team is new.

Q 104. During a series of conflicts, you get to hear one party blaming the other by generalizing statements like, “They are always late – no surprises in that,” “He has forgotten to check-in the file and again! Careless as ever!” Referring to Lea’s conflict model, which stage do you think the team members are in?

1. Problem to solve.
2. Arbitration.
3. Crusade.
4. World war.

Answer: C. Crusade.

Q 105. Which of the following statements is not true?

1. Higher the IRR the better, higher the BCR the better.
2. Higher the IRR the better, lower the payback period the better.
3. Higher the NPV the better, higher the IRR the better.
4. Higher the NPV the better, higher the payback period the better.

Answer: D. Higher the NPV the better, higher the payback period the better.

Q 106. Leaving low-priority requirements at a high level, but sufficiently detailing out the high priority (and immediate) ones is called________.

1. Incremental development.
2. Progressive elaboration.
3. Version control.
4. Continuous improvement.

Answer: B. Progressive elaboration.

Q 107. Retrospectives can be held:

1. After an iteration.
2. After a release.
3. After an unexpected and a significant event in the project.
4. Any of the above.

Answer: D. Any of the above.

Q 108. What does the acronym MMF stand for?

1. Maximum Marketable Feature
2. Minimal Marketable Feature
3. Maximum Measurable Feature
4. Must-have and Marketable Function

Answer: B. Minimal Marketable Feature

Q 109. Which of the following do you NOT expect to see on an information radiator for an Agile team?

1. Gantt chart
2. Task board
3. Burnup chart
4. Velocity trends

Answer: A. Gantt chart

Q 110. For an emergency reason Richard, the product owner could not make it to the sprint planning meeting. Who do you think could be in a position to play his role for the time being?

1. The self-organized team.
2. The development manager.
3. The Scrum Master.
4. The CEO who is closely aligned to the project.

Answer: C. The Scrum Master.

Q 111. Which of the following statements is false?

1. Agile projects do just-in-time planning.
2. Agile projects balance progress and flexibility.
3. Agile projects do not require a PMO.
4. Agile projects value collaboration over documentation.

Answer: C. Agile projects do not require a PMO.

Q 112. Team A has a velocity of 20 story points and Team B has 40 story points over a 3-week iteration. What does this mean?

1. Team B is twice more efficient than Team A.
2. Team B has double the capacity (team size) than Team A.
3. Team B is more mature, uses sophisticated tools and achieves more in the same time.
4. Nothing. Velocity of two teams cannot be compared.

Answer: D. Nothing. Velocity of two teams cannot be compared.

Q 113. The three levels of active listening are:

1. Level I – Internal Listening, Level II – Focused Listening, Level III – Global Listening.
2. Level I – Focused Listening, Level II – Internal Listening, Level III – Global Listening.
3. Level I – Internal Listening, Level II – Global Listening, Level III – Focused Listening.
4. Varies based on the circumstances.

Answer: A. Level I – Internal Listening, Level II – Focused Listening, Level III – Global Listening.

Q 114. After the story writing workshop the team has come up with a set of 80 story cards that need to be very quickly estimated such that the release plan can be built. The product owner is interested in getting this completed in less than 2 hours. Which estimation technique is best suited for this purpose?

1. Work breakdown structure or bottom-up estimation.
2. Planning Poker.
3. Affinity estimation.
4. Delphi.

Answer: C. Affinity estimation.

Q 115. The DEEP acronym is used to describe the characteristics of a product backlog. The acronym stands for

1. Detailed Appropriately, Estimated, Emergent, Prioritized.
2. Detailed Appropriately, Economic, Emergent, Prioritized.
3. Defined properly, Estimated, Emergent, Prioritized.
4. Defined properly, Estimated, Enlisted, Probabilistic.

Answer: A. Detailed Appropriately, Estimated, Emergent, Prioritized.

Q 116. Passing of acceptance test cases is an example of:

1. Definition of ready
2. Definition of done
3. Collective ownership
4. Teamwork

Answer: B. Definition of done

Q 117. The INVEST acronym is used to describe the characteristics of user stories. The letters I, V and S in the acronym stands for:

1. Interesting, Verifiable, Small
2. Independent, Validatable, Small
3. Independent, Valuable, Specific
4. None of the above

Answer: D. None of the above

Q 118. Agile releases could be one of:

1. Feature-driven or Date-Driven.
2. Date-driven or Priority-driven.
3. Team-driven or feature-driven.
4. Both release dates and constituent features are variable and negotiated on the fly.

Answer: A. Feature-driven or Date-Driven.

Q 119. Sarah is joining an Agile team. On the first day she observes that the team has a task board that contains lots of sticky notes denoting tasks in various stages of progress. She is confused about the small numbers written next to column headers of the task board and asks her manager Jane about their significance. Jane explains that the numbers depict:

1. Velocity for each column in the task board.
2. Number of resources assigned for each column in the task board.
3. WIP limit.
4. Maximum number of escaped defects allowed per column.

Answer: C. WIP limit.

Q 120. XP programmers are required to continuously submit their code into the code repository and run a 10-minute build to assess whether anything has broken or not as a result of the newly made changes. This practice is called:

1. Continuous integration.
2. Continuous improvement.
3. Version control.
4. Informative team space.

Answer: A. Continuous integration.

For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests

Practice Test 2

Q1. Customers and ___________ drive Agile project

1. Product Owner
2. Project Manager
3. Scrum Master
4. The Scrum team

Answer: A. Product Owner

The first principle of Agile is that the customer, who is also called ‘Product Owner’ should be closely involved throughout the project, develop product backlog, prioritize requirements and evaluate the deliverables.

Q2. Which of the following is NOT an adaptive principle found in the Agile Manifesto?

1. Highest priority is to satisfy the customer
2. Improving effectiveness and reliability
3. Welcome changing requirements
4. Emphasis on the relationship between the team members

Answer: B. Improving effectiveness and reliability 

Improving effectiveness and reliability is part of the agile quality process, which is expected to be followed on every agile project but it

is not part of the Agile Manifesto.

Q3. Which of the following is part of the Agile Manifesto?

1. Limit working in progress
2. Working software
3. Reliable hardware
4. Feature first development

Answer: B. Working software.

As discussed earlier, Agile manifesto states that working software is much more important than the comprehensive documentation project may produce. 

Q4. Which of the following would provide high levels of communication and collaboration?

1. Face-to-face contact
2. Frequent emails
3. Video conferencing
4. Conference calls

Answer: A. Face-to-face contact

As stated in Agile principles (#6), the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. 

Q5. Which of the following is NOT part of the Agile Principle?

1. Detail planning based on complete requirements
2. Business people and developers must work together.
3. A face-to-face conversation is the most important communication
4. Continuous attention to technical excellence

Answer: B. Detail planning based on complete requirements 

In agile projects, we do not expect to have a detailed plan based on complete requirements before we start development. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development, is one of the agile principles.

Q6. Simplicity, ________________, is essential.

1. Based on plans should never be changed
2. Is expecting the system requirements will change
3. The art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is essential
4. And not having a plan

Answer: C. the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is essential

Agile philosophy supports doing only what you have to do; no ‘futureproofing’, no ‘gold-plating’. Completing tasks with less work and simple solutions is much better than creating complex works or overdoing.

Q7. An Agile project manager…

1. would have no control over the project progress
2. would be able to demonstrate control of its progress
3. does not control the project
4. measure the progress by the velocity of the most junior team member

Answer: B. would be able to demonstrate control of its progress

Even though it seems the Agile project manager does not control the project, actually, through the self-control established within the team members, an agile project manager has more control over the project than traditional projects. 

Q8. An Agile project should have:

1. Occasional early deliveries, if the business is prepared to accept lower quality
2. A regular pattern of delivery of developer-focused products
3. A regular pattern of delivery of business-valued increments
4. Irregular and unpredictable delivery of products

Answer: C. A regular pattern of delivery of business-valued increments

Time-boxed iterations provide regular delivery of the product based on business value.

Q9. An Agile philosophy advocates which of the following approaches?

1. Get something quick and dirty thrown together to save time
2. Get something simple up and working as quickly as possible
3. Get something business-valuable delivered as quickly as possible, consistent with the right level of quality
4. Get something delivered once it has been fully documented and the documentation signed off as complete and unchangeable

Answer: C. Get something business-valuable delivered as quickly as possible, consistent with the right level of quality.

Delivering value includes high quality, properly tested products that may have fewer features than the final product.

Q10. What constitutes an agile approach?

1. Early planning, values and principles
2. Stakeholders, manifesto and integration
3. Mindset, values, and principles
4. Governance, regulations and values

Answer: C. Mindset, values and principles

Agile is a mindset defined by values, guided by principles, and manifested through many different practices. Agile practitioners select practices based on their needs.

Q11. Of the following choices, which is a key reason to adopt agile principles?

1. To be up to date on the latest process
2. To shake things up in the organization
3. To hold programmers and testers accountable for their work
4. To be better able to respond to change

Answer: D. To be better able to respond to change

The main characteristic of Agile is to help project teams to respond to changing requirements. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage (Agile Principle).

Q12. The Agile way is:

1. To produce working product early and incrementally
2. To produce working product after documentation has been signed off
3. To produce simple prototypes early, but no finished product until the end of the project
4. To produce products without any technical integrity

Answer: A. To produce working product early and incrementally

As stated in Agile Principles, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

Q13. The Agile manifesto emphasizes on:

1. Individuals and interactions

2. Response to change

3. Following a plan

4. Working software

5. Customer collaboration

1. 1,2,4,5
2. 1,2,3,4
3. 2,3,4,5
4. 1,3,4,5 

Answer: A. 1, 2, 4, 5

Manifesto for Agile Software Development: 

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools 
• Working software over comprehensive documentation 
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation 
• Responding to change over following a plan

Q14. Project is a _________.

1. ongoing activities which keep teams busy
2. measuring how much work remains in the future
3. temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product
4. an ongoing work effort which is generally a repetitive process

Answer: C. temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product

A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project has a definite beginning and end. 

Q15. Managing a project typically includes all of the below, except:

1. Identifying requirements
2. Communications among team members and stakeholders
3. Managing operation of the product once it is in production
4. Balancing the competing project constraints; scope, cost and schedule

Answer: C. Managing operation of the product once it is in production

Operations are ongoing endeavors that produce repetitive outputs, with resources assigned to do basically the same set of tasks according to the standards institutionalized in a product life cycle. 

Q16. What is the Agile approach to doing design early in a project?

1. A detail design upfront is always a good idea
2. Just enough design upfront
3. No design upfront is the best approach as most of the fun of a project is a discovery of the unexpected
4. The design has no place in an Agile project

Answer: B. Just enough design upfront

Just enough design up front gives a good foundation to start from and helps to mitigate risk, without unnecessarily wasting time doing planning for future phases, which may change.

Q17. Who should be the main judge of the business value?

1. The product owner
2. The project leader
3. The facilitator
4. All of the above

Answer: A. The product owner

The product owner’s responsibilities include providing the value of the product and the profitability of this project.

Q18. Who is responsible for ensuring that the project’s Return On Investment (ROI) meets its projections?

1. Scrum Master
2. The team
3. Chief Financial Officer
4. Product Owner

Answer: D. Product Owner

The Product Owner is responsible for selecting the product backlog items based on the value they are bringing to the project.

Q19. Which of the following is a characteristic of Self-organizing teams?

1. Uses wisdom of the group
2. Takes ownership and accountability
3. Learns from its mistakes
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

In addition to the above characteristics, a self-organizing team corrects itself and adjusts its team behavior

Q20. Agile principles listed below, Except:

1. Working product
2. Sustainable development
3. The assumed velocity of the team
4. Team empowerment

Answer: C. The assumed velocity of the team

Agile Principles support how to deal with uncertainty, respond to change, increase value through reducing cost and increasing efficiency, not the velocity of the team.

Q 21. The product road map includes all of the following EXCEPT:

1. Vision statement
2. List of features required to complete overall project vision
3. Prioritization of the features
4. Prototype

Answer: D. Prototype

A product roadmap is a high-level plan in which the features and the timeline of delivering these features to the end-users are included. A prototype is an early sample or model of the product built to test a design or future process during later stages in the project.

Q 22. The following are elements of a project charter for an agile project EXCEPT:

1. Product roadmap
2. Justification of the project
3. Personas
4. Vision statement

Answer: C. Personas

A persona, similar to real life, is a defined fictional character playing a role assigned to this character. Personas are used in user stories during planning sessions.

Q 23. Which of the following is NOT an estimation technique?

1. Ideal time
2. Relative Sizing / Story Points
3. Retrospective
4. Affinity Estimating

Answer: C. Retrospective

The retrospective is a time-boxed meeting held at the end of iteration or release to discuss what went right and what went wrong. 

Q 24. Which one of the following statements is correct regarding sign off of any deliverables on an Agile Project?

1. The team should allow only senior managers to sign off deliverables
2. The team should get acceptance of project deliverables from the appropriate stakeholders at the end of the day
3. The team should get acceptance of project deliverables from the users during a UAT phase at the end of the project
4. The product owner provides sign off during iteration review meeting

Answer: D. The product owner provides sign off during iteration review meeting

The product owner has the ultimate responsibility for signing off the deliverables that are being created by the project team

Q 25. The total budget for the project is $20,000. For this iteration, the Expected Percent Complete is 35% and the Actual Percent Complete is 30%. What is the Earned Value amount?

1. $7,000
2. $6,000
3. $1,000
4. None of the above

Answer: B. $6,000

Earned Value is calculated by multiplying Actual Percent Complete by the total Budget (30% of $20,000 = $6,000)

Q 26. Which of the projects is desirable as per the details provided in the table below?

1. Project A
2. Project B
3. Neither of the projects
4. Data is insufficient

Answer: B. Project B.

The project with a higher Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is typically a more profitable project than the one with low IRR.

Q 27. Which of these best describes the Agile approach to team working?

1. The team can work all night, every night if enough pizza is provided
2. The team should be expected to work overtime towards the end of the project
3. The team should strive for a sustainable pace and a normal working week
4. The team will “burn out” if they have to work overtime for more than two time-boxes (iterations) in a row

Answer: C. The team should strive for a sustainable pace and a normal working week

This entails a firm refusal of long work hours, overtime, or even working nights or weekends. Overtime tends to mask schedule, the management or quality deficiencies; the Agile approach favors exposing these deficiencies as early as possible and remedying their

underlying causes, rather than merely treating the symptoms.

Q 28. Which of the following best describes tools that product owners can use to better perform their role in crafting a product vision?

1. Vision tracking
2. Project development scheming
3. Innovation games
4. Process adaptation

Answer: C. Innovation games

Innovation games are very useful prioritization and problem-solving techniques focused on developing primary requirements and providing actionable items through collaboration at the end of the game.

Q 29. Which of the following would provide high levels of communication and collaboration?

1. Face-to-face contact
2. Frequent emails
3. Video conferencing
4. Conference calls

Answer: A. Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team

Scrum recommends having small teams with key people interacting with each other, such as Scrum Master, who leads the team, Product Owner who provides business requirements and acceptance and the Development Team who delivers the requirements.

Q 30. Which of the following is a characteristic of Self-organizing

teams?

1. Uses wisdom of the group
2. Takes ownership and accountability
3. Learns from its mistakes
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Extreme projects are characterized by:

•  Very complex and uncertain
•  Rapid change
•  Possibility of failure
•  Short deadlines
•  Paramount innovation
•  Important quality of life

Q 31. Agile Earned Value Management (EVM) requires all of the following parameters as an input, Except:

1. The actual cost of a project
2. An estimated product backlog and a release plan
3. The assumed velocity of the team
4. Payback period and future value

Answer: D. Payback period and present value

EVM measures the progress and performance of a project against the plan on a specific date and estimates the future performance. EVM does NOT calculate the payback period or future value of today’s investment.

Q 32. Which of the following best represents the Agile approach to planning?

1. Planning is a waste of time and should not be done
2. Planning should be done in detail at the outset and then not revisited
3. Planning is an iterative job and involves the whole team
4. Planning should all be done by the Project Manager

Answer: C. Planning is an iterative job and involves the whole team.

Agile projects are designed and planned to be adaptive to changes;

therefore, they use minimal planning to execute the project tasks on

hand.

Q 33. User stories are defined as follows:

1. Straightforward and understandable
2. Easily broken down into tasks
3. Estimated and prioritized
4. Negotiation points

1. 1,2,3
2. 2,3,4
3. 1,3,4
4. 1,2,4

Answer: A. 1,2,3

Negotiation is part of the INVEST concept: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimatable, Small-sized, Testable. It does not belong to user stories.

Q 34. How should work be allocated to the team in an agile project?

1. The Project Leader should give tasks to individuals to create challenges for them
2. Tasks should be randomly allocated using Planning Poker
3. Team members should self-select tasks
4. The biggest tasks should be done by the Project Leader themselves

Answer: C. Team members should self-select tasks

The Agile team is expected to be self-organizing and self-managed.

Q 35. Net Present Value (NPV) is the difference of the__________.

1. potential gain from other alternatives
2. all inflow of cash
3. all outflow of cash
4. sum of present cash flows (in and out)

Answer: D. sum of present cash flows (in and out)

The Net Present Value (NPV) is the sum of the Present Values (PVs) of incoming (benefits) and outgoing (expenses) cash flows over a period of time. It means NPV is the total expected income from a project, minus the total expected cost of the project, taking into account the time value of money.

Q 36. The following skills help an agile practitioner become an adaptive leader, EXCEPT:

1. Collaborative
2. Respectful
3. Authoritarian
4. Ethical

Answer: C. Authoritarian

Authoritarian leaders enforce strict obedience to authority, which is

not acceptable behavior of an agile leader.

Q 37. Each team member answers all the following questions during daily stand up, EXCEPT:

1. What tasks did you do yesterday?
2. What tasks are you planning to do next week?
3. What tasks will you do today?
4. What is in your way?

Answer: B. What tasks are you planning to do next week?

Daily stand-ups deal with current tasks on hand. Next week’s tasks will be reviewed next week.

Q 38. Key characteristics of Servant Leader are as follows, EXCEPT:

1. Ensures that the high-priority needs of people are served
2. Protects the team from outside distractions
3. Deciding release dates and deliverables
4. Performs all supportive tasks to maximize the team’s productivity

Answer: C. Deciding release dates and deliverables

This is the Product Owners’ responsibility, not a Servant leader characteristics.

Q 39. The CIO asks the development team to add a critical and important item to the current iteration. What should the development team do?

1. Inform the Product Owner so that the Product Owner can work with the CIO
2. Add the item to the current iteration, but ask for an additional trained resource from the PMO
3. Add the item to the current sprint without any adjustments because you do not want to upset the CIO
4. Add the item to the current iteration and drop an item of equal size.

Answer: A. Inform the Product Owner so that the Product Owner can work with the CIO.

Product Owner is the voice of business; all business requirements have to go through the Product Owner because he/she has the right to change the features, remove or add new features.

Q 40. Compromising on quality has long term negative effects on products. This is called ____________.

1. known problem
2. proactive management
3. technical debt
4. retrospective effective

Answer: C. technical debt

Technical debt refers to the work that the team fails to do during iterations. These tasks accumulate from iteration to iteration and ultimately lead to requirements of more time and cost at the end of the project. 

Q 41. What is the name given to a task aimed at exploring a solution rather than producing a shippable product?

1. Proof of concepts
2. Spike
3. Throw-away
4. All of the above

Answer: B. Spike

A story or task aimed at answering a question or gathering information, rather than at producing shippable products. Sometimes a user story is generated that cannot be estimated until the development team does some actual work to resolve a technical question or a design problem.

Q 42. Which one of the following statements is correct regarding the quality of deliverables from an Agile Project?

1. The products produced by an Agile project should be cheaper than those produced by any other approach, but the quality will suffer
2. The products will be more expensive than by any other approach but will be top quality
3. The products will be fit for purpose, but may not do what the customer wanted
4. The products will be of appropriate quality, as guided by the product owner involved throughout the development process

Answer: D. The products will be of appropriate quality, as guided by the product owner involved throughout the development process

Quality described as whether the product is going to work with appropriate quality as guided by the product owner throughout the development process and meet the product owner’s expectation.

Q 43. Triggers are early warning signs that risk has occurred or is about to occur. Where does the team keep triggers?

1. Agile Charter
2. Product Backlog
3. Risk Register
4. All of the above

Answer: C. Risk Register

Triggers should be identified and recorded in the risk register to enable

timely responses from the team.

Q 44. ____________ is a technique where the agile practitioner assumes the project has failed before it even started, and then they work backward to figure out why, how, and what could’ve been done to help the project succeed.

1. Failure mode
2. Pre-mortem
3. Rule setting
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Pre-mortem

A pre-mortem creates a safe environment for people to speak up and can increase the odds of a project’s success by coming up with contingency plans.

Q 45. Following are some of the features of Risk-based spikes, EXCEPT:

1. Addresses technical uncertainty
2. Investigate unknown facts or uncertainties in a project
3. Produce executable prototype
4. Create a flow of value to customers

Answer: D. Create a flow of value to customers

The purpose of a risk-based spike is to gain the knowledge necessary to reduce the risk of failure and better understand requirements, not to create any flow of value to the customer.

Q 46. What is the benefit of a risk burn-down chart?

1. Overall risk; whether it is decreasing or increasing after each iteration
2. Individual risks; whether their severity is increasing or decreasing over time
3. New risk; when and how they are being introduced
4. Addresses technical uncertainty through testing

Answer: D. Addresses technical uncertainty through testing

This is one of the features of a risk-based spike, not the risk burndown chart.

Q 47. The Agile approach to documentation is:

1. Do no documentation – it is a waste of time
2. Do plenty of documentation, to prove you have done a good job
3. Do the necessary documentation to support the use of the product
4. Do more documentation than usual, because Agile is risky

Answer: C. Do the necessary documentation to support the use of the product

As stated in Agile manifesto, priority should be given to delivering “working product” and then enough documentation could be created when required. User manuals, FAQ’s, technical specifications are still important deliverables; however, these documents should be developed once the final product is delivered, not before the product is finalized. The time should not be spent developing these documents for every iteration unless the product goes into production.

Q 48. What happens when a backlog item fails to meet the definition of “done” at the end of the iteration?

1. The team completes the product backlog item during the next iteration
2. The incomplete backlog item is placed back in the product backlog
3. The Scrum Master points out the person to blame for the item not being finished
4. The team is given 36 hours to finish the incomplete product backlog item

Answer: B. The incomplete backlog item is placed back in the product backlog

Items that are not ‘done’ go back to the Product Backlog and will be re-prioritized by the Product Owner. 

Q 49. Risk burn-down chart provides important pieces of information for the project, EXCEPT:

1. Overall risk; whether it is decreasing or increasing after each iteration
2. Individual risks; whether their severity is increasing or decreasing over time
3. New risk; when and how they are being introduced
4. There is No Perfect Approach, accept “good enough”

Answer: D. There is No Perfect Approach, accept “good enough”

This statement does not belong to any of the Agile methodologies. A risk burn-down chart is a tool that tracks overall project risk. It illustrates the value of risk reduction over time and helps the team to spot the trends to take action on and does not deal with the generic statements like that.

Q 50. Characteristics of an information radiator are as follows:

1. Easy to keep up-to-date; Colourful and casual
2. Visible; it attracts people to read
3. Updated periodically by the team
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

An information radiator is a board kept in a place where everyone can easily see and read the content. It shows the project status – which iterations, current tasks, key deliverables, test results, and more.

Q 51. What is refactoring?

1. Changing the design of your code without changing its behavior
2. Changing the behavior of your code without changing its design
3. Changing the behavior without adding more unit tests
4. Changing the unit tests to make the codes more robust

Answer: A. Changing the design of your code without changing its behavior

Refactoring is the process of code improvement where code is reorganized and rewritten to make it more clear, efficient and easier to understand. 

Q 52. What is the burn rate of an iteration based on the below scenario?

The product owner has decided to keep each iteration three weeks long. The team has five members and the team’s daily velocity is 50 story points. The agile project manager calculated that the average daily rate of the team would be $2,500.

1. $2,500
2. $62,500
3. $37,500
4. Not enough information

Answer: C. $37,500

3 weeks long iteration would be based on a standard 5 days of work per week. The average daily rate of the team is $2,500. Calculation is: $2,500 * 15 = $37,500. The team’s total daily rate is already given, story points information is unnecessary.

Q 53. Based on the below scenario given, what is the burn rate of an iteration?

Daily Average loaded rate of a team member = $700

Number of team members = 5

Number of workdays in each iteration = 15

1. $30,000
2. $52,500
3. $3,500
4. $210,000

Answer: B. $52,500

The team’s Burn Rate by Iteration calculated as follows:

Daily Average loaded rate of a team member = $700

Number of team members = 5

Number of workdays in each iteration = 15

Total Daily Burn Rate = $700 * 5 = $3,500

Total Daily Burn Rate = $3,500 * 15 = $52,000 

Q 54. Fixed price contracts can be described as:

1. Seller pays for all legitimate actual costs incurred for completed work
2. Seller’s performance period spans a considerable period of years
3. Setting a fixed total price for a defined product, service or result
4. None of the above

Answer: C. Setting a fixed total price for a defined product, service or result

Sellers under this contract are legally obligated to complete these

contracts even if the cost of development goes over the agreed cost

of the product.

Q 55. ________ is the stage where team members learn their roles, responsibilities, trust starts to build and team behavior is established?

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing

Answer: C. Norming

Norming occurs as the team resolves its internal strife and figures out how to work together.

Q 56. Target end users are also called__________.

1. personas
2. stakeholders
3. Product Owners
4. Scrum team

Answer: A. personas

A persona, similar to real life, is a defined fictional character playing a role assigned to this character. It is a guide, helps the project team to understand the business requirements, features, functionality or design based on different roles.

Q 57. The recommended approach to design in an Agile project is:

1. No design upfront
2. Big design upfront
3. Just enough design upfront
4. Use a previous design – it will be good enough

Answer: C. Just enough design upfront

Just enough design before you build so you avoid wasted design time and effort in ineffective and unnecessary design.

Q 58. The working culture of an Agile team is …

1. Collective
2. Collaborative
3. Connective
4. Contemplative

Answer: B. Collaborative

Collaboration means working together, making sure that all team members agree on the subject discussed, a solution provided and a decision is made. It is a win-win situation as a group.

Q 59. The leadership style of an Agile Leader is …

1. Fascinating
2. Fabulous
3. Servant leader
4. Fantastic

Answer: C. Servant leader

Key characteristics of Servant Leader are:

• Flexible in order to adapt to changes
• Observes and responds to team queries expressed through moods, tone, and body   language
• Ensures that the high-priority needs of people are served

Q 60. What is the primary purpose of the daily stand-up?

1. To give a status report to the Product Owner
2. To give a status report to the Agile Project Manager
3. As a team, share what each member is working on currently
4. To give team members a chance to take a break from their tasks

Answer: C. As a team, share what each member is working on currently

Daily meetings held every morning with the core team members to discuss upcoming activities where all participants provide a status update to other team members about what they are working on.

Q 61. Progressive elaboration is best described as __________.

1. the best approach to one-on-one coaching
2. the stakeholder collaboration for understanding customer needs
3. the growth exhibited through the forming, norming, storming, performing stages
4. the evolution of the project plan as details emerge

Answer: D. the evolution of the project plan as details emerge

Progressive elaboration is a planning method in which high-level plans, estimates of the project are done at the beginning, and detailed plans and estimates are completed as the new sets of information become available to the team.

Q 62. The Agile manifesto was crafted with _________ in mind.

1. better ways of developing software
2. requirements
3. training
4. protesting the status quo

Answer: A. better ways of developing software

As stated in the introduction to the Agile Manifesto, “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.”

Q 63. The selection of iteration length should be guided by_________.

1. the amount of uncertainty
2. the ease of getting feedback
3. how long priorities can remain unchanged
4. velocity of the team in past iterations

1. 1,2,3
2. 1,2,4
3. 2,3,4
4. 1,3,4

Answer: A. 1,2,3

Most of the teams decide their iterations at the beginning of the project when the team gathered. At that time, the team’s velocity would be unknown.

Q 64. Project A budgeted for $100,000 with the expectation of $122,000 in return within a year of operation. Project B budgeted for $50,000 with the expectation of $61,000 in return. Which project will bring higher ROI?

1. Project A
2. Project B
3. Both Projects are profitable by the same amount
4. Both projects are NOT profitable

Answer: C. Both Projects are profitable by the same amount

Formula to calculate ROI is (Project Profit – Project Cost) / Project Cost

Project A:

Project Cost: 100,000

Project Revenue: 122,000

= (122,000 – 100,000) / 100,000

= 22% is expected Return on Investment

Project B:

Project Cost: 50,000

Project Revenue: 61,000

= (61,000 – 50,000) / 50,000

= 22% is expected Return on Investment

Q 65. Following are XPM Principles EXCEPT:

1. Simple Design
2. Incremental Planning
3. Continuous Integration
4. Lightweight

Answer: D. Lightweight

Lightweight is one of the Scrum characteristics that naturally limits work-in-process at a team level and empowers teams to work effectively with business partners.

Q 66. How often should the product owner and agile team work together?

1. During all major iteration ceremonies
2. At the beginning and end of the iteration
3. Product owner should be available whenever the team needs him/her
4. Weekly

Answer: C. Product owner should be available whenever the team needs him/her

The product owner should collaborate with the agile team closely to ensure that the team has a clear understanding of all the requirements. Daily visits to team room or scheduled conference calls are a good way to keep communication flow between them.

Q 67. Which of the following is a core principle of agile project management?

1. Welcome changing requirements even late in development
2. Agile artifacts are the primary measure of progress
3. Build projects around senior individuals
4. Agile processes promote aggressive development

Answer: A. Welcome changing requirements even late in development

Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage. 

Q 68. Which of the following is a core value of agile manifesto?

1. Following a plan over responding to change
2. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
3. Comprehensive documentation over working software
4. Agile tooling over agile chartering

Answer: B. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

Following are the core value of agile manifesto:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Q 69. What is the role of executives in agile?

1. To continually monitor the number of low priority items in the risk register
2. To identify and remove people who are not working hard enough
3. To monitor the development team’s velocity
4. Participate in the release review session if they are invited by the product owner

Answer: D. Participate in the release review session if they are invited by the product owner

Agile follows lean management principles and the product owner’s responsibility is to manage project sponsors, executives and the stakeholders.

Q 70. Who is responsible for the content and prioritization of the product backlog?

1. Scrum Master
2. Product Owner
3. Development Team
4. Agile Project Manager

Answer: B. Product Owner

The product owner has the ultimate responsibility for funding, selecting, prioritizing, accepting and using the products that are being created to deliver value to the customer.

Q 71. The length of the planning meeting is proportional to the length of the _________.

1. Project
2. iteration
3. review meeting
4. daily stand-up

Answer: B. iteration

Recommended durations are as follows:

• 2 hours of planning per week of iteration
• 1 hour of review per week of iteration

Q 72. A team has 800 story points remaining for the first release. The velocity of the team is 200. How many iterations left to finish the release?

