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Agile Software Engineering
Section 1: Agile Fundamentals & Values (Questions 1-20)
- Which of the following is NOT a value of the Agile Manifesto?
- a. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- b. Working software over comprehensive documentation
- c. Following a plan over responding to change ✅
- d. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Rationale: The Agile Manifesto values "responding to change over following a plan." Following a plan rigidly is not an Agile value; Agile embraces change even late in development.
- Which of the following is a principle of the Agile Manifesto?
- a. Deliver working software frequently, with preference to shorter timescales ✅
- b. Business people and developers should work separately
- c. Documentation is more important than working software
- d. Processes and tools take priority over individuals
Rationale: Agile Principle 3 states: "Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale." The other options contradict Agile values.
- Who wrote the Agile Manifesto in 2001?
- a. Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber only
- b. Seventeen software developers ✅
- c. The Scrum Alliance
- d. The Project Management Institute (PMI)
Rationale: The Agile Manifesto was written in February 2001 by 17 independent software practitioners, including Kent Beck, Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber, Martin Fowler, and others.
- What does "Working software is the primary measure of progress" emphasize?
- a. Focus on delivering functional value rather than documentation or plans ✅
- b. All documentation must be completed first
- c. Plans are irrelevant
- d. Only final delivery matters
Rationale: Agile Principle 7 states that working software is the primary measure of progress. This shifts focus from plan-based milestones to demonstrable, functional product increments.
- Which Agile principle addresses welcoming changing requirements?
- a. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development ✅
- b. The team must have no changes during development
- c. Changes are only allowed in the next sprint
- d. Only the Product Owner can request changes
Rationale: Agile Principle 2 states: "Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage."
- What does "Business people and developers must work together daily" promote?
- a. Separation of concerns
- b. Close collaboration and shared understanding ✅
- c. Developers making all decisions
- d. Business people writing all requirements
Rationale: Agile Principle 4 emphasizes daily collaboration between business stakeholders and developers to ensure alignment and reduce miscommunication.
- Which Agile value prioritizes "Responding to change" over following a plan?
- a. Simplicity
- b. The fourth Agile Manifesto value ✅
- c. The second Agile principle
- d. The Scrum Guide
Rationale: The fourth value of the Agile Manifesto is "Responding to change over following a plan." This acknowledges that change is inevitable and should be embraced.
- Which of the following is NOT an Agile methodology?
- a. Scrum
- b. Extreme Programming (XP)
- c. Kanban
- d. Waterfall ✅
Rationale: Waterfall is a traditional, sequential (plan-driven) methodology, not an Agile methodology. Scrum, XP, and Kanban are all Agile frameworks/methodologies.
- The Agile principle "Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential" advocates for:
- a. Doing only what is necessary and avoiding gold-plating ✅
- b. Writing minimal documentation
- c. Skipping testing
- d. Working fewer hours
- c. Provide no support
- d. Use only senior developers
Rationale: Agile Principle 5 advocates for trusting motivated individuals. Provide necessary environment, support, and trust—not command-and-control management.
- How frequently does the Agile Manifesto recommend delivering working software?
- a. Once a year
- b. Every 6 months
- c. Frequently, with preference to shorter timescales (weeks to a couple of months) ✅
- d. Only at the end of the project
Rationale: Agile Principle 3 specifies frequent delivery, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, to get rapid feedback and working increments.
- Which statement about Agile processes is correct according to the Manifesto?
- a. Agile processes are rigid and cannot be adapted
- b. Agile processes promote sustainable development ✅
- c. Agile teams should work 80-hour weeks
- d. Agile processes ignore quality
Rationale: Agile Principle 8: "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely."
- What is the recommended team size for most Agile teams?
- a. 20+ people
- b. Small (typically 5-9 people) ✅
- c. A single person
- d. No limit
Rationale: Agile Principle 6 implies small, co-located teams. Scrum recommends 5-11 people (typically 7±2). Small teams reduce communication overhead and increase cohesion.
- What is the role of "self-organizing teams" in Agile?
- a. Teams need external managers to assign tasks
- b. Teams decide how to best accomplish their work, leading to better designs and ownership ✅
- c. Teams have no structure
- d. Teams avoid planning
Rationale: Agile Principle 11: "The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams." Empowerment improves engagement and outcomes.
