PMI-ACP test questions and answers (4)

avril 11, 2018
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PMI-ACP test questions and answers (4)

Test PMI-ACP
Mock exam 4
40 questions

Test Name: PMI-ACP Lite Mock Exam 4
Total Questions: 40
Correct Answers Needed to Pass: 30 (75.00%)
Time Allowed: 60 Minutes

This is a cumulative PMI-ACP Mock Exam which can be used as a benchmark for your PMI-ACP aptitude. This practice test includes questions from all exam topic areas, including sections from Agile Tools and Techniques, and all three Agile Knowledge and Skills areas.

 

 

1.  Wilson and the agile team he belongs to are having a discussion regarding ‘stakeholder management.’ Why is ‘stakeholder management’ an important topic of conversation for an agile team?
A. Because having engaged stakeholders that actively participate is crucial for success.
B. Because without assigning tasks and duties to stakeholders scope creep is inevitable.
C. Because managing the requirements of stakeholders is essential to keep the product backlog from expanding.
D. Because preventing the stakeholders from interfering with developers helps improve velocity.

 

 

 

 

2.  Why is the presence of a product owner necessary when playing a game of planning poker?
A. Because the product owner provides an overview of user stories and answers any questions the development team may have.
B. Because the product owner must report any outliers (i.e., extremely long or short estimates) on the risk register.
C. Because the product owner must relay to the customer the range of story points assigned to each user story.
D. Because the product owner must moderate the planning poker session.

3.  Patty is explaining the importance of an agile team being empowered. What does an empowered team mean?
A. A team that is self-organizing and involves the entire team and customer or user to blaze a forward trail and solve problems.
B. A team that is management-oriented and focused solely on meeting scope, cost, and schedule constraints.
C. A team that is capable of exceeding sustainable development velocities in « power » iterations to meet backlog goals.
D. A team that solves problems through the use of market research.

 

 

 

4.  Lila, as project leader, has been discussing the importance of ‘stakeholder management’ with her team. Why is stakeholder management so important?
A. Because without participation from stakeholders, the chances of a successful project are optimized.
B. Because without participation from stakeholders, the team can focus on providing a valuable product that adheres to the initial project plan.
C. Because without stakeholder management, stakeholders will inevitably interfere with necessary product development.
D. Because without active participation from stakeholders, the chances of a successful project are reduced.

5.  Marge as a product owner believes steadfastly in the feature prioritization. Why might Marge believe in prioritization?
A. Because without prioritization a team would not know how prepare for retrospective workshops.
B. Because without prioritization a team would not know how to gauge unit testing efforts.
C. Because without prioritization a team would not know how to estimate user story sizes.
D. Because without prioritization a team would not know in what order to develop user stories in order to optimize value delivered to the customer.

 

 

6.  Which of the following responses is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Taking notes.
B. Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker.
C. Talking loudly.
D. Being silent.

7.  Select a method used in agile for the purpose of prioritization.
A. Cannon
B. WIDETOM
C. WoCSoM
D. Kano

8.  Which of the following responses is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker.
B. Closed-ended questions.
C. Being silent.
D. Taking notes.

 

 

9.  Of the following, which is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Taking notes.
B. Leaving the conversation early.
C. Good body language.
D. Being silent.

10.  What technology can facilitate some osmotic communication for team members that do NOT share the same workspace?
A. Instant messaging
B. Near Field Communication
C. None
D. Bluetooth

11.  An agile team has just estimated the relative value of developing a user story during a game of planning poker. The following scores were played: Bob: 40; Tim: 8; Mark: 1; Ursula: 13; Yvonne: 20. According to the rules of planning poker, which two team members should defend their positions?
A. Tim and Mark
B. Ursula and Yvonne
C. Bob and Yvonne
D. Bob and Mark

 

12.  Hillary is using a software development framework adapted specifically for agile that from the unified process (UP). Which framework is Hillary using?
A. Simple unified process (SUP)
B. Adapted unified process (AdUP)
C. Extreme unified process (EUP)
D. Agile unified process (AUP)

13.  Peter’s agile team is geographically dispersed throughout the world. What is one factor the team should consider when conducting its business?
A. Whether or not to consider language differences when communicating.
B. Whether or not to plan an iteration.
C. Whether or not to use a rolling look ahead plan for complex projects.
D. Whether or not to use information radiators.

14.  Feedback techniques are ubiquitous in agile projects. Select the response which lists a feedback technique.
A. Timeboxing
B. Daily stand-up meeting
C. Process tree
D. Console mapping

15.  Which type of risk category is typically given a lower priority when creating the risk-adjusted backlog: a) high-value, high risk or b) low-value, low risk?
A. Both are equivalent.
B. Low-value, low risk
C. High-value, high risk
D. High-severity, low-likelihood

16.  What is a positive indicator that agile may be appropriate to an organization as a new project methodology?
A. That the adopting organization values strict and inflexible project management practices.
B. That the adopting organization values hierarchical decision making.
C. That the adopting organization values top-down management.
D. That the adopting organization values trust, collective ownership, and adaptability.

