DAF Practice Test 17 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your team is struggling with 'gold plating' (adding unnecessary features). How does this affect the value stream?

Accepted Answer

It increases lead time without providing additional customer value.. Gold plating — adding features or polish beyond what the customer requested — consumes capacity without delivering additional customer value. In value-stream terms, this extra work increases lead time (and WIP) while producing no corresponding value, making it a form of waste (muda) that should be eliminated.

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It reduces lead time by keeping developers productive.

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It has no impact on the value stream.

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It improves the overall quality of the product.

Question 2

A Disciplined Agile team has been using the Agile lifecycle for six months. The organization now requires the team to support a continuous flow of small enhancements while still running two-week iterations for larger features. The team's coach suggests adopting the Lean lifecycle to better handle the flow of work. Which statement best describes the primary reason the Lean lifecycle is appropriate in this situation?

Accepted Answer

It optimizes for continuous flow and limits work in progress, which suits a steady stream of small enhancements alongside iterative work.. The Lean lifecycle is appropriate because it is optimized for continuous flow and limiting work in progress, which directly addresses the need to handle a steady stream of small enhancements while still supporting iterative work. It provides the flexibility to blend flow and iterations without forcing a full continuous delivery model or removing key roles.

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It eliminates the need for a product owner and replaces that role with a flow manager.

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It mandates the use of a specific Kanban tool and predefined work-in-progress limits for all teams.

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It requires the team to abandon iterations entirely and adopt a continuous deployment model.

Question 3

A Disciplined Agile team is struggling with unpredictable delivery because they frequently receive urgent requests from different business units. The team lead suggests adopting a 'flow-based' approach. Which of the following best describes how a flow-based approach would help this team?

Accepted Answer

It limits work in progress and visualizes the value stream to manage demand and reduce multitasking.. A flow-based approach helps by making work visible and limiting WIP, which directly addresses the chaos of urgent requests. It allows the team to manage demand, expose capacity constraints, and have data-driven conversations with stakeholders about prioritization. This leads to more predictable delivery even when requests vary, because the team can control the amount of work in process and focus on completing items.

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It requires all work to be estimated in story points and planned in fixed-length iterations.

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It mandates a single-piece flow where only one item is worked on at a time by the entire team.

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It eliminates the need for a product backlog and replaces it with a continuous stream of unplanned work.

Question 4

A newly formed agile team at an insurance company is about to begin its first iteration. The team's coach asks them to select a lifecycle that fits their situation. The team works on a single product, has a co-located product owner, and requires frequent feedback from the business. Which Disciplined Agile lifecycle is the most appropriate starting point for this team?

Accepted Answer

Agile lifecycle. The Agile lifecycle is the best fit because it is the simplest DA lifecycle and is explicitly designed for a single, co-located team with a dedicated product owner delivering one product. It provides frequent iterations and stakeholder feedback without the coordination overhead of scaling or the engineering demands of continuous delivery, making it the right starting point for a newly formed team.

Answer

Continuous Delivery: Agile lifecycle

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Program lifecycle

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Lean lifecycle

Question 5

A newly formed product team is deciding how to organize its work. The team lead suggests adopting a 'flow-based' strategy where work items are pulled continuously rather than committed to fixed-length iterations. Which Disciplined Agile principle best supports this choice?

Accepted Answer

Deliver value continuously by optimizing flow and eliminating waste.. The team is choosing a flow-based strategy, which is one of several valid DA lifecycles. The principle of delivering value continuously and optimizing flow supports this choice, as it emphasizes pull systems, waste elimination, and adaptability. The other options reflect anti-patterns or misapplications of DA, such as over-planning, over-utilization, or rigid process adherence.

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Maximize utilization of all team members at all times.

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Prefer predictive planning to reduce uncertainty.

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Follow a single prescribed process for all teams.

Question 6

A newly formed Disciplined Agile team is choosing its way of working. The team wants to adopt a strategy that explicitly supports both agile and lean principles while also allowing for traditional governance and compliance requirements. Which of the following best describes the DA-recommended approach to selecting a lifecycle?

Accepted Answer

Choose the lifecycle that best fits the team's context, then continuously inspect and adapt the way of working as the situation changes.. DA rejects a one-size-fits-all method. Teams are expected to choose a lifecycle that fits their context—such as team size, regulatory environment, and delivery cadence—and then continuously inspect and adapt that way of working. This context-driven selection is central to Disciplined Agile and distinguishes it from frameworks that mandate a single approach.

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Start with a hybrid approach that blends agile, lean, and traditional practices, then tailor it based on the team's context.

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Adopt the Continuous Delivery lifecycle because it is the most advanced and therefore the most effective for all teams.

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Select the Agile lifecycle because it is the default and most flexible option for any team.

Question 7

A team is deciding which Disciplined Agile lifecycle to adopt. They have a stable, well-understood problem and a fixed deadline. Which lifecycle is most appropriate according to DA guidance?

Accepted Answer

Predictive. Disciplined Agile provides a range of lifecycles, and the choice depends on context. For a stable, well-understood problem with a fixed deadline, the Predictive lifecycle is most suitable because it allows for detailed planning and control. The other lifecycles are better suited for evolving requirements or continuous flow, which do not match the scenario's characteristics.

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Continuous Delivery

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Lean

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Agile

Question 8

A Disciplined Agile team is struggling with frequent interruptions and unplanned work. The team lead wants to apply a DA principle to address this. Which of the following actions best reflects the DA principle of 'Deliver value continuously'?