- The Agile principle "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective" describes:
- a. Daily Stand-up
- b. Retrospective ✅
- c. Sprint Planning
- d. Backlog Refinement
Rationale: Agile Principle 12 describes the retrospective—regular reflection on process and behaviors to tune and adjust. Scrum implements this as the Sprint Retrospective.
- Which of the following is NOT an explicit value of the Agile Manifesto?
- a. Individuals and interactions
- b. Working software
- c. Detailed upfront design ✅
- d. Responding to change
Rationale: Detailed upfront design is not an Agile value; Agile values individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.
Section 2: Scrum Framework (Questions 21-50)
- The Scrum Master is NOT responsible for:
- a. Removing impediments
- b. Facilitating Scrum events
- c. Writing user stories for the Development Team ✅
- d. Coaching the team on Scrum
Rationale: The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog (including user stories). The Scrum Master serves the team by removing impediments and facilitating processes.
- What are the three artifacts of Scrum?
- a. Product Increment, Sprint Goal, Burndown Chart
- b. Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment ✅
- c. User Stories, Tasks, Epics
- d. Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Retrospective
Rationale: The Scrum Guide defines three artifacts: Product Backlog (ordered list of work), Sprint Backlog (plan for the sprint), and Increment (working product at Sprint end).
- Who is responsible for ordering the Product Backlog to maximize value?
- a. Scrum Master
- b. Development Team
- c. Product Owner ✅
- c. At the middle of the Sprint
- d. Only at the end of the project
Rationale: The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint, focusing on process improvement for the next Sprint. It happens after the Sprint Review.
- What is the recommended three questions for the Daily Scrum?
- a. What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? What is my vacation plan?
- b. What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? What impediments are in my way? ✅
- c. What is the Sprint Goal? How many tasks remain? Who is behind?
- d. What bugs did I fix? What features did I add? What is the burndown?
Rationale: The classic three questions (or variant) focus on progress toward the Sprint Goal and surfacing impediments. Teams may adapt but maintain the inspection purpose.
- Who can cancel a Sprint?
- a. Scrum Master
- b. Development Team
- c. Product Owner ✅
- d. Any stakeholder
Rationale: Only the Product Owner has authority to cancel a Sprint, though cancellation is rare. Cancellation typically occurs when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete.
- Which Scrum event is used to inspect the progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog?
- a. Sprint Planning
- b. Daily Scrum ✅
- c. Sprint Review
- d. Sprint Retrospective
Rationale: The Daily Scrum is an inspection of progress toward the Sprint Goal. The team adapts the Sprint Backlog and plan for the next 24 hours.
- The Product Owner ensures the Product Backlog is:
- a. Hidden from the team
- b. Visible, transparent, and clear to all ✅
- c. Managed by the Scrum Master
- d. Fixed and unchanging
Rationale: The Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list. The Product Owner ensures it is visible and understood by everyone.
- What is the "Definition of Done"?
- a. A list of tasks to complete
- b. A shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete ✅
- c. The Sprint Goal
- d. A user story acceptance criteria
Rationale: The Definition of Done is a commitment (artifact) that creates transparency on completeness. It ensures the Increment is potentially releasable.
- The Increment must be "done" according to the:
- a. Product Owner's preference
- b. Definition of Done ✅
- c. Scrum Master's judgment
- d. Stakeholder's opinion
Rationale: The Increment must meet the Definition of Done to be considered complete. This may include coding standards, testing, documentation, etc.
- What is the role of the Development Team in Sprint Planning?
- a. They are told what to do by the Product Owner
- b. They forecast the work they can complete and create the Sprint Backlog ✅
- c. They only ask questions
- d. They do not participate
Rationale: The Development Team is responsible for selecting items they can complete and creating the plan (Sprint Backlog). They are self-organizing.
- What is a "Sprint Goal"?
- a. A list of user stories
- b. A short statement of what the team plans to achieve in the Sprint ✅
- c. The Scrum Master's objective
- d. The Product Backlog order
Rationale: The Sprint Goal is a single objective that provides guidance and purpose, answering "why" the Sprint is valuable. It is created during Sprint Planning.
