Question 1

Which question is the concern of the project sponsor?

A. Does the team understand the technical requirements?

B. Does the product owner understand the product?
C. Will the team deliver the expected value on time?
D. Is the Scrum Master prioritizing the features accurately?

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 2: Agile Team Roles] The sponsor is responsible for
ensuring that the project will deliver the expected value on time and on budget. They
leave the technical requirements to the team, and feature prioritization to the product
owner (not the Scrum-Master). Since it is the product owner who communicates the
product features to the team, if they don’t understand the product, they aren’t doing
their job. In choosing the best answer on the exam, assume that everyone is doing their
job properly, unless otherwise implied in the question.
Question 2

As an agile servant leader, why would you want your teams to be self-directing and self-organizing?

A. To draw upon their technical knowledge to evaluate the product features

B. To take advantage of their superior knowledge of the best way to manage
themselves
C. To leverage their ability to reach the project goals most efficiently
D. To help them remain productive despite changing priorities and new information

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 35: Self-Directing and Self-Organizing Teams] By
empowering teams to be self-directing and self-organizing, we tap into the team
members’ ability to manage complexity and reach the project goals most efficiently. The
option that includes "evaluate the product features" is rather vague, but this sounds like
the product owner’s role, not the development team. While this answer could be correct
if we assume that it refers to assessing the features for planning the work, there is another
answer that is more accurate and doesn’t require us to make any assumptions about the
meaning. Agile teams are empowered to be self-organizing and self-directing, but not
self-managing. While empowering a team does enable them to work more effectively,
their ability to remain productive in the face of changing priorities and new information is
the result of integrating the totality of agile practices and mindset, rather than one
technique in particular. Again, while we could interpret this as the correct answer option,
a more specific answer is provided.
Question 3

This team started the project with 54 points of functionality in the backlog, and they have just
finished iteration 8. Their burndown chart per iteration since starting the project is shown here.
At the end of iteration 8 (at the time shown on this chart), the project sponsor wants to know if
the team will finish on time (by the end of iteration 10). You respond:

A. Maybe, but there are still a lot of risks we might run into.
B. Probably, our velocity is stabilizing nicely, we are right on track.
C. Probably not, there’s been too much variability in our velocity.
D. I’ll let you know after I check the spreadsheets.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 6: Burn Charts] The team’s velocity is homing in on the
estimate, and they should finish on time. On an agile project, risk reduction happens at
the start of the project, so there shouldn’t be a lot of risks remaining at this point. The
team’s variability at the start of the project was probably due to that. Agile teams rely on
visual tools such as burn charts instead of spreadsheets to visualize and share their
progress.
than one technique in particular. Again, while we could interpret this as the correct
answer option, a more specific answer is provided.
Question 4

A stakeholder who is new to both Scrum and the project asks you what to expect in the sprint
review. How do you respond?

A. It’s a meeting where we show what we’ve just built and get feedback.
B. It’s our opportunity to reflect on what happened in the sprint.
C. It’s a meeting where we decide what we will build in the next sprint.
D. It’s the ongoing process of refining and updating the product backlog.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 34: Scrum] The sprint review is where the team demos the
product increment they’ve just built to the product owner to get feedback. It is not
focused on refining the backlog, planning the next sprint, or reflecting on the sprint.
Question 5

A federally funded task force is exploring the use of facial recognition software to mine social media
updates for missing persons. This emerging technology faces significant challenges, including
difficulties with removing shadows, reflections, and facial obscurers such as sunglasses from
images. Which approach to solving these issues would be most closely aligned with the agile
mindset?

A. Ask the best people in the industry for their solutions, giving them a fixed deadline
to respond.
B. Hold a public contest with prizes to get as many promising ideas as
possible.
C. Analyze how for-profit companies have solved these problems, and try to reproduce
those solutions without breaking their patents.
D. Stay open to all options, and keep disagreements to a minimum.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 27: Problem Solving] From an agile perspective,
minimizing disagreements would stifle the healthy debate that is necessary for finding the
best solution to a problem. (Also, debating the merits of each proposal often involves a
clash of strong and differing views, rather than being open to all options.) The answer that
involves consulting with experts might seem plausible, since this sounds like a team-based
solution. It’s true that some expertise will be required to address these problems, but if they
were readily solvable by this approach, a solution would have been identified already.
Copying someone else’s solution, even if we could do so legally, would be unlikely to lead
to a truly new approach. In a situation like this, agile would focus on gathering a wide
range of promising ideas to help team members "think outside the box." Although a
contest might sound like a silly idea, truly innovative solutions often come from
unexpected sources.

Question 6

Your team is just starting the second iteration of a new project, and so far the work is going slower
than planned. As team coach, you are taking a servant leadership approach. What should you do
to help out?

A. Prepare the required compliance documentation.

B. Convince the CEO to assign more resources to the project.
C. Adjust the initial estimates to make them more realistic.
D. Settle team debates about how to approach the work.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 36: Servant Leadership] As a servant leader, the best
option listed here would be to take care of administrative activities for the team, such as
preparing the required documentation of their compliance efforts. To help the team
members focus on creating business value, a servant leader will do whatever is necessary
to help them remain productive, and this documentation isn’t something that the team
members need to spend their time on. Regarding the other answer options, it’s far too
early in the project to know whether more resources will be required. The team will adjust
their own estimates as they learn more about doing the work. And you will be
encouraging the team members to draw upon their expertise to resolve their own
conflicts about technical issues.
Question 7

If all the team members aren’t able to work together in the same location, what are they likely to
have?

