Scaled Agile SAFE-DEVOPS Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

Scaled Agile SAFE-DEVOPS Online Questions & Answers

• Question 21:

  What is the primary purpose of creating an automated test suite?

  Choose the correct option from below list

  A. To enable continuous testing
  B. To eliminate all manual testing
  C. To increase unit test coverage during an Iteration
  D. To increase the return on investment for finding defects
  A. To enable continuous testing

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  Explanation

  The primary purpose of creating an automated test suite is to enable continuous testing in SAFe DevOps. Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate. Continuous testing supports the other aspects of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) by providing fast and frequent feedback on the quality and compliance of the solution. Continuous testing also reduces the cost and effort of manual testing and increases the confidence and reliability of the solution. Continuous testing requires a test automation strategy that covers all types of tests, such as unit, integration, functional, performance, security, and user acceptance tests

• Question 22:

  What is the primary benefit of value stream mapping?

  A. It fosters collaboration among development and operations managers
  B. It creates the hypothesis of which Solution to build
  C. It identifies how to build Agile Release Trains
  D. It provides insight into organizational efficiency and value flow
  D. It provides insight into organizational efficiency and value flow

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  Explanation

  The primary benefit of value stream mapping is that it provides insight into organizational efficiency and value flow. Value stream mapping is a lean technique to analyze, design, and manage the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a customer. It uses a system of standard symbols to depict various work streams and information flows, and to identify value-adding and non-value-adding activities. Value stream mapping helps the organization to gain insight into the current state of the delivery process, such as the lead time, cycle time, throughput, quality, and waste. This insight can help the organization identify bottlenecks, dependencies, handoffs, delays, and inefficiencies that affect the flow of value. Value stream mapping also helps the organization understand how the flow of value can be improved by applying the principles and practices of DevOps, such as culture, automation, lean flow, measurement, and recovery. By improving the flow of value, the organization can increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance business agility

• Question 23:

  When preparing a DevOps backlog, prioritizing features using WSJF includes which two factors? (Choose two.)

  Choose the correct option from below list

  A. Cost of delay
  B. Business value
  C. Total count of items on the Program Backlog
  D. Team velocity
  E. Duration/job size
  A. Cost of delay
  E. Duration/job size

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  Explanation

  When preparing a DevOps backlog, prioritizing features using WSJF includes two factors: cost of delay and duration/job size. WSJF stands for Weighted Shortest Job First, which is a prioritization model used to sequence work for maximum economic benefit. WSJF is estimated as the relative cost of delay divided by the relative job duration. Cost of delay is the money lost by delaying or not doing a job for a specific time. It is a measure of the economic value of a job over time. Job duration is the time it takes to complete a job. Jobs that can deliver the most value in the shortest duration provide the best economic return. WSJF also considers other factors that contribute to the cost of delay, such as user and business value, time criticality, and risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement

• Question 24:

  Which skill can significantly accelerate mean-time-to-restore by enabling support teams to see issues the way actual end users did?

  A. Blue/green deployment
  B. Incident management
  C. Page analytics
  D. Session replay
  D. Session replay

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  Explanation

  One skill that can significantly accelerate mean-time-to-restore by enabling support teams to see issues the way actual end users did is session replay. Session replay is a technique that allows the support team to replay end-user sessions to research incidents and identify problems. Session replay captures the user's interactions with the application, such as clicks, scrolls, keystrokes, and mouse movements, and reproduces them in a video-like format. Session replay can help the support team to understand the user's behavior, context, and feedback, as well as to reproduce and diagnose errors, bugs, and performance issues. Session replay can also help the support team to communicate and collaborate with the development team and the stakeholders, by providing visual evidence and data of the incidents. Session replay can significantly accelerate mean-time-to-restore by reducing the time and effort required to investigate and resolve issues, as well as by improving the quality and reliability of the application

• Question 25:

  What is the lead time for a particular step in a value stream? Choose the correct option from below list