17.  Consider the following EVM scenario and calculate the SV. The team is on week 30 of a 100 week project. Its BAC is $100,000 and AC is $15,000. The team estimates it is 20% complete overall and has an EV of $20,000.
A. $20,000
B. – ($10,000)
C. $10,000
D. $30,000

18.  Thomas notices that his team just assigned a user story the value of 10 to indicate the relative effort it will take to develop the user story. What is Thomas and his team most likely using to estimate relative user story development effort?
A. Story coins
B. Story chapters
C. Story marks
D. Story points

19.  Generally, how is an agile project estimated?
A. From both a horizontal and vertical dimension
B. From the bottom up
C. From the top down
D. Both from the top down and the bottom up

20.  In agile, the « team space » is an important place that should foster effective communication. What is a guideline for promoting such an environment?
A. Collocation of team members
B. Isolation of team members
C. Rotation of team members
D. Separation of team members by function

 

21.  As team lead, Xavier is constantly monitoring the effectiveness of communication among his team and stakeholders. What is the knowledge and skill area that deals with communication?
A. Communications management
B. Command and control
C. Stakeholder analysis
D. Brainstorming

22.  If a software product is developed for multiple organizations within one industry, it can be described as:
A. Broad-spectrum software
B. Narrow-band software
C. Vertical-market software
D. Horizontal-market software

23.  Jessica, as a certified agile practitioner, believes in the value of ‘knowledge sharing.’ Which of the following is the best definition of ‘knowledge sharing?’
A. The collaborative sharing of information among all stakeholders and team members to promote a well-informed project environment.
B. The sharing of information on a need-to-know basis.
C. The sharing of information between the product owner and chief programming engineer regarding the adaptability of the development team to implement performance improvement plans.
D. The sharing of information on a just-in-time basis.

24.  From the following, select a common agile framework/methodology.
A. Extreme programming (XP)
B. Peer perfect programming (3P)
C. Ultra programming (UP)
D. Paired programming (PP)

25.  Becky and her agile team have just performed decomposition on several user stories and wants to prioritize them. What common technique might she and her team use to prioritize the user stories?
A. Cost-to-schedule matrix
B. Cost-to-value matrix
C. Cost-to-risk matrix
D. Cost-to-constraint matrix

26.  Perry is explaining the MoSCoW technique which is often used in agile to prioritize user stories. What does the C stand for?
A. Could disrupt dependencies
B. Could have
C. Cannot have
D. Could do without

 

27.  Bill, as the agile team lead, likes being able to demo the latest iteration of a working product to the customer. His team delivers a demo of the product every two weeks so the customer may provide feedback and perform acceptance. What type of delivery concept provides this type of regular interval feedback that is a cornerstone of agile development?
A. Iteration delivery
B. Prototype delivery
C. Demo and acceptance delivery
D. Incremental delivery

28.  Why is an empowered team considered an important team attribute in agile?
A. Empowered teams remove themselves from being responsible of product quality in order to reduce association with project failure.
B. Empowered teams need extensive management involvement in order to understand customer need
C. Empowered teams remain inflexible to changing customer requirements and focus on delivering to specification.
D. Empowered teams take ownership of the product and thus have a strong focus on delivering value.

 

 

 

29.  List the primary steps in the Crystal development process project chartering activity.
A. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
B. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 180; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
C. Choosing the product owner; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
D. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking story points or ideal days; Building the initial project plan

30.  When is the product roadmap initially created?
A. After the first release.
B. At the beginning of a project, usually after the vision statement has been defined.
C. After the first iteration.
D. During closing as end-user documentation to understand the product

 

 

 

31.  What is the primary input to Highsmith’s agile project management adapting phase?
A. Built-in test output
B. Iteration schedule slip points
C. Feature feedback and critique
D. Scrum error analysis

32.  What agile artifact outlines the project’s expected rate of return?
A. Task board
B. Iteration backlog
C. Burndown chart
D. Business case

33.  How are user stories or features prioritized for development in the agile methodology?
A. By difficulty
B. By value
C. By developer preference
D. By ease of implementation

 

 

34.  Which of the following is NOT a typical grouping of user stories for purposes of organization?
A. By alphabetical letter
B. By relation to product feature
C. By priority
D. By logical sequence and dependency

35.  Select an advantage of using an information radiator.
A. Allows for a streamlined process for changing sprint deadlines
B. Makes communication of project status less time consuming
C. Improves team dynamics by offering a place to air grievances
D. Decreases the amount of time spent in daily standup meetings

36.  How might an agile team continuously improve its product?
A. By using comprehensive documentation to define team values.
B. By performing ongoing testing.
C. By performing integration testing near the end of a release.
D. By performing work breakdown structure reviews.

 

 

37.  One level of planning in the agile project management methodology is release panning. Why is release planning important?
A. It helps ensure the customer and agile team understand the product vision, acceptance criteria, and high-level product release plan.
B. It helps the team understand customer portfolio risks
C. It helps the customer solidify product requirements for the release
D. It helps the agile team decompose user stories into tasks.

38.  Becky, as project leader, intends on building a high-performance team. What is a practice or technique she can use to build a high performance team?
A. Making all decisions for the team
B. Having a team that is self-organizing and self-disciplined
C. Promoting competition
D. Assigning more work than can be accomplished in an iteration to set a sense of urgency

39.  Calculate the Net Present Value of the following investment candidate. The initial investment cost is $1,000. The discount rate is 5%. At the end of year 1, $100 is expected. At the end of year 2, $300 is expected. At the end of year 3, $450 is expected.
A. $(220.00)
B. $(244.00)
C. $(230.00)
D. $(300.00)

40.  How can a team ensure it benefits from osmotic communication?
A. By collocating its team members.
B. By purchasing its team members blue tooth headsets.
C. By isolating its team members.
D. By separating team members into functional specialties.