A. More miscommunication
B. More interpersonal conflict
C. More privacy
D. Better estimates

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 7: Co-Located and Distributed Teams The most likely
outcome of this scenario is that the team will have more difficulty communicating with
each other. They aren’t likely to have a higher level of conflict since distance can make it
easier to ignore disagreements, rather than resolve them. If team members don’t work in
the same room, they won’t necessarily have more privacy (they might be sitting with other
colleagues). And since good estimating requires the team to express, understand, and
debate the issues involved, if anything, a distributed team is less likely to have accurate
estimates than a co-located team.
Question 8

What is a key reason why agile teams use multiple levels of verification?

A. To keep the project visible to stakeholders

B. To ensure the developers are busy and productive
C. To reduce the cost of errors and rework
D. To make testing a regular habit rather than a specific step

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 13: Frequent Verification and Validation] Because of the
cost of change curve, agile places a big emphasis on finding and fixing problems as soon
as possible. Multiple levels of verification allow the team to find issues sooner—and
therefore get them fixed faster, at a lower cost. The other answer options might sound
plausible, but they aren’t quite right. Although verification does keep the team involved
with stakeholders, its primary goal is to get feedback, not to maintain the project visibility.
Frequent feedback will keep the team on the right track, but team productivity isn’t the
main point. And although agile teams often use a test-first approach, the most important
reason for using frequent verification is to get continuous feedback from the customer,
not to reinforce a testing mindset.
Question 9

How would you recommend that a team transition to using agile?

A. Identify a successful agile team and copy what they are doing.
B. Learn what agile is trying to accomplish before deciding which practices to
adopt.
C. Try out some agile practices first to see if they are helpful in your situation.
D. Hire the best Scrum-Master you can afford and make that person accountable for the
transition.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 5: Being versus Doing Agile] We need to understand and
integrate the mindset behind agile practices before we can use them effectively.
Therefore the best way to transition to agile is to learn what agile is trying to accomplish
and then use that understanding to guide which agile practices to adopt in our situation.
Question 10

The Dog Walk Cooperative social media app lets members pick up local dogs to take for a walk while
they are out for a walk themselves. The company’s tag line is: "Ensuring walks have more dogs
and dogs have more walks." The development team is using a task board to track their progress,
as shown here. It is the second to last day of the second week of a two-week sprint. Based on
their task board, how is the Dog Walk Cooperative team doing?

A. They are unlikely to finish all the work in the sprint backlog.
B. They’re on track to complete all the work in the sprint backlog.
C. They are doing okay; most of the work is either ready, in progress, or done.
D. The work is backed up due to an unresolved impediment.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 40: Task/Kanban Boards] If we assume that this chart
depicts the second to last day of the second week of a two-week sprint, then the team
has a serious problem; they have clearly run out of time to finish all the work scheduled for
this sprint. While there is an unresolved issue that might be delaying the team’s progress,
from this chart we can’t tell whether that is the main reason the work hasn’t been done.
Question 11

Which agile concept helps to explain why it is considered economical to have two programmers
working on the same code simultaneously?

A. Work in short iterations

B. Empower the team
C. Face-to-face communication
D. Deliver business value

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 8: Cost of Change Curve] The XP practice of pair
programming, in which two programmers work together on the same code, allow them to
catch errors almost as quickly as they are made. While it is helpful to empower the team,
communicate in person, and work iteratively, the best reason for using pair programming
is to reduce the cost of rework by catching errors as quickly as possible, when they are
very low on the cost of change curve. By reducing costs, this allows the team to deliver
more business value.
Question 12

Your team has a lot of work in progress, and you’re trying to educate them about the drawbacks of
working that way. What isn’t one of the problems you mention?

A. It reduces business value.

B. It increases the project risk.
C. It hides throughput issues.
D. It undermines our team roles.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 49: Work in Progress and WIP Limits] This question
addresses how a high level of work in progress impacts an agile project. If we have a lot
of partially done work, that incomplete work isn’t delivering any return, and it also
prevents us from effectively measuring our throughput. Partially done work also increases
risk, since we might have to redo those items if something changes before they are
finished and accepted by the customer. The correct answer is undermining the agile
team roles, since that’s the only option listed here that isn’t a direct result of having a lot of
work in progress.
Question 13

Which criterion listed below is least likely to be included in the definition of done for a user story?

A. Has the release deadline been met?

B. Has all the code been written?
C. Have all known bugs been fixed or scheduled as their own user stories?
D. Has the customer accepted the user story as done?

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 10: Definition of Done] Three of these options ask about
levels of completion: has the code been written, have the bugs been addressed, and has
the customer accepted the story as done? The question about whether the release
deadline has been met, while important, doesn’t address the definition of done for the
user story itself. Since we are looking for the answer that is least likely to be part of the
definition of done, that is the correct answer.
Question 14

Your team rarely sees the sponsor, but one day she appears in the team room to ask whether the
product will be ready to demo at a trade show in two months. This is the first you’ve heard of
this trade show. What do you tell her?

