Agile Software Development

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Agile Software Development Interview Questions

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1. Explain Agile in brief.

Ans: Agile is a software framework of behaviors and approaches encouraging in-time production, which enables customers to receive quality software sooner.

Discuss the differences between Agile and traditional Project Management (Waterfall)?

Agile involves iterative project implementation approaches, whereas traditional methods include various project life cycle phases.

What are the major Agile components?

The major Agile components include:

·       Test-driven development, continuous deployment, pair programming, etc.

·       Class responsibilities and collaborators cards

·       Daily stand-up meetings

2. What is the difference between Agile and Scrum?

Ans: Yes! Agile is a broad umbrella under which the Scrum falls and consists of four primary values and twelve principles. Scrum has its own set of principles and values and provides a lighter framework to helps the team become agile.

3. Mention a few Agile frameworks

Ans: There are several other frameworks in addition to Scrum, such as:

·       Test-Driven Development

·       Kanban

·       Feature-Driven Development.

4. When should you use Waterfall over Scrum?

Ans: Usually, Waterfall is used when the requirements are simple, fully defined, predictable, and understood, and will not change.

5. How long the scrum cycle last?

Ans: The life of the Scrum cycle depends on the project size and team size. The team size may vary from 3 to 9 members. Usually, it takes 3 to 4 weeks to complete a Scrum sprint. 

6. What is the scrum of scrums?

Ans: Suppose seven teams are working on a project and each team has seven members. Each team leads its particular scrum meeting. To coordinate among distinct teams, a separate meeting has to be organized, that meeting is called Scrum of Scrums.

An ambassador represents its team in the scrum of scrums.

Primary points discussed in the meeting are:

·       Team progress after the last meeting.

·       The task to be done before the next meeting.

·       The hindrance that the team faces while completing the last task

7. Define epic, user stories, and task?

Ans:

Epic: A software feature defined by a customer and itemized in the product backlog is known as epic. The subdivisions of Epics are known as stories.

User Stories: User stories are prepared according to the client's perspective such as project or business functions, and delivered in a particular sprint.

Task: Th user stories are further broken down into various task

8. Differentiate between Incremental and Iterative development?

Ans: Iterative method: It is a continuous software development process where the software development cycles (Sprint & Releases) are repeated until the final product is achieved.

Release 1: Sprint 1, 2… n

Release n: Sprint 1, 2 ...n

Incremental development: It segregates the functionality of the system into increments or portions. In each increment, the functionality segments are delivered through cross-discipline work, from the requirements to the deployment.

9. What is test-driven development?

Ans: Test-driven development or TDD is also known as test-driven design. In this method, a developer writes an automated test case describing the new function and then create small codes to pass that test, and later re-factors the new code to meet the acceptable standards

10. What do you mean by scrum poker technique or planning poker? 

Ans: The card-based estimation technique is based on a general agreement, which is known as scrum poker or planning poker. Some features of it are:-

·       The first step is to story of the agile user is read by the client. Then the estimator understands the features. 

·       There are various planning cards with a different number for each estimator. The different numbers are the story points.

·       Until a general agreement is reached, this process is repeated. 

11. Discuss the principles of agile testing. 

Ans: There are some major points regarding agile testing and they are discussed below. 

·       Satisfaction of customer 

·       A big free clean mode

·       Customers welcome changes 

·       The business people and the developers work together as a team 

·       It focuses on essence rather than lengthy documentation. 

·       Face to face conversation is appreciated 

·       Promotion of sustainable development 

12. What do you mean by the disadvantages of the agile model?

Ans: Some of the major disadvantages of the agile system are discussed below. 

·       It is not easy to predict. If a big project is assigned, you will have a problem to estimate the effort you need to put into that. 

·       Focusing on design and documentation is not always proper. 

·       The end product will not satisfy the customers if the client guidelines are not understood adequately. 

·       The higher authorities will have the highest level of decision making, which makes the fresher to have little knowledge. 

13. What is the right moment to use the agile model?

Ans: There are specific developments and methodologies that can use Agile like crystal methodologies, lean software development feature drove growth, and dynamic development.

stories that are approved. 

·       Work category allocation - the work category allocation will provide a clear idea about where you are investing your time and also about the priority of the work. 

·       Defect removal awareness - active members can produce quality products. 

·       The cumulative flow diagram -It is the uniform workflow checked in which the x-axis represents time, and the y-axis stands for the number of effort. 

·       The sprint burndown matric - Helps in keeping track of the completion of the work with the sprint.

