Agile Practitioner

"Agile Development" is an umbrella term for several iterative and incremental software development methodologies. The most popular agile methodologies include Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Lean Development, and Feature-Driven Development (FDD). Each member of the agile team is responsible to play a vital role in the organization. That's why it is important to prepare for the most asked question in the Agile Interviews.

Q.1 How would you define Agile Testing?
The first agile interview question examines your understanding of the fundamentals of agile testing. Agile testing is a practice based on agile software development concepts. It refers to all members of an agile team who have specific skills and knowledge in order to ensure the timely delivery of a product with frequent releases of new features.
Q.2 What are the advantages of Agile Methodology?
  • Customer satisfaction is ensured via timely and consistent software delivery.
  • The process involves all stakeholders (clients, developers, and testers) and leads to technical perfection and good design.
  • It allows for close collaboration between developers and business executives.
  • Its adaptability ensures that it can adjust to changing conditions.
  • Changes made at the last minute or at a later stage of development can be easily implemented.
Q.3 What distinguishes Agile Methodology from the Traditional Waterfall Process?
The most prevalent agile interview question is this one. The testing activity is done concurrently with the development activity in agile methodology since software features are provided often. Because only minor features must be tasted at once, the testing time is reduced.
Q.4 What are the disadvantages of Agile Methodology?
When software deliverables are vast, determining the effort level necessary at the start of the software development lifecycle can be difficult. Documentation and design take a back place in agile methodologies. Seniority and experience are required for critical decision-making in the development process. As a result, fresher's have a difficult time finding a position in the agile software development process.
Q.5 What types of projects are good candidates for the Agile Methodology?
Traditional development methodologies are best suited for projects with established, clearly stated needs, whereas agile development methodologies are best suited for projects with dynamic requirements that demand frequent product modifications.
Q.6 What are the many Agile Methodologies available?

Agile development methodologies come with the following options -

  • Scrum is a well-known and commonly utilized agile methodology.
  • Crystal Methodology
  • DSDM(Dynamic Software Development Method)
  • Feature-driven development(FDD)
  • Lean software development
  • Extreme Programming 
Q.7 What's the difference between scrum and extreme programming?
  • Scrum teams often work in sprints that run between two and four weeks, whereas XP teams work in iterations that the last one to two weeks.
  • XP teams are more adaptable since they can change iterations, but Scrum teams do not allow iteration changes.
  • In the scrum approach, the product owner prioritizes the product backlog, but the team determines the order in which the backlog items are developed. Customers priorities feature created, but the XP team works in precise priority order.
Q.8 Can you elaborate on the lean methodology?
The notion of "just in time production" is followed by the lean software development process. Its goal is to speed up software development while lowering costs. Lean is based on the principle of reducing non-value-added activities (often known as "wastes") in order to increase customer value. The agile process is a lean software development lifecycle method in and of itself. Backlog grooming (when the team reviews items on the backlog to ensure that the appropriate items are in the backlog, that they are prioritized well, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery) and code refactoring (the process of restructuring existing computer code – changing the factoring – without changing its external behavior) however, fit agile methodology better.
Q.9 How would you define Kanban methodology?
Kanban is a tool that assists a team in keeping a close watch on the work and measuring its progress. Aside from progress, a ‘Kanban board' can be used to describe the current state of a development storey. The Kanban board allows you to write the entire project situation in one spot, giving you a clear image of the bottleneck, completed tasks, and workflow progress. It enables the team to deliver the product on a consistent basis without being overburdened.
Q.10 Is it possible to distinguish between incremental and iterative development?
Yes, the iterative methodology is an uninterrupted software development process. This strategy involves repeating sprint and release software development cycles until the final product is obtained. The incremental model, on the other hand, is a software development method in which a product is developed, implemented, and tested incrementally until it is complete. It entails both development and upkeep.
Q.11 Could you please describe pair programming and its advantages?
It is a general guide to agile interview questions and answers. Pair programming is a collaborative activity in which one programmer develops the code and the other reviews it. Pair programming has various advantages; it not only improves code quality but also allows information sharing. Because two individuals are working on a code at the same time, the chances of making a mistake are reduced.
Q.12 In agile methodology, what are burn down and burn-up charts?
These graphs are used to track the progress of an ongoing project. Burn-up charts illustrate the amount of work that has been accomplished, whereas a burn-down chart displays the amount of work that is still to be done on a project.
Q.13 What is the definition of sprint velocity and how is it measured?
Velocity is a planning tool that is used to estimate the speed of work and project completion time. The team's velocity is calculated by looking back at the work they've done well in previous sprints; for example, if the team accomplished 5 stories in a two-week sprint, each worth 3 storey points, the team's velocity is 15 storey points per sprint.
Q.14 Do you understand what the scrum of scrums is?
When numerous teams are involved in a project, the term "Scrum of Scrums" is used. It relates to the daily Scrum meeting's scalability. Each team is in charge of running and leading its own scrum meeting in this scenario. However, in order to maintain coordination and communication among all of the different teams, a separate meeting with all of the teams must be held. The "Scrum of Scrums" is what it's called.
Q.15 Can you identify some of the obligations that a scrum team must fulfill?