A. We’ll let you know after we talk to the product owner about our priorities.
B. It will be ready when it’s ready, according to our plan.
C. We’ll have the top-priority functionality done by then.
D. That depends; will you be increasing our budget to meet this new goal?

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 3: Agile Triangle] Like many questions on the PMI-ACP
exam, this question tests agile concepts in an indirect way. You should know that agile
teams typically fix time and budget and allow scope to vary, as reflected in the agile
triangle. When balancing constraints, the agile approach is to get the highest-priority
functionality done by the customer’s deadline. In this scenario, the fact that the team
hasn’t heard of this deadline before implies that this a new opportunity that has just arisen
and the sponsor wants to hear directly from the team before proceeding.
Question 15

Your team has decided to use the Five Whys technique in a retrospective. What are you likely trying
to accomplish by doing this?

A. Encourage everyone to speak up freely about any issues they experienced in the last
iteration.
B. Understand why the same issue keeps cropping up, despite your previous
efforts to address it.
C. Identify and acknowledge the contributions of each team member to the last
iteration.
D. Decide what to do about the root causes of a complicated problem you have been
analyzing.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 12: Five Whys] The Five Whys technique is designed to
identify the root causes of a problem. So the correct answer is "Understand why the same
issue keeps cropping up in every iteration, despite your previous efforts to address it."
Although identifying the root causes will help us decide what to do about the problem we
are facing, that isn’t the focus of this technique. The other two answer options are
distractors.
Question 16

When talking to the sponsor of your project, you refer to the lead time for a feature. She says, "Let’s
get our terms straight—what exactly do you mean by ‘lead time’?" How do you respond?

A. It’s the duration of all the development iterations added together.

B. It’s the time required to complete a deliverable, from eliciting requirements
to deployment.
C. It’s the time required to build and test a user story.
D. It’s the time required to deliver one part of the solution, from planning the
development effort through customer acceptance.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 20: Lead Time and Cycle Time] Lead time refers to how
long it takes a deliverable to go through the entire process, from eliciting the requirements
to deployment. The other options are incorrect.
Question 17

You work for an electronics manufacturing company and have been asked to lead a team that will be
researching video compression for high-definition monitors. Your first task is to select the team
room for the project. Which option would be best?

A. A large room containing eight modular cubicles that can be moved around
or changed as needed.
B. A quiet hallway off the main passage with ten offices and a small meeting room/
private space.
C. A suite of small rooms on the corporate floor near the project sponsor’s office.
D. An open space in an old manufacturing building with high windows, brick walls, and
large floor-to-ceiling pillars every ten feet.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 41: Team Space] While various options listed here may
sound attractive or appealing as a workspace, the best answer for an agile team would
be the room with cubicles that can be removed. Since agile teams are small, once all the
cubicles are removed there should be enough room for everyone and for the team’s
information radiators. The old manufacturing building might also be an option, but the
floor-to-ceiling pillars aren’t ideal since they mean that this isn’t truly an open space
without barriers. The other two options describe separate offices, which wouldn’t work for
an agile team space
Question 18

The large insurance company you work for announces a major change initiative based on the kaizen
approach used at Toyota. Several departments are being realigned, merged, or split off, and
senior management is being reshuffled. How would you interpret this news?

A. A kaizen improvement system should help enhance our responsiveness to the rapid
pace of change in the insurance markets.
B. Kaizen works great at Toyota, hopefully this will increase our profits, and therefore
my bonus, this year.
C. Whoever came up with this plan doesn’t understand what kaizen means.
D. Can kaizen really help us improve if people and departments are just being shuffled
around?

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 18: Kaizen] The major realignment described in this
scenario is the opposite of the kaizen approach of making small, continuous
improvements. So without further context, we have to assume that this plan was the bright
idea of someone who hasn’t bothered to learn about that concept, and is just using
"kaizen" as a buzzword. Although it might also be fair to wonder how simply moving
people and departments around can lead to significant improvement, that answer takes
for granted that the initiative being described is an example of kaizen, which it isn’t. The
other two answer options are distractors.
Question 19

Your newspaper’s annual restaurant guide must be completed by the deadline for the Spring Dining
insert four weeks from now. However, after a round of layoffs last year, the team you are leading
is smaller than in the past. You know there won’t be enough time to research all the restaurants
and update their profiles. What should you do?

A. Ask your editor to delay the Spring Dining insert by two weeks.
B. Recycle the profiles that were used last year, updating only the most popular
restaurants.
C. Make the profiles simpler so they don’t require as much research, and instead add
more photographs and maps.
D. Present the best solutions the team has come up with to your editor, and let
him decide what to do.

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 42: Timeboxing] You wouldn’t ask to delay the insert since
agile timeboxes aren’t adjusted so that the team can complete a fixed scope. Instead,
the scope is adjusted to meet the available time. Both of the ideas given for adjusting the
scope of the insert are plausible. However, the best answer is to present a range of
options to the editor for a decision, since in this context he is playing the role of an agile
product owner.
Question 20

What characteristic would be most important to have in a persona?