 

Answers

 

1.  Wilson and the agile team he belongs to are having a discussion regarding ‘stakeholder management.’ Why is ‘stakeholder management’ an important topic of conversation for an agile team?
A. Because having engaged stakeholders that actively participate is crucial for success.
B. Because without assigning tasks and duties to stakeholders scope creep is inevitable.
C. Because managing the requirements of stakeholders is essential to keep the product backlog from expanding.
D. Because preventing the stakeholders from interfering with developers helps improve velocity.

A – Stakeholder management is a growing topic area within strategic management that brings awareness to the importance of managing stakeholders (i.e., facilitating active participation of stakeholders and fostering a strong collaborative environment) for a project’s success. Stakeholder management is typically defined in the context of guiding principles and values. R. E. Freeman’s ‘Managing for Stakeholders’ includes 10 principles: 1) Stakeholder interests need to go together over time. 2) We need a philosophy of volunteerism – to engage stakeholders and manage relationships ourselves rather than leave it to government. 3) We need to find solutions to issues that satisfy multiple stakeholders simultaneously. 4) Everything that we do serves stakeholders. We never trade off the interests of one versus the other continuously over time. 5) We act with purpose that fulfills our commitment to stakeholders. We act with aspiration towards fulfilling our dreams and theirs. 6) We need intensive communication and dialogue with stakeholders – not just those who are friendly. 7)Stakeholders consist of real people with names and faces and children. They are complex. 8)We need to generalize the marketing approach. 9) We engage with both primary and secondary stakeholders. 10) We constantly monitor and redesign processes to make them better serve our stakeholders. Because stakeholder involvement is critical for the success of a project, where projects without active participation from stakeholders are prone to failure, stakeholder management should be a topic that every agile team knows well. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

2.  Why is the presence of a product owner necessary when playing a game of planning poker?
A. Because the product owner provides an overview of user stories and answers any questions the development team may have.
B. Because the product owner must report any outliers (i.e., extremely long or short estimates) on the risk register.
C. Because the product owner must relay to the customer the range of story points assigned to each user story.
D. Because the product owner must moderate the planning poker session.

A – Planning poker is based upon the wideband Delphi estimation technique. It is a consensus-based technique for estimating effort. Sometimes called scrum poker, it is a technique for a relative estimation of effort, typically in story points, to develop a user story. At a planning poker meeting, each estimator is given an identical deck of planning poker cards with a wide range of values. The Fibonacci sequence is often used for values for planning poker (i.e., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,8,etc.); another common sequence is (question mark, 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, and 100). A planning poker meeting works as follows: 1) a moderator, not estimating, facilitates the meeting. 2) the product owner/manager provides a short overview of the user story and answers clarifying questions posed by the developers. Typically the product owner does not vote. 3) Each estimator selects an estimate of work effort by selecting a card, 4) Once everyone has selected a card, everyone overturns their card concurrently, 5) Estimators with high and low estimates are given a chance to defend positions. 6) The process repeats until there is consensus. The developer who owns the user story is typically given higher credence. [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Agile estimation]

 

 

3.  Patty is explaining the importance of an agile team being empowered. What does an empowered team mean?
A. A team that is self-organizing and involves the entire team and customer or user to blaze a forward trail and solve problems.
B. A team that is management-oriented and focused solely on meeting scope, cost, and schedule constraints.
C. A team that is capable of exceeding sustainable development velocities in « power » iterations to meet backlog goals.
D. A team that solves problems through the use of market research.

A – Empowered teams – ones that are self-organizing and know how to solve problems with minimal management involvement – are a cornerstone of the agile methodology. This is the antithesis to the classic viewpoint of the traditional project manager who is seen as someone that controls all decisions and delegates tasks to a team with little feedback. An agile team must include all members and stakeholders to make decisions, and make decisions expediently. Because it is essential that the user/customer be involved with development, it is encouraged that the user/customer is closely integrated with the agile team with collocation/on-site support being ideal. An agile team feels empowered when it collectively assumes responsibility for the delivery of the product (i.e., taking ownership). [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

 

4.  Lila, as project leader, has been discussing the importance of ‘stakeholder management’ with her team. Why is stakeholder management so important?
A. Because without participation from stakeholders, the chances of a successful project are optimized.
B. Because without participation from stakeholders, the team can focus on providing a valuable product that adheres to the initial project plan.
C. Because without stakeholder management, stakeholders will inevitably interfere with necessary product development.
D. Because without active participation from stakeholders, the chances of a successful project are reduced.

D – Stakeholder management is a growing topic area within strategic management that brings awareness to the importance of managing stakeholders (i.e., facilitating active participation of stakeholders and fostering a strong collaborative environment) for a project’s success. Stakeholder management is typically defined in the context of guiding principles and values. R. E. Freeman’s ‘Managing for Stakeholders’ includes 10 principles: 1) Stakeholder interests need to go together over time. 2) We need a philosophy of volunteerism – to engage stakeholders and manage relationships ourselves rather than leave it to government. 3) We need to find solutions to issues that satisfy multiple stakeholders simultaneously. 4) Everything that we do serves stakeholders. We never trade off the interests of one versus the other continuously over time. 5) We act with purpose that fulfills our commitment to stakeholders. We act with aspiration towards fulfilling our dreams and theirs. 6) We need intensive communication and dialogue with stakeholders – not just those who are friendly. 7)Stakeholders consist of real people with names and faces and children. They are complex. 8)We need to generalize the marketing approach. 9) We engage with both primary and secondary stakeholders. 10) We constantly monitor and redesign processes to make them better serve our stakeholders. Because stakeholder involvement is critical for the success of a project, where projects without active participation from stakeholders are prone to failure, stakeholder management should be a topic that every agile team knows well. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

5.  Marge as a product owner believes steadfastly in the feature prioritization. Why might Marge believe in prioritization?
A. Because without prioritization a team would not know how prepare for retrospective workshops.
B. Because without prioritization a team would not know how to gauge unit testing efforts.
C. Because without prioritization a team would not know how to estimate user story sizes.
D. Because without prioritization a team would not know in what order to develop user stories in order to optimize value delivered to the customer.