1. 20
2. 4
3. 8
4. 6

Answer: B. 4

800 story points remaining / 200 velocity per iteration = 4 iterations

Q 73. If Project A has a Net Present Value (NPV) of $30,000 and project B has an NPV of $50,000, what is the opportunity cost if project B is selected?

1. $23,000
2. $30,000
3. $20,000
4. $50,000

Answer: B. $30,000

The opportunity cost is the monetary value of the project that was

NOT chosen.

Q 74. You proceed with the project only if Net Present Value is ___________.

1. Equal to 0
2. Positive
3. Negative
4. Not enough information to choose

Answer: B. Positive

If the NPV is positive, the project creates value and you should proceed.

Q 75. If the project is on target, then the Cost Performance Index (CPI) should be:

1. Higher than 10
2. Equal to 1
3. Minus
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Equal to 1

CPI = Earned Value /Actual costs.

If the project was on target CPI would be ‘1’. It means that your project is exactly on track; you spent $1 on the project and got $1 of value in return.

Q 76. Key features of self-organizing teams are: 

1. Individuals take accountability for managing their own workload 
2. Team members shift work among themselves based on need and best fit 
3. All team members take responsibilities for effective teamwork 
4. The team is managed by Scrum Master

1. 1,2,3
2. 1,3,4
3. 2,3,4
4. 1,2,4

Answer: B. 1,3.4

All team members should give their full attention to their tasks. Over time, team members learn how to get along with each other and complete tasks with success without intervention from the Scrum Master or Agile Project Manager. 

Q 77. When does the Product Owner terminate an iteration?

1. When the team and the Product Owner realize that everything will not be finished at the end of a sprint
2. When the team feels that the work is too hard and they need a break
3. When the sales team has an important opportunity
4. When the Product Owner determines that it makes no sense to finish

Answer: B. When the Product Owner determines that it makes no sense to finish

Product Owner can cancel the iteration if external circumstances reverse the value of the iteration goal or due to change in business conditions that nullify the value of the current iteration commitments.

Q 78. When a development team determines that it has overcommitted itself for an iteration and cannot finish all the tasks during the iteration. Who reviews and adjusts the product backlog?

1. Scrum Master and Project Manager
2. The development Team
3. Product Owner
4. Executive Sponsor

Answer: C. Product Owner

Any incomplete task of the current iteration is put back on the product

backlog and re-prioritized by the Product Owner.

Q 79. Which of the following components is NOT included in a project charter?

1. Technical considerations
2. Vision statement
3. Detailed issues and risks
4. Product Roadmap

Answer: C. Detailed issues and risks

Elements of a Project Charter for an agile project includes product roadmap, a business case including but not limited to ROI and budget, assignment of a project manager, stakeholders; functional and nonfunctional participants, technical considerations, high-level milestones and vision statement

Q 80. Which of the following best describes the purpose of business case development?

1. The preparation of a business case can assist in obtaining project approval
2. Business cases must be used to document the anticipated progression of a project that the team can refer to
3. A business case can help to supplement roadmap delineation decisions, when necessary
4. Business cases provide stakeholders with an in-depth snapshot of the product before a prototype is developed

Answer: A. The preparation of a business case can assist in obtaining project approval.

A business case is the one document where all project cost-related information is documented. Most organizations develop business cases during the initiation phase and the agile project does not take any different approach. Business case development starts with

defining the opportunity and analyzing alternatives to present final recommendations. 

Q 81. In what order should the product backlog be kept?

1. Chronological
2. Alphabetical
3. Random
4. Priority

Answer: D. Priority

The product backlog is a prioritized list of work to be completed.

Q 82. What does Agile philosophy advise a team do next when the product backlog item is chosen?

1. The team should break each product backlog item into tasks and estimate each task in terms of effort.
2. The product owner assigns each product backlog item to the specialist best suited to carry out the work.
3. The team doesn’t do anything with the product backlog items. Scrum doesn’t use tasks or task lists.
4. The team asks the Scrum Master to research the product backlog items and decide who should work on each one.

Answer: A. The team should break the product backlog item into tasks and estimate each task in terms of effort.

This is also called iteration planning, where the team determines what features can be completed in the current iteration based on their estimates.

Q 83. Who ultimately decides when the team has enough work for the iteration?

1. The Scrum Master
2. The Product Owner
3. The Agile team
4. The Project Sponsor

Answer: C. The Agile team

The Agile teams are self-organized teams that decide whether they have enough work for the iteration or not.

Q 84. Which of the following questions is NOT answered at the daily stand up?

1. What is my estimated date to complete these tasks
2. What did I do yesterday?
3. What will I do today?
4. What impediments are in my way?

Answer: A. What is my estimated date to complete these tasks

There are only 3 questions answered in the daily stand-ups and they relate to current work, not future tasks.

Q 85. An Agile project, product owner …

1. Provides the value of the product and profitability of this project
2. Develops initial product vision, also called project scope
3. Decides release date and deliverables
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

In addition to the above, the Product Owner is:

• Putting priority to features in each release and iteration
• Interacting with stakeholders/customers to define the product backlog
• Every iteration, review and adjust – if necessary – product backlog
• Defining the “Definition of Done” and accept or reject work results

Q 86. Flow-based agile teams use different measurements, EXCEPT:

1. Lead time
2. Response time
3. Time-to-market
4. Cycle time

Answer: C. Time-to-market

Time-to-market is measured based on the market and the market condition, such as customers, state of the market (i.e., growing or shrinking), and competition (e.g., what, who, position in the marketplace) to release the product, not for the team’s productivity.

Q 87. What is the velocity?

1. Agile methodology
2. Agile reporting tool used by the Product Owner
3. The total effort a team is capable of completing in an iteration
4. Number of defects the team can produce

Answer: C. The total effort a team is capable of completing in an iteration

Velocity measures how many working hours the team spends on a task or user story during iteration. It is a relative value system, changes team to team and project to project.

Q 88. Select the BEST among the following statements.

1. A user story is complete when it is ready for demonstration and when it can meet all the conditions of satisfaction identified by the Product Owner
2. A user story is complete when it is ready for demonstration and when it can meet all the conditions of satisfaction identified by the Scrum Master
3. A user story is complete when it is ready for demonstration and when it can meet some of the conditions of satisfaction identified by the Product Owner
4. A user story is complete when it is ready for demonstration and when it can meet all the conditions of satisfaction identified by the Agile Project Manager.

Answer: A. A user story is complete when it is ready for demonstration and when it can meet all the conditions of satisfaction identified by the Product Owner.

Product Owner is the only person who can accept or reject a user story when it is demonstrated.

Q 89. When measuring the project success:

1. Look at the trends, not just the numbers
2. Look at the number of defects found in the last iteration
3. Manage based on published reports
4. Ask the Product Owner

Answer: A. Look at the trends, not just the numbers

Using one of the Agile quality metrics, such as a control chart, can help to identify the trends.

Q 90. In order to understand product requirements, the team has made a small collection of representative user profiles. Each profile includes a fictitious name, a job title and a primary goal for using the product. This is an example of which technique?

1. Stakeholder management
2. Innovation games
3. Story mapping
4. Persona creation

Answer: D. Persona creation

A persona, similar to real life, is a defined fictional character playing a role assigned to this character helps the team to understand the requirement.

Q 91. What does ‘O’ mean in MOSCOW?

1. Obsolete product
2. Observation only
3. A joker, user can change to whatever they need
4. No meaning

Answer: D. No meaning

‘O’ is included to ensure the technique is memorable and easy to pronounce.

Q 92. In which of the following meetings, is the presence of the broader stakeholder community most appropriate?

1. During refactoring
2. Daily stand-up meeting
3. Iteration review meeting
4. Iteration retrospective meeting

Answer: D. Iteration review meeting

During the iteration review meetings, the team demonstrates the working product which might help the stakeholder to see the progress and provide their feedback to the product owner. 

Q 93. Which of the following statements is true with reference to the Net Present Value (NPV)?

1. Risk should be factored in before the NPV is performed
2. Payback period should not be used to make a determination
3. ROI is useful only when it is compared to other projects in the same organization
4. NPV higher than 0 is more desirable than negative

Answer: D. NPV higher than 0 is more desirable than negative

If NPV > 0 The project is a profitable venture.

Q 94. Minimum Usable Subset also called ________ .

1. Defects
2. Ideal time
3. Osmotic
4. Must

Answer: D. Must

Must describe a feature that absolutely has to be in the backlog list and the product will not go to production without it.

Q 95. Prioritization of user stories should be performed on the basis of the following:

1. The financial value of the feature
2. The amount of risk involved in developing the feature
3. The cost of developing the new story
4. The user interface design of the story

1. 1,2,3
2. 2,3,4
3. 1,3,4
4. 1,2,4

Answer: A. 1,2,3

The focus on delivering value drives most of the Agile activities and decisions on a project.

Q 96. What is the difference between NPV and ROI:

1. NPV measures the investment and ROI measures the efficiency
2. NPV is the current total cost and ROI is the future cost
3. ROI measures the cash flow and NPV measures the efficiency
4. No difference

Answer: A. NPV measures the investment and ROI measures the efficiency

NPV measures the cash flow of an investment and ROI measures the efficiency of an investment

Q 97. Value prioritization involves managing__________.

1. product backlog
2. iteration backlog
3. release burndown chart
4. iteration burndown chart

Answer: A. product backlog

Because product backlog drives the value prioritization

Q 98. The primary goal of Value Stream Mapping is to _______.

1. provide customers backlog list during the development process
2. provide a map of team locations during a fire drill
3. map the flow of work from the start of the delivery process to end
4. provide a view of management during the development process

Answer: C. map the flow of work from the start of the delivery process to end

Value stream analysis is used to assess the performance, to find out if there is room for process improvements and perform root cause analysis if required. 

Q 99. Using Value Portfolio Management, the team can do all of the following, EXCEPT:

1. Prioritize projects based on their ROI / IRR to the organization
2. Organize product features into a project roadmap
3. Minimize Work In Progress (WIP) to maximize the value delivered
4. Reduce the risk through simplifying its processes

Answer: B. Organize project features into a project roadmap

Value Portfolio Management is a process to ensure that an organization or department spends its resources on the work that brings more value.

Q 100. Value Portfolio Management provides:

1. Speed and quality through
2. Exposing delays and problems
3. Focusing on time to market
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Value Portfolio Management provides;

• Speed and quality through identifying and working on minimum marketable features,
•  Delivering early, quickly and exposing delays and problems, and
•  Focusing on time to market. 

Q 101. During an iteration, the Chief Marketing Officer(CMO) approaches the agile team with a new requirement to be developed and demonstrated to the client in the upcoming iteration meeting. In this scenario, what should the agile project manager do?

1. The team should incorporate the new requirement from the CMO and move out the lowest priority item from the iteration
2. The agile project manager should not allow the CMO to disturb the team during the iteration and direct him to work with the product owner to prioritize the new requirement correctly
3. Discuss the matter in daily stand-up meeting and resolve it based on the agile team’s inputs
4. Discuss the requirement with the product owner only, take a decision, and inform the team what they should be doing

Answer: B. The agile project manager should not allow the CMO to disturb the team during the iteration and direct him to work with the product owner to prioritize the new requirement correctly.

The product owner has the ultimate responsibility for the business requirements.

Q 102. What factors should be considered during the prioritization of the user stories?

1. Technical factors
2. Features that have a higher value to the customers
3. Dependencies and high-level risks
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

Once the feature is selected for development, the team needs to consider all of the factors to be sure that they can deliver the user story.

Q 103. One of the story cards contains the customer’s business specific references that the development team finds it difficult to interpret. What should be the next step?

1. Hire a domain expert from a consulting company
2. Search and investigate the topic on the Internet
3. Discuss within other teams during Scrum of the Scrum meetings
4. Discuss with the customer.

Answer: D. Discuss with the customer.

The customer, also called Product Owner, has the responsibility to be sure that the team has a clear understanding of what needs to be done.

Q 104. Cumulative flow diagram provides all of the following, EXCEPT:

1. Whether or not value is being delivered as the result of our detail-level activities
2. Where the bottlenecks are in our workflow
3. How long it takes something of value to be produced (cycle time)
4. The total size of the marketing team

Answer: D. The total size of the marketing team 

The Cumulative Flow diagram provides a full view of the activities happening in the project.

Q 105. Which of the following is NOT a product backlog prioritization technique?

1. Minimal marketable feature
2. Story maps
3. Backlog grooming
4. Relative ranking

Answer: B. Story maps

A user story map arranges user stories into a useful model to help understand the functionality of the system, not a prioritization technique.

Q 106. The basic principles of agile project management are:

1. Produce a value in every iteration
2. Increase the value of the delivery in every incremental
3. Empower the team
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

The basic principles of agile project management include all of the

above principles.

Q 107. Items in the iteration backlog are estimated in___________.

1. ideal time
2. story points
3. elapsed time
4. cumulative points

Answer: B. story points

A story point is an arbitrary measure used to measure the effort required to develop a user story (complete a task). It is a number that tells the team how hard the story is related to complexity, unknowns and effort.

Q 108. SWOT is a structured method used to evaluate __________, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

1. Simple
2. Strengths
3. Successful
4. Seven habits

Answer: B. Strengths

Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others

Q 109. The average daily velocity of the team is 5. How many more iterations require 75 story points?

1. 15
2. 5
3. 1
4. Not enough information

Answer: D. Not enough information

The team’s daily velocity is 5, we do not know how many days in a given iteration.

Q 110. ________are the methods of performing estimation in Agile.

1. Function points and story points
2. Quick function points and story points
3. Ideal days
4. Lines of code

Answer: C. Ideal days

An ideal day is a unit for estimating the size of product backlog items based on how long an item would take to complete if it were the only work being performed, there were no interruptions, and all resources necessary to complete the work were immediately available.

Q 111. Which one of the following is the most likely cause for a variation in the ideal time and elapsed time in software development?

1. Developer’s inefficiency
2. Interruptions
3. Incorrect estimations
4. Requirement changes

Answer: B. Interruptions

The elapsed time includes interruptions, such as vacations, sick days, training, etc.

Q 112. Which of the following is NOT a problem-solving technique?

1. 5 Whys Analysis
2. Fishbone Diagram
3. Burn-down Chart
4. Root Cause Analysis

Answer: C. Burn-down Chart

Burn-down charts provide a visual reminder of the current state of the project.

Q 113. The most common chart used in Agile is __________.

1. Cumulative flow
2. Burn-up chart
3. Bar graph
4. Big visible chart

Answer: B. Burn-up chart

Burn-up charts are easy to make and easy to read.

Q 114. _________ perform estimation in Agile.

1. Program Management Office
2. Product Owner and Stakeholders
3. Product Owner and Scrum Master
4. Development team

Answer: D. Development team

The product owner prioritizes the items; however, only the development

team can perform the estimation for the product backlog items.

Q 115. _____________ is the most commonly used contract type.

1. Fixed-Price Contracts
2. Cost-reimbursable Contracts
3. Time and Material Contracts
4. None of the above

Answer: A. Fixed-Price Contracts

Setting a fixed total price for a defined product, service or result called Fixed-Price Contracts.

Q 116. The tasks in an iteration should be sized properly so that:

1. The tasks can be completed during the iteration
2. The team does not need to do overtime to finish it on time
3. The tasks are not carried forward in the next iteration
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

If one of them is not done, it will stall the project.

Q 117. Agile originated as a response to traditional project management methodologies, to bring ___________?

1. order
2. flexibility and adaptability
3. flexibility and sequence
4. new change management

Answer: B. flexibility and adaptability

Agile management is a mindset, NOT a specific method or process. It originated as a response to traditional project management methodologies, specifically software development project methodologies, to bring flexibility and adaptability to development environments.

Q 118. Estimation of the velocity for a team can NOT be determined by________.

1. using historical values
2. using the velocity of another team
3. running an iteration
4. making a forecast

Answer: B. using the velocity of another team

Each team is unique and its velocity will be different than other teams.

Q 119. The primary measure of a team’s efficiency is the__________.

1. effort spent
2. velocity
3. user stories
4. effort variance

Answer: B. velocity

Velocity is defined as the total effort a team is capable of completing in an iteration.

Q 120. Objectives of grooming:

1. Split large product backlog items into smaller ones
2. add remaining items to the current iteration
3. remove the iteration backlog items
4. reduce the number of tasks in the iteration

Answer: A. Split large product backlog items into smaller ones

The main objective of grooming is to refine the product backlog.

For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon 

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests 

Practice Test 1

Q1. The goal of a sprint should be to:

1. Deliver and deploy the product to production
2. Complete as many features as possible
3. Produce a product increment of a releasable quality
4. Fix all the defects in the product

Answer: C. Produce a product increment of a releasable quality

A sprint is supposed to produce a product increment of releasable quality

Q2. Continuous integration is:

1. When the development happens in real time
2. When code is integrated after the feature is updated
3. When all code changes are checked and tested every day
4. When the team works on a single set of code

Answer: C. When all code changes are checked and tested every day

Continuous integration is executed when code changes are checked and tested daily.

Q3. A definition of done clarifies when a particular work item can be marked as done. When is the definition of done first used by the team?

1. While estimating the work
2. While marking a work item as complete
3. During the sprint to ascertain what all needs to be done
4. By the tester while checking the stories

Answer: A. While estimating the work

While estimating the work the team should know what needs to be done, so that they can make informed commitments.

Q4. How frequently should the test-code-test cycle repeat itself in test-driven development?

1. At least once a day
2. At the end of an iteration
3. Every few minutes
4. For each line of code

Answer: C. Every few minutes

Test-driven development means the code should follow the tests and the cycle should repeat frequently

Q5. A team assigned 3 story points to a story. The manager wanted to know how this can co-relate to the time required to complete it. How should the team respond?

1. A story point is roughly one hour of work
2. A story point is roughly one day of work
3. Story points are not directly correlated to time, rather through velocity, which specifies how many points a team can complete in an iteration
4. A team will establish a standard ratio between points and hours, which is constant for a specific team

Answer: C. Story points are not directly correlated to time, rather through velocity, which specifies how many points a team can complete in an iteration

A story point is a unit of measure to express the estimated effort of the user story.

Q6. In order to implement Lean, the first step should be to:

1. Eliminate waste
2. Limit work-in-progress
3. Draw a value stream map
4. Continuously improve the process

Answer: C

Value stream mapping is a way of analyzing a chain of processes and is the first step to achieve elimination of waste.

Q7. A team facilitator (aka scrum master) facilitates the daily stand-up meeting for a team. The facilitator is going on a leave for 2 weeks. What should be done about the daily stand-up meetings in this period?

1. The product owner should facilitate for that period
2. The stand-up meetings should be deferred until the scrum master returns
3. The stand-up meetings should happen regardless of whether the facilitator is present or not
4. The team should inform each other about the status through emails or other means of communication

Answer: C. The stand-up meetings should happen regardless of whether the facilitator is present or not

Daily stand-up meeting is important to the flow of communication and for early detection of any issues. This should not be skipped even if the scrum master or facilitator is absent.

Q8. The process of test-driven development has the following steps:

1. Test, Code, Deliver, Refractor
2. Code, Refactor, Test, Deliver
3. Code, Test, Refactor, Deliver
4. Test, Code, Refactor, Deliver

Answer:  D

The steps for the process of test-driven development are test, code, refactor, and deliver.

Q9. Agile approaches are becoming very popular in every industry today because of their flexibility to adapt to change. This is important because:

1. Reducing the extent of change is important for success
2. Planning is greatly hampered if there is excessive change
3. Changes bring about a competitive advantage to the customer
4. Teams need to gear up to handle change to improve their technical abilities

Answer: C. Changes bring about a competitive advantage to the customer

Changing requirements brings about a competitive advantage to the customer.

Q10. Agile focuses on iterative, incremental development, whereas Kanban focuses on:

1. Minimizing waste
2. Maximizing WIP
3. Maximizing Lead Time
4. Flow of work

Answer: D. Flow of work

Kanban focuses on flow of work

Q 11. A PMO (Project Management Office) can be a key enabler for an agile transformation. What could be an area that the PMO can help an agile team with?

1. How to deliver the work
2. Guidelines to ensure compliance with established frameworks
3. Standards and benchmarks for team velocity
4. Technical expertise required to deliver

Answer: B. Guidelines to ensure compliance with established frameworks

The PMO can help the team stay on the right side of required compliance needs

Q 12. The developers in a team felt that all the stories were completed. A tester in the team disagreed with this. What is the best way to resolve this issue?

1. Redefine the stories after each iteration
2. Approach the customer
3. Don’t change the stories. The team agreed on the definition in advance
4. Rewrite ground rules

Answer: C. Don’t change the stories. The team agreed on the definition in advance

Done must be explicitly defined and agreed upon by the entire team.

Q 13. A team is debating about the effectiveness of two different design approaches. How to arrive at a conclusion?

1. Approach the customer to clarify requirements
2. Conduct small experiments to help the team determine a course of action
3. Add a story to finalize the design
4. Set aside one iteration for design

Answer: B. Conduct small experiments to help the team determine a course of action

Spike is a quick experiment used to help the team answer a question and determine a path forward.

Q14.Which of the following is the best description of the 5 Whys technique?

1. Ask why while selecting the team, scrum master, and product owner
2. Ask why questions while understanding and analyzing user stories
3. Asking the why question at least 5 or as many times as necessary to understand the deeper root causes
4. Five people asking the why question to see if the answers are consistent

Answer: C. Asking the why question at least 5 or as many times as necessary to understand the deeper root causes

Toyota used the 5 Whys in their manufacturing processes to detect and correct deeper root causes of issues

Q 15. A team is estimating the time needed to create a software package by posting stories on the wall in the order from of least to greatest. This is an example of:

1. Relative sizing
2. Top down estimating
3. Wireframes
4. Game player

Answer: A. Relative sizing

Relative sizing is estimating the size of a function or user story based on the size of another one.

Q 16. The most important job of a scrum master is:

1. To keep the team focused on agile principles
2. To manage the projects
3. To be a liaison with the customer
4. To report status to executives

 Answer: A. To keep the team focused on agile principles

The scrum master is responsible for helping the team to follow the scrum process.

Q 17. Senior management would like to keep tabs on progress of a project. What is the best demonstration of progress that the team can come up with?

1. Burn down chart
2. Information radiators
3. Value points delivered
4. Working product

Answer: D. Working product

Working software is the primary measure of progress as per the Agile Manifesto

Q 18. Extreme programming believes in programmers working in pairs. Which of the following is an exception to this rule?

1. When the team works on a SPIKE
2. When there is an emergency
3. When programmers are fixing defects
4. When programmers implement minor features

Answer: A. When the team works on a SPIKE

SPIKE is an experiment, and therefore need not be written in pairs.

Q 19. Distributed agile teams often make use of live video conferences to stay in touch with the remote team members. This is important because these methods enable:

1. Information radiation
2. Face-to-face communication
3. Brainstorming
4. Conflict resolution

Answer: B. Face-to-face communication

Face-to-face communication is the most effective type of communication and therefore colocation is the best arrangement for the team.

Q 20. Who is primarily accountable for delivery of the work in an agile team?

1. Development team
2. Product owner
3. Scrum master
4. Functional managers

Answer: A. Development team

The team is collectively accountable for delivery of the work

1. 21 In a given iteration, a team completed 5 stories of sizes 1, 3, 5, 8, and 13 respectively. Two other stories of size 5 each were almost complete but narrowly missed the definition of done. What is the velocity of the team in the iteration?

1. 20
2. 30
3. 35
4. 40

Answer: B. 30

Velocity only accounts for completed stories as per the definition of done

1. 22 Iteration retrospective is used to:

1. Shape product roadmap
2. Improve processes in future iterations
3. Resolve team conflicts
4. Allow the opportunity to re-organize the team

Answer: B. Improve processes in future iterations

An iteration retrospective is focused on process improvement.

12. 23 Project A has an NPV of $15,000 and IRR of 15%. Project B has an NPV of $20,000 and IRR of 13%. Project C has an NPV of $18,000 and IRR of 12.5%. Project D has an NPV of $25,000 and IRR of 14%. Which project should be selected if only one can be funded?

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

Answer: A. A

IRR is a superior measure and should be used for making decisions in benefit-cost analysis

1. 24 Which attributes should be attached to user stories?

1. Validated, Economical
2. Vital, Large
3. Valuable, Estimable
4. Verifiable, Editable

Answer: C. Valuable, Estimable

User stories should add value to the user and be small in effort and therefore, estimable.

1. 25 The scrum master of a team is working on a critical task when another team member approached him for help. The scrum master should:

1. Complete the critical task and then help the team member
2. First help the team member and then return to his task
3. Ask another team member to help
4. None of the above

Answer: B. First help the team member and then return to his task

Scrum master duties always come first – before any other task that the scrum master is performing

1. 26 What is the appropriate level to measure earned value management in an agile project?

1. Feature
2. Release
3. Iteration
4. Continuous

Answer: C. Iteration

Earned value management in an agile project should be measured at the iteration level, because this is the level where velocity is measured and resources are applied.

1. 27 During the iteration review, a customer representative pointed out that the addition of a few features would add a lot of value to the product. Who should take this into consideration first?

1. The sponsor
2. The product owner
3. The scrum master
4. The team

Answer: B. The product owner

The product owner maintains the product backlog.

1. 28 In a scrum planning meeting, the team had a few questions about the features with the highest priority. This should be resolved by:

1. The project manager
2. The customer
3. The product owner
4. The scrum master

Answer: C. The product owner

The product owner leads the first part of each iteration planning meeting where the features are discussed.

1. 29 You see a burndown chart, burnup chart, feature backlog, and a velocity chart on the wall. What are they?

1. Enterprise Environmental Factors
2. Organizational process assets
3. Agile status
4. Information radiators

Answer: D. Information radiators

An information radiator is used to communicate project status to the team and other stakeholders.

1. 30 The charter for an agile project is a bit different from the charter for a traditional project in that:

1. It is not mandatory for an agile project to have a charter
2. Agile charter may not require a business case
3. Agile charter is more lightweight, recognizing the inevitability of changes
4. Traditional charter is more high level, agile charter is revised per iteration

Answer: C. Agile charter is more lightweight, recognizing the inevitability of changes

The charter is still important for the success of an agile project but is relatively lightweight as compared to traditional charters.

1. 31 Simplicity – the art of maximizing the work not done – is essential. What is the most appropriate interpretation of this agile principle?

1. Working in short iterations automatically leads to simplicity.
2. Look for simpler solutions to avoid overengineering and prevent unnecessary work.
3. Simplicity is more important than avoiding maximum work.
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Look for simpler solutions to avoid overengineering and prevent unnecessary work.

Simpler solutions help prevent unnecessary work.

1. 32 At a stakeholder meeting, all stakeholders are given fake money to purchase the features they like and need. This is an example of:

1. An innovation game
2. Product mapping
3. Economic analysis
4. Market analysis

Answer: A. An innovation game

An innovation game is used to frame the process of requirements gathering in a creative way.

1. 33 What are the questions asked during daily stand-up meetings?

1. What did you do today?
2. What are the impediments to getting work completed?
3. What are you planning to do tomorrow?
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

The questions asked during the daily stand-up meetings are what did you accomplish yesterday, what do you plan to do today, and are you encountering obstacles?

1. 34 The expected time for planning a four-week iteration is:

1. 1-2 hours
2. 2-4 hours
3. 4-8 hours
4. 12-24 hours

Answer: C. 4-8 hours

Typically an iteration planning should take 1-2 hours for each week of sprint duration (5-10% of effort)

1. 35 The iteration review or demo is an important meeting for the team to bring the iteration to a logical conclusion. Which of the following should NOT be part of this meeting?

1. A demonstration of the working product
2. A detailed overview of the challenges encountered during the iteration and how they were overcome
3. Feedback by the participants about the product
4. Discussion about the potential release of the product

Answer: B. A detailed overview of the challenges encountered during the iteration and how they were overcome

Discussion about challenges is probably more appropriate for the retrospective.

1. 36 Which of the following is NOT very consistent with agile principles?

1. Large teams
2. Incremental delivery
3. Small releases
4. Progressive elaboration

Answer: A. Large teams

Large teams are not optimal for using agile principles.

1. 37 During an iteration, an end user keeps calling the team members requesting to include more work items to the iteration. What should be done?

1. The team should talk to the end user asking them not to be disturbed.
2. The coach should talk to the end user and explain how an agile project is planned.
3. The end user should be asked to join the team.
4. Senior management should be brought in to solve the problem.

Answer: B. The coach should talk to the end user and explain how an agile project is planned.

The coach is the person who keeps the team and end users focused on learning and using agile processes.

1. 38 A developer has not created a detailed documentation for a code that is only understood by him. Why is this a problem?

1. Code should be collectively owned by the team.
2. Conflict should be handled immediately.
3. Documentation should be written immediately.
4. The team should demand the coder be fired.

Answer: A. Code should be collectively owned by the team.

In an agile project, the code is collectively owned by team and each team member should understand the code.

1. 39 Extreme programming believes in deeper involvement of the onsite customers in the team. Which of the following is NOT a customer role in extreme programming?

1. Interaction designer
2. Business analyst
3. Product manager
4. Programmer

Answer: D. Programmer

Programmer is a developer role, not a customer role.

1. 40 Mary is the scrum master for a new project and is working with the product owner and team on selecting the user stories for the first sprint. The team has committed to 30 story points for the sprint, but the product owner wants the team to deliver more. The team is uncomfortable committing more as it hasn’t understood the stories well. What should Mary do?

1. Explain to the product owner that the team determines their commitment and she needs to accept what they have identified.
2. Encourage the product owner to review the stories and add more details and acceptance criteria to help the team better determine if they can deliver more stories.
3. Ask the team to identify two additional stories for the sprint as a stretch goal.
4. Add a story for the next sprint and add more details to the stories.

Answer: B. Encourage the product owner to review the stories and add more details and acceptance criteria to help the team better determine if they can deliver more stories.

The product owner needs to provide the details that the team requires to make their commitments.

1. 41 Team workspace should be arranged so the team members can:

1. Form smaller groups
2. Face the information radiator
3. Face each other
4. Have privacy

Answer: C. Face each other

Team workspace should be arranged to maximize the interaction between team members for the best results.

1. 42 Refactoring should produce software that is:

1. Better organized
2. Regression tested
3. Finished
4. Just passing acceptance tests

Answer: A. Better organized

Refactoring is the reorganization of working code to bring the organization in line with its functionality and maintain it better.

1. 43 During an iteration, there was a major reorganization and the team is in a flux about future direction for the product. They feel that the iteration should be put on hold or cancelled until clarity emerges. Who is responsible for making this decision?

1. Scrum master
2. Product owner
3. Team facilitator
4. Team

Answer: B. Product owner

Product owner decides whether it is appropriate to cancel an iteration.

1. 44 A team is analyzing factors that drive change and restrict change. This is called __________.

1. Change management
2. Product mapping
3. Force field analysis
4. Root cause analysis

Answer: C. Force field analysis

Force field analysis is a technique for analyzing the forces that are encouraging and resisting potential or real change and the strength of these forces.