A. Relevant
B. Testable
C. Collaborative
D. Verifiable

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 24: Personas] Personas should be grounded in reality,
tangible, actionable, and relevant. Although personas are often prepared collaboratively
by the team, they don’t need to be collaborative to be effective. And while data might
be used to help define the group described in the persona, a persona doesn’t need to be
testable or verifiable to be useful.
Question 21

The product owner is overscheduled and hasn’t been available to meet with your lean team for over
a month. Fortunately, the team understands his priorities and has been able to continue making
progress anyway. However, there are now three features that haven’t been accepted yet, and
soon there will be four. The team can keep going like this for a while, but the longer they have to
wait for feedback and approval, the more likely it is that they will get off track. What is the
problem here?

A. This shows why it is problematic to defer decisions for too long.

B. The team’s pull system needs more feedback from the product owner.
C. This team needs to get better at making local decisions.
D. This is an example of the lean waste "waiting."

[Exam Topic 21: Lean Product Development] In the lean approach, time spent waiting for
feedback and approval is considered to be a form of waste ("waiting"), and that is the
correct answer. The other options aren’t supported by the information provided. For
example, we don’t know whether this team is using a pull system, they seem to be making
the best local decisions they can (given a lack of input), and at this point they are still
moving ahead, rather than deferring decisions.
Question 22

What isn’t a way that incremental delivery can help a team stay adaptable while they are building
the product?

A. We gather lessons learned and adapt our approach after each iteration.
B. We get new direction from the project sponsor after each deliverable.
C. We build the solution in steps and learn more about it with each increment.
D. We get useful feedback from the customer in each product demo.

[Exam Topic 15: Incremental Delivery] Three of these statements are key aspects of using
incremental delivery: gathering lessons learned in each iteration, learning by building
each increment, and getting customer feedback with each product demo. Therefore,
getting "new direction from the project sponsor after each deliverable" must be the
answer. Although the sponsor might periodically provide new direction to the team (agile
teams are always adapting to new information), that isn’t a recognized part of the
process.
Question 23

Cal-Pic is a start-up calorie tracking app for Android. Users will take pictures of their food, and the
app will identify the food and estimate the portion size. The venture capital company that is
funding the app’s development faces a number of challenges, including monetizing the app,
teaching the app to distinguish between food and patterns on the plate, and responding to patent
challenges from the rival app I8Wot. The delivery team suggests several spikes that could be
undertaken to mitigate some of these challenges. Which of these proposed spikes would be least
helpful?

A. A marketing spike to test different price points for the premium version of the app
that has no advertising.
B. A development spike to test whether the app can identify common plate designs and
learn to ignore them.
C. A legal spike to test the waters with I8Wot’s parent company to see if they would
enter into merger talks.
D. A marketing spike to test the likely demand for the app based on click-
through ads.

[Exam Topic 38: Spikes] The option here that would be least helpful for resolving these
challenges would be testing the likely demand for the app based on click-through ads.
The other three spikes each address one of the issues that have been identified.
Question 24

As ScrumMaster, one of your team members is persistently late to the daily stand-up. You have tried
reminding him about it, but he’s still late half of the time. What should you do?

A. Talk to him one-on-one to determine why he is late so often, then decide

what to do.
B. To avoid singling him out, raise this as an issue for the entire team at the next
retrospective.
C. The next time he’s late, pause the meeting to point out that his behavior is
impacting everyone.
D. Propose that the team move their stand-up to a later time so everyone can attend.

[Exam Topic 9: Daily Stand-Ups] This scenario may seem to pose a team leadership
problem rather than a question about stand-ups. However, the exam aims to test your
overall understanding of the agile mindset, so you can expect to see questions like this
that deal with multiple agile concepts. In this case, as an agile leader you want to
address the issue directly with the person involved, rather than pretending it is about the
team. You also don’t want to interrupt the meeting to embarrass the team member, since
that isn’t consistent with the agile mindset or the rules of daily stand-ups. It may end up
that the best step will be to reschedule the stand-ups—but first you need to understand
the reasons for the problem. So, the best answer is to talk to him one-on-one outside the
stand-up and find out why he is late, then decide how to proceed.

Question 25

Your team is having a really productive retrospective, and after generating ideas, you have several
flip chart pages full of improvement ideas. Someone suggests using dot voting next. What would
this help you accomplish?

A. Make sure you aren’t missing anything on the list.

B. Refine the ideas before deciding what to do.
C. Figure out which actions to take next.
D. Narrow the options down to those that are most useful.

[Exam Topic 26: Prioritization Schemes] Dot voting can help a team set their priorities by
voting on which actions to take next. This vote might not narrow the choices down to the
most useful options—some actions that would be very useful might not be workable at this
point in the project. (If those ideas remain relevant, we can assume they will come up for
a vote again in the next retrospective.) The other two options are incorrect.
Question 26

A team that is designing GPS- and RFID-based pet trackers is estimating their backlog of work for
the next iteration of an upcoming release. They have documented the release requirements as
stories and are now estimating the work in story points. How should they proceed?

A. Estimate each story, then add up all the story estimates and allocate that time to the
component tasks.
B. Roughly size each story, then add up all the stories and add a realistic multiplier
based on past experience.
C. Estimate the tasks, then add up those estimates to see how much can be
done in the next iteration.
D. Estimate the team’s capacity, then decide how many stories can be done, including a
reasonable buffer for testing and rework.