·       Business value delivered - this is an entity that is concerned with the work efficiency of the team. It is used to measure, and 100 points are associated with every project. 

·       Time coverage - The time-period is measured with the help of the ratio of the number of lines of code that is called by the test suite by the number of relative lines of codes.

·       Defect resolution time - This is concerned with the process where the team members detect and fix bugs. There are several processes involved in fixing a bug. 

·       Clearing the picture of the virus

·       Schedule a fix

·       Fixation of a defect is done.

14. What do you mean by release candidate? 

Ans: To ensure that during the final development stage, there is no major problem left behind a code or version or a build is released, which is known as a release candidate. This is equivalent to the final build, and it is used for testing.

15. Differentiate between agile testing methods and other testing methods? 

Ans: In major methodologies of agile testing cases, the code is divided into smaller parts. At one specific time, each branch of code is tested. Also, continuous communication is done on that part of the code. Agile process is more flexible and focused.

16. What is Zero sprint in Agile?

Ans: A zero sprint can be defined as the pre-step to the first sprint. Things such as setting up the environment to develop, prepare backlog, etc. that need to be performed before the start of the initial sprint and can treat it as Sprint zero.

17. What does story point mean in the scrum? 

Ans: The Scrum unit which is used to estimate the effort required to finish or implement a backlog is referred to as a story point in the scrum.

18. Why do user stories are not estimated in working hours? 

Ans: It is not mandatory to estimate user stories in terms of man hurt as it will mean a lack of product quality, which is to be delivered to the customer. In the case of the working hour, more attention is given on the budget and cost of management. This is why the story point is necessary as it provides concepts regarding efforts, which are required and also the complexity of the work.

19. In which process a Scrum master recommends to follow up action items?

Ans: The finest way to follow up action items is to establish a follow up of the works to be done by the team members. And the scrum master will collect this information.

20. What are the most critical agile Matrices? 

Ans: The following are the critical agile Matrices. 

·       Velocity - To have a clear about your progress, capacity, and much more keeping track of the velocity is essential. It can be measured by adding all the estimates of the stories that are approved. 

·       Work category allocation - the work category allocation will provide a clear idea about where you are investing your time and also about the priority of the work. 

·       Defect removal awareness - active members can produce quality products. 

·       The cumulative flow diagram -It is the uniform workflow checked in which the x-axis represents time, and the y-axis stands for the number of effort. 

·       The sprint burndown matric - Helps in keeping track of the completion of the work with the sprint.

·       Business value delivered - this is an entity that is concerned with the work efficiency of the team. It is used to measure, and 100 points are associated with every project. 

·       Time coverage - The time-period is measured with the help of the ratio of the number of lines of code that is called by the test suite by the number of relative lines of codes.

·       Defect resolution time - This is concerned with the process where the team members detect and fix bugs. There are several processes involved in fixing a bug. 

·       clearing the picture of the virus

·       Schedule a fix

·       Fixation of a defect is done. 

·       Report of resolution is handed.

21. What are the essential qualities a good Agile tester should have? 

Ans: A professional Agile tester should have the following qualities

1.     Should quickly understand the necessities 

2.     The agile tester knows Agile principles and concepts well

3.     As requirements change continually, the tester should understand the risks involved in it

4.     The ability to communicate among business developers, associates and tester is a must

22. Mention the challenges involved in developing Agile Software?

Ans: The various challenges involved in developing Agile Software includes

·       More testing and customers involvement

·       Impacts management more than developers

·       Each feature needs to be completed before moving on to the next

·       All the code has to work fine to ensure the application is in a working state

·       More planning is required.

23. When not to use Agile?

Ans: Before using Agile methodology, you must ask the following questions:

1.     Is functionality split-able

2.     Are requirements flexible

3.     Is customer available

4.     Is team skilled enough

5.     Is it time constrained

24. Explain what does it mean by product roadmap?

Ans: A product roadmap refers to the holistic view of product features, which creates the product vision.

Can agile methodology also be applied in other than software testing and development projects?

There are various places where agile methodology can be applied in the field of biophysics, biochemistry, biomedical or at the place where there is insufficient data, where the project needs to be completed in a small team, where to work in unknown and there are several areas.

25. What is the product burndown chart?

Ans: It is the description in the form of a graph that shows implemented product backlog is called a burndown chart.

26. What is a sprint burndown chart?

Ans: A graph is the representation of the no. of the implemented sprints and non-implemented sprints in scrum cycle.

