Lesson 4: Building Solutions with Agile Product Delivery

Question 1

What is ‘Customer Centricity’?

Answer 1

Customer Centricity is a mindset that focuses on creating positive experiences for the customer.

It is designing whole-product solutions with a deep understanding of the customer’s needs.

Customer-centric enterprises apply empathic design throughout the product lifecycle.

Question 2

What is Design Thinking?

Answer 2

Design Thinking is a customer-centric development process that creates desirable products that are profitable and sustainable over their lifecycle.

Design thinking represents a profoundly different approach to product and solution development, in which divergent and convergent techniques are applied to understand a problem, design a solution, and deliver that solution.

Two Diamonds: Problem Space < > Solution Space
Problem Space: Understand the problem
Solution Space: Design the right solution

Each diamond focuses on divergent thinking (understanding and exploring options) followed by convergent thinking (evaluating options and making choices).

< Problem Space > < Solution Space>
<>Discover (diverge) <> Devleop (diverge)
<> Define (converge) <> Deliver (converge)
Hint: 4’D’s
Builds a solution that is:
- Desirable
- Freasable
- Sustainable
- Viable
(Hint: Do For Sweet Vixen)

Question 3

What are Personas and how are they used?

Answer 3

Personas are used to understand the customer and focus our designs:
- They help convey the problems that the end-user is facing and provide key triggers for using the product.

Question 4

What are Empathy Mapping?

Answer 4

Empathy maps are a design thinking tool that promotes customer identification by helping teams develop a deep, shared understanding of others.

They enable teams to imagine what a specific persona is thinking, feeling, hearing, and seeing as they use the product.
- Goal: Who are empathizing with?
- Goal: What do they need to do?
- What do they see?
- What do they hear?
- What do they do?
- What do they say?
- Pain/Gain: What do they think
- Pain/Gain: What do they feel?

The greater the degree of empathy a team has for its customers, the more likely it will be able to design desirable solutions.

Question 5

What is the primary purpose of a Journey Map?

Answer 5

A Customer Journey Map captures the user’s experiences as they interact with a company’s operational value stream, products, and services.

Journey mapping is a visual representation of the customer experience, including all of the interactions and touchpoints they have with a product or service.

The important goal of Journey Mapping is to know a deep understanding of the customer’s perspective and identifies the areas needed for improvement.

Journey mapping provides teams with a comprehensive view of the customer experience, including both the customer’s needs and their pain points, which can be used to inform the development of an implementation plan.

Question 6

What is a Benefit-Feature Matrix? How is it used?

Answer 6

For a benefit-feature matrix the intended customer benefits are identified first, and then the teams determine what features might satisfy their needs. This approach helps agile teams explore better and faster ways to deliver the desired benefits.

Question 7

When should teams use ‘story maps’?

Answer 7

Story maps capture user workflows. They help teams ideate, plan, and group activities in a workflow or user journey. They allow teams to identify and address the most critical steps before improving existing steps or adding new functionality
i.e., ID the set of stories that are essential to the current release (while others can be marked a future stores).

Question 8

What are Features and when are the Acceptance Criteria associated with Features defined?

Answer 8

Features represent work for the ART and typcially fit in a single PI. ACs are typically defined durning ART backlog refinement.

Features provide benefit hypotheses statement (the what) that can be used to justify development costs and provides business perspective for decision making.

Features are implemented by stories.

Workbook 4-16

Question 9

True of False
Story points at some point in time must represent a unit of time measurement.

Answer 9

False

Story points are relative and are not connected to any specific unit of mesurement.

Question 10

If you only quantify one thing quantify the < blank> < blank> < blank >

Answer 10

Cost of Delay

Question 11

True of False
Give preference to jobs with shorter duration and higher COD.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

Considering the formula for WSJF is COD/Duration. What are the components of COD?

