I85PREP
⌘ K
PMI DAF study materials
PMI DAF study resources

PMI DAF practice questions

One question at a time. Build your PMI DAF understanding.

First 50 of 200 questions. Each one lists the choices, the correct answer, and an explanation. The checker at the top of this page saves progress in this browser when it is available.

Continue in the practice tool above to load more questions, 50 at a time.

Question 1Disciplined Agile Foundations

In Disciplined Agile, what does the principle "Deliver early and often" primarily emphasize?

  1. Assigning one person to own every deliverable end to end
  2. Freezing scope at project start to protect the schedule
  3. Producing working solutions in short, frequent increments so feedback can be gathered Correct answer.
  4. Completing all documentation before any solution work begins

Explanation

Disciplined Agile favors frequent, incremental delivery of working solutions so that stakeholders can validate value and the team can adapt. This contrasts with plan-driven approaches that defer delivery until late phases. Frequent delivery also reduces risk by surfacing problems early.

Question 2Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best describes a Disciplined Agile principle regarding the customer?

  1. The customer should be involved only at contract signing and final acceptance
  2. Customer feedback is gathered primarily through post-project surveys
  3. Delighting the customer is achieved by meeting their needs through early and continuous delivery Correct answer.
  4. Customer requirements should be documented once and then locked

Explanation

DA holds that the team should delight customers by delivering valuable solutions early and continuously, which requires ongoing engagement rather than periodic checkpoints. Continuous delivery lets the customer see and shape the evolving solution. Locking requirements would prevent that adaptation.

Question 3Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team adopting Disciplined Agile is deciding how much modeling and documentation to do. Which DA principle guides this decision?

  1. Produce comprehensive documentation for every artifact
  2. Eliminate all documentation to maximize speed
  3. Delegate documentation decisions to the project sponsor
  4. Create just enough documentation, produced at the right time Correct answer.

Explanation

DA promotes just-enough documentation created at the right time for the right audience, treating documentation as a means to an end rather than a compliance ritual. This lets teams invest effort where it adds value. Both exhaustive and zero documentation are extremes DA avoids.

Question 4Disciplined Agile Foundations

What is the primary purpose of the Disciplined Agile tool kit?

  1. To provide a library of proven practices and strategies that teams tailor to their context Correct answer.
  2. To replace project management offices with a fixed governance model
  3. To prescribe a single mandatory process for every organization
  4. To certify individual practitioners in a specific methodology

Explanation

The DA tool kit is a curated collection of practices, strategies, and process patterns from which teams choose and tailor what fits their situation. It is explicitly not a one-size-fits-all prescription. Tailoring to context is central to the DA mindset.

Question 5Disciplined Agile Foundations

In Disciplined Agile, what does a process goal represent?

  1. An outcome the team must address, with several strategies available to achieve it Correct answer.
  2. A hard deadline imposed by the governance body
  3. A fixed sequence of activities defined by the method
  4. A mandatory milestone that must be signed off before the next phase

Explanation

Process goals describe what a team must accomplish, such as exploring scope or producing a potentially consumable solution, while leaving open which strategies to apply. This structure is what makes DA tailorable. Goals are outcomes, not prescribed steps or dates.

Question 6Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team selects a life cycle for a new initiative with significant regulatory review at defined checkpoints. Which DA life cycle is most appropriate?

  1. A serial or phased life cycle with explicit gates Correct answer.
  2. An exploratory lean life cycle
  3. A fully ad hoc life cycle with no defined stages
  4. A continuous delivery agile life cycle

Explanation

When external regulation requires formal checkpoints, a serial or phased life cycle provides the explicit gates those obligations demand while still allowing agile practices within stages. DA treats life cycle choice as context-driven. Continuous and exploratory cycles assume lighter governance constraints.

Question 7Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement accurately distinguishes a process blade from a process goal in Disciplined Agile?

