1.What is the first value in the Agile Manifesto?
- Contract Negotiations over Working Plans
- Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
- Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
- Comprehensive Documentation over Customer Interaction
Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
The first value points to focusing more on individuals and collaborations than on a set methodology or tools and techniques.
2.Who were the creators of the Agile Manifesto?
- PMI
- The Agile Alliance
- Ken Beck
- The Scrum Alliance
The Agile Alliance
The Agile Alliance was created by a group of software developers who were looking for better ways to manage their projects with a sharper focus on software development.
3.In the Agile Manifesto, it is more important to respond to changes than to do which of the following?
- Comprehensively document
- Use processes and tools
- Negotiate contracts
- Follow a plan
Follow a plan
Agile projects involve frequent changes and documentation at the last responsible moment. If a plan is followed to the letter, it doesn’t allow for frequent changes.
4.Which of the following is the highest priority of the 12 major principles?
- Face-to-face conversation
- Motivated individuals
- Working software
- Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction
All methods focus on ways to increase value for the customer by communicating and adapting to changing customer needs.
5.You are working to implement Agile in your organization, and a key stakeholder asks you to explain Agile to them. What would be the best answer to explain Agile to someone who doesn’t know anything about it?
- Agile is a way to produce software without change control.
- Agile is a framework for better project management.
- Agile is a mindset that allows an organization to focus on better ways to produce value for the customer and practice continuous improvement.
- Agile is the opposite of Waterfall.
Agile is a mindset that allows an organization to focus on better ways to produce value for the customer and practice continuous improvement.
Even though there are specific frameworks like Scrum and XP that help manage projects more effectively, the main goal of Agile is to provide value and continuously learn and improve.
Bill is a key stakeholder in your organization and has recently learned about your usage of an Agile framework on your current project. You’ve invited Bill to a planning meeting, and he says, “I thought you didn’t do formal planning in Agile.” How should you respond?
- “We do plan our projects, but we keep our focus on the immediate items and we value working software over comprehensive documentation during planning.”
- “We plan as much as anyone working on projects and try to incorporate the opinions of many stakeholders to help us do it.”
- “We don’t plan normally, but since you are new to Agile we thought we would plan as much as possible until you get comfortable with Agile.”
- “We build plans that we know won’t work to meet stakeholder requirements.”
“We do plan our projects, but we keep our focus on the immediate items and we value working software over comprehensive documentation during planning.”
It’s not uncommon that people new to Agile frameworks get confused about managing change over formal preplanning, but planning is a big part of Agile project management, just not long-term planning when you know things will change.
7.Empirical process control has three main aspects to it. What would those three be?
- Transparency, inspection, and adaptation
- Iterative, incremental, and uncertainty
- Transparency, iterative, reliability
- Inspection, incremental, adaptable
Transparency, inspection, and adaptation
These pillars also support the Scrum framework and provide a good itemized list of the Agile mindset.
- In the past, your team has run projects using a more formal Waterfall method and now is incorporating Agile methodologies. What will be the biggest difference in how you manage your projects?
- Waterfall preplans the entire project before execution, and Agile only plans out just far enough to create a workable increment that is valuable to the customer.
- Agile is much more flexible in how the best practices work. As long as your team creates something usable, it doesn’t matter how you accomplish it.
- The Waterfall method has many books of knowledge and best practices, but Agile only has the Manifesto.
- Agile plans less, and Waterfall plans more.
Waterfall preplans the entire project before execution, and Agile only plans out just far enough to create a workable increment that is valuable to the customer.
This is the biggest difference between Waterfall and Agile. Agile involves planning, but waiting until the last responsible moment to do so. The scope of work isn’t fixed as it is with Waterfall projects.
- The Satir model correctly predicts why some organizations have a challenging time changing methodologies. What is the reason for that based on the model?
- Organizations don’t spend enough time training their people and that causes chaos.
- Organizations often determine that the new method isn’t working because they have not reached the integration stage and have only seen the chaos.
- Organizations are used to doing things a certain way and nobody likes to change.
- Organizations don’t allow enough time for the chaos, which in turn doesn’t allow things to level out in integration.
Organizations often determine that the new method isn’t working because they have not reached the integration stage and have only seen the chaos.
Many organizations are too quick to say something doesn’t work when they don’t get immediate results. Agile is very different from many set processes that helped build out the industrial age, and it is open-ended and flexible. It takes practice and time to integrate.
- What is the main reason organizations should not jump into a hybrid method if they are new to Agile approaches?
- It takes practice to implement Agile effectively on an organizational level. It’s better to practice one method and become proficient before trying to combine two.
- Organizations that have used both should determine which one works the best individually before creating a hybrid option.
- Hybrids are not recommended for large software organizations.
- It can get very confusing as to which frameworks to follow if it is a combination of two types.
It takes practice to implement Agile effectively on an organizational level. It’s better to practice one method and become proficient before trying to combine two.
It isn’t recommended to try to create a hybrid approach until all best practices are well understood and have been used. This doesn’t mean that you couldn’t incorporate stand-up meetings on your next Waterfall project. It’s just not recommended to combine full frameworks until everything is well accepted and understood.