- Who attends the Sprint Review?
- a. Only the Scrum Team
- b. The Scrum Team and key stakeholders invited by the Product Owner ✅
- c. Only the Product Owner
- d. Only the Development Team
Rationale: The Sprint Review includes the Scrum Team and stakeholders. The Product Owner invites key stakeholders to inspect the Increment and provide feedback.
Rationale: Product Backlog items that are too large for a single Sprint should be refined (broken down) into smaller, Sprint-sized items to enable completion within one Sprint.
- What is the primary responsibility of the Product Owner regarding the Product Backlog?
- a. Writing all items perfectly
- b. Maximizing value by ordering items and ensuring clarity ✅
- c. Assigning tasks to developers
- d. Estimating all work
Rationale: The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing product value, which includes ordering the Product Backlog and ensuring items are transparent and understood.
- Which of the following is NOT a Scrum event?
- a. Sprint Planning
- b. Sprint Review
- c. Backlog Grooming (Refinement) ✅
- d. Sprint Retrospective
Rationale: Backlog Refinement (Grooming) is an ongoing activity, not a formal Scrum event. The five events are: Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective.
- The Sprint Backlog is owned by:
- a. The Product Owner
- b. The Scrum Master
- c. The Development Team ✅
- d. Stakeholders
Rationale: The Sprint Backlog is a plan by and for the Development Team. They own it and manage it throughout the Sprint.
- Which statement best describes the "Sprint"?
- a. A container for all other Scrum events, producing a valuable Increment ✅
- b. A planning meeting
- c. A daily meeting
- d. A review event
Rationale: The Sprint is a time-boxed event (usually 1-4 weeks) that contains Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, development work, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. It produces a "Done" Increment.
- Can the Product Backlog be changed during a Sprint?
- a. No, it is frozen
- b. Yes, but without impacting the Sprint Goal. Items can be added/removed/refined ✅
- c. Only the Scrum Master can change it
- d. Only at Sprint Planning
Rationale: The Product Backlog is emergent and can be refined during the Sprint. However, the Sprint Goal should not be changed, and the Development Team should not have new work forced upon them.
- Who is accountable for the Product Backlog?
- a. Scrum Master
- b. Product Owner ✅
- c. Development Team
- d. Stakeholders
Rationale: The Product Owner is individually accountable for Product Backlog management. This is a distinct role with single-point accountability.
- What does the term "cross-functional" mean for a Development Team?
- a. Team members have one specialty only
- b. The team has all necessary skills to deliver a "Done" Increment ✅
- c. Team members work on different projects
- d. The team is distributed across functions
Rationale: Cross-functional means the team collectively possesses all skills required to turn Product Backlog items into a "Done" Increment without outside help.
- What does "self-managing" mean in Scrum?
- a. The team does not need a Product Owner
- b. The team decides who does what, when, and how internally ✅
- c. The team has no manager
- d. The team avoids planning
Rationale: Self-managing teams decide internally how to accomplish their work. They manage their own work allocation, task breakdown, and approach.
Section 3: Extreme Programming (XP) Practices (Questions 51-75)
- Which XP practice involves two developers working together at one workstation?
- a. Code Review
- b. Pair Programming ✅
- c. Mob Programming
- d. Solo Programming
Rationale: Pair Programming is an XP practice where two developers work together: one "driver" writes code, the other "navigator" reviews and thinks strategically.
- d. Only the lead developer owns code
Rationale: Collective Code Ownership removes bottlenecks, encourages shared responsibility, and improves knowledge distribution. Anyone can improve any part.
- What is a "spike" in XP?
- a. A type of user story
- b. A time-boxed investigation to reduce uncertainty or explore a solution ✅
- c. A coding standard violation
- d. A release milestone
Rationale: Spikes are used to research, prototype, or explore technical options. They produce knowledge, not necessarily working code.
- Which of the following is an XP practice?
- a. Detailed upfront documentation
- b. Small releases (frequent, working software) ✅
- c. Separate QA team only
- d. Annual releases
Rationale: XP emphasizes small, frequent releases (every 1-3 weeks) to get rapid feedback and deliver value incrementally.