  1. A process blade and a process goal are interchangeable terms in DA
  2. A process blade is a long-lived area of capability such as architecture or finance, while a process goal is a project-level outcome to address Correct answer.
  3. A process blade applies only to software teams, while a process goal applies only to business teams
  4. A process blade is a temporary milestone, while a process goal is a permanent organizational function

Explanation

Process blades describe enduring areas of organizational capability, such as enterprise architecture, portfolio management, or finance, that provide ongoing services. Process goals are the outcomes a team addresses within an initiative. The two operate at different levels of the organization.

Question 8Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is choosing its way of working (WoW). According to Disciplined Agile, what should primarily drive that choice?

  1. The default settings in the team's tooling
  2. The team's context, including constraints, capabilities, and the nature of the work Correct answer.
  3. The preferences of the most senior stakeholder
  4. The methodology used by the largest competitor

Explanation

DA encourages teams to own their way of working and to tailor it based on their actual context: the problem domain, organizational constraints, team skills, and stakeholder needs. No single external benchmark determines the WoW. This context sensitivity is a defining DA idea.

Question 9Disciplined Agile Foundations

What distinguishes Disciplined Agile from a prescriptive framework such as a single fixed method?

  1. DA mandates one set of ceremonies for all teams
  2. DA requires every team to adopt the same life cycle
  3. DA forbids the use of any traditional project management practices
  4. DA provides a flexible tool kit from which teams tailor practices to their situation Correct answer.

Explanation

DA is deliberately a flexible, tailorable tool kit rather than a prescriptive method with mandated ceremonies. Teams choose practices and life cycles that fit their context. This flexibility is the core differentiator from fixed frameworks.

Question 10Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team addresses the process goal "Explore Scope." Which activity best fits this goal?

  1. Continuously identifying, elaborating, and prioritizing stakeholder needs and acceptance criteria Correct answer.
  2. Assigning blame for scope changes to the requesting stakeholder
  3. Drafting the final acceptance test plan after delivery
  4. Establishing a single frozen requirements baseline at kickoff

Explanation

Exploring scope in DA means iteratively identifying and elaborating what stakeholders need, capturing acceptance criteria, and prioritizing as understanding grows. Scope is treated as something to be explored rather than frozen. This supports frequent delivery of the right thing.

Question 11Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which of the following best characterizes the DA principle "Be awesome"?

  1. Win internal competitions against other teams to secure funding
  2. Deliver the maximum number of features regardless of quality
  3. Avoid process improvement until a project ends
  4. Strive for technical excellence and continuously improve the team's craft and way of working Correct answer.

Explanation

The "Be awesome" principle calls for pursuing technical excellence, continuous improvement, and pride in craft. It encourages teams to keep raising their capability and their WoW over time. It is about excellence, not internal rivalry or raw output volume.

Question 12Disciplined Agile Foundations

In DA, what is the relationship between process goals and the strategies listed under them?

  1. Strategies are alternative ways to achieve a goal, and teams select those suited to their context Correct answer.
  2. Strategies are mandatory steps that must all be performed for each goal
  3. Strategies are only used when a goal cannot be met
  4. Strategies are optional and unrelated to any goal

Explanation

Each process goal presents a menu of strategies, and teams choose the combination that fits their situation, often starting with the most appropriate and adding others as needed. Not every strategy must be used. This menu structure is what makes DA tailorable at the goal level.

Question 13Disciplined Agile Foundations

A newly formed team wants to choose its initial way of working. Which DA guidance applies?

  1. Start with a light, appropriate set of practices and evolve the WoW as the team learns Correct answer.
  2. Wait until the first release to decide how the team will work
  3. Adopt the organization's heaviest process to minimize risk
  4. Let each individual work however they prefer with no shared agreement

Explanation

DA recommends starting with a WoW that fits the team's context, often relatively light, and then evolving it through retrospectives and experimentation. The WoW is expected to change as the team matures. Starting heavy or deferring the decision both undermine this.

Question 14Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which DA life cycle is designed for situations of high uncertainty where the team needs to explore options before committing to a direction?