  A. Time from when the work is ready from the previous
  B. step to work completion
  C. Waiting time at a particular step
  D. Process time at a particular step
  E. Time taken to complete a task at a particular step
  B. step to work completion

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  Explanation

  The lead time for a particular step in a value stream is the time from when the work is ready from the previous step to work completion. It includes both the process time and the wait time at that step. Lead time is an important metric to measure the efficiency and flow of a value stream, as it indicates how long it takes for a unit of work to move through a step. Reducing lead time can help eliminate waste, improve throughput, and increase customer satisfaction1

• Question 26:

  What marks the beginning of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline?

  A. A checked-in change
  B. A committed Feature
  C. An idea
  D. A committed user story
  C. An idea

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  Explanation

  According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) represents the workflows, activities, and automation needed to guide new functionality from ideation to an on-demand release of value. The CDP consists of four aspects: Continuous Exploration (CE), Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment (CD), and Release on Demand. The CDP enables organizations to deliver new functionality to users far more frequently than traditional processes. The first step in the CDP is Continuous Exploration, which 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. It starts with a hypothesis of something that will provide value to customers. Therefore, an idea marks the beginning of the CDP in CE.

• Question 27:

  Which statement describes the Lean startup lifecycle?

  A. Define the minimum viable product (MVP), build the MVP, implement Epic Features until all Features are delivered
  B. Define the hypothesis, build a minimum viable product (MVP), continuously evaluate the MVP while implementing additional Features until WSJF determines work can stop
  C. Define a Lean business case, build a minimum viable product, implement the Epic Features until all Features are delivered
  D. Create a hypothesis statement, assign an Epic owner, deliver Features created from the Lean business case, deploy
  B. Define the hypothesis, build a minimum viable product (MVP), continuously evaluate the MVP while implementing additional Features until WSJF determines work can stop

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  Explanation

  The statement that describes the Lean startup lifecycle is: Define the hypothesis, build a minimum viable product (MVP), continuously evaluate the MVP while implementing additional Features until WSJF determines work can stop. The Lean startup lifecycle is a highly iterative build-measure-learn cycle that has proven to be effective in optimizing the economic value of strategic investments. It consists of three learning milestones: MVP, tune the engine, and pivot or persevere. The MVP is the smallest possible experiment that allows the enterprise to test the assumptions and hypotheses of an epic or a large initiative. The tune the engine phase involves quickly adjusting and moving towards the goal based on the data and feedback gathered from the MVP. The pivot or persevere phase involves deciding whether to deliver additional value or move on to something more valuable based on the validated learning. The Lean startup lifecycle is supported by the SAFe Lean Startup Cycle, which provides guidance and tools for applying the Lean startup principles in the context of SAFe. The SAFe Lean Startup Cycle includes the following steps: Define the hypothesis ?This step involves creating an epic hypothesis statement that defines the initiative, its expected benefits, and its leading indicators. Build the MVP ?This step involves defining, building, and deploying the MVP that tests the hypothesis and delivers the minimum amount of value to the customer. Evaluate the MVP ?This step involves measuring and analyzing the results of the MVP against the leading indicators and the hypothesis. Implement additional Features ?This step involves developing and delivering additional features or capabilities that enhance the value proposition of the initiative, based on the learning from the MVP. WSJF determines work can stop ?This step involves using the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) prioritization method to determine whether the initiative has delivered enough value to the customer and the enterprise, or whether it needs more investment or termination3

• Question 28:

  What should be measured in a CALMR approach to DevOps?

