Agile Software Development: Frameworks

Question 1

What does “Do not force Agile frameworks unnecessarily” mean?

Answer 1

If it works, don’t fix it

Do not force Agile unnecessarily; Teams that are already performing well can be gradually introduced to additional Agile practices based on a specific Agile Framework

Need to balance Agile frameworks with the Organizational context.

Question 2

What are Agile frameworks?

Answer 2

Enablers that Bring to Fruition the Value of Agile

Question 3

How can we focus on the Right individuals and interactions?

Answer 3

Recruit and retain the right skilled resources

Cultivate a collaborative and value-driven environment

Cultivate a Team-oriented mindset

Question 4

The P.O’s job is to ensure that User Stories are refined, but it is NOT their job to …

Answer 4

identify technical solutions. That is the job of the agile team members.

Excessive PO intrusion will kill the fire of innovation.

Question 5

What helps the team not over-commit to what can be accomplished within a single itteration

Answer 5

Product backlog

Question 6

Process Tailoring

Answer 6

Process tailoring refers to adapting the implementation of a specific Agile Framework to better fit an organization’s environment.

Question 7

Name the Agile Frameworks

Answer 7

Scrum 
Kanban
Extreme Programming
Disciplined Agile Delivery
Large Scale Scrum
Dynamic Systems Development Methodology
Scrum@scale
Crystal Clear
Scaled Agile Framework

Question 8

5 keys to every agile framework

Answer 8

Deliver Value: an absolutely key driver behind anything Agile is to deliver value.

Continual Improvement: Agile promotes incremental improvement to minimize resistance from all who are involved.

Flexibility: flexibility is one of the foundations of any Agile Framework.

Trust and Respect: Agile Frameworks promote trust and respect because such trust and respect motivate Agile teams.

Cultivate Mastery: this built-in structure for Agile team members to hone their skills further motivates the Agile team.

Question 9

What is Scrum

Answer 9

Scrum Guide CoverScrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.

Question 10

Three pillars of SCRUM

Answer 10

Transparency - Transparency builds trust and openness both within the Agile Team, as well as with those stakeholders outside the Agile Team.

Inspection - Inspection involves the business users reviewing the Agile Team’s progress towards the defined goals.

Adaptation - Agile Teams adjust and adapt based on opportunities for improvement that are identified either by the Agile Team themselves or through feedback from others outside the team.

Question 11

5 Scrum Values

Answer 11

Focus
- Everyone in the Team focuses on the work to be completed in order to deliver the Sprint goals.

Courage

• Members of the Team need to have the courage to do what is right to ensure the Sprint goals are met.
• Dig deep into challenging problems to work through them

Openness

• The Team and its stakeholders agree to a culture of openness.
• Ensures everyone will be comfortable to openly discuss work

Commitment

• Commitments build trust within the Agile Team members, as well as with the business users and leaders.
• Every team member commits to accomplishing the goals

Respect

• Respect is a key in Scrum for a high-achieving team.
• Elevates Agile team’s participation by including them in ceremonies and planning

Question 12

When does SCRUM not make sense?

Answer 12

Not a magical solution for chaos, cannot bring value to and environment, when there is no clear vision or roadmap

When there is no need for iterative learning and adaption, like with predictable products

Question 13

Sprint

Answer 13

Sprint: A Sprint in Scrum is a repeatable fixed time-box iteration during which a minimum shippable product is delivered

Question 14

Most common SCRUM ceremonies

Answer 14

Project Vision
Daily Stand Up
Sprint Planning
Sprint Retrospective
Release Planning
Sprint Review/Demo

Question 15

What are SCRUM Ceremonies

Answer 15

Focused meetings with a specific purpose

Question 16

SCRUM Ceremony: Project Vision

Answer 16

Purpose:
-Business leaders identify the business need

Agenda:

• Discuss Project Goals
• Identify Sponsor
• Share Success Criteria
• Identify Assumptions, Constraints, and Risks

Timing

• Once per project
• Timeboxed to one hour

Expected Outcomes

• To craft a desired future state statement
• Layout a high-level path to accomplish objectives
• Clarify the business value

Question 17

Scrum Ceremony: Daily Stand Up

Answer 17

Purpose:
- Synchronize activities and create a short term plan fo the next 24 hours

Agenda:

• To strictly only address the following questions by each member:
• What did I do since the last time we met?
• What do I plan to accomplish today?
• What impediments am I encountering?