  1. The continuous delivery agile life cycle
  2. The exploratory lean life cycle Correct answer.
  3. The phased delivery life cycle
  4. The serial life cycle

Explanation

The exploratory lean life cycle is intended for highly uncertain contexts where experimentation and learning precede commitment, such as research or early product discovery. Serial and phased cycles assume more predictable work. Continuous delivery assumes a steady flow of deliverable increments.

Question 15Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is deciding how to address the process goal related to producing a potentially consumable solution. Which practice aligns with DA?

  1. Produce a working, demonstrable increment at frequent intervals Correct answer.
  2. Deliver a single big-bang release at the end of the project
  3. Produce documentation instead of a working solution
  4. Withhold all increments until every requirement is complete

Explanation

This goal emphasizes producing a potentially consumable solution frequently, meaning a working increment that could be released if the organization chose to do so. Frequent demonstrable increments enable feedback and reduce risk. Big-bang delivery and documentation substitutes defeat the goal.

Question 16Disciplined Agile Foundations

How does Disciplined Agile treat the role of governance?

  1. Governance is eliminated because agile teams are self-organizing
  2. Governance applies only to waterfall life cycles
  3. Governance should enable teams by providing appropriate oversight, guardrails, and decision rights rather than heavy control Correct answer.
  4. Governance must approve every team decision before it is made

Explanation

DA frames governance as an enabler: it sets guardrails, clarifies decision rights, and provides oversight proportionate to risk so teams can move quickly. It is not about eliminating oversight or micromanaging every decision. Effective governance balances autonomy with accountability.

Question 17Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team wants to improve its way of working after several iterations. Which DA-aligned approach fits best?

  1. Abandon the current WoW and adopt an entirely new methodology
  2. Wait for the annual process audit to identify changes
  3. Escalate to the sponsor to mandate a new process
  4. Run a retrospective to inspect how the team works and experiment with improvements Correct answer.

Explanation

DA encourages teams to own and continuously evolve their WoW, typically through retrospectives and small experiments. Improvement is incremental and evidence-based. Mandated change or wholesale methodology swaps bypass the team's learning.

Question 18Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best captures the DA principle "Optimize the whole"?

  1. Focus improvement efforts only on the testing phase
  2. Prioritize the busiest team in the organization
  3. Improve the end-to-end value stream rather than optimizing isolated parts Correct answer.
  4. Maximize the output of each individual specialist

Explanation

"Optimize the whole" directs attention to the entire value stream so that local gains do not create downstream bottlenecks. Optimizing one function in isolation often harms overall flow. The principle mirrors systems thinking and lean flow concepts.

Question 19Disciplined Agile Foundations

In DA, what does the term "process pattern" refer to?

  1. A reusable, named approach to addressing a recurring situation or goal, which teams can adapt Correct answer.
  2. A diagramming notation for drawing workflows
  3. A mandatory template that every project must follow exactly
  4. A schedule template for phase gates

Explanation

Process patterns are named, reusable approaches to recurring situations that teams can adapt to their context. They are building blocks within the DA tool kit rather than rigid templates. This supports tailoring while retaining proven guidance.

Question 20Disciplined Agile Foundations

A large program has multiple teams with interdependencies. Which DA concept best addresses coordination across those teams?

  1. Having each team operate in complete isolation
  2. Eliminating all cross-team communication to reduce overhead
  3. Assigning a single person to make all technical decisions for every team
  4. Coordinating through shared process goals and explicit WoW agreements across teams Correct answer.

Explanation

DA addresses scale through coordination mechanisms such as shared process goals, explicit agreements on interfaces and WoW, and appropriate governance across teams. Isolation or centralized decision-making undermines the benefits of team autonomy. Coordination is designed rather than assumed.

Question 21Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which of the following best explains why DA emphasizes choosing a life cycle rather than defaulting to one?

  1. Life cycle choice has no effect on outcomes
  2. Only one life cycle is actually valid, and the others are for training
  3. Regulators require every team to use the same life cycle
  4. Different contexts have different risk profiles, regulatory needs, and uncertainty, so the life cycle should fit the situation Correct answer.