1. 45 After the team has removed the bottlenecks in a Kanban system and established WIP limits, what should they focus on next?

1. Introduce iterative development
2. Prioritize the requirements
3. Hand over to operations
4. Continuous improvement

Answer: D. Continuous improvement

Kaizen means continuous improvement and prevents inertia from becoming a constraint.

1. 46 Pruning the Product Tree is a technique for:

1. Release planning
2. Iteration planning
3. Requirement gathering
4. Integration testing

Answer: C. Requirement gathering

The act of pruning the product tree is a technique for requirement gathering.

1. 47 A team completed 10 work items in a five-day week and each item took about five days to complete. What is the cycle time?

1. 5 days
2. 0.5 day
3. 1 day
4. 2 per day

Answer: B. 0.5 day

Cycle time is the average time between the delivery of completed work items. 10 items in 5 days means half day per item.

1. 48 The number of story points a team can complete in a single iteration is known as _________________.

1. Velocity
2. Time to value
3. Value points delivered
4. Cycle time

Answer: A. Velocity

Velocity is the number of features or user stories that a team delivers in a fixed iteration.

1. 49 All of the following are common ways to enable osmotic communication in distributed agile teams except:

1. Appointing a spokesperson for each location
2. Looping the entire team in all project-related communications
3. Conducting live video conferences
4. Traveling frequently between locations and meetings

Answer: A. Appointing a spokesperson for each location

Appointing a spokesperson restricts the channels of communication available.

1. 50 Who is responsible for updating the Kanban board?

1. The product owner
2. The scrum master
3. The tester
4. The team

Answer: D. The team

The Kanban board is an artifact that shows work in progress (WIP) that can only be updated by the team doing the work.

1. 51 Which technique helps in analyzing how different groups interact with the product?

1. Stakeholder analysis
2. Creating personas
3. Wireframes
4. Risk analysis

Answer: B. Creating personas

A persona is an imaginary person or identity created by the team, to model interactions with the system to gather requirements. Creating personas helps in analyzing how different groups interact with the product.

1. 52 A product owner is very pushy and tends to compel the team members to accept more work than they can accomplish. This is causing team burnout. What is the best way to resolve this issue?

1. The team facilitator should talk to the product owner and explain the dangers of team burnout.
2. The team should pad their estimates with buffers.
3. The product owner should be replaced.
4. More team members should be added so that work can be evenly distributed.

Answer: A. The team facilitator should talk to the product owner and explain the dangers of team burnout.

The team facilitator should talk to the product owner and explain the dangers of team burnout. This is the best way to resolve the issues in the given scenario.

1. 53 What does the work in progress number represent on a Kanban board?

1. The number of story points for the swim lane
2. The cycle time target for the swim lane
3. The minimum number of work items that should be in a swim lane
4. The maximum number of work items that should be in a swim lane

Answer: D. The maximum number of work items that should be in a swim lane

The work in progress number on a Kanban board is the maximum number of work items in a swim lane.

1. 54 A testing team finds that it is often in the firing line as they often have more work than they can handle. In the Kanban system the best way to handle this is to:

1. Limit the work in progress at the testing stage.
2. Add team members to the testing team.
3. Focus more on automated testing.
4. Request developers to help out with testing.

Answer: A. Limit the work in progress at the testing stage.

Limiting the WIP will address the feeling of being overwhelmed with work and pave the way for more creative solutions to the problem.

1. 55 For an agile team, the total release backlog is 250 points and each point costs $50 to deliver. The earned value at the end of the third iteration is 50 points and the CPI is 0.8. How much is the expected cost for the remaining project if the current cost performance is expected to continue in the future?

1. $12,500
2. $10,000
3. $12,000
4. $8,000

Answer: A. $12,500

Remaining points = 200. Budget for remaining points = 200 * 50 = 10,000. At a CPI of 0.8, expected cost of remaining work = 10,000/0.8 = $12,500

1. 56 Which value is NOT in the Agile Manifesto?

1. Comprehensive documentation
2. Contract negotiation
3. Process improvement
4. Processes and tools

Answer: C. Process improvement

The values of the Agile Manifesto are individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan.

1. 57 A team’s velocity is performing iteration planning using a commitment based approach as the velocity is not known up-front. Which of the following is NOT an acceptable way of establishing the commitment?

1. Use industry standards
2. Go by team consensus
3. Use team capacity to estimate velocity
4. None of the above

Answer: A. Use industry standards

A team’s velocity is not likely to be comparable to another one, so using industry standards is meaningless

1. 58 Distributed agile teams are _____________.

1. Generally less effective than co-located teams
2. Not allowed
3. Organized in a different way than co-located teams
4. As effective or more effective than co-located teams

Answer: A. Generally less effective than co-located teams

Distributed agile teams are generally less effective than co-located teams because of the lack of high-bandwidth communication.

1. 59 The amount of time for a feature to move from inception to live deployment is _________________.

1. Burn rate
2. Lead time
3. Cycle time
4. Velocity

Answer: B. Lead time

The lead time is the amount of time needed from inception to live deployment.

1. 60 Documentation for an agile project should be _________________.

1. Enough for someone else to understand
2. Thorough
3. Barely sufficient
4. Avoided

Answer: C. Barely sufficient

Documentation for an agile project should be barely sufficient.

1. 61 When should you play Planning Poker?

1. After the story points have been determined, but before tests have been developed
2. After the features have been chosen, but before the user stories have been written
3. After the user stories have been written, but before the story points have been assigned
4. After the epics have been written, but before the story map has been developed

Answer: C. After the user stories have been written, but before the story points have been assigned

Planning Poker is a technique for agile planning that is completed after the user stories have been written, but before the story map has been developed.

1. 62 All of the following are lean principles, except _________________.

1. Decide as late as possible
2. Build integrity in
3. Test as early as possible
4. See the whole

Answer: C. Test as early as possible

The seven lean principles: eliminate waste, amplify learning, decide as late as possible, deliver as fast as possible, empower the team, build integrity in, and see the whole are worded at Toyota in their manufacturing program.

1. 63 During testing of a product, the tester and the developer disagreed on the usability of a particular feature. Who should resolve this confusion?

1. The scrum master
2. The product owner
3. The team
4. The sponsor

Answer: B. The product owner

The product owner represents the customer, users, and stakeholders.

1. 64 What is an appropriate time to break down the user stories into tasks?

1. During iteration planning
2. During release planning
3. After daily stand-ups
4. When user stories are written

Answer: A. During iteration planning

Iteration planning includes the defining of tasks on an agile project.

1. 65 During an iteration, a team member needs to be on standby support when a critical feature is being deployed over a weekend. None of the team members wants to sign up for this task. How should this situation be addressed?

1. The senior most team member should be assigned.
2. A draw of lots is used to decide who signs up for the task.
3. The team should decide who picks up the task.
4. The functional managers should decide who signs up the task.

Answer: C. The team should decide who picks up the task.

Task assignments are done by the team in a self-organized agile team.

1. 66 If the earned value is $1500 and the planned value is $1350, the team is:

1. Ahead of schedule by $150
2. Behind schedule by $150
3. Over budget by $150
4. Under budget by $150

Answer: A. Ahead of schedule by $150

Schedule variance = EV – PV = $150. Therefore the team is ahead of schedule by $150.

1. 67 How is the schedule created for an agile project?

1. Analyzing the activity and determining dependencies
2. Estimating story points and applying velocity
3. Decomposing in the WBS
4. Timeboxing the iteration

Answer: B. Estimating story points and applying velocity

The agile project schedule is created by estimating story points and applying velocity.

1. 68 The return on investment (ROI) for a project should be tracked and reported by ____________.

1. Functional managers
2. The team
3. The scrum master
4. The product owner

Answer: D. The product owner

The product owner should maintain the ROI for the project.

1. 69 The Y-axis on a burnup chart is _________________.

1. Resource
2. Cost
3. Functionality
4. Time to value

Answer: C. Functionality

The burnup chart plots time on the X-axis and functionality on the Y-axis.

1. 70 Burndown charts are _________________.

1. Used to calculate cycle time
2. Used to manage risk
3. Used to track cost and schedule progress
4. Used to track scope and schedule progress

Answer: D. Used to track scope and schedule progress

The burndown charts are used to track scope and schedule progress of the project.

1. 71 A team and business users are trying to agree on the design of a web interface for an ecommerce application. Which technique is likely to be most effective in this process?

1. Wireframes
2. Brainstorming
3. Wideband Delphi
4. Force-field analysis

Answer: A. Wireframes

Wireframes are simple means to express a user interface. Hence, in this case wireframes are the most effective technique.

1. 72 A team finds that it frequently lands into trouble while implementing a feature due to unfulfilled external dependencies. They decided to ensure in the future that all dependencies should be met before an item can be accepted into an iteration for development. This needs to be included in the:

1. Acceptance criteria
2. Definition of ready
3. Definition of done
4. Iteration backlog

Answer: B. Definition of ready

Definition of ready determines when an item is ready for development.

1. 73 Continuous integration is the practice of:

1. Testing each unit daily
2. Reminding the team of agile practices often
3. Checking in the new features daily
4. Getting the software to the customer frequently

Answer: C. Checking in the new features daily

Continuous integration is executed when code changes are checked in and tested daily.

1. 74 An agile team considers the risks on the project and includes tasks to address them as part of the project work. This is done using:

1. The risk management plan
2. The risk association matrix
3. The risk decision tree
4. The risk-adjusted backlog

Answer: D. The risk-adjusted backlog

The risk-adjusted backlog is a primary way in which risk is managed.

1. 75 One of the lean principles is to amplify learning. This means:

1. Document the lessons learned after each iteration.
2. Send the team members for extensive training before they start working.
3. Try to learn as much as you can from each experience and incident.
4. Work in pairs to learn from each other.

Answer: C. Try to learn as much as you can from each experience and incident.

The principle amplifies learning means learning from each experience and incident. Learning happens naturally, if only you take the time to reflect on each incident and problem encountered.

1. 76 What should the duration of daily stand-up meetings be?

1. Not more than 30 minutes
2. Not more than 15 minutes
3. Not more than 5 minutes
4. As long as the team wants to meet

Answer: B. Not more than 15 minutes

The daily stand-up meetings should be held daily and should last no longer than 15 minutes.

1. 77 A team estimated that the total ideal time requirement for a proposed set of work items is 500 hours. How should this be translated into elapsed time?

1. Based on a conversion rate of ideal to actual time at a team level
2. Using the story pointing approach
3. By estimating the distractions expected for each team member
4. By breaking each task at a granular level and re estimating the actual time

Answer: A. Based on a conversion rate of ideal to actual time at a team level

Actual time is the amount of time an assignment would take to complete. Ideal time is the amount of time an assignment would take if there were no interruptions or distractions. The conversion to elapsed time depends upon individuals involved but can usually be reasonably estimated at an aggregate or team level.

1. 78 If the agile project is released timeboxed, which of the following is true?

1. There is no flexibility in the schedule.
2. The team should use MoSCoW prioritization to create a feature buffer.
3. The iteration schedule can be extended.
4. It is pointless to estimate as it is a “death march” project.

Answer: B. The team should use MoSCoW prioritization to create a feature buffer.

A team can maintain a feature buffer and follow a MoSCoW scheme to logically sequence the work.

1. 79 In a large project, the team identified the highest priority features and completed them first. The remaining features are almost at the same priority level and the team is confused which one to work on first. How should this be addressed?

1. By completing the remaining stories in any order
2. By considering technical convenience as the key factor in determining sequence from this point
3. By reprioritizing the backlog frequently
4. By waiting for a few more high priority features to emerge before starting new work

Answer: C. By reprioritizing the backlog frequently

The backlog should be frequently re-prioritized.

1. 80 A large product requires 4 teams working in parallel. How many product owners should be assigned to this product?

1. One
2. Four
3. Two
4. Six

Answer: B. Four

One PO per team is the norm.

1. 81 A large product requires four teams working in parallel. How many product backlogs should be produced?

1. One
2. Four
3. Two
4. Six

Answer: A. One

There should always be one backlog per product.

1. 82 In agile, tasks are assigned by the:

1. Scrum master
2. Team themselves
3. Product owner
4. Project manager

Answer: B. Team themselves

Tasks are assigned by the team themselves as they showcase a self-organizing team.

1. 83 Who is responsible for taking the product risk into consideration while prioritizing the backlog?

1. The product owner
2. The team
3. The scrum master
4. The project manager

Answer: A. The product owner

The product owner has responsibility for the product risk.

1. 84 A daily stand-up meeting for a team ends up taking longer than 15 minutes because a product owner assigns tasks to team members in the meeting. How should this be addressed?

1. Scrum master should assign tasks before the standup to keep the meeting short.
2. Extend the meeting to 30 minutes.
3. Assign the tasks after the standup meeting.
4. Ask the PO not to attend the standups and not assign tasks to the team

Answer: D. Ask the PO not to attend the standups and not assign tasks to the team

Tasks are self-assigned by the team and the PO should be encouraged not to attend the standup which is a meeting of, for, and by the team

1. 85 A theme is _________________.

1. A business need
2. An epic story
3. The central idea or purpose behind a group of stories, iteration, or a release
4. The capability of the system

Answer: C. The central idea or purpose behind a group of stories, iteration, or a release

A theme is the main purpose behind a group of stories, iteration, or release.

1. 86 After discovering the bottleneck or constraining step in a Kanban system, the first step should be to:

1. Add resources to the constraining step.
2. Find ways to speed up the step with existing resources.
3. Shift the constraint elsewhere.
4. Shift work away from the constraining step.

Answer: B. Find ways to speed up the step with existing resources.

The team should find a way to speed up the constraining step which controls the speed of overall execution.

1. 87 Which of the following is an appropriate measure to express the effort associated with user stories?

1. Tasks
2. Ideal time
3. Velocity
4. Cycle time

Answer: B. Ideal time

Ideal time is the amount of time an assignment would take if there were no interruptions or distractions.

1. 88 A software development team identified a number of steps in their value stream map. Which of the following is most likely to represent waste?

1. Analysis
2. Defect fixing
3. Coding
4. Testing

Answer: B. Defect fixing

Defect fixing is a waste because it represents rework caused by poor implementation.

1. 89 Throughout the project, velocity of the team has been unexpectedly falling. What does this mean?

1. It is a cause of concern as the team is not able to display predictability.
2. It is a cause of concern as it will affect the team performance feedback.
3. It is not a cause of concern as the cycle time should improve.
4. It is not a cause of concern as it will not impede the customer value.

Answer: A. It is a cause of concern as the team is not able to display predictability.

Throughout the project, velocity of the team has been unexpectedly falling. It is a cause of concern as the team is not able to display predictability.

1. 90 When playing Planning Poker, which of the following unit of measure is used to estimate effort?

1. Story points
2. Days
3. Dollars
4. Weeks

Answer: A. Story points

A story point is a unit of measure to express the estimated effort of the user story. It is the common measure used to estimate effort while playing Planning Poker.

1. 91 Which of the following is a key skill for a servant leader?

1. Task management
2. Performance management
3. Execution
4. Active listening

Answer: D. Active listening

Active listening involves the role that requires the listener to receive and understand what is said and provide feedback to the sender.

1. 92 The Kanban board is a simple artifact that serves all of the following purposes except:

1. Acting as information radiator
2. Resolving impediments
3. Visualizing the workflow
4. Identifying constraints

Answer: B. Resolving impediments

The Kanban board cannot show the underlying impediments, which have to be resolved by the team after analysis.

1. 93 At what point does backlog refinement take place?

1. During retrospection meeting
2. At special iterations scheduled for backlog refinement
3. Throughout the project
4. During iteration planning meeting

Answer: C. Throughout the project

Backlog Refinement should happen throughout the project.

1. 94 What is the main purpose of the daily stand-up meeting?

1. Resolving the issues faced by the team
2. Exchanging information among the team members
3. Reporting the status of the team
4. Ensuring that the project is on track

Answer: B. Exchanging information among the team members

The main purpose of the daily stand-up is to get the whole team on the same page.

1. 95 During the planning of an iteration, a team discovered a risk which has a 50% probability of occurrence and an impact of two days. What is the expected value of this event?

1. 0.5 days
2. 10%
3. 1 day
4. 20%

Answer: C. 1 day.

EMV = Probability * Impact

1. 96 What is usually the last event in a sprint or iteration?

1. The next sprint
2. The release
3. The testing
4. The retrospective

Answer: D. The retrospective

After the sprint, the team must perform a retrospective in order to improve the process.

1. 97 Agile leadership is most closely associated with which style?

1. Laissez faire
2. Command and control
3. Direction
4. Servant

Answer: D. Servant

Servant Leadership is associated with agile.

1. 98 The schedule of an agile project is generally established by _________________.

1. Determining the critical path
2. The calculation of story points and team velocity
3. The calculation of work packages and scope
4. The estimation of tasks, dependencies, and duration

Answer: B. The calculation of story points and team velocity

The most important items in agile are story points and velocity. A story point is a unit of measure to express the estimated effort of the user story. Velocity is the number of features or user stories that a team delivers in a fixed iteration.

1. 99 The Agile Manifesto states ‘Individuals and Interactions over _____.’

1. Comprehensive documentation
2. Top down management and tooling
3. Processes and tools
4. Contract negotiation

Answer: C. Processes and tools

The Manifesto states ‘Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools.’ The Manifesto states that while there is value to the items on the right of the statement, Agile emphasizes the items on the left.

1. 100 Where would you expect to find the epic stories in the product backlog?

1. At or near the top
2. Not present in the product backlog
3. Decomposed in the WBS
4. At or near the bottom

Answer: D. At or near the bottom

Epic stories are large stories that have not been broken down, and these are typically found at or near the bottom of the product backlog.

1. 101 The executive sponsor has indicated that co-location of an agile team is not possible. What is the best response?

1. Insist that the team be co-located
2. Use a waterfall methodology
3. Create a live presence through technology
4. No action is needed

Answer: C. Create a live presence through technology

A live presence should be created through agile tooling, which is technology designed to increase the sense of team and to encourage participation among the members. Examples include version control software, collaboration software, or video conferencing for distributed teams.

1. 102 A stakeholder has asked for the status of the project. What do you do?

1. The product owner should provide the status.
2. Ask the coach to gather status.
3. Show them where the information radiator is.
4. Gather the team for a status meeting.

Answer: C. Show them where the information radiator is.

The information radiator is used to communicate project status to the team and other stakeholders.

1. 103 A product owner has asked to attend the team daily stand-up meetings. What should the scrum master do?

1. Invite the product owner to the retrospective instead.
2. Invite the product owner to attend but as a silent observer.
3. Invite the product owner to attend and participate in the meeting.
4. Have the team vote on the request.

Answer: B. Invite the product owner to attend but as a silent observer.

The daily stand-up meeting is a brief meeting where the entire agile team attends and participates. The other stakeholders like the product owner should not participate in these daily meetings.

1. 104 The product owner of a team told the team facilitator that they would like to have three alpha releases during a six month project. The team facilitator said this does not matter. Why did the facilitator say this?

1. Because releasing is purely up to the product owner
2. Because every iteration should be releasable in an agile project
3. Because the team knows that this request will change any way
4. Because the product is deployed on a daily basis

Answer: B. Because every iteration should be releasable in an agile project

Every iteration should have a releasable product.

1. 105 Which document shows planned releases and relevant features coming over a period of time?

1. The product roadmap
2. The agile release plan
3. The project management plan
4. The iteration plan

Answer: A. The product roadmap

The product roadmap is an artifact that shows an overview of current and/or planned product functionality.

1. 106 The process of cost estimating is accurate when _________________.

1. Costs are estimated at the end of each iteration.
2. Costs are estimated when the product backlog is completed.
3. Costs go down as iterations progress.
4. Costs are estimated using burn rate, velocity, product backlog, and release plan.

Answer: D. Costs are estimated using burn rate, velocity, product backlog, and release plan.

Cost estimates are most accurate when burn rates, velocity, product backlog, and release plans are used.

1. 107 Which of the following is an important attribute for a scrum master or team facilitator of an agile team?

1. Technical leadership
2. Business acumen
3. Humility
4. Aggression

Answer: C. Humility

A scrum master or team facilitator is a servant leader and needs to display humility.

1. 108 Which estimating technique can be used when there is limited amount of time to estimate a large number of stories?

1. Planning Poker
2. Affinity estimating
3. Scatter diagrams
4. Wideband Delphi

Answer: B. Affinity estimating

Affinity estimating is the practice of using common sizes to rapidly place user stories into similarly sized groups.

1. 109 The best way to represent the work remaining on a project is _________________.

1. The product backlog
2. The velocity chart
3. The iteration backlog
4. The iteration plan

Answer: A. The product backlog

Product backlog is all the known features that are to be implemented throughout the project, regardless of the planned iteration or release.

1. 110 A team finds that although they deliver working product increments every iteration, they are not deployed quickly enough due to the operational teams not being in a state of readiness. Which of the following techniques is most likely to help the team overcome this problem?

1. Continuous integration
2. Continuous refactoring
3. DevOps
4. ITIL

Answer: C. DevOps

DevOps helps speed up the deployment of products from development to operations.

1. 111 The team suggested estimates. The range of estimates were plotted on a graph with no names and discussed. What method did the team use?

1. Hi-low estimates
2. Affinity estimating
3. The Wideband Delphi
4. Fibonacci sequences

Answer: C. The Wideband Delphi

Wideband Delphi estimation includes plotting estimates on a chart with no names, and then the range of points is discussed, and the team attempts to reach a general consensus.

1. 112 How should a coach handle conflict?

1. Coach should let the team settle the conflict unless the temperature of the conflict is very high
2. Conflict should be handled immediately
3. Conflict should be ignored
4. Conflict should be avoided

Answer: A. Coach should let the team settle the conflict unless the temperature of the conflict is very high

Conflict is an area of disagreement on the team. Some conflict is healthy and encouraged on agile projects, as it can lead to process improvement and a higher quality product. Coach should let the team settle the conflict unless the temperature of the conflict is very high.

1. 113 A product roadmap is used as a ____________.

1. Negotiation tool
2. Planning tool
3. Communication tool
4. Visioning tool

Answer: C. Communication tool

A product roadmap is used as a communication tool.

1. 114 The release burndown chart of a team shows an upward spike between the second and third iterations. What could cause this?

1. The team cycle time dropped.
2. User stories were added to the release backlog.
3. The team velocity decreased
4. The team burn rate increased.

Answer: B. User stories were added to the release backlog.

The burndown chart should show the backlog of work will lessen. When this does not happen, it means that additional work was added to the release causing a rise in the chart.

1. 115 A team was working on a project with a release backlog of 200 points. Between iterations 1 and 3, they completed 50 points of work and the product owner added 20 points of work to the release. What should be the bottom of the burndown bar chart?

1. At 150
2. At -20
3. At 20
4. At 50

Answer: B. At -20

As twenty points get added, the bottom of the bar shifts down by 20 points.

1. 116 The agile team has collective responsibility for the following, except _________________.

1. The product backlog
2. The code
3. The quality of the product
4. The completed speed stories

Answer: A. The product backlog

The product owner maintains the product backlog.

1. 117 Which of the following is true about payback period calculation?

1. Payback period should not be used by itself.
2. Payback period should only be used when risk is included.
3. A shorter payback period is better than a larger one.
4. Payback periods should be compared with other projects.

Answer: C. A shorter payback period is better than a larger one.

The payback period is a calculation where a shorter payback period is preferred over a larger period.

1. 118 A team was working on a project with a release backlog of 200 points. Between iterations 1 and 3, they completed 50 points of work and the product owner added 20 points of work to the release. What should be the top of the burndown bar chart?

1. At 170
2. At 150
3. At 130
4. At 200

Answer: B. At 150

The top of the bar moves down as the team completes the work. As 50 points are completed, the top will be at 150

1. 119 What is the best metric to compare two agile teams ?

1. Velocity
2. ROI
3. Cycle times
4. Story points

Answer: B. ROI

The ROI is the percentage that shows what of return an organization makes by investing in something. It equates to value, which is an important factor to the agile methodology.

1. 120 When would an agile project be appropriate?

1. A simple project where the requirements are mostly undetermined
2. A simple project where the requirements are firmly set
3. A complex project where the requirements are mostly undetermined
4. A complex project where the requirements are firmly set

Answer: C. A complex project where the requirements are mostly undetermined

Agile projects work best in projects that are complex and where the requirements are mostly undetermined.

For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests

Practice Test 5

Q 1. The agile team uses a data gathering facilitation technique to gather data in an iteration retrospective. The team creates a graph to provide a visual picture of the status of their satisfaction in any particular area. Choose the correct name for this technique.

1. Team Radar
2. Satisfaction Histogram
3. Color Code Dots
4. Triple Nickles

Answer: B. Satisfaction Histogram 

Satisfaction histogram is a technique in which the team creates a graph to provide a visual picture of the status of their satisfaction in any particular area. Therefore, it is the correct option.

Q 2. You are an agile practitioner and have recently been assigned to handle an ongoing Agile project. During the sprint retrospective, the project manager asked all the team members to put sticky dots on the project timeline to display the events where the emotions ran high or low. Choose the option that represents this activity.

1. Pareto Charts
2. Affinity Diagrams
3. Color Code Dots
4. Triple Nickles

Answer: C. Color Code Dots

Color Code Dots is a technique where sticky dots are used by team members to show the items or events where emotions run high or low.   Items with more dots have higher priority than items with fewer dots. The technique is frequently used during the sprint retrospective activity.

Q 3. During a retrospective, an agile team defines the desired state required to achieve. Small groups work for the identification of the factors that could drive the changes they want. They note down the factors and then the group checks the strength of each supporting factor with respect to other factors. Then the team repeats this process for inhibiting factors. Name the technique the team is using.

1. Brainstorming
2. Fishbone Analysis
3. Working Agreements
4. Force Field Analysis

Answer: D. Force Field Analysis 

The team is using force field analysis technique. In this technique, all the factors involved in the change are identified and the strength of all supporting and inhibiting factors is evaluated to check the feasibility of the change.

Q 4. An agile team is working on a software development project. During a retrospective, the team reveals its concerns regarding quality management processes. About 1% of the produced deliverables had some minor defects, so rework is required. What should the team do to bring the future performance of the project to meet the expected quality standards?

1. Find the root cause with critical chain diagram
2. Investigate the root cause using the fishbone diagram
3. Investigate the root cause with tornado diagram
4. Don’t do anything, ignore the minor defects

Answer: B. Investigate the root cause using the fishbone diagram

Fishbone diagram is a diagrammatic tool which is used to find the root cause of the problem. In this diagram, different causes of a problem are further divided into different branches to reach the root cause.

Q 5. You are an agile coach leading a complex knowledge work project in an organization. To document and share the knowledge work created by the project, you have to select a tool. There are a number of options, and as the agile coach, you considered two options that seem equally good. What will you do next to select the final right tool?

1. Organize a planning poker event and study both the options to choose the best one
2. Use a fishbone diagram to find the best tool out of the two options
3. Organize a spike event and study both the options to choose the best one
4. Schedule a meeting with the product owner to make the final decision

Answer: C. Organize a spike event and study both the options to choose the best one

The agile coach should organize a spike event and study both the options to choose the best one.

Q 6. John is a scrum master/coach for an agile team. During a design discussion meeting, he was acting as the facilitator. He noticed that the team has made the wrong design choice. John tried to correct them by dropping some hints in the form of questions but these go unnoticed. This incorrect design choice might cause some extra work for the team. What John should do next?

1. John should continue dropping hints until team understands what he is trying to highlight
2. John should tell the team to change the design option. John can also explain the reasoning if required
3. John should share his view about design option but leave the final decision on the team
4. Do nothing. Let the team learn from mistakes

Answer: D. Do nothing. Let the team learn from mistakes 

Choice D is correct since as a scrum master he does nothing. The team can learn from their mistakes if any and come back fast.

Q 7. In iteration planning, the team committed for 3 stories. The story point estimate for these stories were – 5 points, 4 points, and zero points. The team was able to successfully deliver all of these stories. The story worth 5 points took 5 ideal days. The story worth 4 points took 3 ideal days. The story worth zero points took very little effort (hardly 1-2 hours). What should be the velocity based on this data?

1. 3 stories.
2. 8 story points.
3. A number between 8 and 9 story points.
4. 9 story points.

Answer: D. 9 story points. 

Total story points worth work delivered = 5 + 4 + 0 = 9 story points.

Q 8. An agile team is planning for its 9th iteration. So far, the velocity has been: Lowest= 12 story points; Average=18 story points; Highest=24. Following are the user stories in the backlog in descending order of priority?

Story 1-5 points

Story 2-7 points

Story 3-9 points

Story 4-5 points

Story 5-3 points

Story 6-1 points

Which of the following stories should be chosen?

1. 1,2
2. 1,2,3
3. 1,2,4,6
4. 1,2,4,5

Answer: C. 1,2,4,6

Choice C is correct since the number of story points is equal to the average velocity.

Q 9. You are leading a large agile project for a health insurance company. You have decided to outsource one of the major functional modules. You received three bids. Seller A has the most experience of working on agile projects. Seller B has the most experience of delivering health insurance projects. Seller C has the lowest bid. Which seller would you choose?

1. Seller A: Understanding of agile methodology is most important. Agile incremental & iterative delivery can cover for limited functional experience and will ultimately save the cost.
2. Seller B: In agile, functional expertise is most important. If the contract is fixed price, it doesn’t matter whether the vendor uses agile iterative delivery or waterfall.
3. Seller C: Lowest bid, wins the contract.
4. Any seller can win the contract depending on the weighing system. The weighing system considers all important factors.

Answer: D. Any seller can win the contract depending on the weighing system. The weighing system considers all important factors.

Any seller can win the contract depending on the weighing system. The weighing system considers all important factors.

Q 10. What agile team should do to mitigate the risks associated with intrinsic schedule flaw?

1. Add Local safety in the estimate.
2. Adding extra resources increases team productivity.
3. Re-evaluate the release plan at the end of each iteration.
4. Re-evaluate the release plan at the end of the release.

Answer: C. Re-evaluate the release plan at the end of each iteration.

The agile team should re-evaluate the release plan after the end of each iteration to mitigate risks associated with intrinsic schedule flaw.

Q 11. An agile team is tracking the progress using release burn-down charts. While the chart was moving down till 5th iteration then it went up slightly and then again moved down till it touched the horizontal line. What could have been the reason for the burn-down chart going down?

1. In the testing of 6th iteration, there were bugs found in stories that were accepted as “done” in 5th iteration.
2. It was simply a plotting error. The team requires training on agile tracking tools.
3. There was more work added that the team finished in the sixth iteration.
4. The team could not finish any story in the sixth iteration.

Answer: C. There was more work added that the team finished in the sixth iteration.

There must have been more work added than team finished in 6th iteration so work finished was negative. This is a known limitation of the burn-down chart that it doesn’t show the work added separately.

