Quiz PMP – Agile
PMP Common Agile Methodologies — Practice Quiz
Chapter 17 · 20 questions · Scrum, Kanban, XP, SAFe, Lean & Agile Manifesto
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1
A project manager is leading an agile software development team. A key stakeholder requests extensive documentation of every feature before development begins. The project manager should explain that the Agile Manifesto values:
A.Comprehensive documentation over working software — proper records protect the organization.
B.Contract negotiation over customer collaboration — formal agreements prevent scope creep.
C.Working software over comprehensive documentation — while documentation has value, delivering functional software is prioritized.
D.Following a plan over responding to change — the plan ensures predictability.
Agile Values
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2
An agile project has a fixed 6-month timeline and a fixed budget. Three months in, the product owner wants to add several high-value features. The team's velocity indicates there is not enough time to complete everything currently in the backlog plus the new features. What should happen?
A.Extend the timeline by 2 months to accommodate all features including the new ones.
B.Reprioritize the backlog with the product owner — lower-priority items are deferred to maintain the fixed time and cost constraints.
C.Add more team members to absorb the additional scope within the fixed timeline.
D.Submit a formal change request to the CCB to add the new features to the approved scope baseline.
Agile Triangle
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3
A project team discovers that all completed work packages must wait 5 business days for a mandatory manager approval before the next phase can begin. This approval adds no value to the deliverable itself. What Lean concept does this represent, and what should the team do?
A.A necessary quality gate — it should be maintained to ensure oversight.
B.A phase-gate review — it should be formalized and documented.
C.A risk management checkpoint — it protects the organization from defects.
D.Waste (wait time) — the team should analyze whether the approval step can be eliminated or streamlined through value stream mapping.
Lean Principles
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4
A Kanban team has a WIP limit of 3 for the 'In Progress' column. A developer finishes their task and wants to start a new one, but the 'In Progress' column already has 3 tasks from other team members. What should the developer do according to Kanban principles?
A.Start the new task anyway — WIP limits are guidelines, not strict rules.
B.Help complete one of the 3 in-progress tasks before pulling a new one — this maintains flow and respects the WIP limit.
C.Request that the WIP limit be increased to 4 to accommodate the additional task.
D.Move to the next sprint's backlog and start planning future work.
Kanban — WIP
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5
During a daily standup, a developer mentions that they are blocked because an API dependency from a third-party vendor is not working. The scrum master starts discussing possible solutions with the team. After 20 minutes, the meeting has run significantly over time. What should the scrum master have done differently?
A.Skipped the daily standup that day since it was going to be unproductive.
B.Asked the blocked developer to send an email instead of raising it in the standup.
C.Noted the blocker and immediately ended the standup — the issue should be investigated separately after the meeting.
D.Extended the standup time to 45 minutes to allow proper troubleshooting of all blockers.
Scrum — Daily Standup
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6
An agile team is planning their first iteration for a new AI-powered product. The team has never worked with the chosen machine learning framework and is uncertain whether it can handle the required data volume. The project manager proposes dedicating the first iteration to testing the framework before committing to building any features. What technique is being used?
A.Risk spike — a time-boxed iteration dedicated to exploring and reducing a technical risk, with no product increment expected.
B.MVP — a minimal version of the product built to test user acceptance.
C.Definition of done — establishing what 'complete' means for the framework evaluation.
D.Iteration 0 — a planning iteration that includes some development work.
XP — Spike
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7
A software development team using XP practices writes automated tests for a new feature before writing any code. The code is then developed to pass those tests. What XP practice is this, and what is its primary benefit?
A.Continuous integration — ensuring new code integrates with the existing product.
B.Pair programming — two developers working together to improve code quality.
C.Collective code ownership — any developer can modify any part of the codebase.
D.Test-driven development (TDD) — tests define the expected behavior before coding, ensuring the code is built to meet specific requirements.
XP — TDD
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8
A large financial institution has 8 agile teams working on different components of a new core banking system. The teams need to coordinate their work, align on priorities, and deliver integrated product increments on a common cadence. Which framework is MOST appropriate for governing this coordinated effort?
A.Scrum — each team runs its own sprints and delivers independently.
B.SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) — designed specifically for coordinating multiple agile teams working toward a common large-scale product.
C.Kanban — each team visualizes their work independently with no coordination overhead.
D.Crystal — each team tailors their process based on their component's criticality.
SAFe
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9
A project manager is selecting an agile methodology for a new medical device software project involving 35 team members. The software directly controls patient dosage — any failure could be life-threatening. Which Crystal category applies?
A.Crystal Clear — for small teams with low criticality.
B.Crystal Yellow — for teams of 6-20 with discretionary money criticality.
C.Crystal Magenta (L) — for projects with life-critical impact, regardless of team size.
D.Crystal Orange — for teams of 21-40 with essential money criticality.
Crystal
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10
An agile team has been working at maximum capacity for 4 months to meet an aggressive deadline, regularly working 60+ hours per week. The scrum master argues this is unsustainable. Which agile principle does this violate?