- What is the role of the "On-site Customer" in XP?
- a. A customer who visits occasionally
- b. A dedicated business representative available to answer questions, write stories, and define acceptance tests ✅
- c. A role that is optional
- d. A tester
Rationale: The on-site customer is a real customer (or product owner equivalent) who is part of the team, providing immediate clarification and setting priorities.
- The "Coding Standard" practice in XP requires:
- a. No standards
- b. A shared convention that all code must follow for consistency and collective ownership ✅
- c. Each developer uses their own style
- d. Standards are optional
Rationale: A consistent coding standard enables collective ownership, reduces cognitive load, and makes code easier to read and maintain.
- What is "Sustainable Pace" in XP?
- b. Working no more than 40 hours/week to avoid burnout and maintain quality ✅
- c. Working only when motivated
- d. No weekends ever
Rationale: XP advocates a 40-hour week (or less). Overtime is not sustainable and leads to decreased productivity and technical debt.
- TDD follows which cycle?
- a. Code, Test, Refactor
- b. Red, Green, Refactor ✅
- c. Plan, Do, Check, Act
- d. Write, Review, Commit
Rationale: The TDD cycle: Red (write failing test), Green (write minimal code to pass), Refactor (improve design while tests pass).
- In XP, who decides the order of user stories to implement?
- a. Developers
- b. The Customer (Product Owner) ✅
- c. The Project Manager
- d. The Scrum Master
Rationale: The customer (business side) prioritizes stories by business value. Developers estimate technical effort; together they plan releases.
- Which XP practice is considered the core engineering practice enabling all others?
- a. Pair Programming
- b. Test-Driven Development (TDD) ✅
- c. Continuous Integration
- d. Collective Code Ownership
Rationale: TDD is foundational—it enables refactoring, continuous integration, and collective ownership by providing safety and immediate feedback.
- How often should Continuous Integration builds run?
- a. Once per week
- b. Multiple times per day (on every commit) ✅
- c. Once per Sprint
- d. Only on release day
Rationale: CI builds should run after each commit to detect integration issues immediately. Many teams also run CI on a schedule (e.g., hourly).
- What does "YAGNI" stand for in XP?
Rationale: XP has five values: Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage, and Respect. Documentation is not an explicit XP value.
- In XP, "System Metaphor" is:
- a. A type of user story
- b. A shared vision of how the system works, naming classes and methods consistently ✅
- c. A UML diagram
- d. A deployment plan
Rationale: The System Metaphor is an XP practice (less common now) that uses a common naming/story to help understand system architecture and relationships.
- What is the role of automated acceptance tests in XP?
- a. Replaced by manual testing
- b. Written by the customer to verify story completion; serve as living documentation ✅
- c. Only written by developers
- d. Optional practice
Rationale: Customer-written acceptance tests (or customer-specified using FIT/Fitnesse) define when a story is "done." They are automated to provide rapid feedback.
- The XP practice "Small Releases" means:
- a. Releasing only bug fixes
- b. Releasing a working, tested increment every 1-3 weeks ✅
- c. Releasing all features at once
- d. No releases until the end
Rationale: Small releases get working software into production or demonstration quickly to get feedback and deliver value early.
- Which statement is true about the relationship between XP and Scrum?
- a. They are mutually exclusive
- b. XP focuses on engineering practices; Scrum focuses on management framework. They are complementary ✅
- c. XP replaces Scrum
- d. Scrum includes all XP practices
Rationale: Scrum provides a framework for team and process management, while XP provides specific engineering practices (TDD, CI, Refactoring). Many teams use both.
- "Courage" as an XP value means:
- a. Working on dangerous tasks
- b. Having courage to refactor, discard bad code, and tell the truth about estimates ✅
- c. Ignoring risks
Rationale: Courage enables teams to make difficult decisions: throw away bad code, refactor, push back on unrealistic requests, and tell the truth.
Section 4: Kanban (Questions 76-95)
- What is the primary goal of Kanban?
- a. Maximizing multitasking
- b. Visualizing workflow and limiting work-in-progress (WIP) to improve flow and reduce cycle time ✅
- c. Eliminating all meetings
- d. Increasing batch sizes
Rationale: Kanban is a method for managing work with an emphasis on visualization, WIP limits, flow, and continuous improvement.