[Exam Topic 39: Story Points and Relative Sizing] Although this question deals with an
iteration planning scenario, all the information you need to find the right answer was
discussed in this topic. We just have to eliminate the answers that are clearly wrong. We
wouldn’t add up all the story estimates and then allocate that time to the component
tasks, since we can’t assume that the estimates for the tasks in a story will add up to the
estimate for the user story—and this problem is compounded across all the user stories. The
two options that describe adding a "realistic multiplier" and a "reasonable buffer"
contradict the guidelines that story point estimates should be all-inclusive and should
include the complexity, work effort, and risk of the work. So that leaves the remaining
answer as the only possible correct choice.

Question 27

In a story writing workshop, the stakeholders are discussing the merits of a user story they have
just written on a card: "As CFO, I want an online shopping cart, so that I can collect revenue."
The product owner turns to you and asks for your thoughts from a development perspective.
How do you reply?

A. This story isn’t testable.

B. This story isn’t independent.
C. This story lacks the confirmation part of the three Cs.
D. This story looks fine to me.

[Exam Topic 45: User Stories] The confirmation part of a user story isn’t represented on the
card, so it isn’t missing here. We can’t tell from this scenario how independent the story
is—so that could only be the best answer if all the other choices are clearly wrong.
However, we still have two options left: either the story is fine, or it isn’t testable. Since this
story doesn’t provide any quantifiable goals, the best answer is that it wouldn’t be
testable.
Question 28

In a story writing workshop, the stakeholders are discussing the merits of a user story they have
just written on a card: "As CFO, I want an online shopping cart, so that I can collect revenue."
The product owner turns to you and asks for your thoughts from a development perspective.
How do you reply?

A. This story isn’t testable.

B. This story isn’t independent.
C. This story lacks the confirmation part of the three Cs.
D. This story looks fine to me.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 45: User Stories] The confirmation part of a user story isn’t
represented on the card, so it isn’t missing here. We can’t tell from this scenario how
independent the story is—so that could only be the best answer if all the other choices are
clearly wrong. However, we still have two options left: either the story is fine, or it isn’t
testable. Since this story doesn’t provide any quantifiable goals, the best answer is that it
wouldn’t be testable.
Question 29

Halfway through the project, the team has reduced the major project risks as much as possible.
There are still some risk response actions in the backlog, but they aren’t a high priority. Then the
product owner calls an urgent meeting with the team to discuss mitigation options for a new risk
she has just discovered. The group comes up with a plan for addressing the new risk and rank it
as likely having a lower impact than the other risk actions in the backlog. What is the most likely
outcome of discovering this new risk?

A. The new risk avoidance work will be completed as soon as possible.

B. The new risk avoidance work is unlikely to ever be completed.
C. The new risk avoidance work will be added to the top of the backlog.
D. Even though the new risk avoidance work isn’t that important, the team will add it to
the next iteration it to keep the product owner happy.

[Exam Topic 32: Risk-Adjusted Backlog] When we add a new risk response action to the
project, it isn’t added to the top of the backlog or completed as soon as possible; instead,
it is prioritized and inserted at the appropriate place in the backlog. The remaining risk
actions in the backlog are already fairly low priority, and the impact of this action will be
even lower. So, this effort is unlikely to ever be completed.
Question 30

What’s the best way to share your team’s progress with other project stakeholders?

A. Hold a weekly scrum of scrum of scrums with other team leaders.

B. Post project data on whiteboards in the team’s space.
C. Invite stakeholders to the team’s stand-up meetings.
D. Conduct an iteration retrospective after each product demo.

[Exam Topic 16: Information Radiators] The recommended way for agile teams to share
their progress with other stakeholders is to post large visible displays of project data (aka
information radiators) in the team’s space. A scrum of scrum of scrums is a Scrum practice
for coordinating work between multiple teams, but it doesn’t help share progress beyond
the teams involved. Stand-up meetings allow the team members to share the details of
their work with each other. As a rule, it isn’t helpful to invite other stakeholders to those
meetings (for one thing, they don’t need to know that level of detail). Retrospectives are
focused on improving the team’s processes, not sharing progress, and they are primarily
for the benefit of the team, not other project stakeholders.
Question 31

What is the real purpose of using fist-of-five voting to make decisions?

A. To reach agreement quickly

B. To surface disagreements quickly
C. To reach the best decisions collaboratively
D. To make decisions as efficiently as possible

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 23: Participatory Decision Making] To make the best
collaborative decisions, we need to move through disagreement (divergence) followed
by agreement (convergence). Fist-of-five voting enables us to do that, since participants
can signal their degree of agreement or disagreement for a brief discussion. Fist-of-five
voting does help us do this quickly, but it isn’t just about reaching agreement or surfacing
disagreements, so those two answer options are incomplete. While we want to streamline
the decision-making process, to make good decisions we need to consider a range of
views. It would be a lot more efficient to just use a straight yes-or-no voting method than
fist-of-five voting.
Question 32

The Kanban team you’re leading has been struggling a bit, to the point where the minimal viable
product might not be ready when the customer needs it. What should you do?

