Agile Principles-Values-Challenges: This is in Question and Answer form so that we can understand Agile Principles-Values-Challenges in detail.
Please read Agile Coach Interview Questions and Answer & Agile Interview Questions and Answer for Agile interview questions related to Agile Fundamentals. Scrum Interview Questions and Answer for interview questions related to Scrum Fundamentals.
Agile Principles
1. The best requirements, designs and architectures emerge from self-organizing teams. What is the emphasis and idea here?
Answer: Emphasis is if you have the right people on the team and the team is empowered to collectively use all the skills on the team – in a collaborative manner, it will generally deliver a better result – than a single individual could deliver acting alone. Idea is high performance, cross functional teams that work collaboratively can produce superior results.
2. Welcome changing requirements. What is considered important when it comes to handling changes?
Answer: Project Team and the Customers should have a mutual understanding upfront on how to manage change.
3. Simplicity – that art of maximizing the amount of work NOT done – is essential. What is a Minimum Viable Product?
Answer: The minimum set of functional features a product has to have to be viable at all in the marketplace.
4. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. What is a factual and objective way to measure progress?
Answer: Breaking up the effort into well-defined pieces that each have a clearly defined criteria for being considered “Done”.
5. Build projects around motivated people”. How should you as an Agile Coach direct the team members in a team?
Answer: Provide direction. Expected to figure out how to get work done most effectively and efficiently.
6. Continuous attention to good design and technical excellence enhances agility. How should the work be done?
Answer: The work should be done to a sufficient level of completeness and quality to fulfill the purpose.
7. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. “. What is the most important factor for making the project successful?
Answer: Design an approach that to engage the right people at the right time for the success of the project.
8. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. What opportunity does this value provide?
Answer: This value provides an opportunity for the customer to see the software early in the development cycle.
9. Continuous attention to good design and technical excellence enhances agility. How can you avoid unnecessary rework later?
Answer: The need for doing things the right way to avoid unnecessary re-work.
10. Build projects around motivated people Philosophy of Agile is based on?
Answer: High level of empowerment and individual initiative by the people on the project. Provide direction. Expected to figure out how to get work done most effectively and efficiently themselves.
Agile Values
1. Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools. This Agile principles is a response to what?
Answer: This Agile principles is in response to Command and Control Project Management Practice commonly used in waterfall. It is a Softer Leadership approach & empowering people making intelligent decisions and the power of collaborative teamwork. It is a Flexible and Adaptive process. Tools can play a supporting role, when projects are scaled to enterprise levels.
2. Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation. This value is a response for what?
Answer: This value is in response to a typical phase-gate project management processes that calls for extensive documentation deliverable at the end of each phase. Documentation can inhibit normal communication.
3. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation. Why is a Contract required?
Answer: Project Mangers have been measured on controlling costs and schedules. Doing so requires some form of a contract.
4. Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation. Agile recognizes that in an uncertain environment what type of approach is considered effective?
Answer: A more collaborative approach is considered effective. A sprint of trust and partnership between the project team and the end-customer is required in Agile.
5. Responding to change over following a plan is response to what?
Answer: It is in response to controlling costs and schedule. Some level of requirements are going to change and evolve as the project progresses. Approach needs to be designed around that kind of change so that final goal can be achieved.
6. What is the basic problem with comprehensive documentation?
Answer: Two people can read the same page but come up with two different interpretations.
7. What is considered as “Contract” in contract negotiation? When is contract negotiation necessary?
Answer: This is an attitude that people take towards their users, customers or people on other teams. Contract Mindset – people feel like they have to come to a strict agreement on what the team will build or do before any work can start. Contract negotiation is necessary when customers are unwilling to collaborate.
Agile Coaching – Challenges
1. How do you help the team members achieve the goals?
Answer: Detach yourself from the process level and stay away from the details of each team member’s plan and decision.
2. How do you enhance team’s problem solving capability.
Answer: Stop and raise the observations to the team.
3. How do you let the team see through your observations?
Answer: Ask the question: “Hmm…What do you think that means” and then listen.
4. How should you praise/encourage the team?
Answer: Tell the team – about how much better they are doing as a team. DO NOT PRAISE on the good work they have done.
5. How do you support yourself?
Answer: Extend compassion. Forgive yourself; get back to practicing. Balance individual needs to Team needs. Make a difference in people’s lives. Team to do something great.
6. Agile Concepts and Meetings – Team Motivation
Answer: including support, team participation, ground rules and team performance visibility.
7. Soft Skills Negotiation – Emotional Intelligence
Answer: people with high E.I. can relate to people, deal with people issues effectively and gain support from other. According to Higgs & Dulewicz, emotional intelligence includes
- seven components
- Self-awareness
- Emotional resilience
- Motivation
- Interpersonal sensitivity
- Influence
- Intuitiveness
- Conscientiousness
8. Soft Skills Negotiation – Collaboration
Answer: everything about Agile should encourage collaboration, including communication, co-location, self-organization, decision making, etc., collaboration is integral to Agile projects.
9. Soft Skills Negotiation – Negotiation
Answer: an important activity for Agile which yields productive results; plan, schedule, features, changes, etc. are negotiable
10. Soft Skills Negotiation – Active Listening
Answer: includes: listening, understanding, retaining and actively responding, can reduce conflicts within the team.
11. Soft Skills Negotiation – Conflict Resolution
Answer: conflict should be resolved by searching for a “win-win” solution through active listening and communication
12. Soft Skills Negotiation – Servant Leadership
Answer: Leaders for Agile projects should practice servant leadership, they are not in the command and control position but rather be a servant to enable the team to perform well and model the right behavior
13. Soft Skills Negotiation – Adaptive Leadership
Answer: the leader adapts to the environment to lead effectively, i.e. to focus on value-adding activities and discard wastes Highsmith defines adaptive leadership as “being Agile” and “doing Agile”
- * Being Agile: focusing on cornerstones of agile project management, like incremental delivery, continuous integration, and adapting to changing requirements
- * Doing Agile: do less; speed-to-value, quality, and engage and inspire