D – An agile team must always face the prioritization of product features in its product backlog. From release planning to iteration planning, an agile team must prioritize the user stories/ features of its product to ensure that high-quality and high-value features are developed first to help facilitate an optimized and early return on investment (ROI). An agile team typically prioritizes requirements or user stories/features in terms of relative value and risk; value is defined by the customer (i.e., customer-value prioritization). Two common methods to prioritize product features are: MoSCoW and Kano. The MoSCoW method categorizes features into ‘Must have,’ ‘Should have,’ ‘Could have,’ and ‘Would have’ features. The Kano method categorizes features into ‘Must haves (threshold),’ ‘Dissatisfiers,’ ‘Satisfiers,’ and ‘Delighters.’ Must haves are features that are requisite. Dissatisfiers are features that adversely impact perceived value and should be eliminated. ‘Satisfiers’ are features that increase perceived value linearly, where the more you add the more the customer is pleased, but are not required, and ‘Delighters’ are features that increase perceived value exponentially to please the customer. To prioritize features based on risk, a risk-to-value matrix can be used. A risk-to-value matrix has four quadrants, with the horizontal axis having low and high value, and the vertical axis having low and high risk. User stories are assigned to one of the four categories/quadrants: low-value, low-risk; low-value, high-risk; high-value, low-risk; high-value, high-risk. A cost-to-value matrix can also be made in this manner. All prioritization in agile is ‘relative,’ meaning that the priority of one user story is relative to other user stories and not prioritized on a fixed scale. [Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility. Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, James R. Trott.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

6.  Which of the following responses is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Taking notes.
B. Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker.
C. Talking loudly.
D. Being silent.

C – One communication technique to reduce misunderstanding and miscommunication is active listening. A well run agile project necessitates both good listeners and communicators, active listening helps work towards both of these necessities. The basics of active listening include: 1) Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker. 2) Taking notes instead of interrupting. 3) Paraphrasing to confirm and review what you have heard. 4) Summarizing the conversation once it has concluded for posterity. Using open ended questions, good body language, and silence can help improve listening skills. [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.  Select a method used in agile for the purpose of prioritization.
A. Cannon
B. WIDETOM
C. WoCSoM
D. Kano

D – An agile team must always face the prioritization of product features in its product backlog. From release planning to iteration planning, an agile team must prioritize the user stories/ features of its product to ensure that high-quality and high-value features are developed first to help facilitate an optimized and early return on investment (ROI). An agile team typically prioritizes requirements or user stories/features in terms of relative value and risk; value is defined by the customer (i.e., customer-value prioritization). Two common methods to prioritize product features are: MoSCoW and Kano. The MoSCoW method categorizes features into ‘Must have,’ ‘Should have,’ ‘Could have,’ and ‘Would have’ features. The Kano method categorizes features into ‘Must haves (threshold),’ ‘Dissatisfiers,’ ‘Satisfiers,’ and ‘Delighters.’ Must haves are features that are requisite. Dissatisfiers are features that adversely impact perceived value and should be eliminated. ‘Satisfiers’ are features that increase perceived value linearly, where the more you add the more the customer is pleased, but are not required, and ‘Delighters’ are features that increase perceived value exponentially to please the customer. To prioritize features based on risk, a risk-to-value matrix can be used. A risk-to-value matrix has four quadrants, with the horizontal axis having low and high value, and the vertical axis having low and high risk. User stories are assigned to one of the four categories/quadrants: low-value, low-risk; low-value, high-risk; high-value, low-risk; high-value, high-risk. A cost-to-value matrix can also be made in this manner. All prioritization in agile is ‘relative,’ meaning that the priority of one user story is relative to other user stories and not prioritized on a fixed scale. [Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility. Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, James R. Trott.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

8.  Which of the following responses is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker.
B. Closed-ended questions.
C. Being silent.
D. Taking notes.

B – One communication technique to reduce misunderstanding and miscommunication is active listening. A well run agile project necessitates both good listeners and communicators, active listening helps work towards both of these necessities. The basics of active listening include: 1) Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker. 2) Taking notes instead of interrupting. 3) Paraphrasing to confirm and review what you have heard. 4) Summarizing the conversation once it has concluded for posterity. Using open ended questions, good body language, and silence can help improve listening skills. [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

9.  Of the following, which is NOT a part of active listening?
A. Taking notes.
B. Leaving the conversation early.
C. Good body language.
D. Being silent.