Q 12. An agile team working on new software for a bookstore. In 1st iteration top priority story in book maintenance (adding books, modifying information about books, deletion of books) During the iteration planning, the team realized that this story is quite big and may not be delivered completely in a single iteration. What should the team do?

1. Divide into smaller stories based on the layers on an architecture such as the creation of screens,  user interface layer, back-end, middle tier connecting back-end and user interface.
2. Divide it into smaller stories based on functions such as one story for adding books, another for modifying information about books, and the 3rd one for deletion of books.
3. Do nothing as it’s normal to have the initial few iterations delivering no business value. The team can continue working on remaining tasks in the 2nd iteration.
4. Modifying the iteration length so that the team is able to finish this story in one single iteration.

Answer: B. Divide it into smaller stories based on functions such as one story for adding books, another for modifying information about books, and the 3rd one for deletion of books. 

It is advisable to split the stories based on operational boundaries.

Q 13. Which of the following is best to call a good user story?

1. The administrator can manage the books she has added.
2. The administrator can update the book availability text.
3. The administrator can add, edit and delete multiple books.
4. The code should be written in JAVA.

Answer: B. The administrator can update the book availability text.

An administrator can update the book availability text. This can be particularly useful if the book is out of stock so that users can get the correct information. It may also tell if the book was out of stock but now has become available.

Q 14. As an agile lead/manager, what should you do if you see a committed story can’t be finished by end of the iteration and it would take another 2 days?

1. As it is just a matter of two days, extend the iteration length this time to finish what was committed. Meeting commitment is more important than having a fixed iteration length.
2. Ask the team to stop working on the story as it can’t be finished. Schedule this as the top priority story for the next iteration.
3. Discuss with the product owner about the situation and available options without changing the iteration end date. Determine if and when it should be completed.
4. Let the team continue working and finish as much as you can. Pick the unfinished part in next iteration

Answer: C. Discuss with the product owner about the situation and available options without changing the iteration end date. Determine if and when it should be completed.

A product owner is best placed to decide about priorities. One of the opinions could be to divide the story into smaller stories (if feasible) or have an agreement about reduced scope. If the story has to be deferred to future iterations, it needs to be taken up in the iteration planning meeting of next iterations. There is a high probability that this would be picked in the next iteration but we can’t just assume that.       

Q 15. A new person joined the team. You see him doing copy paste from one module to another. What do you think is right here?

1. There is nothing wrong here as in a team, it’s okay to reuse team members work
2. This is the violation of intellectual property. People should use their knowledge and creativity rather than copying others work
3. Violation of design principle called ‘DRY’ (Don’t Repeat Yourself)
4. No need for this person to ask permission from the original author of the code

Answer: C. Violation of design principle called ‘DRY’ (Don’t Repeat Yourself).

The violation of design principle DRY. DRY concept recommends removing/avoiding duplicate code. Ideally, if we need to reuse some logic, the best thing is to make it a common routine, which can be called /referenced from multiple places. This issue with such copy paste is, the code becomes unnecessarily lengthy and clumsy. If there is a change in that logic, changes will have to be made at multiple places so this impacts the scalability.

Q 16. Which of the following are the TRUE statements about velocity?

1) If a story is not complete, based on % complete, it can contribute towards velocity calculation.

2)  Velocity corrects estimate errors.

3)  Velocity helps in customer satisfaction.

4)  Velocity helps in predicting the end date of release.

A. 4 only.

B. 1 and 3.

C. 2,3 and 4.

D. All four.

Answer: C. 2,3 and 4.

All the given statements 2, 3 and 4 are correct related to the velocity of the team.

Q. 17. During iteration planning, the amount of slack that you build depends on the ______________of the problems that your team experiences in each iteration.

1. Complexity.
2. Number.
3. Randomness.
4. Impact

Answer: C. Randomness.

Randomness is the factor we consider to build the amount of slack in iteration planning.

Q. 18. An agile team needs to build a new website to sell few retail products through the internet. In which order you would perform various activities related to user role modeling.

1. Create a persona, Identify user roles, Refine roles, Consolidation and narrowing.
2. Identify customer, Brainstorm on initial roles, Organize roles, Consolidate roles, refine roles (add persona, consider an attribute).
3. Identify customers, create personas, Identify initial roles, Refine roles, consolidated roles.
4. Identify initial roles, refine roles (add persona, consider and attributes), Identify customer, consolidation and narrowing.

Answer: B. Identify customer, Brainstorm on initial roles, Organize roles, Consolidate roles, refine roles (add persona, consider an attribute). 

The statement is given in the correct sequences.

Q 19. Which of the following is correct about terms product knowledge and project knowledge?

1. Product knowledge is knowledge about what will be developed while project knowledge is about how the product will be created.
2. Project knowledge is knowledge about what will be developed while product knowledge is about how the product will be created.
3. Project knowledge is knowledge about what will be developed while product knowledge is about features to be developed.
4. Both project knowledge and product knowledge terms are used interchangeably in agile development and relate to knowledge about how the product should be developed.

Answer: A. Product knowledge is knowledge about what will be developed while project knowledge is about how the product will be created. 

Product knowledge is knowledge about what will be developed. It is knowledge about the features that will be included and about those that will not be included. The more product knowledge a team has, the better able they will be to make a decision about the nature and features of the product.

Project knowledge, by contrast, is the knowledge about how the product will be created. Examples include knowledge about the technologies that will be used, about the skills of the developers, about how well the team functions together and so on.

The explanation for the product knowledge and project knowledge are correct.

Q 20. Which of the following allows the team to make and meet long-term commitments?

1. Release planning.
2. Project Chartering.
3. Risk management.
4. Slack.

Answer: C. Risk management.

Every project has a number of uncertainties. Despite these uncertainties, your stakeholders need schedule commitments that they can rely upon. Risk management allows us to make and meet these commitments.

Q 21. Following are a few statements about the story writing workshop. Which of the following statements are correct with respect to a story writing workshop?

1. During a story writing workshop, the focus should be on quality rather than quantity.

2. A Good story-writing workshop combines the best elements of brainstorming with low-fidelity prototyping.

3. No priorities are associated with stories during the story writing workshop.

4. A story writing workshop includes developers, users, the product customer and other parties who can contribute by writing stories.

1. 1 and 4
2. 2 and 3
3. 2, 3 and 4
4. All four

Answer: C. 2, 3 and 4 

Statement 1 is incorrect as the aim of the story writing workshop is to produce as many stories as possible so key focus in on quantity (rather than quality)

Statement 2 is correct as low fidelity prototypes are used during story-writing. There is brainstorming to come up with stories.

Statement 3 is correct as, during a story writing workshop, the complete focus is on writing stories. No priorities are associated at this time.

Statement 4 is correct as the story-writing workshop does include developers, users and all other people who can contribute.

Q 22. What is the best time for a product owner to groom the backlog?

1. During release planning.
2. During iteration planning.
3. Exactly before iteration planning.
4. This can happen throughout the iteration or in a meeting a few days prior to iteration planning.

Answer: D. This can happen throughout the iteration or in a meeting a few days prior to iteration planning.

Backlog grooming is a process of estimating the existing backlog using effort/points, refining the acceptance criteria for individual stories, and breaking large stories into smaller stories. It can either happen in a meeting or can happen throughout the sprint on a more continuous basis. One of the commonly used methods is planning poker.

Choice D is correct, as grooming of backlog can happen anytime during the iteration. The idea is to have sufficient information in place before iteration planning.

Q 23. When it is best to do a Risk Audit (examine the effectiveness of risk responses)?

1. As part of iteration planning.
2. As part of iteration review.
3. As part of the retrospective meeting.
4. As part of a risk management review meeting.

Answer: C. As part of the retrospective meeting.

The purpose of the retrospective is to understand what went well and what did not go well. Examining the effectiveness of a risk response plan (risk audit) should be best done as part of the retrospective meeting.

Q 24. An agile team is following the burndown bar chart to track the progress. Following is the sequence of events:

1. In the beginning, there were 240 story points worth work.

2. In iteration 1, the team finished 20 stories.

3. In the iteration planning meeting of the second iteration, a new high priority story of 15 story points was added and the same was selected as part of iteration scope.

4. The team did finish the newly selected story and another story of 5 points (total 20 points of worth work).

How should the bar chart now look like for iteration progress?

1. Top of the bar is at 200 points, the bottom is at -15.
2. Top of the bar is at 215 points, the bottom is at zero.
3. Top of the bar is at 200 points, the bottom is at zero.
4. Top of the bar is at 215 points, the bottom is at -15.

Answer: A. Top of the bar is at 200 points, the bottom is at -15.

Explanation: Top of the bar is lowered based on the amount of work finished. Total 40 points worth work finished so that means the top of the bar should be at 200 points. Bottom of the bar is lowered when additional work is added so the bottom was brought down to -15. It doesn’t matter when this additional work finishes, the bottom of the bar will be raised only when some scope is removed.

Q 25. Mark is working on a product development project using Agile methodologies. There are many features in the product which are available to the end user. Which one of the below is not a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

1. An explainer video which explains your product in a few seconds.
2. A nicely designed landing page which communicates the value of offerings in the product.
3. A single most valuable feature ready for use online for free to judge investor interest.
4. A product display of fifty features working nicely and developed/tested for six months thoroughly.

Answer: D. A product display of fifty features working nicely and developed/tested for six months thoroughly. 

Minimum Viable product is that version of a new product that allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.

Q 26. Daily stand-up is an important practice used in agile methodologies in different variants. Which of the below statements describes the difference between daily stand-up between Kanban vs scrum methodologies ? Assuming a big project with multiple teams.

1. In both Kanban & Scrum senior-level meetings happen first.
2. In both Kanban & Scrum team level meetings happen first.
3. In Kanban, higher level (in authority) meetings happen first whereas in Scrum the team’s first meets and then sends a delegate to a Scrum-of-Scrums.
4. In Scrum, higher level (in authority) meetings happen first whereas in Kanban the team’s will meet first.

Answer: C. In Kanban, higher level (in authority) meetings happen first whereas in Scrum the team’s first meets and then sends a delegate to a Scrum-of-Scrums. 

In Kanban, all the features are taken at once and pulling of work items happens based on WIP. This is controlled first at senior level on a daily basis and then further calls are taken. Whereas in Scrum, a set of features are taken and daily stand up happens within the individual team first and then they send representatives for the scrum of scrums.

Q 27. You are managing a large project. As you don’t have internal capacity, you decided to outsource a major part of your project. You have prepared and sent the RFP to key suppliers. You get a call from your cousin who is an account manager in one of the supplier firms. He wants to bid on your project. You know his company has done good work in the past so may be a good fit. How do you proceed?

1. You disclose the conflict of interest to your company and disqualify your cousin’s company
2. You disclose the conflict of interest to your company and provide your cousin with information that can improve his chances of winning the contract
3. You do not disclose the conflict of interest and give your cousin the bid
4. You disclose the conflict of interest to your company and make the selection based on objective criteria

Answer: D. You disclose the conflict of interest to your company and make the selection based on objective criteria

Any time there’s a conflict of interest, it is your duty to disclose it to your company. After that, you should always proceed based on your company’s policies. If there are no specific policies about that, then make sure that the conflict does not affect your decisions. When bidders are competing for a contract, you must make sure they all have some level of information so that no one bidder is given an unfair advantage.

Q 28. John is a scrum master/coach for an agile team. Tom came to him with a complaint about Jack. John, as a good coach, tried a three-step intervention method but Tom rejected all three options. What John should be Next?

1. Do nothing. Cease to consider it a problem.
2. Set-up a meeting with both Tom and Jack to sort out differences.
3. Talk to Jack and make him aware of the complaint but without telling him the name of the complainer.
4. Warn Tom that complaining about colleagues is not acceptable in agile teams so there should not be repetition.

Answer: A. Do nothing. Cease to consider it a problem.

If the complainer is not willing to accept options given in three-step intervention, that might mean the complainer doesn’t want to resolve the complaint. Sometimes, people just want to vent. Other times, people try to add coaches into their gossip chain. If the conflict looks too serious to ignore, then the coach should ask “Are you ready to solve this without blaming?” This is not given a choice and hence the best choice is A.

Q 29. Which of the following is a one-page summary of key business and quality objectives, product capabilities and project management information?

1. Vision.
2. Project Datasheet.
3. Business case.
4. Requirement specification.

Answer: B. Project Datasheet.. 

A vision statement tells what is to be achieved. It may not provide a full picture of why a project should be undertaken. Choice B is correct since a project data sheet (PDS) is a single page summary of key business and quality objectives, product capabilities and project management information.

Q 30. Which of the following is incorrect about acceptance tests?

1. Acceptance tests should be written as late as possible, generally just before the start of testing as that avoids rework
2. Acceptance tests are helpful in communicating assumptions of the customer team
3. Acceptance tests are tests that validate that the functionality to be delivered meets customer expectation
4. Acceptance tests are often written on the back of story card

Answer: A. Acceptance tests should be written as late as possible, generally just before the start of testing as that avoids rework.

The given statement about the acceptance test is false.

Q 31. A project team is discussing the priorities associated with different project management methodologies. What would an agile practitioner say is the top priority?

1. Working software and lean documentation    
2. Individuals and interactions and lightweight processes and tools    
3. Customer satisfaction through delivery of valuable products    
4. Responding to change and progressive elaboration of plans

Answer: C. Customer satisfaction through delivery of valuable products  

This answer choice most closely resembles the highest priority according to the Agile Manifesto which states, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

Q 32. An agile coach suggests that a lean product development team use a value stream mapping technique in their continuous improvement efforts. What is the primary purpose of this technique?

1. Improving and applying consistent coding standards    
2. Identifying and eliminating non-essential process tasks or activities to decrease cycle time    
3. Ensuring only the highest value and highest quality deliverables are produced    
4. Creating a visual map of a process that can be used by other teams to build value for their customers

Answer: B. Identifying and eliminating non-essential process tasks or activities to decrease cycle time  

Value stream mapping is used to break down and map a multi-step process with the goal of identifying those tasks or activities that cause unnecessary delay and inefficiency. The identification and elimination of these non-value added activities decrease cycle times and improve the overall process efficiency.

Q 33. During a sprint review, the product owner rejects one of the product features that the development team demonstrated. What happens next to the user story according to which the rejected feature was developed?

1. The user story is automatically placed into the sprint backlog of the next sprint
2. The user story is deleted from the product backlog and dropped from the project
3. The user story is rewritten to address the reasons why they were not accepted
4. The user story is placed in the product backlog to be reprioritized

Answer: C. The user story is rewritten to address the reasons why they were not accepted

If a feature is rejected, it is most often due to a gap in the team’s understanding of the expectations of the business or customer. This misunderstanding can arise due to missed acceptance criteria or a poorly written user story which served as a basis for the feature. The first step is to correct or rewrite the user story. Then it can be placed into the backlog and reprioritized.

Q 34. In an effort to increase agile knowledge, traditional project managers of a company have been paired with scrum masters to observe them lead their teams. One observation is that many project decisions are the responsibility of the project team and the scrum master is more facilitative than authoritative. In fact, the scrum masters seem more focused on ensuring that the team can focus on the work, have a shared vision, and determine how they will accomplish their work. What leadership approach have the scrum masters adopted?

1. Participative leadership
2. Autocratic leadership
3. Transformational leadership
4. Servant leadership

Answer: D. Servant leadership

Servant leadership is the practice of leading through service to the team, by focusing on understanding and addressing the needs and development of the team members in order to enable the highest possible team performance.

Q 35. An agile team finished coding for the current iteration. Which of the following is a continuous process improvement ceremony that the team will now attend? 

1. Release planning meeting
2. Iteration retrospective meeting
3. Product demonstration meeting
4. Iteration planning meeting

Answer: B. The iteration retrospective meeting is an example of a continuous process improvement ceremony on an agile project.

Q 36. A scrum master is starting a project with a new team and needs to develop an estimate of velocity. What should the scrum master use as a basis for velocity in the first sprint?

1. Forecasted velocity
2. Actual velocity
3. Terminal velocity
4. Cycle velocity

Answer: A. Forecasted velocity

Forecasted velocity is commonly used in a new agile project’s first iteration because there is no historical data available to help estimate this velocity.

Q 37. A development team is using an eXtreme Programming (XP) development practice that frequently incorporates new and updated code into the project code repository. What technique is the development team using? 

1. Refactoring    
2. Pair programming    
3. Collective code ownership    
4. Continuous integration

Answer: D. Continuous integration 

Continuous integration is a development practice that requires developers to integrate code into a shared repository several times a day. When the new or altered code is checked into the code repository, automatic routines are run to ensure that all the code will work together and that it will all compile successfully.

Q 38. On an agile project, the team completed the creation of a potentially shippable product increment. Of the following, which represents the length of time that it took to create this product increment?

1. Estimated time
2. Cycle time
3. Lead time
4. Ideal time

Answer: B. Cycle time is the amount of time something takes to go from the start of the process to the end of that process.

Cycle time is the amount of time something takes to go from the start of the process to the end of that process.

Q 39. An agile practitioner has developed a prioritized matrix that describes which product features will be delivered in each release over time. What has the agile practitioner created?

A. The product vision statement

B. A product wireframe

C. The product roadmap

D. A product theme

Answer: C. The product roadmap

A product roadmap is a prioritized matrix that describes product features that the team will deliver in each release over time.

Q 40. A team lead is currently demonstrating a potentially shippable product increment for project stakeholders. Which agile meeting is being conducted?

1. Iteration review meeting
2. Daily standup meeting
3. Iteration retrospective meeting
4. Iteration deliverables meeting

Answer: A. Iteration review meeting

The iteration review meeting is a product-oriented meeting held at the end of the iteration to demonstrate product increments completed within that iteration. 

Q 41. An agile team has decided to create an artifact to demonstrate the product increment for the purpose of gathering feedback from the stakeholders. How should the project team accomplish this task?

1. Construct a wireframe
2. Build a prototype
3. Develop a persona
4. Utilize a template

Answer: B. Build a prototype

A prototype is an original type, form, or instance of a product to explore the basic size, look and feel of a product without simulating the detailed functionality of the product. A prototype can be used to demonstrate the product increment and gather feedback from the stakeholders, making this choice the best answer to the question asked.

Q 43. An agile practitioner needs to track the team’s performance over time. How might the agile practitioner accomplish this task?

1. Report the team’s performance using real time
2. Calculate the team’s velocity
3. Capture the number of escaped defects
4. Create an estimate of the project’s CPI

Answer: B. Calculate the team’s velocity

Velocity is perhaps the most common metric and is used to determine the team’s performance over time. It is often used to compare actual performance to estimated performance.

Q 44. An agile team is estimating the level of effort necessary to complete their user stories. They decide to make the assumption that the team members will not have any interruptions to project work and will be productive 100% of the time. Which of the following is the team using?

1. Real time
2. Relative size  
3. Ideal size
4. Ideal time

Answer D: Ideal time.

Ideal time is where the assumption is made that the agile project team members will have no interruptions in their work, such as checking email or attending meetings and will be 100% productive every hour of every day.

Q 45. A product owner and the scrum team members are conducting their first sprint planning meeting. The user stories are read to the team, and the team members have provided estimates to complete these user stories. As the team proceeds to develop the user stories during the sprint, what should the product owner do?

1. Add more features for the team to develop so they can deliver more value
2. Let the team work and answer any questions that might arise during this sprint
3. Shield the team from interruptions and facilitate discussions for the team members
4. Extend the sprint’s length if it appears the team cannot complete the work on time

Answer B: Let the team work and answer any questions that might arise during this sprint 

Letting the team work and answering any questions that might arise during the sprint reflects the commitment that the developers and the product owner have made.

Q 46. An agile team does not think it can meet the release deadline based on their velocity midway through the release’s iterations. What should the team do?

1. Meet with the product owner to discuss a new release date
2. Add more developers to the team
3. Slice user stories so that the team can increase velocity
4. Meet with the product owner to re-prioritize the backlog

Answer D: Meet with the product owner to re-prioritize the backlog 

Unless stated differently, on agile projects the cost and the schedule are fixed, while the scope is flexible. Therefore, meeting with the product owner to discuss the scope reduction, or in other words, to re-prioritize the backlog, is the best option among the answer choices provided.

Q 47. An agile team is demonstrating a recently developed product. Who determines when a product is complete? 

1. The development team
2. The product owner
3. The sponsor
4. The agile coach

Answer B: The product owner

The product owner accepts the completed product increment in the iteration review meeting after reviewing the acceptance criteria and verifying the functionality.

Q 48. An agile team wants to determine the root cause of a recurring issue. Which method would an agile practitioner select to determine the root cause?

1. Five Whys
2. Kano
3. MoSCoW
4. Kanban

Answer: A. Five Whys

The ‘Five Whys’ analysis method has its origin with Toyota and works well for agile teams performing a root cause analysis during a retrospective.

Q 49. For their new project to develop a point-of-sale system, the team creates an agile model in the form of a sample screen design of the system’s user interface. What would an agile practitioner say is the primary benefit of this model?

1. Achieving a highly polished design
2. Discussing aspects of potential features
3. Increasing the level of detail
4. Creating a very accurate representation

Correct Answer: B. Discussing aspects of potential features

The primary value of an agile model is in the discussion and creation of the model, rather than the actual model. As a result, an agile model is barely sufficient rather than highly detailed.

Q 50. An agile team lead has many years of experience and is a subject matter expert on the product that the team is building. How can the team lead best engage the team in solving a problem?

1. Steer the team towards what the team lead knows is the best option
2. Consult the team on every decision
3. Encourage the team to experiment with different potential solutions
4. Engage the team in documenting the pros and cons of different solutions

Answer: C. Encourage the team to experiment with different potential solutions

To engage the team in solving problems, the team lead should create an open and safe environment, where the team members can experiment with different options without fear of being punished for mistakes they may make during this experimentation.

Q 51. Stakeholders want to understand what progress an agile team has made in their last iteration. What should stakeholders review to determine this information?

1. The team’s velocity chart
2. The results of the spike
3. Product backlog
4. Fishbone slices

Answer: A. The team’s velocity chart

A velocity chart shows the amount of value delivered in each iteration allowing the stakeholders to understand what progress the team has made during the iteration.

Q 52. A project team is discussing the priorities associated with different project management methodologies. What would an agile practitioner say is the top priority?

1. Working software and lean documentation
2. Individuals and interactions and lightweight processes and tools
3. Customer satisfaction through the delivery of valuable products
4. Responding to change and progressive elaboration of plans

Answer: C. Customer satisfaction through the delivery of valuable products

This answer choice most closely resembles the highest priority according to the Agile Manifesto which states, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

Q 53. An agile team needs to demonstrate a product increment at the end of every iteration. What should an agile practitioner recommend that the team do to make sure that they have adequate time to get prepared for the demonstration?

1. Create a user story for conducting the demonstration
2. Hire an external expert to handle the demonstration
3. Track the task with a project management plan
4. Delay the demonstration to the next iteration

Answer: A. Create a user story for conducting the demonstration

The creation of a user story to demonstrate the product increment developed in the iteration allows the team to allocate dedicated time to get prepared for the demonstration.

Q 54. A cross-functional agile team has experienced many disruptions in recent sprints since various members needed time off due to planned holidays and unplanned absences for personal reasons. What should the team have done differently?

1. Increased specialization among team members
2. Engaged in more planning
3. Provided for more safety in estimates
4. Shortened the sprint length during the project

Answer: C. Provided for more safety in estimates

On average through the course of all the sprints, some amount of time allocated for unplanned events (such as team taking time off) needs to be included as a safety in the team’s estimates.

Q 55. Which of the following behaviors should an agile coach avoid?

1. Coordinating individual contributions
2. Emphasizing business value delivery
3. Taking the problem to the team
4. Being invested in the team’s overall performance

Answer: A. Coordinating individual contributions

An agile coach should move away from coordinating individual contributions, and instead coach the team to collaborate.

Q 56. Agile team members reported that they were unable to complete all user stories that they had committed to deliver in the last sprint since they had worked overtime and eventually got burned out. What is wrong with the team approach?

1. Nothing is wrong. Maintaining a constant pace indefinitely is more important than missing a sprint goal.
2. The team approach is wrong. The team should fulfill and be held accountable for their commitment.
3. Nothing is wrong. To maintain good working relationships with the team, the product owner should not hold the team accountable.
4. The team approach is wrong. Maintaining a constant pace indefinitely has a different meaning that is not applicable in this scenario.

Answer: B. The team approach is wrong. The team should fulfill and be held accountable for their commitment.

The Agile Manifesto should not be used as an excuse for not completing the committed sprint goal. The team should be held accountable for their work.

Q 57. At the daily standup meeting, the agile team has raised an impediment where one of the developers has been withdrawn from the team by the developer’s line manager to complete their previously committed tasks from another project. As a result, the team will be unable to meet their sprint goal. What should have been done differently to avoid this impediment?

1. The team should have considered human resources availability while planning the sprint.
2. The team should have worked faster during the sprint before the developer has been withdrawn. 
3. The team should have added buffers to each user story to account for the unknown risks. 
4. The line manager should have not let the developer go to work on the agile project in the first place.

Answer: A. The team should have considered human resources availability while planning the sprint.

Prioritization of work is not solely based on the customer value. There are other factors to consider, such as risks, dependencies between user stories, and people’s availability, to name the few.

Q 58. At the sprint retrospective meeting, the agile team members drew a fishbone diagram, wrote a problem at the fish’s head, and labeled the bones of the fish with categories. What should the team do next?

1. Decide what to do about the categories
2. Brainstorm factors within each category
3. Look for items appearing in more than one category
4. Label the fish’s tail with a category for the solution

Answer: B. Brainstorm factors within each category

After the problem is written at the fish’s head and the bones of the fish are labeled with categories, the next step is to brainstorm factors within each category.

Q 59. A team of agile practitioners who have been working together for a long time and successfully delivered many projects has decided to improve their best practices for their upcoming project. What would be the best approach for the team to take to accomplish this task? 

1. Select the best practices used by the most successful agile team in the organization 
2. Design a new set of best practices that are tailored to the upcoming project
3. Apply the same practices that have been used by the team in their previous projects 
4. Consult with the scrum master, the product owner, and the project stakeholders

Answer: C. Apply the same practices that have been used by the team in their previous projects 

The process can and should always be analyzed for any improvements, for example, during retrospective meetings. However, if a set of practices used by a team has proven to be effective, i.e. became a set of best practices, using the same best practices in the next project would be the best option among the answer choices given.

Q 60. An agile team has worked together on previous projects. In the team’s last project, the greatest negative criticism was the inaccuracy of the estimates. When preparing estimates for a new project, what should an agile practitioner recommend that the team members do differently?

1. Deliberate extensively to completely eliminate uncertainty from the estimate
2. Fine tune approach but do not put too much effort to gain the maximum benefit from estimating
3. Lock down the budget, schedule, and scope to improve the accuracy
4. One team member should take primary responsibility for owning the estimate

Answer: B. Fine tune approach but do not put too much effort to gain the maximum benefit from estimating

With estimating, there is a point of diminishing returns, where additional effort put into estimation yields a minimal improvement in accuracy. Therefore, the team can fine-tune, but should not put in too much time or effort in estimating.

Q 61. A new scrum team is looking to improve its process for their next project. Which approach would an agile practitioner say is most likely to help the team improve its process?

1. Adopt the process used by the most successful team in the organization
2. Tailor the process for the new project
3. Focus on ‘work not done’ and reflection
4. Consult with the scrum master and the project sponsor

Answer: C. Focus on ‘work not done’ and reflection

Simplicity and reflection are core agile practices. Simplicity, “the art of maximizing the amount of work not done”, is one of the Agile Manifesto principles. Reflection is in the center of iteration retrospectives aimed to improve the team’s process and performance. Focusing on reflection and simplicity will most likely help the team improve its process, making this the best answer to the question asked.

Q 61. Which of the following Scrum event centers on the ‘product’?

1. Daily Standup Meeting
2. Sprint Planning Meeting
3. Sprint Review Meeting
4. Sprint Retrospective Meeting

Answer: C. Sprint Review Meeting

The Sprint Review Meeting is a product-centric meeting held at the end of each sprint where the development team demonstrates the functionality they have completed during the sprint, asks for feedback, and seeks the acceptance of this functionality by the Product Owner.

Q 62. What happens to user stories that are not accepted by the customer at the end of a sprint?

1. They are automatically placed into the backlog of the next sprint.
2. They are deleted from the product backlog and dropped from the project.
3. They are placed in the product backlog to be reprioritized.
4. They are rewritten to address the reasons why they were not accepted.

Answer: C. They are placed in the product backlog to be reprioritized.

User stories that are not accepted by the customer at the end of a sprint are placed in the product backlog to be reprioritized by the customer and/or the product owner.

Q 63. When an Agile project team member is not 100% dedicated to one project, they are referred to as?

1. Practically Assigned
2. Minimally Assigned
3. Partially Assigned
4. Fractionally Assigned

Answer: D. Fractionally Assigned

If the time an Agile project team member has available is not 100% fully dedicated to one project, then the team member is said to be fractionally assigned. Fractional Assignment is particularly common in organizations where an individual is assigned to one or more projects simultaneously. This makes it extremely difficult for the individual to focus and achieve their maximum productivity on either project, and is not considered an Agile Project Management best practice.

Q 64. Which of the following refers to the start-to-finish time required to develop a potentially shippable product increment?

1. Actual Time
2. Cycle Time
3. Ideal Time
4. Real Time

Answer: B. Cycle Time

Cycle Time refers to the time it takes (from beginning to end) to complete the creation of a potentially shippable product increment. Actual Time and Real Time are used synonymously and refer to the actual time during each day that the team members are available and are productively working on specific Agile project tasks. Ideal Time or Ideal Days refers to when you make the assumption that your Agile project team members will have no interruptions in their work, such as checking email or attending meetings, and will be 100% productive every hour of every day.

Q 65. What is considered the most effective method of communication on an Agile project?

1. Osmotic Communication
2. Electronic Communication
3. Face-to-Face Communication
4. Virtual Communication

Answer: C. Face-to-Face Communication

Face-to-face communication is the verbal exchange of information by senders and receivers in real time and is considered the most effective form of communication in both Agile Project Management and Traditional Project Management. Collocation helps make Face-to-Face Communication a reality for an Agile project team.

Q 66. An agile team used planning poker to estimate user stories. After all team members read a user story, the facilitator asks everyone to choose a card with an estimated number of ideal days to complete a user story and then reveal the card. If estimates were widely different, the facilitator would immediately ask for re-estimates until all the estimates converge. What did the facilitator do wrong?

1. Participants used ideal days as the unit for the estimates.
2. Participants re-estimated immediately after everyone revealed their cards.
3. Cards were revealed when the process should have been anonymous.
4. The facilitator did nothing wrong and played by the rules.

Answer: B. Participants re-estimated immediately after everyone revealed their cards.

By immediately re-estimating, the team misses out on the benefit of discussing the estimates and why they chose those estimates.

Q 67. An agile coach noticed that team members are afraid to ask questions, do not collaborate with each other, and avoid taking responsibility for their actions. What is the most likely reason for such behavior among the team members?