27. What is Release burndown chart?

Ans: The graph is set to be a Release burndown chart when it is used to depict the pending release.

28. What is defect burn down chart?

Ans: No. of defects identified and removed is represented by the defect burndown chart

29. Explain some standard metrics for Agile.

Ans: The common metrics for Agile is as follows:

Velocity -It is the average of points from the last 3 to 4 sprints. It is measured with the summation of all the approved story estimates. It provides an idea of progress, capacity, etc. 

Cumulative Flow Diagram: Using the cumulative flow diagram,  the user can perform an inspection over the uniform workflow. In this graph, the x-axis represents time, and the y-axis represents the number of efforts.

Work Category Allocation: It is a critical factor that provides quick information of the time investment, i.e., where the time is being investigated, and the elements prioritizing the tasks.

Time Coverage: It is the time that is given to code during testing. It is the percentage that is calculated as a factor of the lines of code called by the total number of relative lines of code and the test suite.

Business Value Delivered: It denotes the working team's efficiency. These objects are assigned numerical values 1,2,3 and so on according to the priority levels, ROI, and complexity.

Defect Removal Awareness: It is the factors which help the working teams to deliver a quality product. It helps to identify the number of defects, their awareness, and removal plays a critical role to provide a high-quality product.

Defect Resolution Time: It is the process through which the members of the working teams detect the bugs and set priorities for the defect resolution. It is the method of fixing bugs or defect resolution compromises of multiple processes such as schedule defect fixation, clearing the defect picture, completing defect fixation, generation, and handling resolution report.

Sprint Burn Down Matric: The graph which represents the total number of sprints implemented or non-implemented during a Scrum cycle. It helps you to track your work in the sprint.

30. How is the velocity of the sprint measured?

Ans: If capacity is measured as a percentage of 40 hours weeks then the work done = story points * team capacity

In case the capacity is measured in terms of man-hours -> story points/team capacity.

Agile Vs DevOps

31. Are there any agile certifications?

Ans: Agile and Scrum certifications are hot in the market and organizations are expecting the candidates to hold one or more out of it. Certifications generally preferred by organizations are listed as follows:

·       ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner)

·       PSM (Professional Scrum Master)

·       ASM (Agile Scrum Master)

·       CSM (Certified Scrum Master)

·       Safe Agilist

32. What are the major agile quality strategies?

Ans:

1.     Re-factoring

2.     Small feedback cycles

3.     Iterations

4.     Dynamic code analysis

33. Name some project management tools used in agile?

Ans:

·       Version one

·       X-planner,

·       Icescrum,

·       Rally Software,

·       Agilefant, 

·       Agilo 

34. Define Product backlog and Sprint Backlog?

Ans:

·       A product backlog is maintained by the project owner that contains every requirement and feature of the product.

·       A Spring backlog is treated as a product backlog subset that contains requirements and features related to a particular sprint only.

35. What is Pair Programming and state its benefits?

Ans:  Pair programming is a technique in which two programmers works as a team where. One programmer writes code and other one reviews that code. They both can switch their roles.

Benefits:

Knowledge transfer is smooth: One experience partner can teach another partner about the codes and techniques.

Code quality: As the second partner simultaneously reviews the code, the chances of mistakes being occurred will reduce.

36. What is refactoring?

Ans: Modifying code without a change in its functionality to improve the performance is called refactoring.

37. How can QA add value to an agile team?

Ans: QA provides additional value to the story thinking differently about distinct scenarios. It gives quick feedback to the developers whether the new functionality is working fine or not.

38. What is the Application Binary Interface?

Ans: Application Binary Interface defines an interface to compile application programs or the low-level interface between an application and the operating system.

39. What is a tracer bullet?

Ans: Tracer bullet examines the working and examines the feasibility of an end-to-end process. It is the spike with the current set of practices or architecture.

40. What is the increment? Explain.

Ans: The increment can be defined as the total of all backlog items of a product during a sprint. Being cumulative, each increment consists of its previous sprint increment values. It should set to be in the available mode in its subsequent release as it is a step to reach the goal.

41. What is Kanban?

Ans: Kanban is a tool that helps teams to keep an eye on the work for measuring its progress. Apart from the progress, the status of a development story that can be seamlessly described with the help of 'kanban board'.

42. How to manage remote teams?

Ans: In the case of outsourced resources, using remote project management tools will help you meet the required remote team management. It helps you know how to get them on-board, and manage people, tools and resources.

43. What is meant by sprint retrospective meeting? 

Ans: It is the meeting conducted in the last part of the sprint after the review meeting of a sprint. The whole team will participate in this discussion, which lasts for 2 to 3 hours.