B – One communication technique to reduce misunderstanding and miscommunication is active listening. A well run agile project necessitates both good listeners and communicators, active listening helps work towards both of these necessities. The basics of active listening include: 1) Being present and focusing your attention on the speaker. 2) Taking notes instead of interrupting. 3) Paraphrasing to confirm and review what you have heard. 4) Summarizing the conversation once it has concluded for posterity. Using open ended questions, good body language, and silence can help improve listening skills. [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

10.  What technology can facilitate some osmotic communication for team members that do NOT share the same workspace?
A. Instant messaging
B. Near Field Communication
C. None
D. Bluetooth

A – Video conferencing and instant messaging are technologies that can provide some level of osmotic communication. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Communications]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.  An agile team has just estimated the relative value of developing a user story during a game of planning poker. The following scores were played: Bob: 40; Tim: 8; Mark: 1; Ursula: 13; Yvonne: 20. According to the rules of planning poker, which two team members should defend their positions?
A. Tim and Mark
B. Ursula and Yvonne
C. Bob and Yvonne
D. Bob and Mark

D – Planning poker is based upon the wideband Delphi estimation technique. It is a consensus-based technique for estimating effort. Sometimes called scrum poker, it is a technique for a relative estimation of effort, typically in story points, to develop a user story. At a planning poker meeting, each estimator is given an identical deck of planning poker cards with a wide range of values. The Fibonacci sequence is often used for values for planning poker (i.e., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,8,etc.); another common sequence is (question mark, 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, and 100). A planning poker meeting works as follows: 1) a moderator, not estimating, facilitates the meeting. 2) the product owner/manager provides a short overview of the user story and answers clarifying questions posed by the developers. Typically the product owner does not vote. 3) Each estimator selects an estimate of work effort by selecting a card, 4) Once everyone has selected a card, everyone overturns their card concurrently, 5) Estimators with high and low estimates are given a chance to defend positions. 6) The process repeats until there is consensus. The developer who owns the user story is typically given higher credence. [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Agile estimation]

 

 

 

12.  Hillary is using a software development framework adapted specifically for agile that from the unified process (UP). Which framework is Hillary using?
A. Simple unified process (SUP)
B. Adapted unified process (AdUP)
C. Extreme unified process (EUP)
D. Agile unified process (AUP)

D – Agile Unified Process (AUP) is a simplified version of the Unified Process, or UP (UP itself is a more detailed framework for iterative and incremental software development). AUP simplifies UP for the agile framework. AUP projects use four phases: 1) inception, 2) elaboration, 3) construction, and 4) transition. At the end of each short iteration, the team delivers a working product. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

13.  Peter’s agile team is geographically dispersed throughout the world. What is one factor the team should consider when conducting its business?
A. Whether or not to consider language differences when communicating.
B. Whether or not to plan an iteration.
C. Whether or not to use a rolling look ahead plan for complex projects.
D. Whether or not to use information radiators.

A – A high-performance agile team is one that is ideally collocated for osmotic communication and face-to-face interaction. However, collocation isn’t always feasible in today’s multinational environment. For distributed teams, several practices are available to provide the best form of effective communication in the absence of being collocated: team intranet sites, virtual team rooms, and video conferencing over e-mail when possible. Geographic separation, especially on a world-wide scale, causes the team to consider language and cultural differences, and time zone differences. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 3]

14.  Feedback techniques are ubiquitous in agile projects. Select the response which lists a feedback technique.
A. Timeboxing
B. Daily stand-up meeting
C. Process tree
D. Console mapping

B – There are several feedback techniques – techniques that facilitate constructive criticism to improve product value and quality – built into the agile process. In the classic definition, feedback is a dynamic process where past information influences the behavior of the same process in the future. Agile feedback techniques include prototyping, simulation, demonstration, evaluations, pair programming, unit testing, continuous integration, daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning. Because agile prides itself on a transparent and collaborative environment, feedback is essentially ubiquitous. [Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, Ken Schwaber.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

 

 

15.  Which type of risk category is typically given a lower priority when creating the risk-adjusted backlog: a) high-value, high risk or b) low-value, low risk?
A. Both are equivalent.
B. Low-value, low risk
C. High-value, high risk
D. High-severity, low-likelihood

B – A risk-adjusted backlog is a product backlog organized by taking into account risk. Risk can be estimated as the product of severity/consequence and likelihood. User stories can also be positioned on a risk-to-value matrix to help prioritize them in the backlog. The risk-to-value matrix is a chart with four quadrants. Along the horizontal axis is value in ascending order. Along the vertical axis is risk in ascending order. A user story that is high risk and high value is located in the top-right corner. A user story that is low risk and high value is located in the lower-right corner. A user story that is low risk and high value is located in the lower-right corner. A user story that is low risk and low value is located in the lower-left corner. Typically a team will prioritize high-value, low-risk user stories first, followed by high-value, high-risk user stories, followed by low-value, low-risk user stories, followed by low-value, high-risk user stories. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Risk management]

 

 

 

 

16.  What is a positive indicator that agile may be appropriate to an organization as a new project methodology?
A. That the adopting organization values strict and inflexible project management practices.
B. That the adopting organization values hierarchical decision making.
C. That the adopting organization values top-down management.
D. That the adopting organization values trust, collective ownership, and adaptability.

