AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement a source control strategy
This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of design and implement a source control strategy. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your organization is adopting a trunk-based development strategy with short-lived feature branches. Which branch policy should you enforce to ensure that code is integrated frequently and conflicts are minimized?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Require a minimum number of reviewers and enforce a squash merge strategy
In a trunk-based development strategy with short-lived feature branches, the goal is to integrate code frequently and minimize merge conflicts. Requiring a minimum number of reviewers ensures code quality and team awareness, while enforcing a squash merge strategy collapses all feature branch commits into a single commit on the main branch, keeping the history linear and clean. This approach reduces the risk of complex merge conflicts and supports continuous integration by encouraging small, frequent merges.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Allow direct pushes to main branch for senior developers
Why it's wrong here
Direct pushes skip reviews and can cause issues.
✓
Require a minimum number of reviewers and enforce a squash merge strategy
Why this is correct
Squash merges keep history linear and reviews ensure quality.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create release branches for each production deployment
Why it's wrong here
Release branches are not typical in trunk-based development.
✗
Require all merges to be fast-forward only
Why it's wrong here
Fast-forward only can be restrictive and is not a core trunk-based practice.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse trunk-based development with GitFlow and choose option C (release branches), or they mistakenly think fast-forward-only merges (option D) are required for trunk-based strategies, when in fact squash merges are the recommended approach to maintain a clean, linear history.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, a squash merge in Azure Repos or GitHub creates a new commit on the target branch that combines all changes from the source branch, effectively rewriting history to avoid a tangled graph. This is critical in trunk-based development because it keeps the main branch's commit history linear and easy to bisect for debugging, while still allowing developers to work with granular commits on their feature branches. In practice, this policy also prevents merge commits that can clutter the log and complicate rollbacks, especially when teams integrate multiple times per day.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-400 question in full detail.
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Require a minimum number of reviewers and enforce a squash merge strategy — In a trunk-based development strategy with short-lived feature branches, the goal is to integrate code frequently and minimize merge conflicts. Requiring a minimum number of reviewers ensures code quality and team awareness, while enforcing a squash merge strategy collapses all feature branch commits into a single commit on the main branch, keeping the history linear and clean. This approach reduces the risk of complex merge conflicts and supports continuous integration by encouraging small, frequent merges.
What should I do if I get this AZ-400 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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