Timing

• Timebound to 15 minutes
• Held every day at the same time
• Preferably in the morning and in the same location

Expected Outcome

• Cultivates transparency
• conversation remains focused
• No Problem Solving

Question 18

Scrum Ceremony: Sprint Planning

Answer 18

Purpose
- Agile team self-organizes and plans out the work to be performed in the Sprint

Agenda

• What are we committing to deliver? (PO)
• How will we complete the required work?
• What are the estimates?

Timing

• Timeboxed to 8 hours or less for a one month sprint (2 hours per week)
• More than one session
• Scrum Master ensures the timebox is not exceeded

Expected Outcomes

• PO prioritizes backlog items in the backlog
• Agile Team decides how to carry out the work

Question 19

SCRUM Ceremony: Sprint Review Demo

Answer 19

Purpose
-Generate feedback and nurture collaboration

Agenda

• Demonstrate the sprints work
• Discuss accomplishments
• Identify remaining items in the backlog

Timing

• Once at the end of each sprint
• Timeboxed to 4 hours for a 1-month Sprint
• 2 hours for a 2-week sprint

Expected Outcome

• PO determines if deliverables are acceptable based on Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Done
• Marketplace changes are considered
• PO and TEAM make adjustments

Question 20

Scrum Ceremony: Sprint Retrospective

Answer 20

Purpose:
- Agile team self-inspects and identifies opportunities for process improvement

Agenda

• Create a plan for improvements
• discuss what went well, and what otto continue doing

Timing

• after the sprint review
• Timeboxed to 3 hours

Expected Outcome

• POS feedback from sprint review is considered
• Improvements to process tools and people are discussed

Question 21

SCRUM Ceremony: Release Planning

Answer 21

Purpose
- Agile Team develops a release plan

Agenda

• Discuss critical dates and milestones
• Coordinate with other teams
• Balance business value vs quality

Timing

• only when there is a release
• Timeboxed to 20 minutes

Expected Outcome

• The release date for delivery of the feature to the customer base
• Based on input from the business units or users

Question 22

3 SCRUM ROLES

Answer 22

Product Owner, who is the voice of the customer.

Scrum Master, who is the key facilitator.

Agile Team, also known as the Scrum Team sometimes.

Question 23

3 Core Scrum Artifacts

Answer 23

Product Increment clarifies what is being delivered in each increment at the end of each Sprint.

The Product Backlog is the prioritized list of work to be delivered by the Team.

The Sprint Backlog contains the prioritized items that the PO has designated for the Sprint.

Question 24

Product Increment Artifact

Answer 24

Clarfies what is included in a sprint

PO and Agile Team agree on Definition of Done

PO oulines the Acceptance Criteria

Question 25

Product Backlog Artifact

Answer 25

A prioritized list of work to be delivered PO prioritizes the Product Backlog Backlog items are dynamic and evolving

Question 26

Sprint Backlog Artifact

Answer 26

Prioritized items for the Sprint A portion of the product backlog items are included Agile team is given a clear sprint goal by PO

Question 27

Burndown Chart

Answer 27

Burndown Chart: A visual representation of work left to do versus time in an iteration

Question 28

Burnup Chart

Answer 28

Burnup Chart: A visual representation of work completed versus time in an iteration

Question 29

Ceremonies

Answer 29

Ceremonies: Meetings that are leveraged to ultimately ensure that everyone associated with the project is in-sync