Answer 12

User-buisness value (UBV)
Time criticality (TC)
Risk Reduction and/or Opportunity Enablers (RROE)
COD = UBV + TC + RROE

Question 13

3 features were evaluated using WSJF the values are as follows:
Feature A WSJF = 12.2
Feature B WSJF = 10.2
Feature C WSJF = 8

Which feature do I do first, second and third?

Answer 13

Do A, then B, and then C

Question 14

What is the purpose of PI Objectives?

Answer 14

PI Objectives are business summaries of what each team intends to deliver in the upcomming PI.

PI Objectives often directly relate to intended feature in the backlog. PI objective are used to engage business owners. PI Objectives are written in a language that is understood by the business.

PI Objectives (committed) also help build trust with BOs. Trust allows all stakeholders to move forward confidently and base decisions and plans on what is ‘very likely to be true very soon.’

Question 15

What are the inputs and outputs of PI planning?

Answer 15

Inputs to PI Planning:
- Business context
- Roadmap and vision
- Highest priority Features of the ART Backlog

Output of PI Planning:
- Committed PI objectives – Each team creates a set of SMART objectives with the business value assigned by the Business Owners.
- ART planning board – Highlighting the new feature delivery dates, feature dependencies among teams, and relevant milestones

PAH: ART RISK ROAM boards could also be an output of PI planning.

Question 16

With regards to SMART objectives. What does the ‘R’ stand for?

Answer 16

Realistic

Specific – States the intended outcome as concisely and explicitly as possible. (Hint: Try starting with an action verb.)
Measurable – It should be clear what a team needs to do to achieve the objective. The measures may be descriptive, yes/no, quantitative, or provide a range.
Achievable – Achieving the objective should be within the team’s control and influence.
Realistic – Recognize factors that cannot be controlled. (Hint: Avoid making ‘happy path’ assumptions.)
Time-bound – The time period for achievement must be within the PI or sooner, so all objectives must be scoped appropriately.

Question 17

True or False
Uncommitted objectives count when calculating team load.

Answer 17

True

Student workbook 4-37

Question 18

In order to be a successful PI planning event readness needs to be accomplished in what three areas?

Answer 18

Organizational readiness
Content readiness
Logistics readiness

Question 19

With regards to content readness what three briefing are addressed in day 1 of PI planning?

Answer 19

Executive briefing – A briefing that defines the current business context
Product vision briefing(s) – Briefings prepared by Product Management, including the top 10 features in the ART Backlog
Architecture vision briefing – A presentation made by the CTO, Enterprise Architect, or System Architect to communicate new enablers, features, and Nonfunctional Requirements (NFRs)

Question 20

With regards to PI planning what is required for organizational readiness

Answer 20

Planning scope and context – Is the planning process’s scope (product, system, technology domain) understood? Do we know which teams need to plan together?

Business alignment – Is there reasonable agreement on priorities among the Business Owners?

Agile teams – Do we have Agile teams? Are there dedicated team members and an identified Scrum Master/Team Coach and Product Owner for each team?

Question 21

With regards to PI planning what is required for Logistics Readyness

Answer 21

Locations – Each location where planning takes place needs preparation in advance.

Technology and Tooling – Real-time access to information and tooling to support distributed planning or remote attendees

Communication channels – Primary and secondary audio, video, and presentation channels must be available

Question 22

Day 1 of PI planning ends with what event? What is the purpose of this event? Who runs the event? How long is the event?

Answer 22

Management review and problem-solving

Team’s drafted plans likely present challenges like scope, people and resource constraints, and dependencies.

During the problem-solving meeting, management may negotiate scope changes and resolve other problems by agreeing to various planning adjustments.

The RTE facilitates and keeps the primary stakeholders together for as long as necessary to make the decisions needed to reach achievable objectives.

Question 23

The ART program board serves what purpose in the PI event?

Answer 23

The ART planning board shows features, dependencies and milestones

Visually show the sequence of inter-team dependencies that lead to feature delivery.

Clearly indicate when features are planned to be delivered.