A. Develop some solutions to be tested and explain them to the team.

B. Meet one-on-one to identify the issues, then get the team’s buy-in about the
changes that need to be made.
C. Assign the team to analyze the workflow, identify issues, and come up with
some solutions.
D. Add limits to the Kanban board so you can visualize and monitor the workflow more
closely.

[Exam Topic 19: Kanban] The five principles of Kanban emphasize team empowerment
and collective ownership of their processes. Therefore, the best answer is having the team
analyze the situation, identify issues, and come up with solutions. The other options are
distractors.
Question 33

Why don’t agile teams use a planning poker card for every number?

A. To estimate in ideal time

B. To keep the estimates coarse-grained
C. To provide an iterative estimating process
D. To minimize bias in the estimates

[Exam Topic 25: Planning Poker] Planning poker cards are usually limited to the Fibonacci
sequence of numbers to keep the team focused on estimating the rough (coarse-
grained) size of the effort involved rather than debating the details. While the other
options are also accurate statements about planning poker, they don’t explain why we
don’t include a card for every possible estimate.
Question 34

What is the most important reason why agile teams want to deliver a minimal viable product as soon
as possible?

A. To reduce risk as quickly as possible

B. To produce a fast return on investment
C. To maintain visibility with project stakeholders
D. To satisfy the end users as early as possible

[Exam Topic 22: Minimal Viable Product] This is a somewhat tricky question, since the
benefits of this practice could extend to all these answer options. Like many questions
you’ll see on the real exam, you need to identify the best answer from the plausible
options. The key rationale for delivering a minimal viable product as soon as possible is to
get an early return on investment. While we might also gain the other benefits listed, they
aren’t the primary goal of this practice.
Question 35

Your team has been asked to evaluate all the credit card payment options for a new online store.
Your initial review has shown that there are over 100 different providers with viable and popular
credit card payment options, but you have a short timeframe in which to do the evaluation.
You’ve decided to use value stream mapping to help address this challenge. What are you hoping
to learn from using that technique?

A. How many options you really need to analyze

B. How to get the best results from your analysis
C. How to investigate the options faster
D. The overall value of the options

[Exam Topic 47: Value Stream Mapping] Value stream mapping helps us optimize a
process, thereby reducing the time it takes to create value. While this technique might
help you gain some insight into any of the areas listed, the primary reason for using it
would be to identify how to proceed with minimal waste and inefficiency—and therefore
get the investigation done faster.
Question 36

The team believes it will take about 18 hours to write the workbook for the new course they are
developing, although it could be more or less than that. What should their estimate be for that
task?

A. They will need a 10 percent buffer for distractions and interruptions, so they will
estimate 20 hours.
B. They will estimate 18 hours, and the product owner will reduce it to 15 hours, since
this team tends to overestimate.
C. 15 to 20 hours
D. 18 hours

[Exam Topic 14: Ideal Time] Since the team believes that the effort will take 18 hours, their
estimate should be 18 hours. Agile teams estimate task effort in ideal time—how long it will
take if there are no interruptions or distractions. Although they do use estimate ranges to
convey the uncertainty of larger estimates to stakeholders, tasks are typically given single-
point estimates. Those estimates are only for the team, and by the time tasks are
estimated (shortly before the work is done) they should have enough information to agree
upon a single-point estimate rather than using a wide range such as 15 to 20 hours. On an
agile project, no one changes the team’s estimates (and in general, people tend to
underestimate how long a job will take, not overestimate it).
Question 37

In comparison to traditional projects, using the agile approach doesn’t require:

A. More trust
B. More feedback
C. More customer involvement
D. More detailed reports

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 1: Agile Manifesto] The answer to this question is implied in
the Agile Manifesto rather than directly stated. Most exam questions about the Manifesto
will look like this, requiring understanding rather than memorization. This question is also
written in a confusing way. You have to read it carefully to understand that you’re being
asked to identify the option that is more characteristic of traditional projects than agile
projects. Following principles 4 and 5, we will focus on stakeholder involvement, trust, and
feedback. We will be less concerned about reporting details, which isn’t mentioned in the
Manifesto. Therefore, the correct answer is "more detailed reports."
Question 38

Your team is just starting to develop an online course in teaching English as a second language. The
subject matter experts who are providing the content haven’t designed an online course before,
and they have lots of creative ideas for complex interactive games and simulated real-world
scenarios. As the web developer on the team, you aren’t sure if some of these ideas are even
possible. You’ve called a meeting with the team to address the situation. What will you say to
them?

A. Let’s select the most promising ideas to build first, then we’ll proceed from
there.
B. We need to narrow down the ideas and focus on those that we already know are
workable.
C. I need more detailed information about exactly what you want me to build.
D. Just give me the final content, we don’t have time to experiment with all these off-
the-wall ideas.

[Exam Topic 29: Progressive Elaboration] Agile teams are often faced with coming up
with a unique solution that has never been built before. To do this, they proceed by a
process of progressive elaboration, trying the most promising approaches in short
iterations and learning as they go. The other answer options will all shut off the flow of
innovation and experimentation to some degree or another. While the subject matter
experts will eventually realize that not all their ideas are workable, we don’t want to shut
down the creative process at the start of the project. At that point, we don’t really know
yet what is possible and what isn’t.

Question 39

Agile methods aim to____________.