D – When considering whether to apply new agile practices, several internal and external factors should be considered. Internal factors include whether the project is developing new processes or products; whether the organization is collaborative and emphasizes trust, adaptability, collective ownership, and has minimal or informal project management processes; the size, location, and skills of the project team. External factors include the industry stability and customer engagement or involvement. Generally, agile is best suited to developing new processes or products for an organization that is collaborative and emphasizes trust, adaptability, collective ownership, and has minimal project management processes by an agile/project team that is relatively small in size, is collocated, and is cross-functional in skill. Additionally, agile is known to succeed in industries that are quickly adapting to disruptive technologies as opposed to industries that are stable and perhaps inflexible to adaptive approaches. And, lastly, the component of customer involvement and engagement cannot be stressed enough; the more participation, the better. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 3]

 

 

 

17.  Consider the following EVM scenario and calculate the SV. The team is on week 30 of a 100 week project. Its BAC is $100,000 and AC is $15,000. The team estimates it is 20% complete overall and has an EV of $20,000.
A. $20,000
B. – ($10,000)
C. $10,000
D. $30,000

B – EVM or earned value management is a management technique used to evaluate project performance with respect to cost and schedule. EVM relies on other common financial metrics like Budget At Completion (BAC), Actual Cost (AC), Planned Value (PV), Earned Value (EV), Cost Variance (CV), Schedule Variance (SV), Cost Performance Index (CPI), and Schedule Performance Index (SPI). CV and SV can be converted into performance indicators of CPI and SPI, respectively, and tracked and charted to show progress over time. PV is the planned value of work at a given time in a project; you can calculate it by multiplying the BAC by the ratio of current week/scheduled weeks (e.g., 5 weeks into a 15 week $15,000 project = $5,000 PV). EV is value of work actually completed or earned (e.g., you have completed 50% of the project by week 5 of a 15 week $15,000 project = $7,500 EV). SV is the difference between what a project has earned to date and what it was planned to earn to date (i.e., SV = EV – PV). [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Metrics]

PV = BAC x current week/scheduled weeks = BAC x 30/100
PV = 100,000 x 30/100 = 30,000

SV = EV – PV = 20,000 – 30,000 = – 10,000

 

 

18.  Thomas notices that his team just assigned a user story the value of 10 to indicate the relative effort it will take to develop the user story. What is Thomas and his team most likely using to estimate relative user story development effort?
A. Story coins
B. Story chapters
C. Story marks
D. Story points

D – Agile teams typically use story points to estimate the relative size or effort of developing a user story [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Agile estimation]

19.  Generally, how is an agile project estimated?
A. From both a horizontal and vertical dimension
B. From the bottom up
C. From the top down
D. Both from the top down and the bottom up

C – When estimating an agile project, a top-down approach is typically used. This involves high-level estimation at first, followed by more detailed estimation. [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Agile estimation]

 

 

20.  In agile, the « team space » is an important place that should foster effective communication. What is a guideline for promoting such an environment?
A. Collocation of team members
B. Isolation of team members
C. Rotation of team members
D. Separation of team members by function

A – A warm, welcoming environment that promotes effective communication, innovation, and motivated team members is an important aspect to consider when designing team space. Guidelines for a better agile team space include: collocation of team members; reduction of non-essential noise/distractions; dedicated whiteboard and wall space for information radiators; space for the daily stand-up meeting and other meetings; pairing workstations; and other pleasantries like plants and comfortable furniture. [Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, Ken Schwaber.] [Communications]

 

 

 

 

 

 

21.  As team lead, Xavier is constantly monitoring the effectiveness of communication among his team and stakeholders. What is the knowledge and skill area that deals with communication?
A. Communications management
B. Command and control
C. Stakeholder analysis
D. Brainstorming

A – Effective communication is a cornerstone of agile. Communication is the act of transferring information among various parties. Communications management is a knowledge and skill area of agile that highlights this importance. PMI has several definitions regarding communications management and agile builds on top of these to add its own perspective: 1) Communications Planning: Determining the information and communication needs of the projects stakeholders 2) Information Distribution: Making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner, 3) Performance Reporting: Collecting and distributing performance information. This includes status reporting, progress measurement, and forecasting, and 4) Managing Stakeholders: Managing communications to satisfy the requirements and resolve issues with project stakeholders. From an agile perspective: communication among the team is built into the process and facilitated through collocation, information radiators, daily stand-up meetings, retrospectives etc.; Although it is hoped that the product owner, customer, and user can be heavily involved with the project and also use these communication techniques, a plan for conveying information to stakeholders may be needed if this is not the case. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

22.  If a software product is developed for multiple organizations within one industry, it can be described as:
A. Broad-spectrum software
B. Narrow-band software
C. Vertical-market software
D. Horizontal-market software

C – Vertical-market software includes solutions for many organizations within one industry (e.g., pharmaceutical software). Horizontal-market software includes solutions for many organizations in many industries (e.g., word processing software). [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

23.  Jessica, as a certified agile practitioner, believes in the value of ‘knowledge sharing.’ Which of the following is the best definition of ‘knowledge sharing?’
A. The collaborative sharing of information among all stakeholders and team members to promote a well-informed project environment.
B. The sharing of information on a need-to-know basis.
C. The sharing of information between the product owner and chief programming engineer regarding the adaptability of the development team to implement performance improvement plans.
D. The sharing of information on a just-in-time basis.