Question 24

What is the purpose of the coach sync on day 1?

Answer 24

Coach syncs are done hourly and designed to help keep teams on track and identify early risks

Question 25

What is the purpose of Day 1 Draft plan Review and who runs it?

Answer 25

At the end of Day 1, the RTE facilitates a session where teams present their draft plans.

The main purpose is to get everyone (present) to start thinking about dependencies, problems, and further opportunities.

Question 26

During PI planning a team identifies several risk under its own control. Should these risks be added to the team’s Risk ROAM board?

Answer 26

No. If they are under direct control of the team then they should not be presented on the team’s ROAM board.

The ROAM board is reserved to risks and impediments that are outside of the team’s control.

Question 27

When in the PI Process are Risks and Impediments addressed?

Answer 27

As part of the team’s final plan review teams provide their risks and impediments to the RTE. These risks are reviewed and captured as ART risk. ART risks discussed as a whole after all teams have presented their final plans.

Question 28

What happens in Team breakout session #2?

Answer 28

Teams continue planning and making the appropriate adjustments. They finalize their objectives for the PI, to which the Business Owners assign business value.

Question 29

Addressing Risks. What does ‘M’ stand for in R.O.A.M?

Answer 29

ROAM stands for:
► Resolved - Addressed; the risk is no longer a concern
► Owned - Someone has taken responsibility
► Accepted - Nothing more can be done, and if the risk
occurs, the release may be compromised
► Mitigated – The team has a plan to adjust
as necessary

Question 30

What is the agenda in presenting the Draft Review? (3 things)

Answer 30

Current capacity and load of the team for
each Iteration.
Draft PI Objectives
Identify risks and impediments

Question 31

Who and What things are discussed in the business context briefing?

Answer 31

A Business Owner, or senior executive, describes:
- the current state of the business
- shares the Portfolio Vision and
- presents a perspective on how effectively existing solutions address current customer’s needs.

Question 32

How are commitments communicated in a PI Plan?

Answer 32

Through PI Objectives

Question 33

PI Planning ends with what event?
a) Risks and impediment discussion
b) BOs providing a confidence vote
c) RTE combining Team PI Objective into an ART PI Objectives.
d) Retrospective

Answer 33

d) Retrospective

Question 34

Map out events/time-table for Day 1 of PI Planning?

Answer 34

8:00-9:00: Set Business Context
9-10:30 Product/Solution Vision
10:30-11:30 Arch Vision
11:30- 1:00 Planning context/lunch
1:00-4:00 Team breakouts
4:00-5:00 Draft readout of plan
5:00-6:00 Mangement review and Problem Solving

Question 35

Map out events/time-table for Day 2 of PI Planning?

Answer 35

8:00-9:00 Planning Adjustments
9:00-11:00 Break-out sessions
11:00-1:00 Final Plan Review/Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 ART Risks and impediments
2:00 - 2:15 Confidence Votes
2:15 - ?? Plan Rework
xx PI Retrospective

Question 36

Who and what things are discussed in the Product/Solution Vision?

Answer 36

Product Management presents:
- the current vision (typically represented by the next top 10 upcoming Features)
- how the features support the business context and vision
- highlights any changes from the previous PI Planning event and any forthcoming milestones.

Question 37

Who and What things are discussed in the Architectual presentation?

Answer 37

System Architect presents the Architecture Vision:
- Discuss Enabler Epics that will build out the Architectual runway.
- Address changes to development practices. Such as:
* * * Test automation,
* * * DevOps,
* * * Continuous Integration, and Continuous Deployment.

Question 38

With regards to the fist of 5 vote (on teams having confidence in meeting their PI Objectives) how many fingers should be displayed for management to accept the team’s committment

Answer 38

The average should be 3 fingers or above. If a person is showing a 1 or 2 then they should be allowed to express their concerns. If the plan is not accepted then the team needs to rework the plan

Question 39

What is the final plan review agenda (day 2) and who is involved?