Explanation

DA treats life cycle selection as a contextual decision: uncertainty, regulatory constraints, delivery cadence, and organizational factors all shape which cycle fits. A poor fit creates unnecessary risk or overhead. This is why DA offers several life cycles rather than one default.

Question 22Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is weighing whether to adopt a practice it has not used before. Which DA-aligned reasoning is most sound?

  1. Adopt every available practice at once to maximize coverage
  2. Evaluate whether it fits the team's context and constraints, and pilot it before broad adoption Correct answer.
  3. Reject any practice not invented by the team itself
  4. Adopt it only if it is mandated by the organization's methodology office

Explanation

DA encourages context-sensitive, evidence-based adoption: assess fit, try the practice in a limited way, and keep it if it helps. This reflects the experimental, tailorable nature of the tool kit. Mandates, blanket rejection, and bulk adoption all bypass that judgment.

Question 23Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which DA principle most directly supports the idea that requirements will change and that this is acceptable?

  1. Document requirements once and treat them as immutable
  2. Reduce stakeholder contact to avoid scope creep
  3. Freeze scope early to stabilize the plan
  4. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development, to harness change for the customer's advantage Correct answer.

Explanation

DA embraces changing requirements as a source of competitive advantage when they are harnessed to deliver greater value. This contrasts with change-control mindsets that treat all change as a defect. The principle supports late refinement and adaptation.

Question 24Disciplined Agile Foundations

In DA, what role does the team play in defining its own process goals and strategies?

  1. The team follows goals exactly as written with no adaptation
  2. The team has no role; goals are assigned by the PMO
  3. The team votes on goals but cannot choose strategies
  4. The team selects and tailors strategies to meet the goals, taking ownership of how they work Correct answer.

Explanation

DA gives the team ownership of both the goals it addresses and the strategies it uses to meet them, tailoring both to context. This ownership is central to self-organization and continuous improvement. Goals are not handed down with no latitude.

Question 25Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best describes how DA views the relationship between agile and lean concepts?

  1. DA integrates agile and lean ideas along with others, selecting practices that fit the context Correct answer.
  2. DA rejects lean concepts because they originate in manufacturing
  3. DA treats agile and lean as mutually exclusive and chooses one
  4. DA considers agile concepts obsolete and replaces them with lean

Explanation

DA is deliberately eclectic, drawing from agile, lean, traditional, and other sources and blending practices that suit the situation. It does not force a single lineage. This integration is part of what makes the tool kit broad and adaptable.

Question 26Disciplined Agile Foundations

In Disciplined Agile, what is a process goal?

  1. A fixed sequence of activities that every team must execute in the same order
  2. A desired outcome that a team must address, with several strategies available for achieving it Correct answer.
  3. A tool configuration that automates the team's delivery pipeline
  4. A contractual milestone that the governance body approves before funding continues

Explanation

Process goals describe outcomes the team must address, such as exploring scope or producing a consumable solution, and each goal is met by selecting among many strategies. They are deliberately not prescriptive sequences, so teams retain choice in how the outcome is achieved.

Question 27Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is unsure which of several candidate strategies to adopt for a process goal. What does Disciplined Agile recommend as the primary basis for choosing?

  1. Choose based on the team's context, including its size, skills, and the risks it faces Correct answer.
  2. Defer to the strategy used by the team that delivered the previous release
  3. Select the strategy with the most documentation pages available
  4. Adopt whichever strategy the largest vendor in the organization already licenses

Explanation

DA treats strategy selection as context-dependent: the team weighs its own situation, capabilities, and risks rather than copying another group. Guidance in DA is presented as options with trade-offs so the team can make an informed, fit-for-purpose choice.

Question 28Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best describes the DA principle of delighting customers?

  1. Deliver exactly what was written in the initial requirements baseline
  2. Focus on producing value that customers actually appreciate, not merely on conformance to plan Correct answer.
  3. Prioritize internal process compliance over customer outcomes
  4. Maximize the number of features released per iteration regardless of usefulness

Explanation

Delighting customers means the team concentrates on outcomes the customer values rather than on ticking off scope items. DA treats customer value as the point of the work, so process adherence and feature counts are means, not ends.