One of the most crucial agile interview questions is this one. The following are some of the major duties of a scrum team:

  • Breaking down requirements, establishing tasks, estimating, and distributing the tasks that have been generated.
  • They are in charge of producing sprint backlogs, to put it simply.
  • They must schedule daily sprint meetings.
  • It is the team's job to ensure that all functional features are delivered on schedule.
  • They must build a sprint burndown diagram to determine the exact amount of work that must be completed and the amount of work that must be completed.
Q.16 What is the ideal Scrum Sprint duration?
The size of the project and the team working on it determine the length of a Scrum Sprint or Scrum Cycle. A Scrum team can include 3-9 members, and writing and completing a Scrum script takes roughly 3-4 weeks. According to this figure, a Scrum Sprint lasts four weeks on average.
Q.17 What are Scrum Impediments? Explanation Using Examples

Impediments are the challenges or roadblocks that a scrum team must overcome. Furthermore, they slow down the pace of labor. An obstacle is something that comes in your way and prevents you from accomplishing your work. And you could run into a roadblock in any shape or form. Here are a few of the most prevalent roadblocks:

  • Resources are missing or a team member is unavailable.
  • Issues relating to operations, organization, and technology
  • Conflicts in the workplace
  • Inadequate knowledge or abilities
  • Weather and a lack of a support system are external issues.
Q.18 What exactly is the Agile Manifesto? What are its Fundamental Principles?
This theory should be followed by the majority of hopefuls for agile roles. As clearly as possible, explain the 12 principles and four manifesto values. Explain the principles and goals of values – even if you can't be 100% correct. Showcase functioning software on a regular basis. Collaboration with customers Change is welcome at any time. Interaction that is self-motivating and self-organizing should be made.
Q.19 As an Agile Manager, how will you handle Risk Analyst in a project?
When embarking on a project, as with any other form of management, there will always be risks. It is your obligation as the agile project manager to ensure that all risks are considered and that all necessary actions are taken to reduce the risk. In an agile project, creating a risk burn down graphic that identifies the risk, the probability of it occurring, and the extent of the loss that would result from it is a good idea. When conducting a risk assessment, make sure to consult with all members of your team, as they may have a greater awareness of the dangers in their subject area.
Q.20 What are the principles of Agile Testing?

Some of the major principles of agile testing are:

  • Changes are welcome by customer
  • Customer satisfaction
  • Bug-free clean code
  • Instead of lengthy documentation, focus on essence
  • It focuses on face to face conversation
  • Whole team business people and developers work collectively
  • It promotes sustainable development
Q.21 What disadvantages does an Agile Model have?

Some of the disadvantages of an agile model are -


a) Unpredictable: When you encounter a large project, it is not easy to get an idea how much effort will it need
b) If the guidelines given by the customers is not properly grasped, then final outcome of the project is not customer satisfying
c) Sometimes proper focus is on design and documentation
d) High-level decisions are under the hand of Veterans, freshers have little scope to grasp proper knowledge, if not combined with non-experienced one.