44. Can we apply agile methodologies on another testing apart from development and software testing?

Ans: The file testing methodologies of Agile can be applied in case of biomedical, biophysics, biochemistry, and those places which are having insufficient data and the project needs to complete with a small team.

45. What does the term impediment mean? 

Ans: Any obstacles that do not allow a smooth flow of work, which results in the underperformance of the team to perform tasks in a better way is known as an impediment.

46. What do mean by sprint planning meeting? 

Ans: The meeting that involves the entire scrum team from product owner to scrum master and other team members is known as a sprint planning meeting. It is arranged to discuss the important feature of the team and also the items of the product backlog.

47. Mention the places where the Scrum and Kanban methodologies are used? 

Ans: When shifting to the prominent and appropriate process is required, then you use Scrum. When the need is to improve the process that is running provided with lesser changes, then Kanban is used.

48. What are the essential qualities to have as a Scrum Master?

Ans: Understanding the purpose and expectations, as well as sharing knowledge, are the primary qualities of a Scrum Master.

49. What are the primary tools used in a Scrum project?

Ans:

·       JIRA

·       Rally

·       Version One

50. Is cancelling a Sprint possible? Who can cancel a Sprint?

Ans: Only the Product Owner can cancel the Sprint. It can be cancelled before the Sprint timebox limit ends. 

51. What does the term increment mean? 

Ans: When the sprint id finished by the team it is usually meant that all the tasks that they have planned have been completed. The term increment refers to the sum of all the backlog product items that were completed in a sprint. The new increment value will have the value of the last sprint value. 

52. What do you mean by planning poker or scrum poker technique? 

Ans: The technique which is a card-based estimation based on a general agreement is known as scrum poker or planning poker. Some features of it are:-

·       The first step is to story of the agile user is read by the customer or owner. Then the estimator understands the features. 

·       There are different planning cards with a different number for each estimator. The different numbers are the story points.

·       Based on the estimation which is done by discussing features, the estimator will select a card. 

·       When a common value is selected then it is considered to be an estimate otherwise there is a discussion on maximum and minimum estimation. 

·       Until a general agreement is reached this process is repeated. 

53. What is the right moment to use the agile model? 

Ans: There are certain methodologies and developments which can use agile like lean software development feature drove development, dynamic development and crystal methodologies. What do you mean by the disadvantages of the agile model?

54. How do agile testing methods differ from other testing methods? 

Ans: In the case of agile testing methodology, the code that is used is broken into smaller branches. At one particular time, each particular branch of code is tested. Also, continuous communication is done on that part of the code. Agile process is more flexible and focused. 

55. Is it possible to apply agile methodology another testing apart from software testing and development testing? 

Ans: The methodology of a file testing can be applied in case of biophysics, biochemistry, biomedical and those places that have insufficient data and the project needs to complete with a small team. 

56. How to know that you are using agile development?

Ans: You will know that you are using agile development is when you are using time-boxed task board, test-driven development, daily stand up meetings, pair programming and many more. 

57. What do you mean by the X and Y-axis of the burndown chart? 

Ans: In the burndown chart, the X-axis represents the working days and the Y-axis stands for showing the remaining efforts. 

58. Describe the main roles in the scrum. 

Ans:

·       Scrum team - It is consist of an individual person who is in charge of working collectively to complete a certain task. 

·       Scrum Master - this person is responsible for the paper execution of end result of the scrum team. 

·       Product owner - he or she has the responsibility of delivering a whole concept of what to build and then convey the idea to the team.

59. What does build breaker mean? 

Ans: There are certain times when the developer accidentally commits a bug in the software. This bug might stop the process of compilation or generated warring. It is the cause of failure during normal execution of testing. In such cases, it is said that the build is broken. The main priority of the tester now is to rectify the bug. 

60. What are the places where Scrum and Kanban are used? 

Ans: When there is a need for shifting towards appropriate and prominent process then you use Scrum. When you need to improve the process that is running provided that there are not many changes then Kanban is used. 

61. What is your view on scrum master removing impediments for the scrum team? 

Ans: The scrum master can remove impediments on behalf of the scrum team but he should not do that. The scrum master should not pamper nor overrule the scrum team. Also, the scrum team should be able to make their own decisions.

62. What is the process in which a master recommends following up on action items? 

Ans: The best way to do this is by establishing a follow up of the works that are to be done by the members of the team. The information is to be collected by the scrum master.

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