- Which of the following is a core Kanban practice?
- a. Sprints (time-boxes)
- b. Visualize the workflow (Kanban board) ✅
- c. Sprint Planning
- d. Sprint Retrospective
Rationale: Kanban uses a board to visualize work stages. Other core practices include limiting WIP, managing flow, making policies explicit, implementing feedback loops, and improving collaboratively.
- What is "Cycle Time" in Kanban?
- a. The time from idea to deployment
- b. The time from when work starts on an item until it is finished ✅
- c. The time spent in meetings
- d. The number of items completed per week
Rationale: Cycle Time measures how long a work item takes from active work start to completion. Lead Time is from request to delivery.
- What does "WIP Limit" prevent?
- a. Team communication
- b. Multitasking and bottlenecks ✅
- c. Work completion
- d. Process improvement
Rationale: Scrum uses fixed-length Sprints with events. Kanban is event-based, pull-driven, and continuous. Both can be used together (Scrumban).
- What does "Throughput" measure in Kanban?
- a. Number of work items in progress
- b. Number of work items completed per unit time ✅
- c. Time to complete an item
- d. Team happiness
Rationale: Throughput (e.g., cards per week) indicates delivery rate. It is used with cycle time to analyze flow and capacity.
- The "Expedite" lane in Kanban is for:
- a. All work items
- b. High-priority items that must bypass normal flow ✅
- c. Items to be discarded
- d. Testing only
Rationale: An expedite lane (often with its own WIP limit) handles critical, time-sensitive items. Expediting should be rare to avoid disrupting flow.
- "Classes of Service" in Kanban help prioritize work by:
- a. Random choice
- b. Characteristics such as expedite, fixed delivery date, standard, and intangible ✅
- c. Alphabetical order
- d. Developer preference
Rationale: Classes of Service define policies for handling different types of work (e.g., expedite items, standard items) with different SLAs.
- Which of the following is NOT a property of Kanban?
- a. Sprint Planning ✅
- b. Visualizing workflow
- c. Limiting WIP
- d. Measuring lead time
Rationale: Sprint Planning is a Scrum event. Kanban does not prescribe iterations, but teams using Kanban may still plan.
- How does Kanban handle changes compared to Scrum?
- a. Changes are not allowed
- b. Changes can be made at any time, but WIP limits protect focus ✅
- c. Changes only at Sprint boundaries
- d. Only the manager can change priorities
Rationale: Kanban is more flexible for change; new priority items can be added as long as WIP limits are respected. This contrasts with Scrum's Sprint commitment.
- What does a "blocked" column on a Kanban board indicate?
- a. Work is proceeding normally
- b. An item is stuck waiting for external input or resolution ✅
- c. The item is complete
- d. The item is not started
Rationale: A blocked column (or flag) makes impediments visible, encouraging the team to swarm and resolve the blocker.
- The Kanban practice "Make policies explicit" means:
- a. Policies are secret
- b. Clearly define rules for how work moves (WIP limits, classes of service, prioritization) ✅
- c. No policies needed
- d. Only managers know policies
Rationale: Explicit policies reduce confusion, enable self-organization, and provide a basis for improvement discussions.
- In Kanban, "cadences" refer to:
- a. Fixed Sprints
- b. Regular meetings (e.g., daily stand-up, replenishment, operations review, risk review) ✅
- c. Coding standards
- d. Testing frequency
Rationale: While Kanban is continuous, it uses cadences (meetings at regular intervals) to review flow, replenish work, and improve processes.
- What is the relationship between Kanban WIP limits and cycle time?
- a. No relationship
- b. Lower WIP generally reduces cycle time ✅
- c. Higher WIP reduces cycle time
- d. WIP limits increase cycle time
Rationale: According to Little's Law (Cycle Time = WIP / Throughput), reducing WIP (with constant throughput) reduces cycle time. Lower WIP also reduces context switching.
- Which metric is derived from the Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD)?
- a. Number of bugs
- b. Average cycle time (by measuring horizontal distance between state curves) ✅