A.Agile processes promote sustainable development — sponsors, developers, and users should maintain a constant, sustainable pace indefinitely.
B.Deliver working software frequently — the team should increase output to deliver more features.
C.The best architectures emerge from self-organizing teams — the team should decide their own pace.
D.Simplicity is essential — the team should reduce scope to maintain normal hours.
Agile Principles
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11
A predictive project manager joins an agile team for the first time. When a stakeholder requests a significant change to a feature midway through an iteration, the PM's instinct is to reject it and refer to the formal change control process. What should the PM understand about agile?
A.Changes in agile also require a formal CCB approval — the process protects the team from scope creep.
B.Agile welcomes change — the product owner evaluates the request, adds it to the backlog if appropriate, and prioritizes it for a future iteration.
C.Changes should always be rejected mid-iteration to protect the sprint commitment.
D.All changes in agile require written approval from the sponsor before being added to the backlog.
Agile — Welcoming Change
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12
A project manager is looking for a tool to provide a one-page visual summary of project progress showing completed features, features in progress, and remaining features across the entire release. Which agile methodology popularized this tool?
A.Scrum — through the sprint burndown chart.
B.Kanban — through the Kanban board visualization.
C.XP — through the release planning board.
D.FDD (Feature Driven Development) — which popularized parking lot diagrams and Cumulative Flow Diagrams.
FDD
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13
An agile team is working under DSDM and receives pressure from the sponsor to reduce testing to meet the project deadline. Which DSDM principle does this request violate?
A.Never compromise quality — DSDM explicitly includes this as one of its 8 core principles.
B.Deliver on time — reducing testing might allow on-time delivery.
C.Focus on business need — quality is secondary to business deadlines.
D.Demonstrate control — reducing testing is a valid response to schedule pressure.
DSDM
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14
An XP team uses pair programming — two developers work at the same workstation, taking turns coding while the other reviews. A manager argues this is wasteful since 'two people doing one person's job.' What is the MOST accurate rebuttal?
A.Pair programming is required by the XP framework and cannot be eliminated.
B.Pair programming reduces the team size needed for the project.
C.Pair programming improves code quality, reduces defects, and promotes knowledge sharing — the upfront cost is offset by reduced rework.
D.Pair programming doubles productivity since two people review twice as much code.
XP — Pair Programming
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15
A manager tells a newly formed agile team: 'I've read the Scrum guide. I know the ceremonies and the roles. We're agile now.' Three months later, the team is still functioning like a waterfall team with agile labels. What does this situation illustrate?
A.Scrum requires more training — the team needs to attend certified Scrum courses.
B.Understanding agile practices is not the same as having an agile mindset — true agility requires a fundamental change in thinking, not just applying labels.
C.The Scrum Master failed to enforce the ceremonies correctly.
D.Agile doesn't work for this type of organization — waterfall is more appropriate.
Agile Mindset
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16
In a Kanban pull system, when does a team member start working on a new task?
A.When the iteration planning meeting assigns them a new task.
B.When their manager assigns them new work at the beginning of each day.
C.When the product owner reprioritizes the backlog at the end of each sprint.
D.When they finish their current task and pull the next highest-priority item from the ready column — provided the WIP limit allows it.
Kanban — Pull System
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17
An agile team is developing a new product using an untested AI algorithm. The project manager recommends building a prototype of the algorithm in the first iteration, before any product features are developed. A stakeholder argues this is wasting the first iteration on something that won't be shown to users. What is the BEST justification for the PM's approach?
A.Failing fast — discovering algorithm limitations early is far cheaper to fix than discovering them after 6 months of product development built on a flawed foundation.
B.Value-driven development — the algorithm is the most valuable component of the product.
C.Sustainable pace — the team needs time to learn the algorithm before committing to features.
D.Simplicity — building the simplest possible algorithm first follows XP's simple design principle.
Agile — Fast Failure
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18
In the SAFe framework, what is an Agile Release Train (ART) and what is its primary purpose?
A.A deployment pipeline for automatically releasing software to production.
B.A Scrum-of-Scrums meeting where team leads coordinate across multiple sprints.
C.A long-lived team of agile teams (5-12 teams) that plan, commit, and execute together on a common cadence to deliver value as part of a larger solution.
D.A quarterly planning event where all teams align their sprint goals for the next quarter.
SAFe — ART
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19
Which agile principle is MOST directly aligned with the practice of holding daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives?
A.Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
B.At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
C.Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
D.The most efficient and effective method of conveying information is face-to-face conversation.
Agile Manifesto Principles
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20
A project manager is assessing whether to use an agile or predictive approach for a new project. Which scenario is MOST suited for an agile approach?
A.Building a bridge to a fully specified engineering design with well-understood construction techniques.
B.Implementing a mandatory regulatory compliance system with fixed requirements defined by law.
C.Replacing an existing payroll system with a proven off-the-shelf software package.
D.Developing a new mobile application for an emerging market where customer preferences are uncertain and will evolve.
Agile vs Predictive
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