Question 29Disciplined Agile Foundations

What does Disciplined Agile mean by a hybrid life cycle?

  1. A life cycle used only when two vendors deliver the same product
  2. A life cycle in which all phases run in parallel with no checkpoints
  3. A life cycle that alternates between agile and waterfall on a fixed calendar
  4. A life cycle that combines elements of more than one base life cycle to fit the situation Correct answer.

Explanation

A hybrid life cycle deliberately blends practices from different base life cycles, such as iterative delivery inside a stage-gate structure, because the situation calls for both. DA presents hybrids as legitimate options rather than as compromises.

Question 30Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team lead asks what the DA concept of guided continuous improvement means in practice. Which answer fits?

  1. Improve only when a retrospective is scheduled by the program office
  2. Use the framework's options and trade-offs to help the team choose and then evolve its way of working Correct answer.
  3. Improve by adopting every new practice as soon as it is published
  4. Wait until the end of the project to make a single large process change

Explanation

DA provides a structured set of options and their trade-offs so teams can make informed improvements rather than guessing. Improvement is continuous and owned by the team, guided by the framework's explicit choices.

Question 31Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which of the following is a base life cycle offered in Disciplined Agile?

  1. Agile Modeling
  2. Waterfall
  3. Lean Correct answer.
  4. ScrumBan

Explanation

DA describes several base life cycles, including an agile one, a continuous delivery one, an iterative one, a lean one, and a traditional one. Lean is one of these base options that a team can select and tailor.

Question 32Disciplined Agile Foundations

What is the primary purpose of a retrospective in a DA team?

  1. To approve the next release scope with the product owner
  2. To reflect on how the team works and identify improvements to its way of working Correct answer.
  3. To report status to the governance body
  4. To estimate story points for the upcoming iteration

Explanation

The retrospective is the team's regular opportunity to examine its process and decide what to change. In DA this feeds the guided continuous improvement of the team's way of working.

Question 33Disciplined Agile Foundations

A program manager wants to know how DA treats the role of a project manager. Which statement is most accurate?

  1. DA eliminates the need for any coordination or leadership role
  2. DA expects leadership responsibilities to be distributed and tailored, with the team owning much of the coordination Correct answer.
  3. DA requires a certified project manager on every team before work can start
  4. DA assigns all coordination duties to the governance body

Explanation

DA does not mandate a single project manager role; instead it describes leadership and coordination responsibilities that can be distributed across the team and tailored to context. The team takes on much of the coordination that traditional models centralize.

Question 34Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is selecting strategies for the process goal of addressing changing requirements. Which action best reflects DA guidance?

  1. Limit changes to a fixed number per quarter regardless of value
  2. Maintain a prioritized backlog and welcome changes that improve customer value Correct answer.
  3. Freeze the requirements baseline at project start and route all changes through a change board
  4. Accept changes only at phase gates defined in the plan

Explanation

DA aligns with welcoming changing requirements, so the team keeps a prioritized backlog and incorporates valuable changes as understanding grows. Rigid baselines or arbitrary change caps conflict with that guidance.

Question 35Disciplined Agile Foundations

How does Disciplined Agile position the relationship between the team and its stakeholders?

  1. Stakeholders delegate all communication to the governance body
  2. Stakeholders participate only at the final acceptance review
  3. Stakeholders are engaged as active participants so the team understands their needs and constraints Correct answer.
  4. Stakeholders should be kept at a distance to protect the team from interruptions

Explanation

DA treats stakeholders as collaborators whose needs and constraints shape the solution, so the team engages them continuously. Isolation or end-point-only contact undermines the feedback that DA relies on.

Question 36Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team in a regulated environment wants to keep its iterative delivery while satisfying a formal review at defined decision points. Which DA life cycle choice fits best?