Accepted Answer

Limit work in progress, make the cost of interruptions visible, and collaborate with stakeholders to reduce them.. The DA principle of delivering value continuously calls for optimizing flow, making work visible, and collaborating to remove impediments. Limiting WIP and exposing the cost of interruptions helps the team and stakeholders understand the impact and work together to reduce unplanned work, rather than simply absorbing it or escalating without addressing the system.

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Create a separate backlog for interruptions and assign them to a dedicated team member.

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Increase the team's velocity target to absorb the extra work without changing the process.

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Escalate to senior management to mandate that stakeholders stop interrupting the team.

Question 9

A Disciplined Agile team is reviewing its approach to governance. The team wants to ensure it is applying DA governance principles correctly. Which TWO of the following are core aspects of DA governance? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Governance should be based on trust and collaboration rather than command and control.. DA governance is built on trust, collaboration, and empowerment, with clear boundaries that enable teams to self-organize. It is continuous and context-sensitive, avoiding one-size-fits-all mandates and excessive documentation. These two aspects reflect the core philosophy of DA governance, which balances oversight with agility to deliver value effectively.

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Governance should prioritize comprehensive documentation over working software.

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Governance should be applied only at the end of a project to verify compliance.

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Governance should mandate a single set of detailed processes for all teams to follow.

Question 10

A Disciplined Agile team is in the early stages of forming. The team members are unsure about their roles and responsibilities. According to DA, what is the most appropriate first step to clarify roles?

Accepted Answer

Have the team collaboratively define its way of working, including roles, using the DA process goals as a guide.. DA emphasizes self-organization and context-sensitive tailoring. The team should collaboratively define its way of working, including roles, guided by DA process goals. This approach ensures roles are fit for purpose and owned by the team, rather than imposed externally or deferred until problems arise.

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Ask the project manager to assign roles based on each member's job title and seniority.

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Wait until the team encounters role conflicts and then resolve them through escalation.

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Create a RACI chart that assigns every task to a specific team member.

Question 11

A Disciplined Agile team is working on a complex product and has identified a high degree of uncertainty in the requirements. The team wants to apply the DA principle of 'Deliver value continuously' while managing risk. Which strategy is most aligned with DA for exploring initial scope?

Accepted Answer

Use a series of short iterations or experiments to explore the problem space and validate assumptions with stakeholders.. When uncertainty is high, DA recommends using short iterations or experiments to explore the problem space and validate assumptions with stakeholders. This approach enables continuous learning and adaptation, aligning with the principle of delivering value continuously. It also helps manage risk by providing early feedback and allowing the team to pivot as needed.

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Delegate all scope decisions to the product owner and have the team focus solely on implementation.

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Adopt a predictive lifecycle with stage gates to ensure each phase is completed before moving on.

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Create a detailed requirements specification upfront to eliminate uncertainty before development begins.

Question 12

A distributed team has been running the Agile lifecycle for six months. Retrospective data shows that work items frequently sit in review for days, releases are batched quarterly, and the team cannot demonstrate working software to stakeholders between releases. Which change to their Way of Working most directly addresses these symptoms?

Accepted Answer

Adopt a continuous delivery approach with automated deployment and smaller, more frequent releases.. The observed symptoms all trace to large batch sizes and manual gates: review queues, quarterly batching, and no demonstrable software between releases. A continuous delivery approach with automation directly reduces batch size and shortens feedback. Other changes either add capacity to a broken flow or enlarge the batch, leaving the structural cause intact.

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Move all review work to a separate quality assurance team outside the delivery team.

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Increase the length of iterations so the team has more time to complete reviews.

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Add a dedicated review role and keep the quarterly release cadence.

Question 13

A newly formed team is choosing its Way of Working. A senior manager insists the team must adopt the same detailed process used by another department because it worked there. What does Disciplined Agile recommend the team do?

Accepted Answer

Start from a proven base such as a lifecycle, then tailor practices to the team's context and evolve them over time.. Disciplined Agile expects the team to own its Way of Working, starting from a proven base and tailoring it to context. Blind adoption ignores fit, while wholesale rejection discards useful experience. Tailoring from a lifecycle and evolving over time balances learning from others with adapting to the team's own situation.

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Reject all existing practices and invent a completely new process from scratch.

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Adopt the other department's process unchanged to maintain organizational consistency.

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Escalate the disagreement to a steering committee for a binding process decision.

Question 14

A team is adopting Disciplined Agile and wants to ensure they are applying the DA mindset. Which TWO of the following are key aspects of the DA mindset? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Focusing on value delivery and continuous improvement.. The Disciplined Agile mindset is built on principles such as being pragmatic, context-driven, and focused on value delivery and continuous improvement. These aspects guide teams to tailor their way of working and to constantly seek better outcomes. The other options represent misconceptions: rigid ceremonies, excessive documentation, or no planning, none of which align with the DA mindset.

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Avoiding any form of planning to stay flexible.

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Following a fixed set of ceremonies regardless of team size.

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Maximizing documentation for all decisions.

Question 15

A delivery team at a financial services organization has been using a predictive approach for years. Leadership now wants to adopt Disciplined Agile to improve responsiveness. During the first retrospective, the team identifies that their biggest challenge is that they cannot get feedback from stakeholders until the very end of the project. Which Disciplined Agile principle should the team apply first to address this challenge?

Accepted Answer

Deliver value incrementally to obtain feedback early and often.. Delivering value incrementally is the foundational Disciplined Agile principle that enables early and frequent feedback. By shortening the cycle time between building and showing working software, the team can engage stakeholders throughout the project rather than only at the end. This directly solves the identified problem and sets the stage for other principles such as optimizing the whole.

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Optimize the whole by eliminating local efficiencies.

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Make all decisions at the last responsible moment.

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Choose the right level of detail for the context.