1. Fear of conflict
2. Lack of leadership 
3. Avoidance of accountability 
4. Absence of job security

Answer: A. Fear of conflict

Fear of conflict is one of the main reasons for team members to avoid taking responsibility, to be afraid to ask questions, and not to collaborate with each other.

Q 68. In the planning workshop, the product owner prioritized and ranked the features by business value, and then presented the top features to the development team. What is the team’s next logical step?

1. Set up a customer review meeting to capture more details
2. Start planning and estimating
3. Decompose the features into stories
4. Start development work

Answer: C. Decompose the features into stories

Decomposing the features into stories is the best choice. The next step is for the team to continue analysis by decomposing features into stories. Such decomposition is part of adaptive planning.

Q 69. An agile team has worked together before. In their last project, the greatest negative criticism against them was the inaccuracy of their estimates. What should the team members do differently when preparing estimates for their new project?

1. Deliberate extensively in order to eliminate uncertainty from the estimate
2. Fine tune approach but do not put too much effort to gain the maximum benefit from estimating 
3. Lock down the budget, schedule, and scope to improve the accuracy
4. One team member should take primary responsibility of tracking the estimate

Answer: B.  Fine tune approach but do not put too much effort to gain the maximum benefit from estimating

With estimating, there is a point of diminishing returns, where additional effort put into estimation yields very little in terms of additional accuracy. The team therefore can fine tune, but should not put in “too much” time or effort in estimating.

Q 70. During a retrospective meeting after a failed sprint, emotions run high as the team members blame each other for the failure. Phrases like “He always forgets to check in his code!” or “You never listen to what I have to say!” predominate this heated debate. What is the first thing that an experienced agile coach should do in such a situation?

1. Sit back for a while and observe the team members
2. Intervene immediately to avoid further harm
3. Call in a human resources department representative
4. Start a coaching session with the team members

Answer: A. Sit back for a while and observe the team members

Sitting back and observing the team members’ may be interpreted as a lack of action. However, as a first step, it is important for an experienced agile coach to sufficiently observe the situation.

Q 71. During what Agile meeting is a potentially shippable product increment shown to all interested stakeholders?

1. Iteration Acceptance Meeting      
2. Iteration Planning Meeting
3. Iteration Review Meeting
4. Iteration Retrospective Meeting

Answer: C. Iteration Review Meeting

The Iteration Review Meeting occurs at the end of the iteration where the development team presents the potentially shippable product component they have developed during the current iteration to all interested stakeholders.

Q 72. Which of the following statements is not true with regard to user stories?

1. They are stored in the Product, Release and Sprint Backlogs.
2. They are the primary vehicles used in Agile to create project and product requirements.
3. They should be written by the customer or customer proxy.
4. They represent the smallest unit of work performed on an Agile project.

Answer: D. They represent the smallest unit of work performed on an Agile project.

User stories are broken down into tasks, which represent the lowest form of work decomposition on an Agile project. Tasks can be assigned specific resources for their execution and can also have discreet hourly estimates assigned for their completion.

Q 73. What Agile role is sometimes referred to as ‘the voice of the customer’?

1. Scrum Master
2. Development Team Lead
3. Product Owner
4. Project Manager

Answer: C. Product Owner

Think about which of these roles has the closest and most frequent contact with the customer on an Agile project. The Product Owner is responsible for bridging the gaps between the customer, business stakeholders, and the development team and is sometimes referred to as ‘the voice of the customer’.

Q 74. In what year was the Declaration of Interdependence published?

1. 2001
2. 2003
3. 2005
4. 2007

Answer: C. 2005.

The Declaration of Interdependence was published four years after the Agile Manifesto in 2005 by a group of Agile practitioners to help implement guidelines set forth in the Agile Manifesto.

Q 75. What type of planning describes the technique of applying incremental delivery cycles to perform the work on an Agile project?   

1. Rolling Wave Planning
2. Adaptive Planning
3. Progressive Planning
4. Incremental Planning

Answer: B. Adaptive Planning

Adaptive planning is a technique the employs iterative development cycles in order to produce incremental product deliverables and allows you to adapt your project plans based on the current reality that surrounds and affects your Agile project. Rolling Wave Planning is a form of Progressive Elaboration that focuses more on the near term plans and rolls into the longer term as more information becomes available about the project requirements. Progressive Planning and Incremental Planning are not terms associated with Agile product development.

Q 76. What is the Agile term for the technique of creating a group of rules that govern how team members interact?

1. Standard Operating Procedures
2. Sprint Backlog
3. Working Agreements
4. Rules of Engagement

Answer: C. Working Agreements

Working Agreements is an Agile Project Management term that refers to the standards that each Agile team defines (by consensus) to outline the specific rules for how the team will work together during the course of the project. They are normally considered a ‘verbal contract’, and should be displayed as an information radiator in the team’s Commons space. These are sometimes referred to as Rules of Engagement on non-Agile projects. Teaming Agreements are contractual arrangements  between two or more entities to form a partnership or joint venture for the duration of a project. Standard Operating Procedures are used in both Project Management and Organizational Management and are not specific to Agile.

Q 77. In terms of the decomposition of requirements on an Agile project the artifact that contains release plans as its first level of decomposition is referred to as a?

1. Product Roadmap
2. Release Backlog
3. Product Backlog
4. Sprint Backlog

Answer: A. Product Roadmap

The Product Roadmap is the second Agile Artifact that is created during the Initial Strategy Meeting on an Agile Project. It is a visual timeline of major product features that support the Product Vision Statement, broken down into releases. This will enable the Initial Strategy Meeting attendees to see the ‘big picture’ of when these major product features will be developed and released over the life of the entire project.

Q 78. According to Lean Manufacturing, which of the following terms refers to a set of unfinished work that produces no business value?

1. Work In Process
2. Work in Transition
3. Work In Stagnation
4. Work In Progress

Answer: A. Work In Process

Work in Process is a Lean Manufacturing term that refers to the set of unfinished items being developed or waiting in the backlog that produce no business value until they are fully completed. Work in Progress is a more general term that is not specific to Lean Manufacturing and refers to any work for which you are actively performing tasks at any given moment.

Q 79. Osmotic Communication relies on which of the following in order to be most effectively practiced?

1. Distributed teams
2. Caves and common area
3. Pair programming
4. Co-located teams

Answer: D. Co-located teams

Distributed teams cannot experience osmotic communication since not all team members are located in the same physical space. Although caves and common areas, as well as pair programming, assume co-location, the definition of osmotic communication dictates that teams be co-located. Being located near each other and in the same physical environment enables knowledge to be shared and absorbed more easily as though through osmosis.

Q 80. What is the term used to indicate the number of story points that an agile team completes in an iteration?

1. Affinity
2. Cadence
3. Relativity
4. Velocity

Answer: D. Velocity

Velocity refers to the number of story points an Agile team completes in an iteration. Cadence is also a term sometimes used in Agile to describe when a team gets into a ‘rhythm’ of average work performed during a sprint but is not specifically measured in story points.

Q 81. All of the following are considered Agile Methods except?

1. Adaptive Software Development
2. Feature Driven Development
3. Lean Software Development
4. Test Driven Development

Answer: D. Test Driven Development

Adaptive Software Development, Feature Driven Development and Lean Software Development are all considered Agile methods. Test Driven Development is considered an Agile tool.

Q 82. Alistair Cockburn created the Crystal Family of Agile Methods, all of whose names contain colors of quartz crystals taken from geology.  What two characteristics of an Agile project are used to determine the color of the Crystal method that should be implemented?

1. Size and complexity
2. Duration and complexity
3. Size and criticality
4. Duration and criticality

Answer: C. Size and criticality

Crystal comes from Alistair Cockburn’s characterization of projects along the two dimensions of “size” (meaning the size of the project team) and “criticality” (meaning the damage that will be caused if the developed product or system fails).

Q 83. Who is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Product Roadmap?

1. Project Manager         
2. Product Manager
3. Scrum Master
4. Product Owner

Answer: D. Product Owner

The primary responsibility of the Product Owner on an Agile project is to represent the business, which includes the creation and maintenance of several Agile artifacts. The Product Owner is responsible for the creation of the Product Vision Statement, the creation and ongoing maintenance of the Product Roadmap, and the creation and ongoing maintenance of Product Backlog, which is commonly referred to as ‘Product Backlog Grooming’.

Q 84. Which of the following is an example of a continuous process improvement ceremony on an Agile Project?

1. Release Planning Meeting         
2. Iteration Retrospective Meeting
3. Product Demonstration Meeting
4. Iteration Planning Meeting

Answer: B. Iteration Retrospective Meeting

Although Continuous Process Improvement should always be on the minds of all Agile project team members, the Iteration Retrospective Meeting is a formal ceremony used in Agile. This event is held at the end of each iteration where lessons learned during the iteration are reviewed, and specific plans of action are implemented during the very next iteration to prevent these issues from occurring again on the project.

Q 85. Frequently integrating new and updated software code on an Agile project is called?

1. Constant Integration
2. Continuous Integration   
3. Consistent Integration   
4. Continuous Integration   

Answer: D. Continuous Integration 

Continuous Integration is a technique used in Extreme Programming dictating that all updates to the application source code base be integrated and tested at least once per day.

Q 86. Emotional Intelligence is an extremely important interpersonal skill that each Agile team member should possess. In terms of the social awareness aspects of Emotional Intelligence, which of the following statements is true?

1. Social Awareness is characterized by the use of self-confidence
2. Social Awareness is characterized by the use of influence
3. Social Awareness is characterized by the use of self-control
4. Social Awareness is characterized by the use of empathy  

Answer: D. Social Awareness is characterized by the use of empathy 

When utilizing the interpersonal skill of Emotional Intelligence on an Agile project, Social Awareness is characterized by the use of empathy in order to understand the perspective of the person with whom you are interacting and communicating.

Q 87. Which of the following techniques is considered most effective when used as a method for project team members to generate ideas for solving problems or meeting open-ended challenges?

1. Brainstorming 
2. Fist of Five 
3. Free-For-All
4. Silent Idea Generation   

Answer: A. Brainstorming.

There are three types of techniques that Agile project teams can use for solving problems or meeting open-ended challenges. These are Brainstorming, Free-For-All and Silent Idea Generation. Of these three techniques, Brainstorming is considered the most effective. Fist of Five is a technique used in Agile estimation.

Q 88. What type of Agile contract allows the customer to terminate the contract at any time on the project if they do not see any added value?

1. Agile Iteration Contract    
2. Agile Time and Materials Contract    
3. Agile Phased Development Contract    
4. Agile Early Termination Contract  

Answer: B. Agile Time and Materials Contract  

An Agile Time and Materials contract allows the customer to terminate the contract at any time on the project if they do not see any added value.

Q 89. Often when implementing an Agile project for the first time in an organization, there is no historical data to determine the velocity of the first project iteration, so this velocity is really more of a ‘guestimate’ than an ‘estimate’. Which term describes this type of velocity?

1. Forecasted Velocity                                               
2. Estimated Velocity
3. Terminal Velocity
4. Cycle Velocity

Answer: A. Forecasted Velocity

Forecasted Velocity is an estimate of Agile project team velocity and is used when it is impossible or impractical to determine how many story points they will need to complete an iteration. This is commonly used on a new Agile project’s first iteration since there is no historical data available to help estimate this velocity.

Q 90. Product defects reported by the customer that have escaped all software quality processes  are called?

1. Primary Defects                                                
2. Escaped Defects
3. Secondary Defects
4. Undetected Defects

Answer: B. Escaped Defects

Escaped Defects are those defects reported by the customer that have escaped all software quality processes, and are usually pointed out by the customer during the Iteration Review meeting.

Q 91. Variance and Trend Analysis is a technique used on Agile projects to reduce risk. What type of Agile Risk Management is Variance and Trend Analysis considered?

1. Organic Risk Management                                      
2. Organizational Risk Management
3. Optimal Risk Management
4. Overt Risk Management 

Answer: D. Overt Risk Management 

Overt Risk Management is the implementation of risk management techniques on your Agile project to explicitly identify, track and create risk responses plans for project risks. Organic Risk Management is the amount of risk reduced on your project inherently by implementing Agile best practices.  Organizational Risk Management and Optimal Risk Management are not terms recognized in Agile.

Q 92. On your Agile projects there is sometimes undocumented knowledge or information that is only known by certain project team members, and is usually kept to themselves.  What is the name of this type of knowledge?

1. Common Knowledge                             
2. Shared Knowledge
3. Tacit Knowledge
4. Tribal Knowledge    

Answer: C. Tacit Knowledge

Undocumented knowledge or information that people keep to themselves on an Agile project team without wanting to share with the rest of the team is known as Tacit Knowledge.

Q 93. Which of the following Agile meetings is used to synchronize an Agile project team’s activities to ensure they are all working toward a common iteration goal?

1. Daily Standup Meeting                       
2. Iteration Review Meeting
3. Iteration Planning Meeting
4. Iteration Retrospective Meeting

Answer: A. Daily Standup Meeting

When you think about the Agile Daily Standup Meeting, remember the term ‘synchronize’.  This Agile meeting is used to synchronize an Agile project team’s activities to ensure they are all working toward a common iteration goal.

Q 94. On your Agile project you have just completed the creation of a potentially shippable product increment. The time it took to create this product increment is referred to as?

1. Actual Time           
2. Cycle Time
3. Lead Time
4. Real Time

Answer: B. Cycle Time

Cycle Time refers to the time it takes (from beginning to end) to complete the creation of a potentially shippable product increment.

Q 95. The Value Stream Mapping process has four distinct steps.  Which of the following is not a recommended step in the Value Stream Mapping process?

1. Define the current state
2. Describe the opportunity
3. Identify the value stream target
4. Depict the desired future state

Answer: B. Describe the opportunity

The four distinct steps in the Value Stream Mapping process are (in order); 1) Identify the value stream target, 2) Define the current state, 3) Clarify the opportunity, and 4) Depict the desired future state. Describing the Opportunity is not a valid Value Stream Mapping process step.

Q 96. You are currently on an Agile project team developing a new bar code scanning device for a major drug store retailer and are currently creating user stories. One project team member is very strong-willed and is constantly trying to exert his influence over others to sway them to his way of thinking. This is an example of?

1. Dominating
2. Influencing
3. Dictating
4. Anchoring

Answer: D. Anchoring

Anchoring occurs when undue influence is exerted by an individual on an Agile project team to  sway the other team members to their way of thinking.

Q 97. Which of the following Agile meetings is process-oriented?

1. Iteration Planning
2. Iteration Review
3. Iteration Demonstration
4. Iteration Retrospective

Answer: D. Iteration Retrospective

The Iteration Retrospective is a process-oriented Agile project team meeting that is held at the end of each iteration. Its  purpose is to explicitly reflect on the most significant events that have occurred during the current iteration in order to make decisions on how to improve processes during the next iteration.

Q 98. Agile project teams often use a collection of values, principles and practices to aid in the  Agile software development process. What is the term used to describe this collection?

1. Agile Prototyping
2. Agile Analytics
3. Agile Modeling
4. Agile Diagnostics

Answer: C. Agile Modeling

Agile Modeling is a tool that Agile project teams often use to create models for Agile software development, and is a collection of values, principles and practices.

Q 99. All of the following are considered methods of receiving feedback from Agile project team members except?

1. Team Evaluation
2. Prototyping
3. Individual Evaluation
4. Process Tailoring

Answer: B. Prototyping

Team Evaluation, Individual Evaluation and Process Tailoring are all methods of soliciting feedback from your Agile project team members. Prototyping is a form of “Product” feedback, not a form of “Project Team” feedback.

Q 100. Which of the following contain the Core Practices of Kanban ?

1. Limit WIP, Make Process Policies Explicit, Measure and Manage Flow
2. Define and Visualize the Workflow, Self-Organizing, Measure and Manage Flow
3. Limit WIP, Use Models to Suggest Improvement, Prioritize Business Value
4. Define and Visualize the Workflow, Make Process Policies Explicit, Simplicity

Answer: A. Limit WIP, Make Process Policies Explicit, Measure and Manage Flow

The five core practices of Kanban are Define and Visualize the workflow, Limit WIP, Measure and Manage Flow, Make Process Policies Explicit, Use Models to Suggest Improvement. In answer B, Self-Organizing is a focus in Scrum. In answer C Prioritize Business Value is an overall Agile philosophy. In answer D, Simplicity is an XP Core Value.

Q 101. A teammate doesn’t finish their work, because they had to help out on another project. Which of the categories of Waste does this fall into?

1. Partially done work
2. Defects
3. Task Switching
4. Extra Processes

Answer: C. Task Switching

Being assigned to different projects is an example of task switching, which creates waste.

Q 102. When prioritizing using the MoSCoW technique, which of the following would comprise what is needed to support the business case ?

1. Must Have
2. Must Have and Should Have
3. Must Have, Should Have, and Could Have
4. None of the above

Answer: B.  Must Have and Should Have

Must Have and Should Have, are the categories that make up the Business Case.  Must Have support the Minimum Useable Subset.  Answer C, should be 100% of the total effort and supports both the business case and contingency.

Q 103. You are a tester and you are testing unscripted scenarios to explore the range of the product.  Which of the following are you performing?

1. Exploratory Testing
2. Alpha Testing
3. Usability Testing
4. Scenario Testing

Answer: A.  Exploratory Testing

Exploratory Testing is where testers perform unscripted testing.

Q 104. Information Radiators are designed to:6. Information Radiators are designed to:

1. Be simple to understand
2. Be detailed and precise
3. Kept in management areas so they can be aware
4. Only accessible to members of the team

Answer: C. Kept in management areas so they can be aware

Continuous Integration is a technical practice.  A, B, and D are all ways of working collaboratively

Q 105. Your team is having a passionate discussion and you are trying to understand their level of conflict.  The team is making statements like “I guess we are just going to have to save the day again” and “This is a stupid discussion.”  What level of conflict are you observing?

1. Level 1
2. Level 2
3. Level 3
4. Level 4

Answer: B. Level 2. 

Level 2.  At level 2, the language is cynical and team members try to distance themselves from the debate.

Q 106. Which of the following is not true about velocity?

1. Velocity is used to track progress
2. Velocity can be used to project how much work an agile team can do
3. Velocity is the measure of work that a team can tackle in a single iteration
4. Velocity can be used to compare teams

Answer: D. Velocity can be used to compare teams  

Velocity cannot be used to compare teams, since all teams will have their own calibration of velocity

Q 107. Which of the following is not an aspect of designing agile spaces?

1. Caves and Commons
2. Areas to conduct the daily standup
3. Information radiators
4. Expensive furniture

Answer: D.  Expensive furniture is not needed to create an agile space.

Q 108. When planning an iteration, the team committed to 10 points.  It looks like you are only going to complete 8.  What do you do?

1. Work overtime to complete the work
2. Do not complete definition of done criteria to get to 10 points
3. Complete 8 points
4. Extend the iteration

Answer:  C. Complete 8 points

The best answer is to complete the 8 points.  Working overtime doesn’t follow the principle of sustainable pace.  You cannot skip the definition of done criteria in order to “complete” 10 points, because as a team you agree the DoD is needed for high quality products.  D is incorrect because iterations are timeboxed.

Q 109. Your team has 200 points in the backlog and a velocity of 15 points for each two-week iteration.  How many weeks should you expect to complete the backlog?

1. 14 weeks
2. 26 weeks
3. 28 weeks
4. 16 weeks

Answer C.  28 weeks.

It will take you 13.3 iterations to complete the work in your backlog (200/15=13.3) Since you should not change the timebox of an iteration, you would need 14 iterations to complete the work.  Since the question asks how many weeks, 14 iterations of two-week timeboxes.

Q 110. Which of the following practices are latest on the Cost of Change curve?

1. Defect found through traditional testing methods
2. Defect found though paired programming
3. Defect found through continuous integration
4. Defect found through Test Driven Development

Answer: A. Defect found through traditional testing methods 

B, C, and D are all methods that look for defects before the code even gets to a tester.

Q 111. On agile projects, Cycle time normally refers to:

1. The average duration of an iteration
2. The time required to complete a work items from start to finish
3. The time required for product review
4. The time periods between iterations.

Answer B. The time required to complete a work items from start to finish 

The cycle time is how long it takes for an item to go from start to finish.

Q 112. Your team is conducting an Iteration Planning Meeting.  You spend five minutes waiting for the team to show up, 30 minutes reviewing the stories, 10 minutes to take a break, and 30 minutes to select the stories for the iteration.  What is the Process Cycle Efficiency?

1. 70%
2. 80%
3. 90%
4. 95%

Answer: B. 80%  

The total cycle time is 75 minutes.  The Value Add time is 60 minutes.  60/75=80%

Q 113. At the end of an iteration, who approves the completion of that iteration ?

1. Project Manager
2. Product Owner
3. Scrum Master
4. Management

Answer: B. Product Owner. 

The product owner is the only person who can approve an iteration

Q 114. You are on a team that is using XP.  Your team seems to be confused during a discussion, where people seem to be talking about different things, when you believe they are just using different words, which is confusing.  Which XP practice are you probably not following?

1. Sustainable Pace
2. Simple Design
3. System Metaphor
4. Pair Programming

Answer:  C. System Metaphor

The best answer is C, System Metaphor is a tool to create a shared understanding for the team.  B could be considered, where the design could be too complicated, but the best answer is C.

Q 115. Which of the following would not be helpful in selecting a project for inclusion?

1. IRR
2. NPV
3. ROI
4. WIP

Answer: D.  WIP.

WIP has nothing to do with project prioritization.  IRR, NPV, and ROI are all financial metrics that can be used to prioritize opportunities

Q 116. The pattern for Test Driven Development is:

1. Write Code, Write Test, Refactor
2. Write Test, Write Code, Refactor
3. Write Test, Refactor, Write Code
4. Write Code, Review Code, Test Code

Answer: B. Write Test, Write Code, Refactor 

The Test Driven Development Pattern is Write Test, Write Code, Refactor

Q 117. You are the scrum master for a project, and you have found out that you are not going to deliver the MMF at the end of the release. The best way to deal with this situation is:

1. Text the Product Owner
2. Write a report documenting what occurred
3. Go discuss the issue face to face with the stakeholders
4. Schedule a conference call with the stakeholders

Answer: C. Go discuss the issue face to face with the stakeholders 

The best method of communication, especially when there is bad news is face to face.

Q 118. Which of the following is not one of the agile values?

1. Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
2. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
3. Customer Collaboration over Technical Quality
4. Responding to Change over Following a Plan

Answer: C. Customer Collaboration over Technical Quality

The value is Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

Q 119. A Scrum Master has set up a team celebration for a successful release.  Which aspect of Servant Leadership are they demonstrating?

1. Shield the team from interruptions
2. Remove Impediments to progress
3. Communicate (and re-communicate) the project vision
4. Carry Food and Water

Answer: D. Carry Food and Water

Carry Food and Water isn’t just about getting food and water for the team.  It’s about providing the essential resources to keep them nourished and productive.  Appreciation is something that is important for the team to feel motivated and productive

Q 120. Recently you have been assigned as a Product Owner to the Scrum team that you had never worked with before. One week later one of your company’s managers approaches you and asks to confirm that the project will be finished by the 6th of March. He says that he reviewed estimates given by your team and needs a commitment guarantee it will be finished to the exact date. What is the most likely problem in this situation?

1. The Manager should approach a Scrum Master not you
2. Many managers confuse estimates with commitments. As soon as a team expresses an estimate they are forced to commit to it
3. You have been assigned to the project recently therefore you are not able to make any commitments yet
4. Agile teams don’t make any commitments to specific dates

Answer: B. Many managers confuse estimates with commitments. As soon as a team expresses an estimate they are forced to commit to it

An estimate is a probability and a commitment cannot be made to a probability. Commitments are made to dates. Normally the date that a team is asked (or told) to commit to is one to which they would assign a less than 100% probability.

For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests

Practice Test 4

Q 1. Which of the following is an Agile Manifesto principle?

1. Welcome changing requirements early in development. Agile processes handle changes for the customer’s competitive advantage.
2. Welcome changing priorities early in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
3. Welcome changing priorities, even late in development. Agile processes handle changes for the customer’s competitive advantage.
4. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.

Answer: D. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage. 

Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage is an Agile Manifesto principle (D), while the other options are made up. (A) and (B) focus on early development, while (C) mentions priorities which are all wrong.

Q 2. Which of the following is a common failure mode for a Scrum team?

1. Scrum master controls and commands the team
2. Product owner available on a day-to-day basis
3. Team being distributed
4. Eight team members

Answer: A. Scrum master controls and commands the team 

A common failure mode is the Scrum master command and controlling the team (A). An available product owner is positive (B) and eight team members (D) is also a good size, while team being distributed (C) is not a reason for failure.

Q 3. You have access to proprietary information a vendor included as part of a bid proposal. The information was marked confidential and was included to show that the vendor would be issued a patent by the end of the month, which makes this company’s bid the best candidate for your company and significantly improves the market share of the vendor. What do you do with this information?

1. Invest in the company immediately.
2. Tell your friends to invest in this company.
3. Wait until the information becomes public knowledge and then decide if you want to invest in the company.
4. Provide the proprietary information to a competing vendor.

Answer: C. Wait until the information becomes public knowledge and then decide if you want to invest in the company. 

It would not be ethical to invest in the company immediately (A) or tell your friends to invest in this company (B). Wait until the information becomes public knowledge, and then decide if you want to invest in the company. (C) is the best option here. Providing proprietary information to a competing vendor (D) is very unethical.

Q 4. You are Scrum master for a new team. Which of the following activities should you attend to?

1. Remove impediments
2. Take part in estimating user stories
3. Plan spikes
4. Act as project manager for the team

Answer: A. Remove impediments

The Scrum master should remove impediments (A), but not take part in estimating user stories (B), spikes (C), or even consider acting as project manager (D).

Q 5. Harry’s Agile team failed to complete a user story in its most recent iteration. What should Harry and his team do?

1. Collaborate with the customer to determine if and when the user story should be completed.
2. Immediately add the user story to the top of the next iteration’s backlog.
3. Finish the user story over the weekend or during other downtime.
4. Remove the user story from the project.

Answer: A. Collaborate with the customer to determine if and when the user story should be completed. 

Harry’s Agile team should collaborate with the customer to determine if and when the user story should be completed (A). Immediately adding the user story to the top of the next iteration’s backlog is a decision to be made by the product owner, not the team (B). Finish the user story over the weekend or other downtime (C) is not an option as sprints are timeboxed. Remove the user story from the project (D) is not possible, as it is prioritized by the product owner to be completed.

Q 6. Your team is estimating using the planning poker technique and you are in dire need of a break. What do you do?

1. Use the question mark card
2. Use the coffee cup card
3. Use the 100 mark card as it means break
4. Just take a short break without asking

Answer: B. Use the coffee cup card 

In planning poker the use of the question mark card (A) means “I don’t know” while the coffee cup card means “I need a break” (B). The 100 mark card is a high esteem card (C), while just leaving without asking may cause some debate (D).

Q 7. In Agile, planning is conducted using rolling-wave planning or successive elaboration; however, how else could we describe it?

1. Bottom-up planning
2. Adaptive planning
3. WBS planning
4. Adaptive leadership planning

Answer: B. Adaptive planning 

Another term for rolling-wave planning and successive elaboration is adaptive planning (B), while WBS planning (C), and adaptive leadership planning (D) are made up. Agile is top-down planning, not bottom-up (A).

Q 8. Who should decide what the Definition of Done criteria should be for the team?

1. The team
2. The team and the Scrum master
3. The team and the product owner
4. The team, the Scrum master, and the product owner

Answer: A. The team 

The Definition of Done criteria are decided by the team (A), and by no one else (B), (C), or (D).

Q 9. What do risk burn-down graphs show?

1. The impacts of project risks on the project schedule
2. The impacts of project risks on the project budget
3. The cumulative risk severities over time
4. The cumulative risk probabilities over time

Answer: C. The cumulative risk severities over time 

The risk burn-down graphs show the cumulative risk severities over time (C), while the impacts of project risks on the project schedule (A), the project budget (B), and the cumulative risk probabilities over time (D), are not shown. 

Q 10. Which element is not found in the project charter?

1. Assumptions
2. Constraints
3. Roles and Responsibilities
4. Earned Value Management

Answer: D. Earned Value Management 

Assumptions (A), constraints (B), and roles and responsibilities (C) are all found in the project charter, while Earned Value Management (D) is rarely the case.

Q 11. Your team has decided to use the EVM metrics and has data on Earned Value and Planned Value. What is missing?

1. AV
2. AC
3. SPI
4. CPI

Answer: B. AC 

For EVM you need EV, PV, and AC (B). AV (A) is made up while SPI (C) and CPI (D) can be measured based upon EV, PV, and AC.

Q 12. The main steps of vendor management include:

1. Administer procurements
2. Conduct procurements
3. Close procurements
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above 

The main steps of vendor management include administer procurements (A), conduct procurements (B), and close procurements (C), which makes all of the above (D) the best choice.

Q 13. According to Scrum, an iteration planning meeting should last no longer than:

1. One hour
2. Four hours
3. Eight hours
4. One week

Answer: C. Eight hours 

According to Scrum, an iteration planning meeting should last no longer than eight hours (C).

Q 14. In a Scrum team, when are “risks” identified?

1. Daily scrum
2. Retrospective
3. Sprint review
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above 

Risk can be identified at any time (D).

Q 15. Your team has been struggling and has now been shut down. What phase is the team in?

1. Adjourning
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. None of the above

Answer: A. Adjourning 

Adjourning is the close phase (A) and correct, while storming (B) and norming (C) are for ongoing teams. None of the above (D) is not the best option in this case.

Q 16. What does the XP phrase “caves and common” mean?

1. A single room where there is an open space on one side with information radiators and a whiteboard for meetings, and on the other side are programming cubicles
2. A common area that is public to team members and where osmotic communication and collaboration are at play; a cave area that is a reserved space for private business
3. A cave area where programmers may have peace and quiet for developing user stories and a common room for eating lunch and other social activities
4. A common area reserved for iteration reviews, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives, and a cave area reserved for the development team

Answer: A. A single room where there is an open space on one side with information radiators and a whiteboard for meetings, and on the other side are programming cubicles 

The XP phrase “caves and common” means a single room where an open space with information radiators and a whiteboard for meetings is on one side, and on the other side are programming cubicles (A). Osmotic communication and collaboration happens at the computers (B); caves and common areas are not for work (C) and (D).

Q 17. Which one of the following definitions describes the correct characteristics of the Scrum team?

1. Self-managing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional
2. Self-directing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional
3. Self-directing, Self-empowered, and Cross-functional
4. Self-monitoring, Self-managing, and Self-functioning

Answer: A. Self-managing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional 

The team is self-managing, self-organizing, and cross-functional. Self-directing (B) self-empowered (C), and self-monitoring (D) are made up.

Q 18. The defects that are not found during the development phase are called:

1. Escaped defects
2. Customer found defects
3. Requirements defects
4. Missed defects

Answer: A. Escaped defects 

The defects that are not found during the development phase are called escaped defects (A), while the other options are made up.