A. Keep the team fully occupied

B. Keep stakeholders involved in the project
C. Keep stakeholder communications streamlined
D. Let the team relax and get acclimated at the start of the project

[Exam Topic 4: Agile Value Proposition] Agile methods aim to keep stakeholders actively
involved in the project through frequent iteration planning and review meetings. They
don’t focus on keeping the team fully occupied or streamlining communications. And
there’s no time for team members to relax at the start of a project since they will be
focusing on delivering value and reducing risk as soon as possible.
Question 40

You are a developer for a small team working on solar energy projects for off-the grid housing. The
technology is new and changing frequently, which brings technical compatibility and supply chain
risks for providing turnkey solutions. You have been asked to track these risks using a risk
burndown graph. Ideally, what will you be hoping to see on the top line of that graph?

A. A steep downward trend early in the project

B. A steady, consistent upward trend
C. A steep upward trend early in the project
D. A steady, consistent downward trend

[Exam Topic 33: Risk Burndown Graphs] Since the top line of a risk burndown graph shows
the project’s risk profile, when that line moves downward, it means that the project’s
cumulative risk is being reduced. So we ideally want to see a sharp downward trend as
early as possible in the project, to show that the project risks are being rapidly resolved.
Minimizing risk early is one of the ways that agile teams maximize value, as reflected in the
agile value proposition.
Question 41

What isn’t one of the key practices recommended for XP teams?

A. Pair programming
B. Small releases
C. Co-located teams
D. Planning games

[Exam Topic 50: XP] It’s true that co-location is recommended for agile teams, including
XP teams. So from a general agile perspective, all of these answers are correct. However,
you should be able recognize that the other three options are all core practices of XP,
and that "co-located teams" is not. That is the best answer to select, since the other
answers address the question more specifically.
Question 42

After a first year that saw a lot of struggle and conflict, the agile team you’re leading finally appears
to have hit their stride. It seems all you have to do is show them a target and they get it done.
You breathe a big sigh of relief, and start focusing on more pressing issues. But then you start to
wonder if there’s something else you should be doing to help them stay on track. What would be
most helpful now?

A. Schedule quarterly performance reviews to give each team member specific

feedback about how they can improve.
B. Take them to lunch to let them know their hard work is appreciated.
C. Trust them to get the work done, but watch to make sure they don’t slip back into
conflict.
D. There’s nothing else you need to do; once a team becomes self-directing it’s fine to
turn your attention elsewhere.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 44: Tuckman Model of Team Development] Once a
team reaches the Performing stage, the team members become mostly self-supporting
and self-directing. They don’t need careful monitoring or frequent performance reviews.
But it isn’t true that they don’t need anything. To keep them motivated and happy, it
would be a great idea to meet with them periodically to let them know how much their
hard work is appreciated.
Question 43

Cory, the team coach, has communicated to the team what work will need to be completed in the
next iteration; now they just need to figure out how to get it done. How would you describe this
scenario?

A. The iteration planning process is proceeding smoothly.

B. Cory is overstepping his role.
C. Cory is taking over the product owner’s responsibilities.
D. The team should claim more responsibility for planning in their next retrospective.

[Exam Topic 17: Iteration Planning] During iteration planning, the team decides how
many of the top-priority items in the backlog can be completed in the next iteration
timebox, based on the product owner’s backlog priorities. So this team coach is
overstepping his role, since the amount of work that can be completed in the next
iteration is decided by the team collaboratively, not dictated to them. While this team
isn’t doing their own planning, from this scenario we can’t tell if the problem is that they
aren’t taking responsibility for planning. Maybe Cory doesn’t have a good understanding
of his role and isn’t giving them a chance to plan their own work.
Question 44

As a Scrum-Master, you’ve been advocating that your firm adopt agile methods for some time.
Finally, your efforts pay off—a Scrum approach has just been approved for your next project.
While congratulating you on this achievement, the CEO says, "Of course, the usual Scrum
practices will need to be tailored for our company before your team begins work." How do you
respond to him?

A. Absolutely. Customizing our Scrum practices upfront will streamline the adoption
process.
B. Sure, that will be a good learning opportunity for the team, since they haven’t used
Scrum before.
C. We’re not ready for that yet. We should wait until we see where the team runs into
difficulties.
D. That wouldn’t be a good idea. The team should start by using the standard
Scrum practices.

[Exam Topic 28: Process Tailoring] The CEO’s plan wouldn’t be a good idea. A team
needs to master and fully understand their agile practices before attempting to customize
them. If you change the practices first and then encounter problems, you won’t be able
to tell if those problems are due to the changes you made or other causes. You also don’t
want to tailor your processes just because the team is running into difficulties.
Question 45

Carlo is the product owner of a creative app that turns cell phone photos into a pattern of fractal and
geometric shapes that can be colored in. He’s having difficulty explaining his vision to the
development team. Instead of listening, they just talk about feature extraction and edge
detection models. How can Carlo best communicate with the team to achieve his goals?

A. Document the product vision and circulate it to the team so they can read them
without interruption.
B. Hold a requirements workshop to explain the product vision and listen to
the team’s feedback.
C. Have a one-on-one conversation with the team coach to find out why the team isn’t
understanding the vision.
D. At the next planning meeting, develop a definition of done for the product with the
team.

