Business

Question 1

What is the SAFe framework?

Answer 1

Scaled Agile Framework
Seeks to address problems encountered when attempting to scale agile beyond a single team. Criticized for being top down and in-flexible. Product owners work on team level, product managers work on programme level.

Question 2

Product owner vs product manager? And which framework?

Answer 2

SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). Product owners are internal facing and create user stories for devs and work with devs team. Product manager is external facing and talks to users and communicate requirements to product owner.

Question 3

What is the origin of the title “Product Manager”?

Answer 3

HP, 1930/40s. Organized the business around products.

Question 4

What is the origin of the title “Product Owner”?

Answer 4

Scrum, which came prior to the agile manifesto in 2001.

Question 5

What are the responsibilities of the product owner in Scrum?

Answer 5

• Define backlog and create user stories.
• Groom and prioritize back log.
• Accept completed user stories.

Question 6

Criticism of SAFe on team level?

Answer 6

Product owners are unable to create effective solutions because they are not customer facing.

Question 7

SW development paradigms (7)

Answer 7

Waterfall, V-model, Spiral-model, Prototyping, Incremental, Cleanroom, Agile

Question 8

What are the four values of agile?

Answer 8

Induviduals and interactions > Process and tools.
Working SW > Comprehensive Documentation
Customer Collaboration > Contract Negotiation
Responding to changes > Following a plan

Question 9

What is agile?

Answer 9

A project development method.

Question 10

When was the agile manifesto written?

Answer 10

2001

Question 11

What is CIS?

Answer 11

Commonwealth of Independent States. Formed when the Soviet Union dissolved. Now 9 countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Question 12

What does covariance indicate?

Answer 12

The direction of the relationship between two variables. Not the strenght!

Question 13

Is the covariance between the S&P500 and DowJones negative or positive.

Answer 13

Positive.

One increase, the other increase. One decrease, the other decrease. Think of the slope in a linear regression.

Question 14

Is the covariance between mm of rain and a persons happiness positive or negative?

Answer 14

The covariance is likely negative. Increase in one variable results in decrease in the other.

Question 15

Explain overfitting in the context of multiple variable regression.

Answer 15

By adding independent (predictive) variables to a multiple variable regression, the accuracy can increase on the data set, but allthough the addition of independent variables explain variations in the dataset, it could really be doing so under false pretences so that the model becomes less accurate on new cases or when new data is added.

Question 16

What does multicollinearity mean in the context of multiple variable regression?

Answer 16

The dependent (prescriptive) variables are correlated. Ideally they should not be.

Question 17

Hva var bakgrunnen for dereguleringen av det norske kraftmarkedet i 1990?

Answer 17

Det ble stilt spørsmål ved den økonomiske avkastningen på de omfattende investeringene som ble foretatt i kraftforsyningen i 1970- og 80-årene og effektiviteten til det eksisterende omsetning- og reguleringsregimet. I normal-år var det typisk betydelig overkapasitet pga. risikoholdningen i kraftbransjen. Kraftprodusentene var ihht regelverket forpliktet til å dekke sine området.

Question 18

What is the urea price? 2017-2019?

Answer 18

Ranging from ca 300 to 400 USD per ton.

Question 19

Cost of transporting urea from Europe to Asia.

Answer 19

Ca 50 USD per ton.

Question 20

What is horizontal integration in the context of M&A? Provide one example. PS it is not strictly limited to M&A. Could be expansion.

Answer 20

A company integrates another that operates on the same level in the value chain of an industry. Examples: Disney’s acquisition of Pixar (2006) or Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram (2012).

Question 21

What is vertical integration in the context of M&A? Provide one example. PS it is not strictly limited to M&A. Could be expansion.

Answer 21

A company integrates another that operates on a different level in the value chain. For example Ikea’s acquisition of forrest in Romania or Amazon’s integration into hardware by producing Kindle Fire tablets.

Question 22

What is a possible benefit of a user story vs a functional requirement?

Answer 22

User stories are very easy to understand and might encourage participation of non-technical team members. User stories can also help you see the solution from the perspective of the user more easily. User stories should have a simpe language and be relatively high level.

Question 23

What is the purpose of regularization in machine learning?

Answer 23

Regularization is applied to a model to reduce its size and avoid overfitting.

Question 24

Example that shows importance of defining problem space before solution space.

Answer 24

The NASA space pen costed 1 MUSD to develop. Russians used pencils.

Question 25

What is a simple way to ensure that the problem space is well defined?

Answer 25

“5 why’s”. Identify root cause. May pull you in a different direction that initially imagined.

Question 26

What should a problem statement in the problem space look like?

Answer 26

It should start with a verb. For example:
- Reduce my risk of pest
- Increase my yields
Should be written from the users perspective (customer centric articulation of problem definition).

Question 27

Methaphor for describing a situation that is difficult to control.

Answer 27

Grabbing a tiger by the tail.

Question 28

What is an SOE?

Answer 28

State-owned enterprice (can be fully owned or partially owned)

Question 29

Have state-owned enterprices been successfull in Norway?

Answer 29

Yes. DNB, Yara, Statoil, Kongsberg Gruppen and Telenor has performed better than their competitors. Exception: Hydro.

Question 30

What principles have contributed to the success of state-owned enterprices in Norway?

Answer 30

Most importantly:

• The role as owner and market governance are held separate.
• The steering happens through the administrative board.
• Steering principles are very clear.
• Companies are publicly listed and have private investors.

Question 31

What is the BFSI domain?

Answer 31

Banking, financial services and insurance

Question 32

What is a sprint (agile)?

Answer 32

An iteration cycle (typically one week to one month).