Q 19. When using a Kanban board to manage work in progress, which of the following best summarizes the philosophy behind the approach?

1. It is a sign of the work being done and should be maximized to boost performance.
2. It is a sign of the work being done and should be limited to boost performance.
3. It is a sign of the work queued for quality assurance, which should not count toward velocity.
4. It is a sign of the work queued for user acceptance, which should not count toward velocity.

Answer: B. It is a sign of the work being done and should be limited to boost performance. 

It is a sign of the work being done and should be limited to boost performance (B) is the best answer since it summarizes the philosophy behind the approach. It does not maximize the performance (A) and it does count toward velocity (C) and (D).

Q 20. What Agile concept is closely related to Value Stream Mapping?

1. Maximize business value
2. Eliminate waste
3. Incremental integration
4. Minimize resource usage

Answer: B. Eliminate waste 

Eliminate waste is closely related to Value Stream Mapping (B), while the other options are irrelevant or made up in this case.

Q 21. Incremental delivery means that:

1. We deliver nonfunctional increments in the iteration retrospectives.
2. We release working software only after testing each increment.
3. We improve and elaborate our Agile process with each increment delivered.
4. We deploy functional increments over the course of the project.

Answer: C. We improve and elaborate our Agile process with each increment delivered. 

Incremental delivery means that we improve and elaborate our Agile process (C) with each increment delivered.

Q 22. How would the team improve the code without altering the functionality of the system?

1. Test-Driven Development
2. Test-First Development
3. Pair Programming
4. Refactoring

Answer: D. Refactoring 

Improving the data without changing the functionality is called refactoring (D) and has nothing to do with testing (A), (B), and (C).

Q 23. What tools or techniques are needed for value-based prioritization?

1. Return on Investment
2. The business case
3. The project charter
4. A risk-adjusted backlog

Answer: A. Return on Investment 

Tools and techniques for value-based prioritization are ROI (A), IRR, NPV, and similar, while the other options are not relevant to this question.

Q 24. What is a positive indicator that Agile may be appropriate to an organization as a new project methodology?

1. That the adopting organization values strict and inflexible project management practices
2. That the adopting organization values trust, collective ownership, and adaptability
3. That the adopting organization values hierarchical decision making
4. That the adopting organization values top-down management

Answer: B. That the adopting organization values strict and inflexible project management practices 

Strict and inflexible project management practices (A) is not a positive indication while adopting organization values trust, collective ownership, and adaptability (B) is. Adopting organization values hierarchical decision making (C) and adopting organization values top-down management (D) are not positive indicators.

Q 25. The team has accumulated significant technical debt. How could the team repay some of it?

1. Hire more people
2. Ask the product owner to reduce the backlog
3. Refactor the code
4. Change velocity

Answer: C. Refactor the code 

Hiring more people (A) is not an option for the team and the number of features in the backlog (B) would not reduce the current debt, which can be reduced by refactoring the code (C) so this is the best option. Change of velocity (D) has no effect at this stage.

Q 26. What is the purpose of asking the “5 Whys”?

1. To determine the scope of the sprint
2. To determine the root cause
3. To determine the end result
4. To determine the prioritized backlog

Answer: B. To determine the root cause 

The purpose of asking the “5 Whys” (B) is to determine the root cause.

Q 27. Which of the following statements is not true about Agile smell?

1. Loss of Rhythm
2. Flying Chickens
3. Missing Pigs
4. Persistent Signatures

Answer: B. Flying Chickens 

Agile smells include Loss of Rhythm (A), Missing Pigs (C), and Persistent Signatures (D), but not Flying Chickens (B)

Q 28. Your team is averaging 50 story points per week and has 400 story points left in the product backlog. How many weeks would you expect to need before all stories are completed?

1. 2 weeks
2. 6 weeks
3. 8 weeks
4. 10 weeks

Answer: C. 8 weeks  

400/50 = 8 weeks (C).

Q 29. Agile estimates are considered:

1. Collaborative
2. Team-based
3. Iterative
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above 

Agile estimates are collaborative (A), team-based (B), and iterative (C), which makes all of the above (D) the best choice.

Q 30. When managing an Agile software team, engaging the business in prioritizing the backlog is an example of:

1. Technical risk reduction
2. Incorporating stakeholder values
3. Vendor management
4. Stakeholder story mapping

Answer: B. Incorporating stakeholder values 

When managing an Agile software team, engaging the business in prioritizing the backlog is an example of incorporating stakeholder value (B). Technical risk reduction (A) is conducted by the team while vendor management (C) in this case does not incorporate stakeholder value. Stakeholder story mapping (D) is rarely the case.

Q 31. What is the relationship between leadership and management in Agile?

1. Leadership is rarely applied.
2. Management is hardly applied.
3. Leadership and management are used together.
4. Leadership and management are not used together.

Answer: C. Leadership and management are used together. 

In Agile, management and leadership are used together (C).

Q 32. Agile expects uncertainty and manages it through what?

1. Iterations, estimation, and adaptation
2. Iterations, anticipation, and adaptation
3. Estimation, anticipation, and adaptation
4. Collaboration, iterations, and adaptation

Answer: B. Iterations, anticipation, and adaptation 

Agile expects uncertainty and manages it through iterations, anticipation, and adaptation (B).

Q 33. The optimal team size is most likely:

1. Between 1 and 4
2. Between 5 and 9
3. Between 10 and 13
4. Between 14 and 19

Answer: B. Between 5 and 9 

The optimal team size is most likely between 5 and 9 (B) or the number of people who can split two pizzas. Too few will not be enough to manage the work, while too many will result in free riders and ineffectiveness.

Q 34. High performance teams that listen well will not:

1. Be told more.
2. Be more effective.
3. Understand people better.
4. Resolve conflicts easier.

Answer: B. Be more effective. 

High-performance teams that listen well will be told more (A), understand people better (C), and be better at resolving conflicts (D); however, they will not be more effective (B).

Q 35. As part of stakeholder management and understanding, the team may undertake customer persona modeling. Which of the following would a persona not represent in this context?

1. Stereotyped users
2. Real people
3. Archetypal descriptions
4. Requirements

Answer: D. Requirements 

Customer persona modeling may include stereotyped users (A), real people (B), and archetypal description (C), while requirements (D) are not illustrated.

Q 36. The 12 principles of Agile Software indicate that businesspeople and developers must work together daily throughout the project; however, which of the following is not a practice that supports that?

1. Retrospectives
2. Whole Team
3. Osmotic Communication
4. Daily Scrum

Answer: A. Retrospectives 

Businesspeople and developers must work together daily throughout the project involves real customer Involvement, Whole Team (B), Osmotic Communication (C), and Daily Scrum (D); however; it does not involve retrospectives (A).

Q 37. Ralph is describing the INVEST acronym used for user story development in an Agile practitioner seminar. What does the “I” in INVEST stand for?

1. Incremental
2. Independent
3. Innovative
4. Iteration

Answer: B. Independent 

The “I” in INVEST stands for Independent (B).

Q 38. Which of the following techniques is a brainstorming technique?

1. SCAMPER
2. 5 Whys
3. Root-Cause analysis
4. Decision tree

Answer: A SCAMPER 

SCAMPER is a brainstorming technique just like brainwriting, pre-mortem, and such, while 5 Whys (B) and Root-Cause analysis (C) are for product quality. Decision trees (D) mostly are used for risk management.

Q 39. You are a Scrum master in a Scrum team. The product owner doesn’t want to prioritize items in the product backlog. He says everything is important. What is the best you can do?

1. Let the team work without prioritizing. In any case, you will have to deliver all the features. It is not a critical problem.
2. Be firm and insist on prioritizing.
3. Prioritize the product backlog yourself.
4. Let the team decide which features are most important.

Answer: B. Be firm and insist on prioritizing. 

The best thing is to be firm and insist on prioritization (B). The team needs the prioritization (A) and it does not prioritize itself (C), nor is it the team’s decision (D) to make the prioritizations for the business.

Q 40. What does the Speculate phase do?

1. Reviews delivered results and the team’s performance
2. Concludes the project and passes along key learning
3. Clearly identifies what needs to be done and how the work can be accomplished
4. Produces a release plan based on capabilities or stories

Answer: C. Clearly identifies what needs to be done and how the work can be accomplished 

The Speculate phase (C) clearly identifies what is to be done and how the work is to be accomplished.

Q 41. In communication what is most important?

1. Feelings and attitudes in the words that are spoken
2. The way that the words are said
3. Facial expression
4. All of the above

Answer: C. Facial expression 

55% of the message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in facial (C) expression, which is the most important variable in terms of communication.

Q 42. What is the process cycle efficiency of a 2-hour meeting if it takes you 2 minutes to schedule the meeting in the online calendar tool and 8 minutes to write the agenda and email it to participants?

1. 90%
2. 8%
3. 92%
4. 96%

Answer: C. 92% 

92% 120 minutes of value (meeting) and 2 + 8 (10) minutes of non-valued time (C). The formula is 10/120 = 0.08. 100% – 8% = 92%.

Q 43. Leading adaptive work is based upon how many principles?

1. 4
2. 6
3. 8
4. 10

Answer: B. 6 

Leading adaptive work is based upon 6 (B) principles.

Q 44. The 12 practices of XP do not include:

1. Simplicity
2. On-site Customer
3. Planning
4. Refactoring

Answer: A. Simplicit

Simplicity is not an XP practice, while On-site Customer (B), Planning (C), and Refactoring (D) are.

Q 45. When is a good time for using feedback techniques?

1. During pair programming
2. During unit testing
3. During daily Scrums
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above 

Feedback techniques are used at pair programming, unit testing, continuous integration, sprint planning meeting, daily Scrums, and sprint review (shippable product), which makes (D) the best choice.

46. Why does the Agile approach include the process of “inspection and adjustment”?

1. To improve customer value by incorporating the customer’s voice in the adaptive development process
2. To develop a risk mitigation plan for incomplete feature development
3. To track development scope, cost, and schedule errors
4. To ensure that the project plan and budget are strictly adhered to during project execution

Answer: A. To improve customer value by incorporating the customer’s voice in the adaptive development process 

The Agile approach includes the process of “inspection and adjustment” to improve customer value by incorporating the customer’s voice in the adaptive development process (A). To develop a risk-mitigation plan for incomplete feature development (B) is hardly relevant, while tracking development scope, cost, and schedule errors is also of little value for the team (C). The team does not apply a project plan (D).

Q 47. Recently you have been assigned as a product owner to a Scrum team that you have never worked with before. One week later, one of your company’s managers approaches you and asks to confirm that the project will be finished by the 6th of March. He says that he reviewed estimates given by your team and needs a commitment guarantee that it will be finished by the exact date. What is the most likely problem in this situation?

1. The manager should approach a Scrum master, not you.
2. Many managers confuse estimates with commitments. As soon as a team expresses an estimate, they are forced to commit to it.
3. You have been assigned to the project recently, therefore you are not able to make any commitments yet.
4. Agile teams don’t make any commitments to specific dates.

Answer: B.  Many managers confuse estimates with commitments. As soon as a team expresses an estimate, they are forced to commit to it. 

The problem is that many managers confuse estimates with commitments. As soon as the team expresses an estimate they are forced to commit to it (B).

Q 48. Who “owns” the iteration demo in Scrum?

1. Product manager
2. Scrum master
3. Product owner
4. Team

Answer: C. Product owner 

The iteration demo in Scrum is owned by the product owner (C).

Q 49. Which of the following statements is correct?

1. The cone of uncertainty logarithmically decays.
2. The cone of uncertainty widens as the project progresses.
3. The cone of uncertainty narrows as the project progresses.
4. The cone of uncertainty exponentially decays.

Answer: C. The cone of uncertainty narrows as the project progresses. 

The cone of uncertainty narrows as the project progresses. (C) is correct.

Q 50. Hofstede’s theory emphasizes four dimensions which do not include:

1. Individualism versus collectivism
2. Personal power
3. Uncertainty avoidance
4. Masculinity versus femininity

Answer: B. Personal power 

Option (B) is made up while (A), (C), and (D) are correct dimensions. The missing dimension is the power dimension, not personal power as suggested wrongly here.

Q 51. An Agile team is planning the tools they will use for the project. They are debating how they should show what work is in progress. Of the following options, which tool are they most likely to select?

1. User story backlog
2. Product roadmap
3. Task board
4. Work breakdown structure

Answer: C. Task board 

Work-in-progress is found on the task board (C), while the user story backlog (A) is not a log with WIP. The product roadmap (B) and WBS (D) are high-level descriptions and hold no WIP.

Q 52. When working with a globally distributed team, the most useful approach will be to:

1. Bring the entire team together for a diversity and sensitivity training day before starting the first iteration
2. Bring the entire group together for a big celebration at the end of the project
3. Bring the entire group together for a get-to-know-you session before starting the first iteration
4. Gather the entire team for a kickoff event and keep them working together for at least the first iteration

Answer: D. Gather the entire team for a kickoff event and keep them working together for at least the first iteration 

When working with a globally distributed team, the most useful approach would be to gather the entire team for a kickoff event and keep them working together for at least the first iteration (D). Bringing the entire team together for a diversity and sensitivity training day before starting the first iteration (A) may work well, but is not the best option. Bring the entire group together is fine but not for a big celebration at the end of the project (B). Bring the entire group together for a get-to-know-you session (C) before starting the first iteration may also work, but (D) is the best option.

Q 53. Which of the following is an innovative game?

1. 80/20 vision
2. Buy a feature
3. The master
4. Embrace the product tree

Answer: B. Buy a feature 

Buy a feature (B) is an innovative game.

Q 54. How does XP support knowledge sharing?

1. Collective code ownership
2. 45-hour working week
3. Team empowerment
4. Working in distributed teams

Answer: A. Collective code ownership 

XP does support knowledge sharing by collective code ownership (A).

Q 55. When are user stories first assigned to iterations?

1. During Crystal planning
2. During iteration planning
3. During release planning
4. During daily planning

Answer: C. During release planning 

User stories are first assigned to iterations during release planning (C).

Q 56. Which of the following is not a process of FDD?

1. Develop an Overall Mode
2. Build a Feature List
3. Plan by Feature
4. Execute a Feature

Answer: D. Execute a Feature 

Develop an Overall Mode (A), Build a Feature List (B), and Plan by Feature (C) are all FDD processes while Execute a Feature (D) is made up.

Q 57. Is it acceptable to extend the iteration for a few days in order to finish everything in the plan?

1. It depends.
2. It is not acceptable. Iteration is timeboxed.
3. Yes, you can extend an iteration in rare situations.
4. It is acceptable if the Scrum master took a decision.

Answer: B. It is not acceptable. Iteration is timeboxed. 

It is not acceptable to extend the iteration for a few days in order to finish everything in the plan because iterations are timeboxed (B) and Scrum masters cannot make any decisions.

Q 58. Agile Project Management is:

1. A control-biased model
2. An execution-biased model
3. A planning-biased model
4. A planning-and-control-biased model

Answer: B. An execution-biased model 

Agile Project Management is an execution-biased model (B) with limited focus on control and planning (A), (C), and (D).

Q 59. Which of the following is not a phase in the APM delivery framework?

1. Speculate
2. Envision
3. Explore
4. Planning

Answer: D. Planning 

Planning is not part of the APM framework. The phases are: Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt, and Close.

Q 60. The product backlog is:

1. Static and Incomplete
2. Static and Complete
3. Dynamic and Complete
4. Dynamic and Incomplete

Answer: D. Dynamic and Incomplete 

The product backlog is dynamic and incomplete (D) as it is an ongoing live artifact.

Q 61. Which of the following items is not a benefit associated with product demonstrations?

1. Learn about feature suitability
2. Learn about feature usability
3. Learn about feature estimates
4. Learn about new requirements

Answer: C. Learn about feature estimates 

Benefits associated with product demonstrations are learn about feature suitability (A), usability (B), and new requirements (D). However, since this is a not question, the answer is (C) learning about feature estimates.

Q 62. Compute the result of a PERT estimate with a realistic estimate of 15, a pessimistic estimate of 50, and an optimistic estimate of 10. This would result in:

1. 15
2. 20
3. 35
4. 52

Answer: B. 20 

(10 + (15 × 4) + 50)/6 = 20 (B).

Q 63. An Agile team is beginning a new release. Things are progressing a little slower than initially estimated. The project manager is taking a servant leadership approach. Which of the following actions is the project manager most likely to do?

1. Create a high-level scope statement and estimates.
2. Intervene in unproductive team arguments.
3. Do administrative activities for the team.
4. Demonstrate the system to senior executives.

Answer: C. Do administrative activities for the team. 

The project manager is most likely to do administrative activities for the team (C) while (A), (B), and (D) are conducted by the team.

Q 64. The Kanban Method is a change-management method derived from:

1. Toyota Production Systems (TPS)
2. Goldratt’s Theory of Contracts (ToC)
3. A and B
4. Scrum

Answer: C. A and B 

The Kanban Method is a change-management method derived from Toyota Production Systems (TPS) (A) and Goldratt’s Theory of Contracts (ToC) (B), which makes (C) the best choice. Kanban has nothing to do with Scrum (D).

Q 65. At the start of release planning, the team and product owner collaboratively explored the product owner’s conditions of satisfaction. Common factors in her conditions of satisfaction included scope, schedule, and budget. Why was quality not included in this list?

1. Quality is not considered as one of the common factors in a product owner’s conditions of satisfaction.
2. Quality is usually negotiated during iteration planning.
3. Quality is usually negotiated between the Scrum master and product owner, not with the team.
4. Agile teams typically prefer to treat quality as non-negotiable.

Answer: D. Agile teams typically prefer to treat quality as non-negotiable. 

Agile teams typically prefer to treat quality as non-negotiable (D).

Q 66. Who is required to attend the Retrospective meeting?

1. The team, the Scrum master, and the product owner
2. The team and the Scrum master
3. The team
4. The team and the product owner

Answer: B. The team and the Scrum master 

The team and Scrum master are required to attend the retrospective meeting, while the product owner attendance is optimal (A). Options (C) and (D) lack the Scrum master and/or may include the product owner.

Q 67. The PMO has asked you to generate some financial information to summarize the business benefits of your project. To best describe how much money you hope the project will return, you should show an estimate of:

1. Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
2. Return on Investment (ROI)
3. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
4. Net Present Value (NPV)

Answer: B. Return on Investment (ROI) 

To best describe how much money you hope the project will return, you should show an estimate of Return on Investment (B). While internal rate of return (A), (C), and (D), are financial measurements, they are not the best options

Q 68. What are the five XP values?

1. Commitment, openness, focus, courage, and respect
2. Commitment, openness, simplicity, courage, and respect
3. Communication, feedback, simplicity, courage, and respect
4. Commitment, feedback, simplicity, courage, and respect

Answer: C. Communication, feedback, simplicity, courage, and respect 

The five XP values are communication, feedback, simplicity, courage, and respect.

Q 69. Signature presence is used in:

1. Coaching
2. Conflict resolutions
3. Team selection
4. Basic writing skills

Answer: A. Coaching 

Signature presence is used in coaching (A).

Q 70. Nathan, a new Agile practitioner, is at a planning event where the relative development effort of user stories of a large product backlog is to be estimated. The planning event is mostly conducted in silence and the team is to assign user stories to various T-shirt sizes (small, medium, large, extra-large). The planning event is efficient and the user stories are estimated quickly. What type of planning event is Nathan most likely attending?

1. Infinity estimating
2. T-shirt estimating
3. Affinity estimating
4. Relative estimating

Answer: C. Affinity estimating 

Assignment of user stories to various T-shirt sizes (small, medium, large, extra-large) is called Affinity estimating (C). It is a release estimating technique (D), while Infinity estimating (A) and T-shirt estimating (B) are made up terms.

Q 71. What is the difference between Crystal Yellow and Crystal Diamond?

1. Increased number of people involved
2. Increased scope involved
3. More costly and duration is increased
4. All of the above

Answer: A. Increased number of people involved 

The difference between Crystal Yellow and Crystal Diamond is the increased number of people involved (B), which is the best choice. However, often scope (B), cost and duration (C), and (D) will also be affected.

Q 72. It is possible that the newly discovered tasks can take long enough that they cannot be completed during the iteration. They may need to reduce the functionality of a story or drop one entirely. With whom should the team discuss the possible solutions in this situation?

1. Product owner
2. Scrum master
3. Upper management
4. Stakeholders

Answer: A. Product owner 

The product owner (A) is the sole decision maker. Scrum masters are process specialists not decision makers. Upper management (C) and stakeholders (D) should take their requirements to the product owner.

Q 73. Which content would you not expect to find in a business case?

1. Methods and Assumptions
2. Business Impacts
3. Sensitivity, Risks, and Contingencies
4. Implementation Strategies

Answer: D. Implementation Strategies 

The common content of a business case include Introduction, Methods, and Assumptions (A), Business Impacts (B), Sensitivity, Risks, and Contingencies (C), and Conclusions and Recommendations. However, no Implementation Strategies (D) are involved.

Q 74. Which of the following is not true regarding how burn-up charts that track total scope differ from burn-down charts?

1. Burn-up charts separate out the rate of progress from the scope fluctuations.
2. Burn-up charts and burn-down charts trend in opposite vertical directions.
3. Burn-up charts can be converted to cumulative flow diagrams by the addition of WIP.
4. Burn-down charts indicate whether the rate-of-effort changes are due to changes in progress rates or in scope.

Answer: D. Burn-down charts indicate whether the rate-of-effort changes are due to changes in progress rates or in scope. 

That burn-up charts separate out the rate of progress from the scope fluctuations (A) is true. Burn-up charts and burn-down charts trend in opposite vertical directions (B) is true, and burn-up charts can be converted to cumulative flow diagrams by the addition of WIP (C) is also true. However, burn-down charts indicate whether rate-of-effort changes are due to changes in progress rates or scope (D) is not correct.

Q 75. The Agile Manifesto value “customer collaboration over contract negotiation” means that:

1. Agile approaches encourage you not to focus too much on negotiating contracts, since most vendors are just out for themselves anyway.
2. Agile approaches focus on what we are trying to build with our vendors, rather than debating the details of contract terms.
3. Agile approaches prefer not to use contracts, unless absolutely necessary, because they hamper the ability to respond to change requests.
4. Agile approaches recommend that you only collaborate with vendors who are using Agile processes themselves.

Answer: B. Agile approaches focus on what we are trying to build with our vendors, rather than debating the details of contract terms. 

The Agile Manifesto value “customer collaboration over contract negotiation” means that Agile approaches focus on what we are trying to build with our vendors, rather than on debating the details of contract terms (B). Not to focus too much on negotiating contracts (A), not to use contracts (C), and only collaborating with vendors (D) are all wrong.

76.   What are the benefits of distributed teams?

1. Global markets
2. Global talent
3. Reduced costs
4. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above 

The benefits of distributed teams are Global markets (A), Global talent (B), and Reduced costs (C). This makes all of the above (D) the best choice.

Q 77. Which of the following characteristics are all attributes of a good user story?

1. Designed, Documented, Delivered
2. Scoped, Estimated, Designed
3. Independent, Negotiable, Valuable
4. Small, Testable, Delivered

Answer: C. Independent, Negotiable, Valuable 

Option (C) Independent, Negotiable, Valuable is part of INVEST.

Q 78. In Agile approaches, negotiation is viewed as:

1. A zero-sum game
2. A winner-takes-all challenge
3. A foolproof win-win scenario
4. A healthy process of give-and-take

Answer: D. A healthy process of give-and-take 

In Agile approaches, negotiation is viewed as a healthy process of give-and-take. The other options, a zero-sum game (A), a winner-takes-all challenge (B), and a foolproof win-win scenario (C) are one-sided and could create conflicts.

Q 79. Which of the following best describes the functions of an Agile coach?

1. Interaction designer, teacher, manager, collaboration conductor
2. Facilitator, interaction designer, teacher, manager
3. Facilitator, teacher, conflict navigator, problem solver
4. Manager, teacher, conflict navigator, problem solver

Answer: C. Facilitator, teacher, conflict navigator, problem solver 

Facilitator, teacher, conflict navigator, problem solver (C) are all coaching roles.

Q 80. When information is shared between collocated team members unconsciously, it is known as:

1. Active listening
2. Chaordic communication
3. Osmotic communication
4. Entropic communication

Answer: C. Osmotic communication 

When information is shared between collocated team members unconsciously, it is known as Osmotic communication (C), while Chaordic communication (B) and Entropic communication (D) are made up. Active listening (A) is important for communication; however, it is not the best choice in this question.

Q 81. In Agile, planning should be at:

1. The level of features because customers get no value from activities
2. The level of features because features are not independent
3. The level of activities because activities are independent
4. The level of activities because customers get no value from features

Answer: A. The level of features because customers get no value from activities 

In Agile, planning should be at the level of features because customers get no value from activities (A).

Q 82. Which techniques can be used to identify risks?

1. Pre-mortem
2. Daily stand-ups
3. Decision tree analysis
4. Osmotic communication

Answer: A. Pre-mortem 

Pre-mortem (A) is a useful technique used to identify risk, which may be used during the daily stand-ups (B). Decision tree analysis (C) may be used for further risk assessment, while Osmotic communication (D) is not relevant here.

Q 83. Which of the following is not true about Agile contracts?

1. Time is fixed.
2. Cost is fixed.
3. Costs vary.
4. Scope varies.

Answer: C. Costs vary. 

Agile contracts have a fixed time (A) and cost (B), while scope varies (D). This makes (C) the right choice.

Q 84. The steps involved in Value Stream Analysis include:

1. Create a value stream map to document delays and waste time, such as meetings and coffee breaks.
2. Create a value stream map of the current process, identifying steps, queues, delays, and information flows.
3. Review the value stream map of the current process and compare it to the goals set forth in the project charter.
4. Review how to adjust the value stream charter to be more flexible.

Answer: B. Create a value stream map of the current process, identifying steps, queues, delays, and information flows. 

The steps involved in value stream analysis include: Create a value stream map of the current process, identifying steps, queues, delays, and information flows (B). Meetings and coffee breaks should not be documented (A). The goals are not set forth in the project charter (C) nor review how to adjust the value stream charter to be more flexible (D).

Q 85. Who are referred to as “Chickens” in Scrum?

1. The product owner, the Scrum master, and the team
2. Anyone except one of the three roles in Scrum (the team, the product owner, the Scrum master)
3. The customer
4. The team

Answer: B. Anyone except one of the three roles in Scrum (the team, the product owner, the Scrum master) 

Chickens are everyone except the three roles (B).

Q 86. Which of the following is a statement from the Agile Software Development Manifesto?

1. Individuals and tools over interactions and processes
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration and contract negotiation
4. Following a plan over responding to change

Answer: B Working software over comprehensive documentation 

Working software over comprehensive documentation is found in the Manifesto while the others are mixed up incorrectly.

Q 87. Which of the following responses is not an Agile Manifesto value or principle regarding communication?

1. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
2. Delivering working software frequently
3. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
4. Face-to-face communication whenever possible

Answer: B. Delivering working software frequently 

Delivering working software (B) frequently is not an Agile Manifesto value or principle regarding communication.

Q 88. The organizational benefits of Emotional Intelligence include:

1. More effective development of team working
2. Better communication skills
3. Higher salary
4. Fewer conflicts in the team

Answer: A. More effective development of team working 

The organizational benefits of Emotional Intelligence are more effective development of team working (A). It may help with the communication (B) and reduce the severity of the conflicts (D). However, there is no evidence of higher salaries (C).

Q 89. An example of high-bandwidth communication is:

1. A virtual product demonstration
2. Face-to-face communication
3. A voice over IP phone call
4. An email with a multimedia attachment

Answer: B. Face-to-face communication 

High-bandwidth communication is face-to-face communication (B).

Q 90. When we practice active listening, what are the levels through which our listening skills progress?

1. 1) Global listening, 2) Focused listening, 3) Intuitive listening
2. 1) Interested listening, 2) Focused listening, 3) Global listening
3. 1) Self-centered listening, 2) Focused listening, 3) Intuitive listening
4. 1) Internal listening, 2) Focused listening, 3) Global listening

Answer: D. 1) Internal listening, 2) Focused listening, 3) Global listening 

Intuitive listening (A), interested listening (B), and self-centered listening (C) are made up, while (D) is the correct list as: (1) Internal listening, (2) Focused listening, and (3) Global listening. 

Q 91. The values of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Honesty do not state:

1. We are truthful in our communications and in our communication.
2. We provide accurate information in a timely manner.
3. We are truthful in our communications and in our conduct.
4. We earnestly seek to understand the wrongdoing.

Answer: D. We earnestly seek to understand the wrongdoing. 

The values of the PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct Honesty do state that we are truthful in our communications and in our communication (A), we provide accurate information in a timely manner (B), and we are truthful in our communications and in our conduct (C). However, it does not state that we earnestly seek to understand the wrongdoing (D), which is the correct answer in this not question.

Q 92. To ensure the success of our project, in what order should we execute the work, taking into account the necessary dependencies and risk-mitigation tasks?

1. The order specified by the project management office (PMO)
2. The order specified by the business representatives
3. The order specified by the project team
4. The order specified by the project architect

Answer: B. The order specified by the business representatives 

To ensure the success of our project, the order is specified by the business representatives (B). The PMO, team, and architect cannot make the decision; it has to be the product owner/business representatives who are responsible decision makers.

Q 93. Which of the following types of communication is the most effective?

1. Skype with video on
2. Formal report
3. Webcast
4. Face-to-face communication at a whiteboard

Answer: D. Face-to-face communication at a whiteboard 

Face-to-face communication at a whiteboard (D) is the most effective form of communication according to the research by Cockburn.

Q 94. Which of the following statements is correct about refactoring?

1. After refactoring, the software should be more efficient.
2. After refactoring, the software should be completed.
3. After refactoring, the software should be better organized.
4. After refactoring, the software should be more effective.

Answer: C. After refactoring, the software should be better organized. 

After refactoring, the code should be better organized (C).

Q 95. Calculate the Net Present Value of the following investment candidate. The initial investment cost is $2,000. The discount rate is 10%. Three yearly payments of $100 are expected. At the end of year 3, additional $2,500 is expected.

1. $127
2. $168
3. $244
4. $432

Answer: A. $127 

$127 Now PV = –$2,000. Year one ($100 /1.1 = $90.91). Year two ($100 /1.1 × 1.1 = $82.64). Year three ($100/1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1 = $75.13). Year three final payment $2,500/1.1 × 1.1 × 1.1 = $1,878.29. NPV = –$2,000 + $90.91 + $82.64 + $75.13 + $1,878.29 = $127.

Q 96. What is the best length of an iteration in Scrum?

1. 1 week
2. There is no ideal iteration length. It depends on the project and can vary.
3. 2 weeks
4. 1 month

Answer: B. There is no ideal iteration length. It depends on the project and can vary. 

There is no ideal iteration length. It depends on the project and can vary (B) by one or two weeks. (A) and (C) are often too short and stressful, while one month or four weeks is the option many teams choose (D). However, it is up to the team to decide.

