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. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 team uses Git with a trunk-based development strategy. They want to ensure that all code changes are integrated into the main branch at least once a day, and that branch lifetimes are short. Which practice best supports this?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
Clue: "least"
Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Developers work on short-lived feature branches (less than a day) and merge to main via pull requests after successful CI.
Option D is correct because trunk-based development emphasizes short-lived feature branches (typically less than a day) that are merged into the main branch via pull requests after passing continuous integration (CI) checks. This ensures all code changes are integrated at least daily, keeping branch lifetimes short and reducing merge conflicts.
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.
✗
Developers use GitFlow with develop and feature branches, merging to develop daily and to main at release.
Why it's wrong here
GitFlow is not trunk-based; it uses multiple long-lived branches.
✗
Developers commit directly to a release branch, and then the release branch is merged to main at the end of the sprint.
Why it's wrong here
This is closer to release flow, not daily integration.
✗
Developers work on long-lived feature branches and merge to main only after all features are complete.
Why it's wrong here
Long-lived branches lead to merge conflicts and delayed integration.
✓
Developers work on short-lived feature branches (less than a day) and merge to main via pull requests after successful CI.
Why this is correct
Short-lived branches and frequent merges align with trunk-based development.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "best", "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse GitFlow (option A) with trunk-based development, but GitFlow's long-lived develop and feature branches directly contradict the requirement for daily integration into main and short branch lifetimes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Trunk-based development relies on feature toggles (flags) to allow incomplete features to be merged into main without breaking production. This approach minimizes merge conflicts by keeping branches under a day old, and CI pipelines run automated tests and builds on each pull request to validate integration before merging. In practice, teams often enforce branch lifetimes via branch policies that require rebasing or squashing commits to maintain a linear history.
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: Developers work on short-lived feature branches (less than a day) and merge to main via pull requests after successful CI. — Option D is correct because trunk-based development emphasizes short-lived feature branches (typically less than a day) that are merged into the main branch via pull requests after passing continuous integration (CI) checks. This ensures all code changes are integrated at least daily, keeping branch lifetimes short and reducing merge conflicts.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best", "least". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This AZ-400 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-400 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.