A – In agile, effective ‘knowledge sharing’ is a critical factor for success. It involves the near real time communication of key information among all team members and stakeholders. To promote knowledge sharing, agile uses standard practices built into its process, such as using generalized specialists/cross functional teams, self-organizing and self-disciplined teams, collocation, daily stand-up meetings, iteration/sprint planning, release planning, pair programming and pair rotation, project retrospectives/reflection, and on-site customer support. And, of course, the sixth principle of Agile is  » The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. » In this sense, Agile prefers and encourages collocation for all stakeholders and team members for the simple fact that face-to-face conversation is the best method of communication and, in turn, effective knowledge sharing. [Becoming Agile: …in an imperfect world. Greg Smith, Ahmed Sidky.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

24.  From the following, select a common agile framework/methodology.
A. Extreme programming (XP)
B. Peer perfect programming (3P)
C. Ultra programming (UP)
D. Paired programming (PP)

A – Common frameworks or methodologies used within agile include: scrum, extreme programming (XP), lean software development, crystal, feature driven development (FDD), dynamic systems development method (DSDM), agile unified process (AUP). [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

25.  Becky and her agile team have just performed decomposition on several user stories and wants to prioritize them. What common technique might she and her team use to prioritize the user stories?
A. Cost-to-schedule matrix
B. Cost-to-value matrix
C. Cost-to-risk matrix
D. Cost-to-constraint matrix

B – In iteration planning, an agile team, collaboratively with the customer, chooses user stories to include for development. Although the user stories are prioritized in the product backlog initially during release planning, an agile team and customer should review prioritization based on progressive elaboration (i.e., gained knowledge and perspective). Prioritization is often based on value and risk and can be performed using the MoSCoW or Kano method and through the use of risk-to-value and cost-to-value matrices. An agile team performs decomposition to subdivide user stories into more manageable tasks so that it may estimate task time. Tasks for an iteration may also be prioritized based on value, similar to how user stories are prioritized. [Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility. Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, James R. Trott.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

26.  Perry is explaining the MoSCoW technique which is often used in agile to prioritize user stories. What does the C stand for?
A. Could disrupt dependencies
B. Could have
C. Cannot have
D. Could do without

B – The MoSCoW technique is commonly used in agile to prioritize user stories and create a story map. The MoSCoW technique prioritizes user stories into the following groups in descending order of priority: M – Must have; S – Should have; C – Could have; W – Would have. Must have items are those product features which are absolutely essential to develop. Should have items are product features that are not essential but have significant business value. Could have items are product features that would add some business value. Would have items are product features that have marginal business value. [User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development. Mike Cohn.] [Agile analysis and design]

 

 

 

 

 

 

27.  Bill, as the agile team lead, likes being able to demo the latest iteration of a working product to the customer. His team delivers a demo of the product every two weeks so the customer may provide feedback and perform acceptance. What type of delivery concept provides this type of regular interval feedback that is a cornerstone of agile development?
A. Iteration delivery
B. Prototype delivery
C. Demo and acceptance delivery
D. Incremental delivery

D – A cornerstone of Agile development is ‘incremental delivery.’ Incremental delivery is the frequent delivery of working products, which are successively improved, to a customer for immediate feedback and acceptance. Typically, a product is delivered at the end of each sprint or iteration for demonstration and feedback. In this feedback technique, a customer can review the product and provide updated requirements. Changed/updated/refined requirements are welcomed in the agile process to ensure the customer receives a valuable and quality product. A sprint or iteration typically lasts from two to four weeks and at the end a new and improved product is delivered, incrementally. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

 

 

28.  Why is an empowered team considered an important team attribute in agile?
A. Empowered teams remove themselves from being responsible of product quality in order to reduce association with project failure.
B. Empowered teams need extensive management involvement in order to understand customer need
C. Empowered teams remain inflexible to changing customer requirements and focus on delivering to specification.
D. Empowered teams take ownership of the product and thus have a strong focus on delivering value.

D – Empowered teams – ones that are self-organizing and know how to solve problems with minimal management involvement – are a cornerstone of the agile methodology. An agile team feels empowered when it collectively assumes responsibility for the delivery of the product (i.e., taking ownership). [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

29.  List the primary steps in the Crystal development process project chartering activity.
A. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
B. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 180; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
C. Choosing the product owner; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking team conventions and practices; Building the initial project plan
D. Building the team; Performing an Exploratory 360; Picking story points or ideal days; Building the initial project plan

A – The Crystal development process is cyclical/iterative. Its primary components are chartering, delivery cycles, and project wrap-up. Chartering involves creating a project charter, which can last from a few days to a few weeks. Chartering consists of four activities: 1) Building the core project team, 2) performing an Exploratory 360° assessment, 3) fine tuning the methodology, and 3) building the initial project plan. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Agile analysis and design]

 

 

 

 

 

30.  When is the product roadmap initially created?
A. After the first release.
B. At the beginning of a project, usually after the vision statement has been defined.
C. After the first iteration.
D. During closing as end-user documentation to understand the product

B – The product roadmap – owned by the product owner – serves as a high level overview of the product requirements. It is used as a tool for prioritizing features, organizing features into categories, and assigning rough time frames. Creating a product roadmap has four basic steps: 1) Identify requirements (these will become part of the product backlog), 2) Organize requirements into categories or themes, 3) Estimate relative work effort (e.g., planning poker or affinity estimation) and prioritize (value), and 4) Estimate rough time frames (estimate velocity, sprint duration, and rough release dates). [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Agile analysis and design]

31.  What is the primary input to Highsmith’s agile project management adapting phase?
A. Built-in test output
B. Iteration schedule slip points
C. Feature feedback and critique
D. Scrum error analysis

C – In the adapting phase, the agile team encourages feedback of the latest deliverable of an iteration. From the feedback, the team adapts product features and plans for the subsequent iteration. [Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products – 2nd Edition. Jim Highsmith.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 1]

32.  What agile artifact outlines the project’s expected rate of return?
A. Task board
B. Iteration backlog
C. Burndown chart
D. Business case