Q 97. What factor should the team not consider during a self-assessment?

1. Releasing
2. Trust each other
3. What is our plan?
4. Next sprint

Answer: D. Next sprint 

Next sprint (D) is not considered during self-assessment.

Q 98. Your team is conducting a test as part of the team selection and the result is that the candidate is a so-called specialist. Which test are you using?

1. MBTI
2. Shu-Ha-Ri
3. Moneyball
4. Belbin

Answer: D. Belbin 

A specialist (D) is a role from Belbin.

Q 99. In Scrum, the definition of “done” is described by everyone except the:

1. Development team
2. Product owner
3. Scrum master
4. Process owner

Answer: D. Process owner 

In Scrum, the definition of “done” is created by the development team (A), the product owner (B), and the Scrum master (C)—not by the process owner (D).

Q 100. Choose the correct combination of XP practice names from the following options:

1. Test-driven design, refactoring, pair programming
2. Test-driven development, reforecasting, peer programming
3. Test-driven development, refactoring, pair programming
4. Test-driven design, refactoring, peer programming

Answer: C. Test-driven development, refactoring, pair programming 

Test-driven design (A), reforecasting (B), and peer programming (D) are made up, while test-driven development, refactoring, and pair programming (C) is correct.

Q 101. Involving the team in Planning and Estimating and providing early feedback on Delivery Velocity is BEST used to mitigate what kind of risk?

1. Schedule flaws
2. Requirements creep
3. Employee turnover
4. Poor productivity

Answer: A. Schedule flaws

Early involvement of the engineering team in planning. estimating and providing velocity feedback to executives serves the purpose of reducing Schedule Risk. 

Q 102. Which of the following is the BEST approach for estimation?

1. Expert Opinion
2. Analogy
3. Disaggregation
4. A combination of all of the above

Answer: D. A combination of all of the above

The best approach for estimation should be a combination of Expert opinion. Analogy and

Disaggregation.

Q 103. A scrum team’s velocity for sprints 1 through 6 is shown on the chart. None of the team members have taken vacations during Sprints 1 through 6 and none are planning to take a vacation during Sprint 7. Which user stories from the Product Backlog will the team commit to in Sprint 7? Product Backlog: User Story 1 is 3 story points. User Story 2 is 1 story point. User Story 3 is 3 story points. User Story 4 is 5 story points. User Story 5 is 8 story points. User Story 6 is 3 story points. User Story 7 is 1 story point. User Story 8 is 1 story point. User Story 9 is 5 story points. User Story 10 is 1 story point.

1. Stories 1 through 10
2. Stories 1, 2, 3,4, and 6
3. Stories 1,2, 3,4. 7, 8. and 10
4. Stories 1,2, 3. and 5

Answer: B. Stories 1, 2, 3,4, and 6

The average team velocity for sprints 1 through 6 is 15. so during sprint planning. the scrum team members are most likely to commit to stories 1. 2. 3. 4. and 6 which are equal to 15 story points. They would skip story 5. because otherwise they would over commit. Although stories 1. 2. 3 and 5 also average 15, the team should focus on completing higher priority User Stories.

Q 104. When forming an Agile project team it is BEST to use:

1. Generalized Specialists
2. Top management officials
3. Highly specialized developers
4. All of the above

Answer: A. Generalized Specialists

Keeping the team to a reasonable size means selecting “generalized specialists” who are willing to do additional work outside what has been traditionally expected of them given their job title. 

Q 105. What is the unit of measurement that is used to measure the size of a user story for an Agile project?

1. Function points
2. Story points
3. Work breakdown points
4. Velocity points

Answer: B. Story points

Story points are used as a measure for expressing the overall size of a user story.

Q 106. How is Agile planning different from the traditional approach to planning?

1. Agile planning is done only once
2. Agile planning is non iterative
3. Agile planning places emphasis on the plan
4. Agile planning places emphasis on planning and is iterative

Answer: D. Agile planning places emphasis on planning and is iterative

Agile planning is iterative and places emphasis on planning.

Q 107. When analyzing processes, what becomes increasingly significant for managers to understand in regards to individual skills?

1. A group understanding of processes allows teams to execute their jobs more effectively and efficiently: but it can never substitute skill
2. A process is more easily developed when the customer is more directly involved in its development
3. Skilled individuals are not necessarily required to be involved with analyzing processes
4. Skill sets are absolutely crucial in the planning and execution of specific processes; but not its analysis

Answer: A. A group understanding of processes allows teams to execute their jobs more effectively and efficiently: but it can never substitute skill

Fundamental skills must be present in a team to accomplish all tasks. Many managers make the mistake of assuming a firm understanding of certain processes can substitute skill in a group. 

Q 108. The process of testing Delivered or “done done” stories is known as:

1. Unit Testing
2. Integration Testing
3. Exploratory Testing
4. Release Testing

Answer: C. Exploratory Testing

The process of testing Delivered or “done done” stories is known as exploratory testing. Under this phase, an expert tester uses his intuition and experience to test already delivered stories. 

Q 109. Which of the following is NOT one of the five core risk areas common to all projects?

1. Specification Breakdown
2. Scope Creep
3. Strategic Alienation
4. Intrinsic Schedule Flaw

Answer: C. Strategic Alienation

The five identified core risk areas that are common to all projects are known as: Intrinsic

Schedule Flaw (estimates that are wrong and undoable from day one, often based on wishful thinking), Specification Breakdown (failure to achieve stakeholder consensus on what to build), Scope Creep (additional requirements that inflate the initially accepted set), Personnel Loss. and Productivity Variation (difference between assumed and actual performance).

Q 110. A Persona used within an Agile user story can be thought of as:

1. A person who will only use the application infrequently
2. A person who will influence early adopters of the application
3. A formally-assigned user-acceptance tester
4. An imaginary representation of a user role

Answer: D. An imaginary representation of a user role

A Persona is an imaginary representation of a user role

Q 111. An agile practitioner is explaining his team about the relationships between the development team and customer as well as and responsibilities of the development team and customer in agile project management. Which of the following statements is most appropriate with respect to the given?

1. The customer defines value and checks the user experience, not the development team
2. The development team sets the priority among the features, not the customer
3. The customer determines how to perform the work, not the development team
4. The development team determines which features should be developed first

Answer: A. The customer defines value and checks the user experience, not the development team.

In agile project management, values and user experience is defined and checked by the customer, not the development team. So, the option the customer defines value and checks the user experience, not the development team is correct.

Q 112. An experienced agile practitioner has been assigned to work on two different projects at a time. In a day, on a rough approximation, he is spending 50% of his time on each of the projects. Which of the following is the type of waste that will most likely occur in such an arrangement?

1. Defects
2. Task switching
3. Partially done work
4. Motion

Answer: B. Task switching

As the agile practitioner is working on two different projects and needs to switch between the projects, task switching wastage will definitely exist there.

Q 113. A customer, a tester, and a developer were having a conversation about using the best testing approach on their project when an agile practitioner overheard them. Which of the following approaches would an agile practitioner most likely recommend in this situation?

1. Using manual, rather than automated testing tools
2. Initiating testing later, rather than early, in the development cycle
3. Limiting the quality assurance activities to identify the defects
4. Developing code as per the results of acceptance tests

Answer: D. Developing code as per the results of acceptance tests

Developing code as per the results of acceptance tests helps in improving the quality due to the consideration of quality in the earlier phase of the development by the team.

Q 114. An agile team has been assigned to work on the development of a software product. The project leader is helping the team in prioritizing the requirements by using the dot voting technique. Which of the following is the most appropriate description of the dot voting?

1. Dot voting, also known as the 100-point method, enables customers to allocate dots to various features
2. Dot voting draws the features on a graph with axes as dots and classifies each feature by how customers will respond
3. Dot voting, also known as multi-voting, provides every attendant a fixed number of dots for voting
4. Dot voting uses a fixed number of votes to rank priorities from high to low in a simple scheme

Answer: C. Dot voting, also known as multi-voting, provides every attendant a fixed number of dots for voting 

In dot voting technique, attendants are instructed to use common dots to be put next to their choices. Dot voting, also known as multi-voting, is a scheme used for the features’ prioritization. So, the option Dot voting, also known as multi-voting, provides every attendant a fixed number of dots for voting is the most appropriate description of the dot voting.

Q 115. A product owner has set up a room with five laptops and invited four different end users to test the capabilities of a new system. The developers from the project team have been invited in the room to observe the users, take notes, and answer the basic questions. Which of the following agile techniques and tools has been described in this scenario?

1. Usability testing
2. Automated testing
3. Scripted testing
4. Exploratory testing

Answer: A. Usability testing 

Usability testing is a type of testing that involves end users to check their response to the system under realistic circumstances. As in the given scenario, end users are invited to test the capabilities of a new system and developers observe the users while they interact with the system, take notes, and answer the basic questions, scenario describes the usability testing.

Q 116. You are an agile practitioner working on the critical medical application development project. In your company, the crystal family of methods is used for such complex projects that involve multiple teams. Which of the following methodology would you recommend as an agile practitioner using the crystal grid?

1. A darker color and softer crystal methodology from the upper right corner
2. A darker color and harder crystal methodology from the upper right corner
3. A clearer color and harder crystal methodology from the upper left corner
4. A clearer color and softer crystal methodology from the upper left corner

Answer: B. A darker color and harder crystal methodology from the upper right corner

The project involves multiple teams i.e. team size is large, so darker color methodology will be used. Due to the higher criticality of the project, harder crystal methodology will be used. Also, higher criticality corresponds to the upper and right movement to the grid.

Q 117. Ryan is a scrum master handling the team that is working on an agile project. The team members complain that their work is being delayed as the new sponsor (who doesn’t know about the agile methodology and practices) keeps on asking them about the project details every time. What would you do in this situation as a scrum master?

1. Discuss with the product owner and request him to help in dealing with the new sponsor
2. Contact the sponsor and request him to bring all the questions to you (scrum master) only
3. Discuss with the team and fix one member as the spokesperson for the sponsor
4. Tell the team to take his (scrum master) permission before having any discussion with the sponsor

Answer: B. Contact the sponsor and request him to bring all the questions to you (scrum master) only

Q 118. Daily stand up meetings are very important for an agile team as it allows the team to communicate, collaborate, and make future work plans. Many new agile team members may need to understand the meaning of daily stand up meetings. Which is the following is the most important thing that an agile practitioner should keep in mind for an effective daily stand up meeting?

1. Every team member should take part in the daily stand up meeting; it will help to keep the meeting short
2. Daily stand up meeting helps to make sure that none of the team members have any doubt about the deliverables and the performance of the team is intact
3. Daily stand up meeting is a short meeting only for 15 minutes; no one can leave the meeting until the discussion is over
4. Daily stand up meeting should be well-structured and short

Answer: D. Daily stand up meeting should be well-structured and short

The daily standup meeting should be short, it is true. Also, it should be well-structured, such that the team members should be focused on answering the three questions. So, it’s the most important point that specifies the effective daily stand up meeting.

Q 119. Harold is a stakeholder in company A. He has recently learned that the team will use an agile framework in the current project. In a planning meeting, Harold tells the team members that they are not doing formal documentation in this project as they were doing in the previous projects. How will the team members react to his statement?

1. There is no documentation in the agile projects, they focus on the value-added delivery
2. The documentation is kept barely sufficient to fulfill regulatory requirements in agile methodology
3. In agile, the documentation is done for the clear work items only
4. Documentation is not created in agile methodology, but we used as much documentation possible to make you comfortable with the agile

Answer: B. In agile, documentation is kept small and barely sufficient to fulfill regulatory requirements in an agile environment.  Only the required time and effort should be applied to create documentation, neither less nor more.

Q 120. Gerard is a scrum master handling a scrum team working on the customer production system development.  The members of the team are distributed across the globe. During the iteration, the team found a critical defect so they decided to discuss the troubleshooting steps on the video conference. But suddenly the team members started blaming each other for the defect and the discussion turned into an argument. How would Gerrard handle this situation as a scrum master?

1. Request the team members to gather on site to resolve this type of critical defects
2. Ask the team to discuss and resolve the issue collaboratively in a professional manner
3. Tell the team to take a break and start the discussion after some time
4. Wait for the retrospective meeting and review the result of team discussion with the team

Answer: B. Ask the team to discuss and resolve the issue collaboratively in a professional manner

For more such PMI ACP Practice tests kindly consider purchasing our books on Amazon

• PMI-ACP® Exam Preparation: Based on PMBOK® Guide – 6th edition

• PMI – ACP 6 practice tests

Practice Test 6

Q 1. At the start of release planning, the team and product owner collaboratively explored the product owner’s conditions of satisfaction. Common factors in her conditions of satisfaction included scope, schedule, and budget. Why was quality not included in this list?

1. Quality is not considered as one of the common factors in product owner’s conditions of satisfaction
2. Quality is usually negotiated during iteration planning
3. Quality is usually negotiated between Scrum Master and Product Owner, not the Team
4. Agile teams typically prefer to treat quality as non-negotiable

Answer: D. Agile teams typically prefer to treat quality as non-negotiable

Agile treats quality as non-negotiable. On the contrary, standard project management considers quality as a negotiable factor and Project Manager is allowed to drop the quality when needed.

Q 2. It is possible that the newly discovered tasks will take long enough that they cannot be completed during the iteration. They may need to reduce the functionality of a story or drop one entirely. With whom should the team discuss the possible solutions in this situation?

1. Product Owner
2. Scrum Master
3. Upper Management
4. Stakeholders

Answer: A. Product Owner

It is possible that the newly discovered tasks will take long enough that they cannot be completed during the iteration. In that case, the team will need to discuss the situation with the Product Owner and see if there is still a way to meet the iteration goal; they may need

to reduce the functionality of a story or drop one entirely.

Q 3. What is the best length of an iteration in Scrum?

1. 1 week
2. There is no ideal iteration length. It depends on the project and can vary
3. 2 weeks
4. 1 month

Answer: B. There is no ideal iteration length. It depends on the project and can vary

There’s no one magic iteration duration that is right for all teams under all circumstances. The right length for a team on one project may not be the right length for that same team on a different project.

Q 4. Is it acceptable to extend the iteration for a few days in order to finish everything in the plan?

1. It Depends
2. It is not acceptable. Iteration is timeboxed
3. Yes, you can extend an iteration in rare situations
4. Acceptable if the Scrum Master took a decision

Answer: B. It is not acceptable. Iteration is timeboxed.

In your enthusiasm to demonstrate progress, be careful not to step over the line. Borderline behavior includes glossing over known defects in an iteration demo, taking credit for stories that are not 100 percent complete, and extending the iteration for a few days in order to finish everything in the plan.

Q 5. Who “owns” the iteration demo in Scrum?

1. Product Manager
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Product Owner
4. The Team

Answer: C. The Product Owner

The Product Owner conducts an Iteration Demo meeting.

Q 6. You are a Scrum Master in a Scrum team. The Product Owner doesn’t want to prioritize items in the Product Backlog. He says everything is important. What is the best you can do?

1. Let the Team work without prioritizing. Anyway, you will have to deliver all the features. It is not a critical problem
2. Be firm and insist on prioritizing
3. Prioritize the Product Backlog yourself
4. Let the Team decide which features are most important

Answer: B. Be firm and insist on prioritizing

Be firm. Yes, everything is important, but something has to come first and something will come last. Someone has to make the tough schedule decisions. That’s the Product Owner’s job.

Q 7. What is the longest iteration duration allowed in Scrum?

1. 2 Weeks
2. 3 Weeks
3. 2 Months
4. 1 Month

Answer: D. 1 Month.

Iteration is a one cycle within a project. In Scrum, this cycle is maximum 30 sequential calendar days, or a Sprint.

Q 8. Who are referred to as “Pigs” in Scrum?

1. The Product Owner, the Scrum Master and The Team
2. The Stakeholders
3. The Upper Management
4. The Customer

Answer: A. The Product Owner, the Scrum Master and The Team.

Someone occupying one of the three Scrum roles (Team, Product Owner, Scrum Master) who has made a commitment and has the authority to fulfill it.

Q 9. Who is referred to as “Chicken” in Scrum?

1. The Product Owner, The Scrum Master and The Team
2. Anyone except one of the three roles in Scrum (The Team, The Product Owner, The Scrum Master)
3. The Customer
4. The Team

Answer: B. Anyone except one of the three roles in Scrum (The Team, The Product Owner, The Scrum Master)

Someone occupying one of the three Scrum roles (The Team, The Product Owner, The Scrum Master) who has made a commitment and has the authority to fulfill it. Anyone else is called a “Chicken”.

Q 10. What of the following characterizes the Scrum incorrectly?

1. Scrum is a framework
2. Scrum is used for complex work in which it is impossible to predict everything that will occur
3. Scrum uses a predictive approach
4. Scrum is a very simple process for managing complex projects

Answer: C. Scrum uses a predictive approach

Scrum uses a fact-based decision making, a lot better than front-end-loaded predictive approaches.

Q 11. How many roles are included in Scrum?

1. 3
2. 2
3. 4
4. 1

Answer: A. 3.

There are only three Scrum roles: the Product Owner, the Team, and the Scrum Master.

Q 12. All management responsibilities in a project are divided among which roles in Scrum?

1. The Scrum Master and the Product Owner
2. The Team, the Scrum Master, the Product Owner
3. The Team, the Product Owner
4. The Team, the Scrum Master

Answer: B. The Team, the Scrum Master, the Product Owner

There are only three Scrum roles: the Product Owner, the Team, and the Scrum Master. All management responsibilities in a project are divided among these three roles.

Q 13. Who is responsible for representing the interests of everyone with a stake in the project and its resulting system in Scrum?

1. The Team
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Product Owner
4. The Scrum Master and the Product Owner

Answer: C. The Product Owner

The Product Owner is responsible for representing the interests of everyone with a stake in the project and its resulting system.

Q 14. Who provides ongoing funding of the project in Scrum?

1. The Project Manager
2. The Management
3. The Scrum Master
4. The Product Owner

Answer: C. The Product Owner. 

The Product Owner achieves initial and ongoing funding for the project by creating the project’s initial overall requirements, return on investment (ROI) objectives, and release plans.

Q 15. One of the following definitions describes the correct characteristics of the Scrum team:

1. Self-managing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional
2. Self-directing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional
3. Self-directing, Self-empowered, and Cross-functional
4. Self-monitoring, Self-managing, and Self-functioning

Answer: A. Self-managing, Self-organizing, and Cross-functional.

Teams are self-managing, self-organizing, and cross-functional, and they are responsible for figuring out how to turn Product Backlog into an increment of functionality within an iteration and managing their own work to do so.

Q 16. A Scrum Master is often compared to:

1. A ship dog
2. A Pig
3. A chicken
4. A camel

Answer: A. A ship dog. 

A Scrum Master is often compared to a sheepdog, responsible for keeping the flock together and the wolves away.

Q 17. Who is responsible for the ROI of the project in Scrum?

1. The Scrum Master
2. The Product Owner
3. The Team
4. The Project Manager

Answer: B. The Product Owner

The Product Owner is responsible for the ROI of the project, which usually means that the Product Owner chooses to develop product functionality that solves critical business problems.

Q 18. What technique does the Scrum use to require that every slice of functionality created by the developers be complete?

1. Sushi
2. Deming cycle
3. Frequent feedback loops
4. Sashimi

Answer: D. Sashimi 

Similar to the way every other slice tastes. Scrum uses the sashimi technique to require that every slice of functionality created by the developers be complete.

Q 19. Who has to manage the Scrum Team?

1. The Team
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Product Owner
4. The Management

Answer: A. The Team 

It is not the Scrum Master’s job to manage the Team. The Team has to learn to manage itself, to constantly adjust its methods in order to optimize its chances of success.

Q 20. Who is required to attend the Retrospective Meeting?

1. The Team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner
2. The Team and The Scrum Master
3. The Team
4. The Team and the Product Owner

Answer: B. The Team and The Scrum Master 

It is attended only by the Team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. The Product Owner is optional.

Q 21. What is the most popular Agile methodology?

1. FDD
2. Waterfall
3. Scrum
4. XP

Answer: C. Scrum

Scrum is the most popular of the Agile methods. It is frequently used in conjunction with Extreme Programming (XP).

Q 22. What of the following is not true of the Self-organization in Scrum?

1. Self-organization is not an option in Scrum
2. Self-organized teams are highly disciplined
3. High trust and high commitment is an outcome of self-organizing teams
4. Self-organization implies a laissez-faire approach

Answer: D. Self-organization implies a laissez-faire approach 

Self-organization is not an option in Scrum; it is a core principle. Without this, high performing teams will not happen. Self-organization does not at all imply a laissez-faire approach; on the contrary, self-organized teams are highly disciplined. They are encouraged to take reasonable risks and to learn through failure and self-reflection. High trust and high commitment is an automatic outcome of truly self-organizing teams.

Q 23. Who gathers requirements in Scrum?

1. The Product Owner
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Team
4. The Product Manager

Answer: A. The Product Owner

The responsibilities of the Product Owner role are: Working on a shared vision, Gathering requirements, Managing and prioritizing the Product Backlog, Accepting the software at the end of each iteration, Managing the release plan, The profitability of the project (ROI).

Q 24. Whose responsibility is to socialize Scrum to the greater organization?

1. The Project Manager’s
2. The Scrum Master’s
3. The Product Owner’s
4. The Manager’s

Answer: B. The Scrum Master’s 

The responsibilities of the Scrum Master role are: Empowering and shepherding the team, Removing impediments, Keeping the process moving, Socializing Scrum to the greater organization.

Q 25. What metaphor does not express the role of the Scrum Master in Scrum?

1. Bulldozer
2. Ship dog
3. Chicken
4. Trainer

Answer: C. Chicken

Metaphor: The Scrum Master is a facilitator, coach, mentor and bulldozer! A Scrum Master is often compared to a sheepdog, responsible for keeping the flock together and the wolves away. Chicken refers to those outside the three Scrum roles.

Q 26. What is the leading indicator of whether the Scrum Team will meet its commitment at the end of the sprint?

1. The Sprint Backlog
2. The Sprint Burndown
3. The Scrum Board
4. The Team’s commitment

Answer: B. The Sprint Burndown 

The sprint burndown chart is designed to help the team monitor its progress and be a leading indicator of whether it will meet its commitment at the end of the sprint. The classic format requires teams to estimate the duration of each task in hours and on a daily basis to chart the total remaining hours for all uncompleted tasks.

Q 27. What is the best time to introduce or take away team members in a Scrum team?

1. When needed
2. Between releases
3. Before project starts
4. Between sprints

Answer: D. Between sprints

It’s important to keep the configuration of the team as stable as possible, and introduce or take away team members between sprints. Remember the rule: The people who made the commitment deliver the commitment.

Q 28. There is a memory-jogger describing the right qualities of the successful Product Owner. It is:

1. DEEP
2. CRACK
3. INVEST
4. CRUEL

Answer: B. CRACK. 

An effective product owner is Committed, Responsible, Authorized, Collaborative, and Knowledgeable (CRACK).

Q 29. You are a Scrum Master of the Scrum Team. Back after the holidays, you find that your team is divided into 2 groups, which fiercely argue over whether to use the new framework or not. None of the group wants to give up and defends their point of view. What level of conflict are you observing as a Scrum Master?

1. Level 5
2. Level 3
3. Level 1
4. Level 4

Answer: B. Level 3.

At level 3, the aim is to win. A compounding effect occurs as prior conflicts and problems remain unresolved. Often, multiple issues cluster into larger issues or create a “cause.” Factions emerge in this fertile ground from which misunderstandings and power politics arise.

Q 30. Who ensures that work is aligned with leadership’s direction and Product Vision?

1. The Product Owner
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Team
4. An Agile Coach

Answer: A. The Product Owner

Product owner ensures work is aligned with leadership’s direction and product vision.

Q 31. What Scrum event can be considered an analogue of traditional management “status meeting”?

1. Review Meeting
2. Stand-Up meeting
3. Retrospective Meeting
4. Planning Meeting

Answer: A. Review Meeting

Review Meetings are events held mainly as a traditional kind of gathering ie.. analogue status meeting.

Q 32. The Team owns which kind of Scrum plan?

1. Roadmap Plan
2. Release Plan
3. Iteration Plan
4. Product Vision

Answer: C. Iteration Plan

The Team owns the iteration plan only. Roadmap and Release plans are owned by the Product Owner.

Q 33. Who is(are) the creator(s) of Scrum?

1. Ken Schwaber
2. Jeff Sutherland
3. Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
4. Alistair Cockburn

Answer: C. Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland

Scrum was developed and sustained by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland.

Q 34. Tom presented a new map to the Scrum Team. On the vertical axis he draws the probability of a given risk occurring. On the horizontal axis he draws the impact that the risk will have on the project or program should it materialize. What map did Tom present to his team?

1. Risk burndown
2. Story Map
3. Risk Map
4. Value stream map

Answer: C. Risk Map 

One of the best ways to visually display risks in a succinct manner is to use a Risk Map. On the vertical axis you have the probability of a given risk occurring, that is, the likelihood that the risk will materialize and become an Issue. On the horizontal axis we have the impact that the risk will have on the project or program should it materialize.

Q 35. Who manages the budget in Scrum?

1. Top Management
2. Scrum Master
3. Product Owner
4. Project Manager

Answer: C. Product Owner

The product owner leads the development effort to create a product that generates the desired benefits. This often includes creating the product vision; grooming the product backlog; planning the release; involving customers, users, and other stakeholders; managing the budget; preparing the product launch; attending the Scrum meetings; and collaborating with the team.

Q 36. Who is responsible for communicating progress, and managing the stakeholders in Scrum?

1. Both Scrum Master and Product Owner
2. Scrum Master
3. Team
4. Product Owner

Answer: D. Product Owner

The product owner is responsible for managing the release scope and date, managing the budget, communicating progress, and managing the stakeholders.

Q 37. You were assigned as a Proxy Product Owner in a Scrum Team. What less likely will you expect to see as the Project goes on?

1. Increase in conflicts and miscommunication
2. Slowdown in decision making
3. Decrease in productivity and morale
4. Increase in productivity and morale

Answer: D. Increase in productivity and morale

The actual product owner ultimately decides about product backlog prioritization, release planning, and whether to accept or reject work results. The sequences of having a proxy Product Owner may include: an increase in conflicts and communication, a slowdown in decision making, and a decrease in productivity and morale.

Q 38. Scrum mandates the backlog items to be described as:

1. User Stories
2. User Cases
3. Test-cases
4. Scrum does not mandate how product backlog items should be described

Answer: D. Scrum does not mandate how product backlog items should be described

Scrum does not mandate how product backlog items should be described, but many Scrum teams prefer to work with user stories. As its name suggests, a user story tells a story about a customer or user employing the product. It contains a name, a brief narrative, and acceptance criteria, conditions that must hold true for the story to be complete.

Q 39. What is the best approach in handling the Product Backlog if you are working on the project with multiple Scrum teams?

1. Create component-specific Product Backlogs for each team
2. Employ one Product Backlog, extend the grooming horizon, and consider providing team-specific views into the backlog
3. Prefer component teams to feature teams and empty separate Product Backlog for each team
4. There is no best approach, it is possible to go with any of them

Answer: B. Employ one Product Backlog, extend the grooming horizon, and consider providing team-specific views into the backlog

Whenever you work on a large Scrum project, ensure that there is one product backlog that contains the work necessary to bring the product to life. Avoid team- or component-specific backlogs that translate product requirements into subsystem or component requirements. Employ one product backlog, extend the grooming horizon, and consider providing team-specific views into the backlog.

Q 40. What is true regarding Grooming Horizon on large Scrum Projects?

1. Grooming horizon increases
2. Grooming horizon decreases
3. Grooming horizon doesn’t change
4. No Grooming is performed on large Scrum projects

Answer: A. Grooming horizon increases

Product backlog items are still decomposed and refined just in time on large Scrum projects. But the grooming horizon changes. Rather than focusing on the subsequent sprint, large projects look ahead to the next two to three sprints when preparing the product backlog

Q 41. Are the Teams required to have a release plan in Scrum?

1. Yes, they are required
2. It depends
3. The question is incorrect
4. No, they are not required

Answer: D. No, they are not required

Teams are not required to have a release plan in Scrum, but they certainly have to plan the release.

Q 42. What is the main purpose of the Burndown Chart?

1. Inspect team’s progress on a daily basis and adapt its work accordingly
2. Use as report in status meetings
3. Use as a document for senior management
4. Inspect team’s progress towards a release

Answer: A. Inspect team’s progress on a daily basis and adapt its work accordingly

The Burndown Chart’s primary purpose is to help the team inspect its progress on a daily basis and adapt its work accordingly. It is not a status report. Using the sprint burndown as a reporting tool turns it into a control mechanism.

Q 43. Once an organization has selected a project or a contract is signed to perform a project, the project charter must be created. It is signed by the:

1. The Product Owner
2. The Project Manager
3. The Senior Management
4. The Scrum Master

Answer: C. The Senior Management 

It is signed by the performing organization’s senior management.

Q 44.What measure will you most likely use for calculating the velocity of the Team?

1. Ideal Hours
2. Story Points
3. Elapsed Hours
4. Man-hours

Answer: B. Story Points

Story Points are used to measure for the Team velocity calculation.

Q 45. The minimum plan necessary to start a Scrum project consists of:

1. A Release Plan and a Product Backlog
2. A Vision and a Product Backlog
3. A Team and a Product Backlog
4. A Release Plan and a Sprint Plan

Answer: B. A Vision and a Product Backlog  

The minimum plan necessary to start a Scrum project consists of a Vision and a Product Backlog. The vision describes why the project is being undertaken and what the desired end state is.

Q 46. What of the following is required to be used in Scrum:

1. User Stories
2. Features
3. Use Cases
4. None of the above is required

Answer: D. None of the above is required 

User Stories, Features, Use Cases can be successfully used in Scrum, but it’s not required. This question refers to the best practices and core of the Scrum that can be found in the Scrum Guide.

Q 47. What Scrum meeting is strongly aligned with the Kaizen?

1. Retrospective Meeting
2. Planning Meeting
3. Review Meeting
4. Grooming

Answer: A. Retrospective Meeting

Kaizen is strongly aligned with Agile in the way it encourages changes from the workers rather than asking management what should be changed. Therefore, it’s strongly aligned with Retrospective Meeting in Scrum.

Q 48. The Scrum team has just performed a stakeholder analysis. Where most likely would it save the information gathered?

1. In a stakeholder register
2. In an impediment backlog
3. In an information radiator
4. In a backlog

Answer: A. In a stakeholder register

One of the activities that helps is a process known as stakeholder analysis. When performing stakeholder analysis, the stakeholders are identified, and their interest in the project is understood. All of this information is captured in a stakeholder register, which is a simple artifact.

Q 49. Who is eligible to initiate a cancellation of the Sprint?

1. The Development Team
2. The Scrum Master
3. The Stakeholders
4. All answers are correct

Answer: D. All answers are correct.

