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Foundations OF Lean

This domain covers Lean thinking as applied to disciplined agile delivery: value, value streams, flow, pull, waste, and continuous improvement. Questions test whether you can identify Lean principles, diagnose push-system pitfalls, reduce handoffs and wait time, and choose flow-based responses rather than adding process or batching work.

58 questions14 easy27 medium17 hard

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What this domain covers

What to know about Foundations OF Lean

A candidate must be able to identify Lean principles and waste, distinguish push from pull, and apply flow and value-stream thinking to real delivery problems. The most important thing is choosing to reduce handoffs, batch size, and work in progress rather than adding process.

Identifying foundational Lean thinking principles such as value, value stream, flow, pull, and perfection

Recognizing common pitfalls of push systems, including overproduction, large batches, and inventory buildup

Applying value-stream mapping to expose handoffs, wait time, and non-value-adding steps

Choosing pull-based, small-batch, flow-oriented responses to reduce delays between completion and review

Watch out for

Common Foundations OF Lean exam traps

  • ▸Treating Lean as cost cutting or headcount reduction rather than eliminating waste and improving flow of value.
  • ▸Confusing push with pull: push schedules work by forecast, pull releases work only when downstream capacity is available.
  • ▸Responding to wait time by adding more process, approvals, or batching instead of reducing handoffs and limiting work in progress.

Question index

All Foundations OF Lean questions (58)

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1

What is the primary benefit of 'Standardized Work' in a Lean environment?

Medium
2

What is the primary purpose of 'Little's Law' in Lean?

Medium
3

Which THREE of the following represent ways to reduce handoffs?

Medium
4

Your organization uses a large 'Project Management Office' to approve every change. How does this affect flow according to Lean principles?

Hard
5

What does 'Kaizen' represent in a Lean context?

Easy
6

Which THREE of the following strategies help in 'Optimizing the Whole'?

Hard
7

Which TWO of the following are potential side effects of failing to address bottlenecks in a process?

Hard
8

Why does Lean advocate for 'Small Batch Sizes'?

Medium
9

You are trying to improve flow in a cross-functional team. How does 'T-shaped' skill development support this?

Hard
10

Why does a 'Push' system often lead to lower quality?

Medium
11

During a retrospective, the team notices they spend 30% of their time fixing defects in previously delivered code. Which Lean principle does this violate?

Easy
12

If you have a 'bottleneck', how does increasing local efficiency at a non-bottleneck step affect the system?

Hard
13

Which THREE of the following are considered 'Waste' in the context of Lean software development?

Hard
14

What is the primary Lean motivation for 'deferring commitment' until the last responsible moment?

Medium
15

You are managing a process where work consistently stalls at the 'Testing' stage. What is the most effective way to address this bottleneck?

Medium
16

A team is deciding when to make a final commitment on a new database technology. They have two viable options and more information will be available in two weeks. According to Lean principles, what should the team do?

Hard
17

When applying the Lean principle of 'Optimize the Whole', what should you avoid doing?

Hard
18

When a team is using a 'Kanban' system, what is the best way to determine if WIP limits are too high?

Hard
19

When applying the principle of 'Optimize the Whole', how should you view a 'specialized' sub-team?

Medium
20

Which of the following is an example of 'Inventory' waste in software development?

Easy
21

Why does Lean emphasize 'Visible Management' for project boards?

Medium
22

In a Lean environment, how do you handle a 'non-value-add but necessary' activity?

Hard
23

What does a cumulative flow diagram (CFD) help a team visualize?

Easy
24

Your organization wants to transition to a 'Pull' system. What is the most important prerequisite?

Hard
25

If you observe a high rate of 'blocked' items on your Kanban board, what is the most appropriate action?

Medium
26

Which TWO of the following are primary benefits of limiting Work-in-Progress (WIP)?

Medium
27

Which of the following is considered 'Waste' (Muda) in a software development process?

Easy
28

When a team is 'swarming', what are they doing?

Medium
29

When analyzing a Value Stream Map, what does an 'invisible' queue represent?

Hard
30

Which of these is the best definition of 'Value' in Lean?

Easy
31

Which of these is a symptom of 'Overprocessing'?

Easy
32

A product team is mapping its value stream and discovers that 60% of its cycle time is spent waiting for approvals from a centralized architecture review board. Which two actions best align with Lean thinking to improve flow? (Choose two.)

Hard
33

A team is frustrated by 'rework'. Which Lean practice helps address this at the source?

Medium
34

Your team is experiencing high WIP levels during the development phase. Which Lean technique should you apply first to identify the primary cause of this congestion?

Medium
35

You notice that the team's 'Cycle Time' is increasing despite no change in the amount of work. What should you investigate?

Medium
36

You are identifying 'non-value-add' work in your process. What is the most important first step?

Medium
37

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

Hard
38

A team discovers that their cycle time is highly variable. What is the most likely culprit from a Lean perspective?

Medium
39

Which TWO of the following are common types of 'Waste' (Muda) that teams should look for?

Easy
40

What is the relationship between 'Flow' and 'Value' in Lean?

Medium
41

How should a team handle an 'emergency' request in a Kanban system that is already at its WIP limit?

Hard
42

Which is a common symptom of a 'bottleneck' in a Lean workflow?

Easy
43

A team is new to Lean and wants to understand the purpose of a value stream map. Which statement best describes what a value stream map helps them do?

Easy
44

What is the primary Lean goal of reducing the number of handoffs between specialized teams?

Medium
45

Which of the following best describes the 'Respect for People' principle?

Easy
46

A product team is mapping its value stream and discovers that a feature request spends 10 days in 'Development' and 20 days waiting in 'Ready for Release' because releases are batched monthly. The team wants to apply Lean thinking to improve flow. Which action should they take first?

Hard
47

A team notices that it frequently starts new work before finishing current work, and as a result, lead time keeps growing even though everyone is busy. Which Lean principle should the team apply to address this?

Medium
48

Which TWO of the following are common pitfalls of 'Push' systems?

Medium
49

Which THREE of the following are foundational Lean thinking principles?

Easy
50

Which THREE of the following actions support the Lean principle 'Build Quality In'?

Medium
51

Which TWO of the following are essential components of a successful Value Stream Mapping session?

Medium
52

What is the primary benefit of 'Small Batch Sizes' in software development?

Easy
53

What is a 'Pull' system in Lean?

Easy
54

A team has identified 'task switching' as a primary source of waste. What is the most effective Lean practice to address this?

Medium
55

Your team is experiencing 'context switching' due to frequent interruptions. Which Lean-inspired action is most appropriate?

Medium
56

A team has a very high lead time. They notice that work sits in a 'Pending Approval' state for 80% of the total time. What should they do?

Medium
57

What is the primary Lean goal of 'Visual Management'?

Medium
58

A team has high 'wait time' between code completion and code review. How should they address this using Lean principles?

Hard

Frequently asked questions

What does the Foundations OF Lean domain cover on the DAF exam?
A candidate must be able to identify Lean principles and waste, distinguish push from pull, and apply flow and value-stream thinking to real delivery problems. The most important thing is choosing to reduce handoffs, batch size, and work in progress rather than adding process.
How many questions are in this domain?
This page lists all 58 Foundations OF Lean questions in the DAF question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
What is the best way to practise this domain?
Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
Can I practise only Foundations OF Lean questions?
Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.
Disciplined Agile Foundations (DAF, PMI-authorized, replaces the retired DASM) (DAF) Foundations OF Lean Practice Questions