Q.22 When is an Agile Model used?
There are some development and methodologies where you can use agile like: feature-driven development, crystal methodologies, lean software development, dynamic development.
Q.23 What is Release candidate?
The release candidate is a code /version /build released to make sure that during the last development period, no critical problem is left behind. It is used for testing and is parallel to the final build.
Q.24 What differences agile testing(development) methodology holds from the other testing(development) methodologies?
In Agile methodology, the code is broken into small parts and only that particular code is worked or tested, at a time. Constant communication on the particular code part is done by a team so that the particular code is only on the focal point. Thus this makes the agile process more flexible and focused.
Q.25 Can Agile Methodology be applied in other than software testing and development projects?
There are various places where agile methodology can be applied in the field of bio-medical, biochemistry, biophysics, or at the place where there is insufficient data, where the project needs to be completed in a precise team, where to work in unknown and there are several areas.
Q.26 How would you know if you are using an agile development?
Whenever you are using certain things like Test-driven development, time-boxed task board, class responsibilities collaborators, daily stand up meeting, pair programming, continuous integration, reviews and much more. This way you'll get to know that you are using agile development.
Q.27 What is a story point in the scrum?
It can be said to be as a unit, which estimates the total efforts which are required to complete or perform a particular task or implementing a backlog.
Q.28 Name three other Agile frameworks?
  • Test Driven Development
  • Feature Driven Development
  • Kanban
Q.29 On behalf of the scrum team should scrum master remove impediments?
Yes, a scrum master can do that, but ideally he should not. Scrum master should maintain a balance, therefore s/he should neither over-rule nor pamper his/her team. While, initially, dead-end, there may be chances of failure or unplanned excursions where the team can trap, here scrum master should support them and show the proper way of getting out of it. Scrum team should be independent enough to take its own decision.
Q.30 How does agile testing, i.e. development methodology differ from another testing (development) methodologies?
In agile testing methodology, the entire testing process is broken into compact pieces of codes and in each step, these codes are tested. There are several process or plans involved in this methodology like communication with the team, short strategically changes to get the optimal result etc.
Q.31 Which are the top agile matrices?
  • Velocity Work category allocation
  • Defect removal awareness
  • Cumulative flow diagram
  • Sprint burn down Matric
  • A business value delivered
  • Defect resolution time
  • A series of process is involved in fixing bug:
  • Clearing the picture of bug
  • Schedule fix
  • Fixation of Defect is done
  • Report of resolution is handed
  • Time coverage
Q.32 What are the values that Agile manifesto follows?

The agile manifesto is based on four foundational values as follows:

  • Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
  • Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation
  • Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation
  • Responding to Change Over Following a Plan
Q.33 Differentiate between burn-up and burn-down chart?

Burn-up and burn-down charts are primarily used to keep track of the progress of the project. In which case-

  • Burn-up charts: It represent how much work has been completed in any project.
  • Burn-down chart: It represents the remaining work in a project.
Q.34 What are the roles in Scrum?
Primarily there are three roles that a Scrum team has -