D – Business case development is an important initial step in agile project management. The business case is a concise document that outlines the project’s vision, goals, strategies for achieving goals, milestones, required investment and expected return/payback. A business case articulates the why and how a project will deliver value to a customer. [Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility. Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, James R. Trott.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

33.  How are user stories or features prioritized for development in the agile methodology?
A. By difficulty
B. By value
C. By developer preference
D. By ease of implementation

B – User stories are prioritized based on customer value. Value is determined by return on investment, growth of team knowledge, and risk reduction. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Planning, monitoring, and adapting]

 

 

34.  Which of the following is NOT a typical grouping of user stories for purposes of organization?
A. By alphabetical letter
B. By relation to product feature
C. By priority
D. By logical sequence and dependency

A – Various grouping methods are used to organize user stories. Typical methods are: Relation to a product feature (e.g., all user stories that interact with the database), By logical sequence and dependency (e.g., Group 1 must be developed before Group 2 because of technological dependency), 3) By priority based on customer value. [User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development. Mike Cohn.] [Agile analysis and design]

35.  Select an advantage of using an information radiator.
A. Allows for a streamlined process for changing sprint deadlines
B. Makes communication of project status less time consuming
C. Improves team dynamics by offering a place to air grievances
D. Decreases the amount of time spent in daily standup meetings

B – Information radiators improve team communication by reducing the amount of time spent explaining project status. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Communications]

 

 

36.  How might an agile team continuously improve its product?
A. By using comprehensive documentation to define team values.
B. By performing ongoing testing.
C. By performing integration testing near the end of a release.
D. By performing work breakdown structure reviews.

B – Agile project management places strong emphasis on ‘continuous improvement.’ Continuous improvement processes are built into the agile methodology, from customers providing feedback after each iteration to the team reserving time to reflect on its performance through retrospectives after each iteration. Ongoing unit and integration testing and keeping up with technological/industry developments also play a part in the continuous improvement process. Continuous improvement is also a key principle in the lean methodology, where a focus of removing waste from the value stream is held. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

37.  One level of planning in the agile project management methodology is release panning. Why is release planning important?
A. It helps ensure the customer and agile team understand the product vision, acceptance criteria, and high-level product release plan.
B. It helps the team understand customer portfolio risks
C. It helps the customer solidify product requirements for the release
D. It helps the agile team decompose user stories into tasks.

A – Release planning is important because the customer and development team collaborate to create a high-level plan for product release. User stories are initially defined during release planning. The release plan typically includes a schedule that includes several iterations and an estimate for when the product will be released. The development team discusses each user story in detail to, along with the customer, assign them to the project’s iterations. [The Art of Agile Development. James Shore.] [Planning, monitoring, and adapting]

38.  Becky, as project leader, intends on building a high-performance team. What is a practice or technique she can use to build a high performance team?
A. Making all decisions for the team
B. Having a team that is self-organizing and self-disciplined
C. Promoting competition
D. Assigning more work than can be accomplished in an iteration to set a sense of urgency

B – Building a high-performance team is critical to any project’s success. A high performance team has the right team members, is empowered, has built trust, works at a sustainable pace, has consistently high velocity/productivity, takes regular time for reflection to review work, has a team lead that removes any obstacles and provides mentoring and coaching, is self-organized and self-disciplined, and is collocated. Several management techniques can be used to build or foster a high-performance team environment, some techniques include: removing obstacles that slow down a team’s performance, having high expectations of team performance, and coaching and mentoring the team to achieve its best performance. [Coaching Agile Teams. Lyssa Adkins.] [Knowledge and Skills: Level 2]

 

 

 

 

 

39.  Calculate the Net Present Value of the following investment candidate. The initial investment cost is $1,000. The discount rate is 5%. At the end of year 1, $100 is expected. At the end of year 2, $300 is expected. At the end of year 3, $450 is expected.
A. $(220.00)
B. $(244.00)
C. $(230.00)
D. $(300.00)

B – Net Present Value: A metric used to analyze the profitability of an investment or project. NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows. NPV considers the likelihood of future cash inflows that an investment or project will yield. NPV is the sum of each cash inflow/outflow for the expected duration of the investment. Each cash inflow/outflow is discounted back to its present value (PV) (i.e.,, what the money is worth in terms of today’s value). NPV is the sum of all terms: NPV = Sum of [ Rt/(1 + i)^t ] where t = the time of the cash flow, i = the discount rate (the rate of return that could be earned on in the financial markets), and Rt = the net cash inflow or outflow. For example, consider the following two year period. The discount rate is 5% and the initial investment cost is $500. At the end of the first year, a $200 inflow is expected. At the end of the second year, a $1,000 is expected. NPV = – 500 + 200/(1.05)^1 + 1000/(1.05)^2 = ∼$597. If NPV is positive, it indicates that the investment will add value to the buyer’s portfolio. If NPV is negative, it will subtract value. If NPV is zero, it will neither add or subtract value. [Agile Estimating and Planning. Mike Cohn.] [Value based prioritization]

 

 

 

40.  How can a team ensure it benefits from osmotic communication?
A. By collocating its team members.
B. By purchasing its team members blue tooth headsets.
C. By isolating its team members.
D. By separating team members into functional specialties.

A – Osmotic communication is a concept of communication where information is shared between collocated team members unconsciously. By sharing the same work environment, team members are exposed to the same environmental sounds and other environmental input and unconsciously share a common framework that improves communication. [Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition. Alistair Cockburn.] [Communications]

 

 

 

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