DAF Foundations OF Disciplined Agile Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which DA principle supports the idea that teams should improve their process incrementally?

Accepted Answer

Improve Process. The 'Improve Process' principle in DA states that teams should regularly reflect on and incrementally improve their way of working. It directly supports the idea of incremental process improvement rather than big-bang transformations. This principle encourages small, safe-to-fail experiments.

Answer

Choice is Good

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Context Counts

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Enterprise Awareness

Question 2

Your team needs to scale their agile efforts. What should be your first step according to DA?

Accepted Answer

Assess the current team maturity and context. According to Disciplined Agile, the first step when scaling agile efforts is to assess the current team maturity and context. DA emphasizes that scaling is not a one-size-fits-all journey; you must understand where the team is now (their skills, culture, constraints) before choosing a scaling approach. This aligns with DA's principle of 'Context Counts' and its guided continuous improvement approach.

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Switch to Kanban

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Add a Program Manager

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Implement SAFe immediately

Question 3

What is the role of 'Enterprise Awareness' in the DA toolkit?

Accepted Answer

To encourage team members to act in the best interest of the organization. Enterprise Awareness in DA is a guiding principle that encourages individuals and teams to consider the whole organisation when making decisions, rather than optimising only for their local team. It pushes teams to act in the best interest of the enterprise, even when that means accepting a locally suboptimal outcome. This is distinct from standardisation or reporting mandates.

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To ensure everyone works the same way

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To report all team activities to management

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To limit the team to internal tasks

Question 4

When applying the DA 'Choose Your WoW' tool, which factor is most important?

Accepted Answer

The team's current context. The 'Choose Your WoW' tool in Disciplined Agile is fundamentally about tailoring the way of working to the team's specific context. The most important factor is the team's current situation, including their size, distribution, skills, culture, and the nature of the work. This context-driven approach ensures that the chosen practices are fit for purpose rather than imposed from outside.

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The budget available

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Executive preference

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The latest industry trend

Question 5

Your organization is struggling with siloed teams. How does DA suggest breaking these silos?

Accepted Answer

Implement cross-functional teams and coordination. Disciplined Agile suggests breaking down silos by implementing cross-functional teams and coordination mechanisms. Cross-functional teams bring together individuals with diverse skills to work on a shared goal, reducing handoffs and dependencies, while coordination practices (such as communities of practice, scrum of scrums, or DevOps) ensure alignment across teams.

Answer

Report all silos to HR

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Force all teams to use the same tool

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Mandate daily meetings for everyone

Question 6

Which of the following is a core DA principle?

Accepted Answer

Choice is Good. 'Choice is Good' is one of the foundational DA principles, reflecting the philosophy that teams should be empowered to select the practices, lifecycles, and tools that fit their context. It underpins the entire DA toolkit approach, where multiple options are presented rather than a single prescribed method. This principle distinguishes DA from prescriptive frameworks.

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One right way to work

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Follow the plan strictly

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Documentation over code

Question 7

You are working in a regulated environment. Which aspect of DA allows you to maintain compliance while staying agile?

Accepted Answer

Disciplined Agile Governance. Disciplined Agile Governance is the aspect of DA that enables teams to satisfy regulatory and compliance obligations while remaining agile. It embeds lightweight, scalable governance practices directly into the way of working rather than bolting them on as separate control gates. This lets regulated teams demonstrate fitness-for-purpose and auditability without sacrificing the ability to inspect and adapt.

Answer

External Audits

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Standardized Documentation

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Stop Agile Adoption

Question 8

If a team is using the 'Agile' lifecycle, what is their primary focus?

Accepted Answer

Continuous delivery of value. The Agile lifecycle in Disciplined Agile is centered on delivering value to customers in short, incremental cycles. The primary focus is on continuous delivery of value, which means frequently producing working, potentially shippable increments that meet stakeholder needs. This approach allows for rapid feedback and adaptation, aligning with Agile principles.

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Risk mitigation only

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Cost reduction

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Long-term planning

Question 9

In the DA toolkit, what does 'WoW' stand for?

Accepted Answer

Way of Working. In the Disciplined Agile (DA) toolkit, 'WoW' is the acronym for 'Way of Working.' This term captures the unique combination of principles, practices, and processes that a given team adopts to deliver value in its specific context. DA deliberately uses 'WoW' rather than a fixed methodology because it recognizes that no two teams face identical constraints, so each team's WoW will differ.

Answer

World of Work

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Work of Wisdom

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Winning over Work

Question 10

How does DA handle technical debt?

Accepted Answer

Make it visible and plan for remediation. DA encourages managing technical debt through explicit visibility and planned remediation within the process goals.

Answer

Assign it to a separate team

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Ignore it until the project is over

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Ban all technical debt

Question 11

What is the relationship between Portfolio Management and the Team layer in DA?

Accepted Answer

Portfolio provides direction to teams. In Disciplined Agile, Portfolio Management provides strategic direction to teams by aligning team-level work with organizational goals, funding, and governance. The Portfolio layer sets the context within which teams operate, ensuring that team efforts contribute to the broader enterprise strategy. This relationship is not independent; it is a directional flow from portfolio to teams.

Answer

Teams ignore portfolio management

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They are completely independent

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Teams set the portfolio strategy

Question 12

Which DA process goal is most relevant when preparing to release a product?

Accepted Answer

Produce a Potentially Consumable Solution. 'Produce a Potentially Consumable Solution' is the DA process goal focused on creating a solution that is potentially shippable, which is exactly what you need when preparing to release a product. It covers activities like continuous integration, testing, and building a deployable increment. The other goals address team formation, coordination, and risk, which are not release-preparation focused.

Answer

Form Team

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Coordinate Activities

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Address Risk

Question 13

You are managing a program that spans multiple DA teams. Which process blade helps manage the dependency between these teams?

Accepted Answer

Coordinate Activities. In Disciplined Agile, the Coordinate Activities process blade exists specifically to manage dependencies, risks, and coordination across multiple teams, including across the enterprise. When a program spans multiple DA teams, Coordinate Activities provides the guidance for aligning their work, resolving cross-team dependencies, and coordinating releases — making it the correct blade for managing inter-team dependencies.

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Team Development

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Product Management

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Governance

Question 14

A team is transitioning to a 'Lean' lifecycle. What is the most likely change they need to make?

Accepted Answer

Focus on continuous flow. Lean lifecycle is built around the principle of continuous flow — moving work through the value stream in small batches with minimal wait states, handoffs, and inventory. A team transitioning to Lean must therefore restructure how work moves, reducing batch sizes and eliminating queues so value is delivered steadily rather than in large, infrequent releases.

Answer

Increase batch sizes

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Add a project manager

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Require more documentation

Question 15

Why does DA suggest 'Choice is Good'?

Accepted Answer

Because teams need options for different contexts. Disciplined Agile (DA) suggests 'Choice is Good' because it recognises that teams operate in different contexts — different organisational cultures, regulatory environments, team sizes, and technical domains — and therefore need the flexibility to choose the practices, lifecycle, and tools that best fit their specific situation. This principle underpins DA's pragmatic, context-driven approach rather than a one-size-fits-all prescription.

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To keep the documentation long

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To make the framework complex

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To satisfy management