1. Project Owner – He has the responsibility of managing the product backlog. Works with end users and customers and provide proper requirement to the team to build the proper product.
2. Scrum Master – He works with scrum team to make sure each sprint gets complete on time. Scrum master ensure proper work flow to the team.
3. Scrum Team – Each member in the team should be self-organized, dedicated and responsible for high quality of the work.
Q.35 Define Product backlog and Sprint Backlog.
Product backlog is maintained by the project owner that contains every feature and requirement of the product.
On the hand, Sprint backlog can be treated as subset of product backlog that contains features and requirements that are related to that particular sprint only.
Q.36 What is Velocity in Agile?
Velocity can be defined as a metric that is calculated by addition of all efforts estimates associated with user stories completed in a iteration. Velocity predicts how much work Agile can complete in a sprint and the time required to complete a project.
Q.37 What do you understand by increment?
Whenever the sprint is finished by the team it is generally meant that all the tasks that has been planned and completed. Here the term increment refers to the sum of all the backlog product items that were completed in a sprint. Such that the new increment value will have the value of the last sprint value.
Q.38 What according to you is the right moment to use agile model?
Indeed there are some defined methodologies and developments that uses agile like lean software development feature drove development, dynamic development and crystal methodologies.
Q.39 How will you identify that you are using agile development?
We will get to know that we are using agile development when we are using time-boxed task board, test driven development, daily stand up meetings, pair programming and much more.
Q.40 What do you understand by story point in the scrum?
We define story point in the scrum as the unit used to estimate the total effort that is required to finish or perform a particular work or implementing a backlog.
Q.41 What do you understand by Zero sprint in Agile?
Zero sprint in Agile can be defined as pre-step to the first sprint. It involves things like setting up the development environment, preparing backlog and more that is required to be done before starting of the first sprint and that can be treated as Sprint zero.
Q.42 What do you understand by the term sprint planning meeting?
Sprint Planning Meeting is defined as the meeting that is joined by all the entities like product owner, scrum master and the whole scrum team. Sprint Planning Meeting is done to discuss the key feature of the team and also the items of the product backlog.
Q.43 What do you understand by the term 'Kanban'?
Kanban is primarily a tool used in helping the team to overlook the work that includes its progress. Together with the progress, the status of the current development story is described by Kanban which is done by Kanban board.
Q.44 What is the difference between Agile and Scrum?
It is very important to understand the difference between Agile and Scrum for an Agile interview.

We can define Agile as a broad spectrum, with the framework of approaches that encourage “just-in-time” production. Agile is used in project management whereas Scrum is only a form of the Agile that describes the process more concisely. Also, Agile is a practice whereas scrum is a procedure to carry on this practice. This implicates Agile is the broader umbrella where Scrum falls under it.
Q.45 How will you plan for an Agile project?
In this interview question the interviewer seeks to know how you set estimates about the cost of something and about the deliverables. As an Agile Project Manager it is important whether you will be able to manage the ROI of the products being built by the team. You are required to maintain the scope, schedule, and budget in the Agile platform.
Q.46 Define the three main agile frameworks.
There are primarily three agile frameworks available -
1. Kanban
2. Test-driven development
3. Feature driven development
Q.47 As an agile project manager how will you participate in team development?
Along with managing the project, team development is considered very important for a good project management. It is suggested to have a good knowledge of how you reach up to the expectations of the teams, so it is suggested to express people management skills, and thereby showcase your leadership skills.
Q.48 As an agile project manager how will you manage your project tasks on track?
As a project manager you have so much in hand you have a lot of things to manage at a time. It is required to have good time management skills to differentiate how you can successfully keep the project on track. It is suggested to give relevant examples of how you previously shared the workload and the steps you would take to get the project back on time line.
Q.49 How will you explain agile?
Agile is considered as a flexible methodology and open to interpretation. Agile is defined as a project management framework which depends on iterative development to produce quality end products. In general terms agile is a defined approach which focuses on producing working software, collaborating openly, and optimizing processes.
Q.50 Share your experience as an agile project manager?
It is very important that you must touch upon the overall years of experience, education, and the tools used in the past. It is also suggested that the agile project managers must disclose the type of products you have worked on together with any specialized or niche industry. As an agile project manager you must share your experience and familiarity with certain tools such as Trello, Jira, or Kanbanize.
Q.51 What does a sprint helps to accomplish?
Sprint is defines as a time frame allotted to accomplish a goal which is usually a month or less. Such that the most popular sprint length is approximately two weeks. Some of the steps involved are -
1. When we begin a sprint, the product owner sets a goal.
2. The goal is then broken up into tasks and assigned to the agile team.
3. Thereafter, the team finishes each task and accomplishes the goal within the time limit.
4. By the end of the sprint, the team holds a mini-retrospective about their processes and performance before moving on to the next sprint.

Primarily Sprints help deal with the complexity of important projects. So by setting goals for every two weeks are so, the team holds a clear objectives to follow, keeping everyone on track and motivated.
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