  A. Deployment frequency
  B. Mean time to restore
  C. Everything
  D. Flow, quality, and value
  D. Flow, quality, and value

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  Explanation

  The correct answer is

  D. Flow, quality, and value should be measured in a CALMR approach to DevOps. The CALMR approach to DevOps is a mindset that guides the ARTs toward achieving continuous value delivery by enhancing culture, automation, lean flow, measurement, and recovery. Measurement is one of the key elements of the CALMR approach, as it provides data and feedback to monitor and improve the performance and outcomes of the solution delivery process. Measurement involves collecting and analyzing metrics that reflect the flow, quality, and value of the solution, such as: Flow metrics ?Flow metrics measure the efficiency and reliability of the delivery process, such as lead time, cycle time, throughput, work in progress, and flow efficiency. Flow metrics help to identify and eliminate waste and bottlenecks in the value stream, and to optimize the flow of value to the customer. Quality metrics ?Quality metrics measure the functionality and stability of the solution, such as defect rate, defect density, defect leakage, mean time to detect, mean time to resolve, and test coverage. Quality metrics help to ensure that the solution meets the functional and nonfunctional requirements and standards, and to detect and resolve any issues or defects as early as possible. Value metrics ?Value metrics measure the outcomes and benefits of the solution, such as customer satisfaction, retention, engagement, revenue, and net promoter score. Value metrics help to evaluate the validity of the hypotheses and assumptions about the customer value proposition, and to guide the decision making and prioritization of the features12

• Question 29:

  What is the purpose of the blue/green deployment pattern?

  A. To decouple deployment from release - xx
  B. To ensure no changes happen in production without going through the Continuous Delivery Pipeline
  C. To deploy to only some data centers to reduce the deployment risk
  D. To deploy between an inactive and active environment
  D. To deploy between an inactive and active environment

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  Explanation

  The purpose of the blue/green deployment pattern is to deploy between an inactive and active environment. The blue/green deployment pattern is a change management strategy for software releases that reduces the downtime and risk of deploying new versions of software. The blue/green deployment pattern involves having two identical but separate environments: one is the active environment (blue) that serves the user traffic, and the other is the inactive environment (green) that hosts the new version of the software. The deployment process consists of switching the user traffic from the blue environment to the green environment, after verifying that the new version is working properly. The blue environment can then be kept as a backup or updated to become the next green environment. The blue/green deployment pattern has several benefits, such as: It allows for fast and reliable rollback, in case of any issues or errors in the new version, by simply switching back to the blue environment. It eliminates the need for complex and error-prone migration scripts, as the green environment can be prepared and tested in advance, without affecting the blue environment. It enables testing and experimentation of the new version with a subset of users, by directing some user traffic to the green environment, before switching completely. It facilitates continuous delivery and deployment, by automating the switching process and reducing the transaction cost and risk of moving changes to production

• Question 30:

  Which two areas should be monitored in the Release on Demand aspect to support DevOps and Continuous Delivery? (Choose two.)

  A. Full-stack system behavior
  B. Build status
  C. Agile Release Train velocity
  D. Deployment cycle time
  E. Business Metrics
  B. Build status
  D. Deployment cycle time

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  Explanation

  Two areas that should be monitored in the Release on Demand aspect to support DevOps and Continuous Delivery are the build status and the deployment cycle time. The build status is the measure of whether the code and components can be successfully compiled, linked, packaged, and verified into deployable binaries. The build status indicates the quality and consistency of the code and the readiness for deployment. Monitoring the build status helps to support the Release on Demand aspect in SAFe by providing valuable information for the following purposes: To identify and fix any errors or defects that may prevent the code from being deployed or released To ensure that the code meets the quality standards and security checks, such as static code analysis, code coverage, and code review To verify that the code and components are integrated and merged correctly into the trunk To track the progress and status of the features and capabilities that are being developed and delivered The deployment cycle time is the measure of how long it takes to deploy the code and components from the source control system to the production environment. The deployment cycle time indicates the efficiency and reliability of the deployment process and the speed of delivery. Monitoring the deployment cycle time helps to support the Release on Demand aspect in SAFe by providing valuable information for the following purposes: To optimize the deployment process and reduce the lead time and variability To automate the deployment process and eliminate manual steps and errors To align the deployment process with the market demand and release strategy To evaluate the impact and value of the deployed features and capabilities 7