  1. A pure continuous delivery life cycle with no formal checkpoints
  2. A traditional life cycle with no iterations
  3. An agile life cycle with all governance removed
  4. A hybrid life cycle that combines iterative delivery with stage-gate decision points Correct answer.

Explanation

A hybrid life cycle lets the team retain iterative value delivery while honoring the formal reviews the environment requires at defined points. DA presents hybrids precisely for situations where one base life cycle does not fit all constraints.

Question 37Disciplined Agile Foundations

What distinguishes a process factor in Disciplined Agile from a process goal?

  1. A factor is a mandatory deliverable, while a goal is optional
  2. A factor is a metric, while a goal is a budget item
  3. A factor is a team role, while a goal is a meeting type
  4. A factor is a contextual consideration that shapes which strategies fit, while a goal is an outcome to be achieved Correct answer.

Explanation

Process factors such as team size, geographic distribution, or compliance level describe the context that influences which strategies make sense. Process goals are the outcomes the team must address regardless of context.

Question 38Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is distributed across three time zones and is choosing how to run its daily coordination. Which DA-aligned reasoning is most sound?

  1. Apply the same co-located practice unchanged because consistency matters most
  2. Abandon daily coordination because the team is not co-located
  3. Let the program office dictate a single mandatory meeting time for all teams
  4. Select and tailor coordination practices to the distribution, such as asynchronous updates and overlapping hours Correct answer.

Explanation

DA expects the team to tailor its practices to process factors such as geographic distribution. Choosing asynchronous updates and overlapping windows adapts coordination to the constraint rather than ignoring it.

Question 39Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best captures how DA views the trade-off between discipline and flexibility?

  1. Discipline means rigidly following one method, and flexibility is a threat to it
  2. Discipline comes from deliberate, context-aware choices, which is what enables meaningful flexibility Correct answer.
  3. Flexibility is only permitted during the first iteration
  4. Discipline and flexibility cannot coexist in the same team

Explanation

In DA, discipline means making deliberate and explicit choices about how to work, informed by context and trade-offs. That deliberateness is what allows a team to adapt sensibly instead of drifting.

Question 40Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team wants to scale its way of working to a group of related teams. Which DA concept is intended to guide coordination at that level?

  1. A mandatory centralized PMO that assigns every task
  2. Eliminating all cross-team dependencies by splitting work by component
  3. A single process goal shared by all teams with no further structure
  4. Disciplined DevOps and program-level process goals that address coordination and delivery concerns Correct answer.

Explanation

DA addresses scaling through concepts such as Disciplined DevOps and program-level process goals that make coordination and delivery concerns explicit. These give related teams shared outcomes to address without dictating one method.

Question 41Disciplined Agile Foundations

What is the role of the DA toolkit's explicit trade-off discussion in a team's decision-making?

  1. It replaces the team's judgment with a single recommended answer
  2. It documents decisions for auditors only, without informing the team
  3. It helps the team compare strategies by making their advantages and disadvantages visible Correct answer.
  4. It applies only to tooling decisions, not to process choices

Explanation

DA presents strategies alongside their trade-offs so teams can compare options and decide with eyes open. The framework informs judgment rather than substituting a single mandated answer.

Question 42Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team wants to reduce handoffs and wait times across its delivery flow. Which DA-aligned action addresses this most directly?

  1. Add an approval step before each handoff to increase control
  2. Introduce a weekly status meeting for each handoff
  3. Map the value stream and remove or streamline steps that add delay without adding value Correct answer.
  4. Increase the number of specialists so each step has a dedicated owner

Explanation

DA's lean influence directs teams to examine the value stream and eliminate waste such as unnecessary handoffs and waiting. Adding control steps or meetings tends to add delay rather than remove it.

Question 43Disciplined Agile Foundations

Which statement best describes how DA treats metrics?

  1. Metrics should be identical for every team regardless of context
  2. Metrics should be hidden from the team to prevent gaming
  3. Only financial metrics are meaningful for governance
  4. Metrics should be chosen to inform the team's decisions and improvement, not merely to report upward Correct answer.