[Exam Topic 11: Face-to-Face Communication] In this scenario, Carlo is so passionate

about his vision that he isn’t listening to the team’s feedback, so his communication with
them only goes in one direction. The team does understand his vision—they are trying to
explain the choices they are facing to turn it into reality. What Carlo needs is a dedicated
opportunity for two-way communication where he and the team can sit down together
and listen to each other’s point of view, such as a requirements workshop. At this point it’s
too early to establish a definition of done, since the technical aspects of the product
aren’t well understood yet. The other two answer options don’t address the underlying
issue in this scenario.

Question 46

The director of marketing, Uwe, is a key stakeholder on your project to develop a new insulin pump.
One morning he stops you, the team leader, in the hallway and says, "I just saw the backlog,
and we have a problem! We need to move story 4.6A to the top of the list right away—this
feature is critical for marketing our device to health insurers." How should you respond?

A. Respond politely, and then ignore the request since Uwe shouldn’t even be seeing
the team’s backlog, never mind prioritizing it.
B. Explain that you can’t do that because agile teams develop the features that add the
most business value first.
C. Since this puts you in a tricky political situation, respond noncommittally and tell
your sponsor about the conversation.
D. Tell Uwe you will pass his request on to the product owner, who will decide
what to do about it.

[Exam Topic 46: User Story Backlog] It’s important to listen to our stakeholders, even when
we don’t agree with them. Since the backlog priorities aren’t decided by the team, the
best choice would be to tell Uwe you will convey his request to the product owner, who
will evaluate it and decide what to do. The other three answer options aren’t desirable,
since they could mean that important input isn’t brought to the product owner’s
attention. While you might assume that the sponsor will pass on any important information
to the product owner, the sponsor isn’t meant to be an intermediary between the team
and the product owner. So this conversation should be reported to the product owner,
not the sponsor.

Question 47

The project sponsor walks into the team room looking for a quick update. Which tool will tell her how
much work the team is actually getting done in each sprint?

A. Velocity chart
B. Project roadmap
C. Kanban board
D. Risk-adjusted backlog

[Exam Topic 48: Velocity] Although all the tools listed communicate some data about the
project, only the velocity chart tracks how much work is being completed in each sprint.
The roadmap shows the plan for how much work the team wanted to get done, and the
Kanban board will show what they are working on right now. The risk-adjusted backlog
isn’t an information radiator, and it is simply a list of all the work involved in the project,
ranked by priority. You can’t tell from it how much is getting done in a sprint.
Question 48

Your team is slicing their user stories. Why are they doing this?

A. To estimate the stories while planning the next release

B. To update their release roadmap based on the latest estimates
C. To size the work they plan to do in the next iteration
D. To make sure all the stories are a manageable size

[Exam Topic 30: Release Planning] "Slicing" the stories refers to dividing large user stories
into more manageable pieces that can be completed in one iteration. The other answer
options are incorrect.
Question 49

Which key agile principle or value is the reason for holding regular retrospectives?

A. People over processes

B. Inspect and adapt
C. Responding to change over following a plan
D. Face-to-face communication

Yes, that is correct. [Exam Topic 31: Retrospectives] Retrospectives are a manifestation of
Agile Manifesto principle 12, which Scrum summarizes as "inspect and adapt." (The original
wording is, "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then
tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.") While these meetings do involve people, help
the team respond to change, and promote face-to-face communication, those are not
the main reasons for holding regular retrospectives.
Question 50

When coaching an agile team, what is an important ground rule to keep in mind?

A. Make sure the team members get along well.

B. Gain the approval of each team member.
C. Try to respect each member of the team.
D. Encourage the team to partner with their managers.

[Exam Topic 43: Training, Coaching, and Mentoring] The best answer here is that a coach
should try to respect each member of the team, in alignment with the coaching goal
"Create positive regard." Gaining team approval isn’t a coaching goal; some coaching
decisions or interventions might not be popular with everyone. A coach can’t control
whether the team members like each other; on any team there will be some people who
just don’t get along. Finally, the coaching guidelines refer to the coach, not the team
members, partnering with functional managers to make sure their contributions to the
project are recognized. (We assume the team members already have relationships with
their managers.)
Question 51

You’ve worked in software development for years and have now volunteered to lead the agile
adoption effort of a local nonprofit organization that coordinates volunteers at food banks. The
leaders of the organization are completely unfamiliar with agile but are eager to learn. You take
the PMI-ACP exam to evaluate whether to include exam preparation in the agile training program
you’re planning for them. What do you conclude?

A. The exam tests basic ideas applied to sophisticated scenarios.

B. The exam tests technical details on simple projects.
C. The exam tests basic concepts in a holistic way.
D. The exam tests basic information in a realistic test environment.

No, that is incorrect. [Exam Topic 43: Training, Coaching, and Mentoring] The best answer
here is that a coach should try to respect each member of the team, in alignment with
the coaching goal "Create positive regard." Gaining team approval isn’t a coaching
goal; some coaching decisions or interventions might not be popular with everyone. A
coach can’t control whether the team members like each other; on any team there will
be some people who just don’t get along. Finally, the coaching guidelines refer to the
coach, not the team members, partnering with functional managers to make sure their
contributions to the project are recognized. (We assume the team members already have
relationships with their managers.)