11.Seventeen developers met in Snowbird, Utah, in February 2001 to discuss better ways of managing software projects. What was the result of that meeting?
- The Declaration of Interdependence
- The Agile Manifesto
- The Scrum Theory
- The PMBOK® Guide
The Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto was the outcome of the meeting in Utah, which was held due to the frustration with current methods of software design and project management.
12.What does the Agile Manifesto mean by “individuals and interactions over processes and tools”?
- It means that processes and tools aren’t needed on Agile projects.
- It means that without processes and tools, the individuals and interactions will not be effective.
- It means that individuals and interactions are valued more than processes and tools.
- It means that both are necessary and work together to produce working software.
It means that individuals and interactions are valued more than processes and tools.
The Agile Manifesto isn’t saying that you should choose one over the other; it is merely suggesting that you should place individuals and your interactions with them over sticking strictly to tools and processes that may or may not be working.
- Which of the following best describes why Waterfall project management isn’t the most effective way to manage software development projects?
- The rapid pace and constant changes make it difficult to preplan and create baselines.
- The Agile life cycles are different and therefore incompatible with Waterfall.
- Waterfall is for construction, and Agile is for software.
- Waterfall is an effective way to manage software projects as long as you have the scope of work up front.
The rapid pace and constant changes make it difficult to preplan and create baselines.
Because software design is about providing value to the customer quickly and that value can change frequently, Waterfall isn’t the best method due to heavy preplanning and formal change control systems. While some software projects could be managed with Waterfall, depending on the nature of the project, Agile is better suited for rapid changes and planning at the last responsible moment.
14.Complete the rest of this statement from the Agile Manifesto: Individuals and interactions over ____________.
- Following a plan
- Comprehensive documentation
- Contract negotiation
- Processes and tools
Processes and tools
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools is the first value of the Agile Manifesto.
15.Complete the rest of this statement from the Agile Manifesto: Responding to change over ____________.
- Following a plan
- Comprehensive documentation
- Contract negotiation
- Processes and tools
Following a plan
Responding to change over following a plan is the fourth value in the Agile Manifesto.
Complete the rest of this statement from the Agile Manifesto: Working software over ____________.
- Following a plan
- Comprehensive documentation
- Contract negotiation
- Processes and tools
Comprehensive documentation
Working software over comprehensive documentation is the second value in the Agile Manifesto.
17.Complete the rest of this statement from the Agile Manifesto: Customer collaboration over ____________.
- Following a plan
- Comprehensive documentation
- Contract negotiation
- Processes and tools
Contract negotiation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation is the third value in the Agile Manifesto.
18.In the Declaration of Interdependence, which of the following increases by making continuous flow of value the focus?
- Reliable results
- Creativity and innovation
- ROI
- A boost in performance
ROI
The Declaration of Interdependence states, “We increase return on Investment by making continuous flow of value our focus.”
19.What is the best way to explain Agile project teams based on the values of the Agile Manifesto?
- Managed by a project manager
- Managed by an Agile project manager
- Not managed by anyone
- Self-directed and self-managed
Self-directed and self-managed
Agile project teams are self-directed and self-managed, but they also have coaching from an Agile project manager to help them maintain the vision of the work and reach consensus as a team on next steps.
20.Agile project teams work best in what dynamic?
- Collocated
- Virtual
- A combination of collocated and virtual
- A cross-functional dynamic
Collocated
Agile project teams work best in a collocated environment. While that isn’t always possible, it is suggested that the team collocates on a regular basis or at least for one iteration if they are remote/virtual team members.
Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
The first value puts people first over the staunch best practices found in heavier methodologies. Without interactions and collaboration, the processes and tools don’t work. Instead, they hinder a project’s ability to be successful in the tech space specifically. This isn’t a suggestion that process and tools are unnecessary; rather, it’s more that there is better value found in individuals and interactions
Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
Excessive documentation is seen as wasteful if the software doesn’t work. Too many methodologies are focused on up-front planning, setting hard due dates and baselines, and continual updates as things change. Many Agile practices focus on documentation at the “last responsible moment.” It’s more important to have software that works and that meets business value and tech specs than it is to spend time putting together massive plans that will change.
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation
As we go forward, you’ll come to see that procurement is more flexible on Agile types of projects because it has to be. Having requirements that are flexible doesn’t mean that external sellers or support staff via contractual relations aren’t necessary—they are. However, collaboration with the customer and working toward the right solution is more important than locking down a contract that doesn’t meet the needs of the customer in the end. Breach of contract is no joke, and lack of flexibility in procurement counteracts flexibility of requirements and customer needs.
Responding to Change over Following a Plan
This goes back to comprehensive documentation being a waste of time if you know that it is going to change anyway. Anyone in the project management space knows that putting together a well-thought-out plan and then finding out that things have changed is frustrating. It’s a lot like planning and saving to buy what you thought was the latest, greatest piece of technology only to find out that your neighbor just bought the next version of this technology and it’s way cooler than yours. Not fun! All kidding aside, preplanning something that you suspect may look and act totally different in the end won’t work. The ability to pivot and be agile is the crux of all methods and frameworks. Change happens—it’s expected and embraced.