Answer 39

Final plan review agenda:
1. Changes to capacity and load for each Iteration
2. Final PI Objectives with assigned Business Values
3. ART PI risks and impediments
4. Q&A

Teams and BOs. Facilited by RTE

Question 40

What are the key events of associated with an executing PI? (4 items)

Answer 40

Coach Sync
PO Sync
Art Sync
System Demo (part of I&A)

Question 41

What is primary purpose of a Coach Sync
Who runs it?
How often and how long?

Answer 41

The Coach Sync is an ART event that helps:
- coordinate ART dependencies
- provides visibility into progress in addressing impediments.
- RTE runs the Coach Sync
- 30-60 minutes once a week or more frequent

Question 42

What is the primary purpose of the PO Sync
Who runs it?
How often and how long?

Answer 42

PO Sync is a 30 – 60 minute event typically occurring once or twice weekly. The RTE or a Product Manager facilitates PO Sync.

Product Management and POs review the ART’s progress toward the PI Objectives and make scope or prioritization adjustments if needed.

Another purpose of PO Sync is to prepare the ART Backlog for the following PI. Feature refinement and weighted shortest job first (WSJF) are done during the PO Sync to prepare for the following PI

It provides the time and venue for Product Management and POs to align on features, priorities and be one voice,

Question 43

True or False
IP iteration is used by teams to address uncommitted PI Objectives?

Answer 43

False

During PI planning, the ART does not plan features or stories for the IP iteration.

The IP iteration provides a buffer (extra time) for the teams to adapt to unforeseen events. This buffer can offset delays resulting from dependencies, and other issues.

Question 44

What is the PI System Demo and who leads It?

Answer 44

At the end of the PI, teams demonstrate the current state of the solution to appropreate stakeholders. It is lead by Product Manager, Product Owners and the System Team.

Question 45

What are the 3 parts of the Inspect and Adapt ART event?

Answer 45

The PI System Demo
Quantitative and Qualitative Measurements
Problem Solving Workshops

Question 46

True of False
The buisness values assigned to uncomitted PI objectives is counted in the total score for planned work.

Answer 46

False

The business values assigned to uncommitted PI objective are only counted in the actuals (not planned).

Question 47

When are PI Objectives assigned actual values?

Answer 47

Prior to or as part of the PI System Demo , teams review the business values achived for each of their PI objectives.

Teams meet with their BO to self-assess the business value for achieved objectives.

Each team’s planned vs actual business value are then rolled up to the ART Predictability Measurements.

Question 48

What is DevOps and how is it different from DevSecOps?

Answer 48

DevOps is a mindset, culture, and set of technical practices that supports the integration, automation, and collaboration needed to effectively develop and operate a solution.

DevSecOps is a term that emphasizes the importance of proper information security practices in the pursuit of continuous delivery. Because the origins of DevOps did not explicitly include security as a top-level concern (as it did for development and operations), DevSecOps has emerged as a popular term that avoids any risk of security being an afterthought.

Question 49

What core compentency does DevOps belong to?

Hint: It is a dimention of one of the seven core compentencies.

Answer 49

Agile Product Delivery

Question 50

What are the four aspects of a Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP)?

Answer 50

Continuous Exploration (CE) focuses on creating alignment on what needs to be built. In CE, design thinking ensures the enterprise understands the market problem or customer need and the solution required to meet that need
hypothesis->reseach->architect->sythesize

Continuous Integration (CI) focuses on taking features from the ART backlog and implementing them. Completed work is committed to version control, built and integrated, and tested end-to-end before being validated in a staging environment.
develop->build->End-to-End Test->stage

Continuous Deployment (CD) takes the changes from the staging environment and deploys them to production. At that point, they’re verified and monitored to ensure they are working correctly.
Deploy->Verify->Monitor->Respond

Release on Demand (RoD) is the ability to make value available to customers together or in a staggered fashion-based on market and business needs.
Release->Stablize->Measure->Learn