Question 30

Definition of done

Answer 30

Definition of Done: The agreed-upon deliverables that must be completed before a user story can be completed

Question 31

Product backlog

Answer 31

Product Backlog: A prioritized list of Features that an Agile team needs to work on to achieve a specific outcome

Question 32

Product Increment

Answer 32

Product Increment: The collection of backlog items to be completed during an iteration

Question 33

Velocity Charl

Answer 33

Velocity Chart: A chart that shows what the team has delivered in each iteration

Question 34

Lean Principles of Kanban

Answer 34

Eliminate Waste - Anything that does not add value to the customer. - Does no improve quality - Unnecessarily increases time or effort Build-in Quality - Lean focuses on good practices to ensure the integrity and prevent defects. Create Knowledge - Lean encourages both training and peer to peer knowledge transfer. - Do a little, show a little, learn a little Defer Commitment - Lean recommends the Agile Team wait until the "last responsible moment" to make a decision, which allows for additional time to innovate. - Allows for Agile team to remain agile and have a stretch of innovation Deliver Fast - Lean encourages the Agile Team to create and deliver the product incrementally. - build only what is needed - release product earlier to get feedback Respect People - The Team must feel trusted and valuable to think and solve problems for themselves. Optimize the Whole - Lean encourages decreasing barriers to increase efficiencies by decreasing the number of hand-offs and reducing WIP.

Question 35

5 principles of Kanban

Answer 35

1. Visualize the flow 2. Limit Work in Progress 3. Manage Flow 4. Make Policies Explicit 5. Improve Collaboratively

Question 36

Kanban Board

Answer 36

A board that articulates work items in various stages of product development like backlog, in Progress, and Done

Question 37

4 Kanban Ceremonies

Answer 37

1 Project Vision 2. Daily Stand-up 3. Review/Demo 4. Release planning

Question 38

When does Kanban Make Sense?

Answer 38

Projects that involve a large number of small activities Suitable for ad-hoc work

Question 39

Kanban Core Roles

Answer 39

PO Facilitator Agile team

Question 40

2 key Kanban Artifacts

Answer 40

Kanban board | Cumulative flow diagram

Question 41

Pros and Cons of Kanban compared to SCRUM

Answer 41

Pros Kanban allows team members to pick up work as capacity allows, Kanban is more flexible, less process heavy kanban is focused on continuous delivery Great for teams with many requests from many different stakeholders Cons Kanban can be harder to plan out and project larger release initiatives May result in poor productivity due to lack of timebox Can be difficult to manage different priorities/ influx of work

Question 42

Pros and Cons of SCRUM compared Kanban

Answer 42

Pros SCRUM creates accountability Clear definition of results Accommodates change to plans Allows for the planning of large initiatives / better metrics Better use of time and money Cons Can lead to scope creep Harder to manage in large teams Changes in team structure can create large impacts Requires team buy-in, which in turn can cause frustration if the full team is not aligned with the approach Velocity can be easily skewed depending on team and product variables

Question 43

XP Core values

Answer 43

Simplicity - XP encourages reducing unnecessary complexity when building a solution to avoid waste. Communication - All team members have transparency in being aware of what is expected of them in terms of deliverables, as well as being aware of what others in the team are contributing towards. Feedback - Feedback in every iteration is taken seriously in XP. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate working results early and often. Courage - Courage allows a team to bravely tell the truth about progress, estimates and any impediments to value delivery. It also gives the necessary fuel to adopt technical best practices. Respect - Respect is key foundational element in XP for a high achieving Team.

Question 44

XP Roles

Answer 44

Customer- Somewhat like the PO; customer is the business representative. Tester- Primarily responsible for quality assurance. Coach- Acts as a mentor for team; also a Facilitator for the team. Programmers- Developers who build the product.

Question 45

XP Ceremonies

Answer 45

1. Project Vision 2. Itteration Planning 3. Daily Standup 4. Iteration Review/Demo 5. Iteration Retrospective 6. Release Planning