Practice Flashcards: Agile, Quality, and Project Management

This flashcard set provides questions and answers based on lecture notes covering Agile principles, Lean waste, Scrum roles, CI/CD practices, Software Quality (ISO 25010), and Project Management basics including Risk and Change management.

What characterizes the Management or 'Push' method?

A top-down approach where the manager determines what must happen, ensures execution, and focuses on control and tasks.

How does Leadership or the 'Trek' method function?

It is an inspiring approach where a leader provides a vision, causing people toBelieving in the goal and wanting to do what is necessary.

What is the primary focus of Servant Leadership in an Agile context?

The leader facilitates the team, seeing themselves as a servant to ensure the team stands central and is successful.

What are the four core responsibilities of a Servant Leader?

Shielding the team from distractions, removing impediments, communicating the vision, and providing resources ('carrying food and water').

In the 'Omgedraaide Piramide' (Inverted Pyramid) model, where is the leader positioned?

The leader stands at the bottom to support the entire system, while the team members delivering value are at the top.

How is 'Value' defined in Agile beyond just monetary gain?

Value is what you offer customers that allows the business to keep running, which requires understanding both the customer and the business context.

According to Poppendieck (2003), what constitutes 'Waste'?

Any activity that does not add value, which directly reduces the value delivered.

What are the 7 types of waste in Lean Software Development?

1. Handoffs, 2. Partially done work, 3. Extra processes, 4. Extra features, 5. Task switching, 6. Waiting, 7. Defects.

What is a Minimal Viable Product (MVP)?

The smallest possible working product delivered to get initial real users and feedback to generate learning.

What are the three criteria for a proper User Story?

It must be vertical (spanning all layers like UI, backend, and database), testable (verifiable completion), and user-valuable.

What is the benefit of 'Story Slicing'?

Breaking large stories into thinner, vertical ones allows for faster delivery and earlier feedback.

What is the core principle of Continuous Delivery (CD)?

The approach where software is always in a releasable state, allowing deployment at any time rather than just at the end of a sprint.

What are the 4 DORA Metrics used to measure software delivery performance?

1. Change Lead Time, 2. Deployment Frequency, 3. Change Fail Percentage, 4. Failed Deployment Recovery Time.

How does Blue/Green Deployment eliminate downtime?

By running two identical production environments parallel to each other; a load balancer switches traffic to the new version (Green) once it is tested and ready.

What is the objective of a Canary or Staged Roll-out?

To limit the 'blast radius' of a potentially bad release by introducing the new version to a small subgroup of users first.

What is the difference between MAJOR and MINOR changes in Semantic Versioning ($\text{SemVer}$)?

$\text{MAJOR}$ indicates breaking changes requiring user code adjustments, while $\text{MINOR}$ refers to backward-compatible new functionalities.

Which test types are part of the 'Test Pyramid'?

Unit Tests (many, fast, cheap), Service/Integration Tests (medium), and UI Tests (few, slow, expensive).

What are the three levels of transparency in Observability ($\text{o11y}$)?

1. Waiting for customer complaints (worst), 2. Noticing falling sales, 3. Proactively detecting problems via monitoring (best).

What is the difference between a Risk and an Issue in project management?

A risk is a potential future event that may happen, whereas an issue is something that has already occurred and requires management.

What are the four dimensions of the 'Devil's Square'?

Scope, Quality, Time, and Money.

What is the primary difference between a WBS and a PBS?

A Product Breakdown Structure ($\text{PBS}$) focuses on what deliverables are to be produced, while a Work Breakdown Structure ($\text{WBS}$) focuses on how (tasks) they will be produced.

What are the 5 response strategies for dealing with Threats?

Avoid, Escalate, Transfer, Mitigate, and Accept.

What does the ISTQB principle 'Pesticide Paradox' state?

If the same tests are repeated over and over, they will eventually no longer find new bugs; tests must be regularly updated.

What is 'Scope Creep'?

The uncontrolled expansion of project scope without adjustments to time, money, or resources.

Identify the 5 phases of the Change Life Cycle Framework.

1. Formulate change, 2. Plan change, 3. Implement change, 4. Manage transition, 5. Sustain change.

What is the purpose of a Change Advisory Board (CAB)?

A formal group that meets to assess, prioritize, authorize, and schedule project changes based on risk, impact, and feasibility.

What are the three psychological phases in Bridges' Transition Model?

1. Endings (managing loss), 2. Neutral Zone (the in-between time), 3. New Beginnings (fresh identity and energy).

What does it mean for a User Story to be 'Vertical'?

It spans all architectural layers, including UI, backend, and database, rather than focusing on just one layer.