A Sprint can be cancelled before the Sprint time-box is over. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint, although he or she may do so under influence from the stakeholders, the Development Team, or the Scrum Master.

Q 50. Which of the following BEST describes ROTI?

1. Measure of product backlogs remaining
2. Measure of quality of features delivered in an iteration
3. Measure of required effort to deliver in an iteration
4. Measure of effectiveness of the retrospective meeting

Answer: D. Measure of effectiveness of the retrospective meeting

Return on Time Invested (ROTI) is used to measure the effectiveness of the retrospective meetings from the team members’ perspective.

Q 51. Technical debt is the gap between a product’s actual cost of change (CoC) and its optimal CoC. Managing technical debt helps ensure reliable delivery today and ready adaptation to tomorrow’s customer needs. When can Technical Debt occur?

1. During Initial Development
2. Ongoing Maintenance
3. During enhancement
4. During all the above mentioned times

Answer: D. During all the above mentioned times

Technical debt can arise during initial development, ongoing maintenance (keeping a product at its original state), or enhancement (adding functionality).

Q 52. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Agile project manager?

1. Manages daily tasks of the team members
2. Assumes different leadership styles for different stages of team formation
3. Allows team to self-manage
4. Facilitates collaboration

Answer: A. Manages daily tasks of the team members

Agile Project Manager does not manage the daily tasks of team members as teams in Agile are self organizing.

Q 53. For a Retrospective meeting, the seating arrangement should be such that there is enough space for people to move comfortably. Which of the following is a preferable seating arrangement for a retrospective meeting?

1. Circle or semicircle of chairs
2. Theatre style arrangement
3. Tables arranged in U-shape
4. Meeting Room

Answer A. Circle or semicircle of chairs.

Circle or semicircle of chairs encourages participation because people can see each other. Classroom or theater-style arrangements stifle participation. Staring at the back of someone else’s head isn’t conducive to conversation. Tables can be a physical barrier that becomes a psychological barrier. Avoid rooms with an immovable conference table in the middle. That big ol’ table will inhibit creative collaboration. This isn’t a board meeting, after all. Tables arranged in a U-shape with a big gulf in the middle create distance and make it hard to move around.

Q 54. If we plan to work in two-week iterations with thirteen iterations during the project and the team’s velocity will be twenty story points or ideal days per iterations, what will the size of the total project in story points be?

1. 13
2. 20
3. 260
4. 200

Answer C. 260.

The size of the total project will be 13 x 20 = 260 story points

Q 55. What does the acronym DRY stand for?

1. Don’t Repeat Yourself
2. Don’t Reject Yourself
3. Do Repeat Yourself
4. None of the above

Answer A. Don’t Repeat Yourself

This clever name for a well-known principle comes from Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt. Don’t Repeat Yourself is more than just avoiding cut-and-paste coding. Eliminating duplication decreases the time required to make changes. You need only change one part of the code. It also decreases the risk of introducing a defect by making a necessary change in one place but not in another.

Q 56. Which of the following techniques of Scrum requires that every slice of functionality created by the developers be complete?

1. Team Collaboration
2. Sashimi
3. Scrum tool
4. Ability

Answer B. Sashimi 

Scrum uses the sashimi technique to require that every slice of functionality created by the developers be complete. All of the requirements gathering and analysis, design work, coding, testing, and documentation that constitute a complete product are required to be completed in every Sprint and demonstrated in the Sprint increment of functionality. Sprints are kept short enough that the stakeholders don’t lose interest in the project before the Sprints are completed. And stakeholders can see that they have an opportunity to redirect the project at the start of every Sprint to optimize the value they derive from the project. At the end of every Sprint, stakeholders see new functionality. Models, requirements, and internal artefacts might be of use to the developers, but they are never shown to the stakeholders.

Q 57. What is MOST true about Participatory Decision Making?

1. It is a technique that involves all the affected parties
2. It is just a meeting with no outcomes
3. It only involves the customer and the Product Manager
4. It is a technique based on the wishes of the Scrum Master

Answer A. It is a technique that involves all the affected parties

It is a technique that involves all the affected parties

Q 58. Team 1 has been asked to complete work on Item 10 story and deliver it to Team 2 so that they can initiate work on Item 12 story, which is dependent on completion of Item 10 story. The leader of Team 1 decides to insert a buffer that protects the start date on Item 12 story against delays in the completion of Item 10 story. This buffer is known as,

1. Feeding Buffer
2. Iteration Buffer
3. Story Buffer
4. Release Buffer

Answer: A. Feeding Buffer

The Feeding buffer protects the start date on Item 12 story against delays in the completion of Item 10 story.

Q 59. Sometimes stories are too small. A good approach for tiny stories, common among Extreme Programming teams, is to combine them into larger stories that represent from about a half-day to several days of work. The combined story is given a name and is then scheduled and worked on just like any other story. Which of the following are NOT examples of small stories?

1. Bug Reports
2. Bugs
3. User Interface Changes
4. A & C

Answer: B. Bugs. 

A story that is too small is typically one that the developer says she doesn’t want to write down or estimate because doing that may take longer than making the change. Bug reports and user interface changes are common examples of stories that are often too small.

Q 60. Which of the following BEST describes the Task Board?

1. The task board is always a white board
2. It is a great tool to show the project trend
3. It serves the dual purpose of giving the team a convenient mechanism for organizing their work and a way of seeing at a glance how much work is left.
4. Task Boards plot the Velocity

Answer: C. It serves the dual purpose of giving the team a convenient mechanism for organizing their work and a way of seeing at a glance how much work is left.

The Task Board serves the dual purpose of giving the team a convenient mechanism for organizing their work and a way of seeing at a glance how much work is left. It may not always be a white board, it can be a cork board or cardboard too.

Q 61. Wideband Delphi is a repeatable process that can be used :

1. To generate estimate
2. To create a story
3. For implementation purpose
4. To motivate the team

Answer: A. To generate estimate

Wideband Delphi is a technique that is used to generate estimation.

Q 62. Which of the following is NOT an attribute of a Good Story?

1. Testable
2. Large
3. Independent
4. Negotiable

Answer: B. Large.

A good story has six attributes – Independent, Negotiable, Valuable to users or customers, Estimable, Small and Testable

Q 63. During which project management phase are the product stories delivered?

1. Envision
2. Speculate
3. Explore
4. Adapt

Answer: B. Speculate.

During the Speculate phase, the product stories are delivered. This phase involves planning and delivering tested stories in a short iteration, constantly seeking to reduce the risk and uncertainty of the project.

Q 64. In the Agile Team Stages of Shu Ha Ri, what does ‘Ha’ stand for?

1. Break the rule
2. Follow the rule
3. Be the rule
4. None of the above

Answer: A. Break the rule

One good model for mastering anything (if that’s possible) comes from martial arts. A martial arts student progresses through three stages of proficiency called Shu Ha Ri. Shu: Follow the rule. Ha: Break the rule. Ri: Be the rule.

Q 65. What does ‘R’ stand for in ARCS, a criteria for evaluating Instructional designs by J.M. Keller?

1. Relevance
2. Repeatable
3. Recording
4. Right

Answer A. Relevance

J. M. Keller, an expert in motivation and learning, developed criteria for evaluating instructional designs. The criteria are Attention, Relevance, Confidence/Competence, Satisfaction—ARCS for short. Choose activities that help people stay engaged so they don’t drift off (Attention) and that are relevant to the goal (Relevance). You want activities that people can accomplish successfully (Confident/Competence). Finally, make sure activities fit into the overall design so people think the retrospective is a good use of their time (Satisfaction).

Q 66. As per the Kano Model of customer satisfaction, which features are MOST important for the product to be successful?

1. Exciters
2. Linear Features
3. Delighters
4. Threshold

Answer: D. Threshold.

Threshold features are those that must be present in the product for it to be successful. They are often referred to as must-have features.

Q 67. Which of the following defines the splitting of a story or a feature into smaller, easier-to-estimate pieces?

1. Decomposition
2. Disaggregation
3. Theme
4. Epic

Answer B. Disaggregation 

Disaggregation refers to splitting a story or feature into smaller, easier-to-estimate pieces. If most of the user stories to be included in a project are in the range of 2-5 days to develop, it will be very difficult to estimate a single story that may be 100 days.

Q 68. Which of the following is NOT true about Retrospective?

1. It helps decide how team will work in the future
2. It helps to reflect and learn from the past
3. It allows the team to own and drive their development process
4. It decides who will work on the next project

Answer D. It decides who will work on the next project

Retrospective is a meeting where a team looks back on a past period of work so that they can learn from their experience and apply this learning to future projects.

Q 69. Affinity Estimating is a technique many teams use to quickly and easily estimate a large number of user stories. What should be the minimum size for the items in the Product Backlog?

1. 20
2. 40
3. 8
4. 5

Answer A. 20. 

The Affinity Estimating exercise is best conducted on Product Backlogs larger than 20 items. It is best when you have at least 40 items which allows for groupings to easily become apparent.

Q 70. Which of the following is NOT a principle from the Agile Manifesto?

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
3. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design does not enhance agility.
4. Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Answer: C. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design does not enhance agility. 

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

Q 71. Which of the following will NOT assist in Critical Problem solving during the project?

1. Ask probing questions
2. Use Active Listening
3. Use Reflective Listening
4. Injecting ideas

Answer: D. Injecting ideas

During critical problem solving, you can ask probing questions, use active and reflective listening, Lead to an answer but one should avoid injecting their own ideas.

Q 72. What is the successful response option at Conflict Level 1 : Problem to Solve ?

1. Collaboration
2. Consensus
3. Safety
4. A&B

Answer: D. A&B. 

Successful response options at Level 1 are, Collaboration- Seeking a win-win situation. Consensus- Learning where every team member’s head is with regard to the issue and, in time, arriving at a decision everyone can back.

Q 73. John and Joseph are working in the same room. John is programming and Joseph is having some discussion with Kim. John gets to hear their conversation and gets enough information to know that Joseph has talked about some idea with Kim. What kind of communication is this referred to as?

1. Push Communication
2. Osmotic Communication
3. Pull Communication
4. Active Listening

Answer B. Osmotic Communication. 

While writing, reading, typing, or talking, we pick up traces of the ongoing sounds around us, using some background listening mode, even though we are not consciously paying attention. If someone says something interesting, we may perk up and join the conversation. Otherwise, the sound goes through some background processing, either just above or just below our conscious level. In some cases, we register enough about the conversation to be able to develop what we need directly from memory. Otherwise, we may recall a phrase that was spoken, or perhaps only that a particular person was discussing a particular topic. In any case, we can ask about it. This taking in information without directly paying attention to it is like the process of osmosis, in which one substance seeps from one system, through a separator, into another. Osmotic communication further lowers the cost of idea transfer.

Q 74. At a Retrospective meeting, a few issues are highlighted by the team. Who is responsible for solving these issues?

1. The Scrum Master
2. Product Owner
3. Stakeholders
4. Team

Answer D. Team 

Agile teams are self organizing and can find solutions to their problems with ease.

Q 75. A methodology that is based on solutions or sequences of steps that is known to work for the discipline is known as,

1. Normative
2. Rational
3. Heuristic
4. Participative

Answer A. Normative

Normative methodologies are based on solutions or sequences of steps known to work for the discipline. Electrical and other building codes in house wiring are examples. In software development, one would include state diagram verification in this category.

Q 76. Having problems does not indicate a problem in itself, so welcome problems because they bring with them the chance for the team to overcome, grow, and become stronger together.” As an Agile Coach, which are the multiple perspectives to analyse to detect the symptoms for the problem?

1. Process Level
2. Quality and Performance Level
3. Team dynamics dimension
4. All of the above

Answer D. All of the above.

The multiple perspectives to analyze are , ? The process level: How are we doing with agile? ? The quality and performance angle: How can the team produce better? ? The team dynamics dimension: How can the team become a better team?

Q 77. According to DeMarco, Fragmented knowledge workers may look busy but a lot of their business is just thrashing. The minimum cost penalty is :

1. 15%
2. 10%
3. 5%
4. 25%

Answer A. 15%

The minimum cost penalty is 15%.

Q 78. When can a plan be changed in Agile Management?

1. At the end of the Iteration
2. When we have learned something new
3. At the Daily Meeting
4. You cannot change once the plan is prepared

Answer B. When we have learned something new 

In Agile, you can change the plan when something new is learned or when it is known that a mistake is to be avoided

Q 79. For projects of similar size and type, projects that have a cumulative defect removal rate at the nodal point, have the shortest schedules, have the lowest quantity of effort in terms of person-months, and have the highest levels of user satisfaction after release. What is this nodal point?

1. 15%
2. 95%
3. 35%
4. 50%

Answer: B. 95%.

Capers Jones’ widely heralded book on software measurement concluded that “a cumulative defect removal rate of 95% on a project appears to be a nodal point where several other benefits accrue”. For projects of similar size and type, these projects have the shortest schedules, have the lowest quantity of effort in terms of person-months, and have the highest levels of user satisfaction after release.

Q 80. What do you mean by Throughput?

1. Is the amount of production over time
2. Is the number of features the team can develop in a particular amount of time.
3. Is the number of features released during a Release
4. Is the number of defects rectified during a Release

Answer B. Is the number of features the team can develop in a particular amount of time.

Throughput is the number of features the team can develop in a particular amount of time.

Q 81. Which of the following documents defines the functional and non-functional requirements that the system should meet to deliver the vision, prioritized and estimated?

1. Prioritized Sprint
2. Vision Box
3. Product Backlog
4. Sprint Review Meet

Answer C. Product Backlog 

The Product Backlog defines the functional and nonfunctional requirements that the system should meet to deliver the vision, prioritized and estimated.

Q 82. Which of the following charts shows the total number of story points completed through the end of each iteration?

1. Iteration burndown chart
2. Cumulative story point burndown chart
3. Daily Burndown chart
4. Burn up chart

Answer B. Cumulative story point burndown chart.

A cumulative story point chart is useful because it shows the total number of story points completed through the end of each iteration.

Q 83. Agile Teams use Planning Poker for estimation. Which of the following is NOT true about Planning Poker?

1. It combines expert opinion, analogy, and disaggregation into an enjoyable approach to estimating that results in quick but reliable estimates.
2. Participants include all of the developers on the team
3. The team for Planning Poker should not exceed more than 10 participants
4. The highest estimate is considered the final estimate

Answer D. The highest estimate is considered the final estimate 

If estimates differ, the high and low estimators explain their estimates.

Q 84. The retrospective meeting on previous iteration should last not more than ?

1. 30 minutes
2. 60 minutes
3. 10 minutes
4. 5 minutes

Answer B. 60 minutes.

The retrospective meeting on the previous iteration should be maximum of one hour.

Q 85. Spike solutions are small standalone programs that demonstrate what you’ve learned. Which of the following types of spike will you use if you need to test an approach to your production code?

1. Development Spike
2. Design Spike
3. Scheduling Spikes
4. Iteration Spikes

Answer: B. Design Spike 

If you need to test an approach to your production code, Perhaps you want to see how a design possibility will work in practice, or you need to see how a persistence framework will work on your production code.

Q 86. DSDM uses MoSCoW technique to create the prioritized requirements list. In MoSCoW technique, ‘M’ stands for :

1. Medium
2. Must Have
3. Must Not Have
4. Minimum Marketable Features

Answer: B. Must Have 

DSDM popularized the MoSCoW prioritisation scheme, deriving its name from the first letters of its labels of “Must…”, “Should…”, “Could…”, “Would like to have, but not this time.” Under MoSCoW, we have some easier-to-defend categories. “Must-have” requirements or features are fundamental to the system; without them, the system does not work or has no value. “Should have” are important–by definition, we should have them for the system to work correctly; if they are not there, then the work-around will likely be costly or cumbersome. “Could have’s” are useful net additions that add tangible value, and “Would like’s” are the “also-ran” requests that are duly noted–but unlikely to make the cut.

Q 87. Which are the three coach styles?

1. Teaching, Coaching and Advising
2. Coaching, Mentoring and Advising
3. Coaching, Informator, Advising
4. Mentoring, Teaching and Advising

Answer A. Teaching, Coaching and Advising

The three coach styles are Teaching, Coaching, and Advising.

Q 88. One of your stakeholders is interested in viewing the project progress but he is not interested in details. Which of the following reports can you share with this stakeholder?

1. Weekly demo
2. Vision Statement
3. Release plan
4. Burn up chart

Answer: D. Burn up chart.

Burn-up chart is an excellent way to get a bird’s-eye view of the project. It shows progress and predicts a completion date. Most teams produce a burn-up chart when they update their release plan.

Q 89. Who specifies Acceptance Tests in an Agile Project?

1. Customer
2. Programmer
3. Developer
4. Product Manager

Answer: A. Customer 

Because the software is being written to fulfil a vision held by the customer, the acceptance tests need to be specified by the customer. The customer can work with a programmer or tester to actually create the tests, but minimally the customer needs to specify the tests that will be used to know when a story has been correctly developed

Q 90. One of your stakeholders wants more detail than the vision statement provides, but not the overwhelming detail of the release and iteration plans. Which of the following progress reports will you share with this stakeholder?

1. Roadmap
2. Status email
3. Iteration plan
4. Productivity chart

Answer: A. Roadmap.

Some stakeholders may want more detail than the vision statement provides, but not the overwhelming detail of the release and iteration plans. For these stakeholders, consider maintaining a document or slide deck that summarizes planned releases and the significant features in each one.

Q 91. Which of the following defines Elapsed Time?

1. Is the same as Ideal Time
2. Is the amount of time that passes on a clock or perhaps a calendar
3. Is the amount of time that something takes when stripped of all peripheral activities
4. Is the amount of time the team spent on the iteration

Answer: B. Is the amount of time that passes on a clock or perhaps a calendar

Elapsed Time Is the amount of time that passes on a clock or perhaps a calendar.

Q 92. Feature X has a value of 12 and the total value of all features is 35. If the feature is estimated to cost 56%, what is the priority of this feature using relative weighting?

1. 0.34
2. 0.61
3. 1.64
4. 0.625

Answer: B. 0.61.

The priority of the feature is determined by dividing the priority %by the cost %. Hence the answer = (12/35)/(0.56) = 0.61.

Q 93. Name the XP technique where two people pair; one person who codes is the driver and the other person who thinks is the Navigator?

1. Pair Programming
2. Planning Poker
3. Planning Technique
4. Coding Technique

Answer: A. Pair Programming

Pair Programming — When you pair, one person codes—the driver. The other person is the navigator, whose job is to think.

Q 94. Decision Framing focuses majorly on:

1. Identifying types of decisions that need to be made
2. Stakeholders involved in the decision making process
3. Delegating decision making process
4. Manager taking the decision

Answer is B. Stakeholders involved in the decision making process

Decision framing focuses on who gets involved in the decision process. Managers who make decisions without input from subordinates and peers make poor decisions. Engineers who make decisions without input from managers and peers make poor decisions. Who makes the decision is less important than getting the right people involved in the decision process.

Q 95. Which of the following is NOT true about the Iteration Demos?

1. It’s a concrete demonstration of the team’s progress
2. The demos help the team be honest about its progress.
3. Iteration demos are a closed affair and are shown only to a selected set of stakeholders
4. The demo is an opportunity to solicit regular feedback from the customers

Answer: C. Iteration demos are a closed affair and are shown only to a selected set of stakeholders

Iteration demos are open to all stakeholders, and some companies even invite external customers to attend.

Q 96. Which of the following is a STORY?

1. “Full-screen demo option for job fair”
2. “Automate integration build”
3. “Deploy to staging server outside the firewall”
4. “Improve performance”

Answer: A. “Full-screen demo option for job fair”

“Automate integration build” does not represent customer value, hence not a story. “Deploy to staging server outside the firewall” describes implementation details rather than an end result, and it doesn’t use customer terminology, hence not a story. “Improve performance” has no clear completion criteria, hence not a story.

Q 97. Which of the following factors will not assist in improving the project velocity?

1. Pay down Technical Debt
2. Offload Programmer duties
3. Reduce customer involvement
4. Provide needed resources

Answer: C. Reduce customer involvement 

Customer Involvement should be improved to improve the project velocity.

Q 98. Which of the following techniques would you use to detect problems within a process?

1. Sprints
2. Burn Up charts
3. Burn Down charts
4. Health checks

Answer: D. Health checks.

Health checks, often in the form of a questionnaire, lists required elements and qualities that jog our minds to help us remember the basic ingredients of agile. They help us determine how well the team is adhering to Agile methods.

Q 99. In a complete Product Planning structure, which of the following denotes the product planning structure with a medium range timeframe, story level of detail and capability commitment?

1. Release
2. Story
3. Roadmap
4. Wave

Answer: D. Wave.

Wave is the Product Planning structure with Medium range time frame (3 months) with Story level capability and Capability commitment.

Q 100. What are the four key terms by which the iterative part of Agile is defined?

1. Timeboxed, releasable, agility and incremental
2. Iterative, feature-based, timeboxed, and incremental
3. Feature-based, timeboxed, agility and incremental
4. None of the above

Answer: B. Iterative, feature-based, timeboxed, and incremental 

Iterative development means that we build a partial version of a product and then expand that version through successive short time periods of development followed by reviews and adaptations. Feature-based delivery means that the engineering team builds features of the final product or, particularly with industrial products, at least a close representation of the final product (such as a simulation model). Iterations are constrained to produce a result within a certain period of time—a timebox (as short as 1–4 weeks for software). Timeboxes force closure; they force us to make something concrete, often before we are quite ready. Incremental development means that we build these products such that they could be deployed at the end of one or more of the iterations.

Q 101. Which of the following statements are NOT TRUE regarding Agility?

1. Agility is the ability to balance flexibility and stability
2. Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment
3. Agility is avoiding planning and lack of structure
4. Agility is ability to deliver customer value while dealing with inherent project unpredictability and dynamism

Answer: C. Agility is avoiding planning and lack of structure 

Agility is the ability to both create and respond to change in order to profit in a turbulent business environment. It is the ability to balance flexibility and stability.

Q 102. There are different types of Retrospectives. These are Release Retrospectives, Project Retrospectives, Iteration Retrospectives and Surprise Retrospectives. What are Surprise Retrospectives?

1. Is conducted when an unexpected event changes your situation
2. Is conducted at the end of each Iteration
3. Is conducted half way of each project
4. Is suggested by the Scrum Master

Answer: A. Is conducted when an unexpected event changes your situation

Surprise Retrospective is conducted when an unexpected event changes your situation. It gives you a chance to reflect more deeply on your experiences and condense key lessons to share with the rest of the organization.

Q 103. If your release is 12 iterations away, your velocity is 14 points, your risk exposure is one iteration and with a 10% chance, how many points will you have finished?

1. 154
2. 110
3. 86
4. 92

Answer: A. 154.

Using the following formula, risk_adjusted_points_remaining = (iterations_remaining – risk_exposure) * velocity / risk_multiplier –> points remaining = (12 – 1) * 14 = 154 points 10 percent chance: 154 / 1 = 154 points.

Q 104: Which of the following reports visually shows the remaining estimated workload over the course of the project?

1. Product Backlog Burndown Report
2. Gantt Chart
3. Product Backlog
4. Sprint Chart

Answer: A. Product Backlog Burndown Report

The Product Backlog Burndown report graphs remaining estimated workload over the course of the project. Workload at the start of each Sprint is measured by summing all open Product Backlog work estimates.

Q 105. Every team needs to constantly evaluate and make appropriate adaptations in the following four areas:

1. Product value, Product quality, Team performance, Project status
2. Product value, Product quality, Team performance, Organization status
3. Product quality, Team performance, Project status, Project deliverables
4. Product value, Product Features, Team performance, Project status

Answer: A. Product value, Product quality, Team performance, Project status

Every team needs to constantly evaluate and make appropriate adaptations in the following four areas: Product value, Product quality, Team performance, Project status

Q 106. Which of the following is NOT true about Kanban ?

1. A Kanban System visualises some unit of value, such as User Story, Minimal Marketable Feature or Plain Old Requirement
2. A Kanban System manages the flow of these units of value, through the use of Work In Process limits.
3. Kanban is same as a Task Board
4. It is a key tool in Lean Manufacturing

Answer: C. Kanban is same as a Task Board 

A Kanban System visualises some unit of value. This unit of value could be a User Story, Minimal Marketable Feature, Plain Old Requirement or something else. This is different from a task-board, which generally focuses on visualising the current tasks.

Q 107. The primary task in release planning is assigning stories to iterations, chiefly on the basis of _______________________.

1. Value and Risk
2. Risk and Priority
3. Customer Requirements
4. Team ability and Value

Answer: A. Value and Risk

The primary task in release planning is assigning stories to iterations, chiefly on the basis of value and risk.

Q 108. What is the relative contribution of feature X to the project if it has a value of 12 and the total value of all features is 35?

1. 0.38
2. 0.34
3. 2.91
4. 14.91

Answer: B. 0.34.

To calculate the relative contribution of each feature, divide its value by the sum of the Total Value of all features. Hence, relative contribution of feature X = 12/35 = 0.34.

Q 109. What is the process of defining and prioritizing the nonfunctional requirements for scaling known as?

1. Decomposition
2. Staging
3. Stanking
4. Prioritizing

Answer: B. 

The process of defining and prioritizing the nonfunctional requirements for scaling is called staging. Staging occurs prior to the start of the first Sprint and takes just one day. During this day, the nonfunctional scaling requirements for this particular project are determined and placed in the Product Backlog.

Q 110. You have been assigned a New Project that is large, complex and uncertain. As a Project Manager, you will be using agile project management. Which of the following will you select while creating your team?

1. Team is expandable with the project
2. Large Team
3. Functional Manager is responsible for the team
4. None of the above

Answer: D. None of the above 

As per Agile methodology, it is best to work with small teams staffed by talented and experienced people and increase the number only when required.

Q 111. The Levels of Listening by Whitworth states 3 Levels of listening. What does the third level, viz. Global listening refer to?

1. A hardwired connection is established between the coach and the speaker
2. The coach uses everything in the environment. Viz. speaker’s tone of voice, posture, etc when listening at this level
3. The coach hears the speaker’s words attentively
4. The coach only hears the global sounds and not the speaker’s words

Answer: B. The coach uses everything in the environment. Viz. speaker’s tone of voice, posture, etc when listening at this level 

The coach uses everything in the environment when listening at Level III. The speaker’s tone of voice, posture, changes in room temperature, what noises are happening around them—all of these things are noticed and used by the coach.

Q 112. Who should participate in Iteration Planning?

1. Customer, Iteration Manager, Developers, Testers
2. Product Manager, Iteration Manager, Developers, Testers
3. Entire Project Team
4. Product Specialists, Customer, Iteration Manager, Developers, Testers

Answer: C. Entire Project Team 

The entire project team—product manager, product specialists, customers, developers, testers, iteration manager, project leader—should participate in the iteration planning session as it provides everyone with the context for work to be accomplished during the iteration. Functional manager participation can help the team better understand strategic priority issues and demonstrates commitment to and support of the project.

Q 113. A long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal is referred to as:

1. Tactical Planning
2. Strategic Planning
3. Goal Planning
4. Roadmap Planning

Answer B. Strategic Planning

Strategy is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. A tactic is a method employed to achieve a certain goal. The goal pursued by strategic planning is at a higher level of abstraction than the goals pursued by tactics.

Q 114. Which of the following is NOT a Closed Story?

1. A recruiter can review resumes from applicants to one of her ads.
2. A recruiter can delete an application that is not a good match for a job.
3. A recruiter can manage the ads she has placed
4. A recruiter can change the expiration date of an ad

Answer: C. A recruiter can manage the ads she has placed 

“A recruiter can manage the ads she has placed.” This is not a closed story: Managing the ads she’s placed is not something that is ever completely done. Instead, it is an ongoing activity.

Q 115. A technique defined by Dean Leffingwell and Don Widrig for use cases is also used for Prioritization. This is a voting scheme where each stakeholder is given 100 points that he or she can use for voting in favour of the most important requirements. How they distribute the 100 points is up to them: 20 here, 10 there or even all 100 on a single requirement if that is their sole priority. This method is known as:

1. Monopoly Money
2. 100-Point method
3. Requirements Prioritization Money
4. Agile Prioritization

Answer: B. 100-Point method. 

The 100-Point Method was originally developed by Dean Leffingwell and Don Widrig for use cases and is used for prioritization as well. It is a voting scheme where each stakeholder is given 100 points that he or she can use for voting in favour of the most important requirements. How they distribute the 100 points is up to them: 20 here, 10 there or even all 100 on a single requirement if that is their sole priority.

Your Answer :  No option selected.

Q 116. When should be the BEST time for the team to estimate a task?

1. Throughout the Iteration
2. During Iteration Planning
3. Task estimates are decided by the Scrum Master
4. At the time of Iteration Planning as well as during the iteration

Answer: D. At the time of Iteration Planning as well as during the iteration

Project Team will estimate a task at the time of Iteration Planning as well as during the iteration planning.

Q 117. Which of the following correctly defines the role of the Scrum Master?

1. Achieves initial and ongoing funding for the project by creating the project’s initial overall requirements
2. Is responsible for the Scrum process, for teaching Scrum to everyone involved in the project
3. Is responsible for developing the functionality
4. Is responsible for the Product Backlog

Answer: B. Is responsible for the Scrum process, for teaching Scrum to everyone involved in the project

The ScrumMaster is responsible for the Scrum process, for teaching Scrum to everyone involved in the project, for implementing Scrum so that it fits within an organization’s culture and still delivers the expected benefits, and for ensuring that everyone follows Scrum rules and practices.

Q 118. In XP, the code goes through four levels of completion. Which of the following states the right sequence?

1. Broken, Build, Ready for demo, Ready to release
2. Build, Ready for demo, Broken, Ready to release
3. Build, Ready for demo, Ready to release, Broken
4. Broken, Build, Ready to release, Ready for demo

Answer: A. Broken, Build, Ready for demo, Ready to release

Your code goes through four levels of completion: 1. Broken. This only happens in your sandbox. 2. Builds and passes all tests. All versions in your repository are at least at this level. 3. Ready to demo to stakeholders. Any version marked with the “Iteration X” tag is ready for stakeholders to try. 4. Ready to release to real users and customers. Any version marked with the “Release Y” tag is production ready.

Q 119. An informative workspace broadcasts information into the room. Of the following, which does NOT constitute an Informative workspace?

1. Big Visible Charts
2. Process Improvement Charts
3. Hand Drawn Charts
4. SRS Document

Answer: D. SRS Document.

An informative workspace broadcasts information into the room. Examples are Big Visible Charts, Process Improvement Charts, Hand Drawn Charts and others

Q 120. Forecasting the Financial value of a theme is the responsibility of:

1. Analysts
2. Product Owner
3. Project Manager
4. All Team Members

Answer: D. All Team Members. 

Forecasting the financial value of a theme is the responsibility of the product owner but it is a responsibility shared with all other team members—programmers, testers, analysts, project managers, and so on.

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.

Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.

If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.

It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.

Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.

If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.

It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.

Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.

If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.

It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.

It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English.

Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don’t look even slightly believable.

If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.

It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.