Explanation

DA treats measurement as a feedback mechanism for the team's own improvement, chosen to fit context. Reporting-only or one-size-fits-all metrics tend to distort behavior rather than inform decisions.

Question 44Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is deciding whether to adopt a practice that conflicts with an organizational policy. What does DA guidance suggest?

  1. Abandon the practice and never revisit the decision
  2. Escalate immediately to the governance body without discussion
  3. Ignore the policy because the team owns its way of working
  4. Surface the conflict, understand the policy's intent, and negotiate a workable approach with the relevant stakeholders Correct answer.

Explanation

DA expects teams to make context-aware choices within real constraints, which means understanding why a policy exists and negotiating rather than ignoring or blindly obeying it. This keeps the team's ownership intact while respecting organizational realities.

Question 45Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team consistently delivers features but customers report that the features do not solve their problems. Which DA principle most directly calls for a change in the team's focus?

  1. Optimize the whole
  2. Be awesome
  3. Delight customers Correct answer.
  4. Create psychological safety

Explanation

Delighting customers directs attention to whether the work actually produces value the customer appreciates, not merely to output volume. The team's pattern of shipping unused features signals a focus on output over customer outcomes.

Question 46Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team is choosing between two strategies for the same process goal and cannot decide. What does DA suggest the team do?

  1. Pick the strategy with the lowest initial cost and never revisit it
  2. Ask the governance body to choose on the team's behalf
  3. Consider its context and the trade-offs of each strategy, choose, and then inspect and adapt the choice Correct answer.
  4. Run both strategies indefinitely for all work

Explanation

DA frames strategy choice as weighing trade-offs against the team's context, then validating the choice through inspection and adaptation. The decision is treated as revisitable rather than permanent.

Question 47Disciplined Agile Foundations

How does DA reconcile the need for organizational consistency with team-level autonomy?

  1. By setting shared outcomes and guardrails while letting teams tailor how they meet them Correct answer.
  2. By giving teams complete autonomy with no organizational constraints
  3. By mandating identical practices across all teams to guarantee consistency
  4. By rotating practices randomly among teams to spread knowledge

Explanation

DA resolves the tension by aligning teams on shared goals and guardrails while leaving the specific practices to each team's context-driven judgment. This preserves both consistency of intent and flexibility of method.

Question 48Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team claims it is following DA because it uses Scrum ceremonies. How should this claim be evaluated?

  1. It is valid only if the team also uses Kanban boards
  2. It is valid, because Scrum ceremonies are the defining feature of DA
  3. It is invalid unless the team has adopted every strategy in the toolkit
  4. It is weak, because DA is defined by disciplined, context-aware choice among options rather than by adopting a fixed ceremony set Correct answer.

Explanation

DA is characterized by explicit, context-driven selection from a broad set of options, not by adherence to one ceremony set. Using Scrum practices may be a valid choice, but it is not what makes a team disciplined in the DA sense.

Question 49Disciplined Agile Foundations

An organization wants to standardize on one life cycle for all teams to simplify reporting. What is the most DA-aligned response?

  1. Eliminate reporting entirely to remove the tension
  2. Let each team choose randomly to preserve autonomy
  3. Standardize on one life cycle because uniform reporting outweighs fit
  4. Recognize that different contexts call for different life cycles and align reporting on shared outcomes instead Correct answer.

Explanation

DA holds that life cycle choice should fit the situation, so forcing one model sacrifices fit for administrative convenience. The tension is better resolved by aligning on shared outcomes and metrics that work across different life cycles.

Question 50Disciplined Agile Foundations

A team's improvement efforts keep stalling because each specialist optimizes their own step. Which DA principle best explains the problem?

  1. Be awesome
  2. Delight customers
  3. Optimize the whole Correct answer.
  4. Create psychological safety

Explanation

Local optimization of individual steps often degrades overall flow, which is exactly what optimizing the whole warns against. The team needs to look at the end-to-end system rather than at each specialist's efficiency.