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Explain Little's Law and its application in Kanban
Tests your grasp of flow metrics beyond the formula. A great answer defines the law (Lead Time = WIP / Throughput), explains the trade-offs (e.g., more WIP increases lead time), and shows how to set WIP limits.
What is the purpose of a WIP limit in Kanban?
Tests understanding of Kanban flow optimization. A good answer explains that WIP limits force task completion, which improves flow, reduces context switching, and exposes bottlenecks. A red flag is describing it only as a way to prevent team burnout.
How would you use a spike to de-risk a story?
Tests your use of Agile spikes for de-risking, not for building features. A good answer defines the goal, sets a strict time-box, and clarifies the deliverable is knowledge (e.g., a POC), not production code. A red flag is merging spike code into main.
Sprint Review vs. Retrospective: Purpose and Participants
This tests your understanding of Scrum's dual feedback loops for product versus process. A great answer defines Review as inspecting the Increment with stakeholders, and Retrospective as inspecting the team's process without them.
Explain story points vs. time-based estimation.
This tests your grasp of Agile philosophy. A good answer defines points as relative effort (complexity, volume, risk), contrasts this with the pitfalls of time, and links it to predictable team velocity. A red flag is mapping points directly to hours.
Explain backlog refinement: purpose, participants, and outcomes
Tests your grasp of continuous planning for predictability. A good answer defines the purpose (clarify, estimate, prioritize), participants (whole team + PO), and outcomes (a 'Ready' backlog). A red flag is describing it as a one-off pre-sprint meeting.
How do you resolve a heated technical debate between two developers?
Tests your ability to facilitate conflict, moving a team from argument to a structured decision. A great answer involves de-escalating, using a technique like conflict mapping to understand the core issue, and guiding the team to a resolution.
Trade-offs: Product-Based vs. Project-Based Teams
This tests your grasp of how funding models impact team ownership and code quality. Contrast project (temporary, build-only) vs. product (durable, continuous) teams, linking the latter to better knowledge retention and architecture.
How would you apply Conway's Law to design team structures?
This tests applying organizational theory to technical strategy. A great answer defines the law, explains the 'Inverse Conway Maneuver' by structuring teams around business capabilities, and avoids imposing an architecture without changing team structure…
Why is team velocity a poor KPI for agile success?
Tests your grasp of agile principles and Goodhart's Law. Explain velocity is for forecasting, not performance. Detail dysfunctions like point inflation and ignoring quality. Propose outcome-focused alternatives like cycle time.
SAFe vs. LeSS: Planning, Dependencies, and Autonomy
Tests your grasp of the trade-offs between coordination and autonomy in scaling frameworks. A good answer contrasts SAFe's top-down PI Planning with LeSS's bottom-up, team-focused approach.
Feature teams vs. component teams: pros and cons?
Tests your grasp of how team structure impacts value delivery. Define feature (vertical slice) and component (horizontal) teams. Contrast speed vs. reusability. Red flag: Calling one 'good' and the other 'bad' without discussing trade-offs.
How do you manage performance in a self-organizing team?
This tests your ability to shift from individual performance management to fostering team-based career development. A great answer reframes the goal, uses frequent 1-on-1s for coaching, and decouples raises from feedback.
How can developers partner with the Product Owner in backlog refinement?
This tests your understanding of the developer's role in maximizing value, not just executing tasks. A great answer covers questioning the 'why,' suggesting technical alternatives to meet business goals, helping split stories, and providing realistic sizing.
Decomposing a Monolith: Technical Strategy
This tests your ability to create a practical, phased migration strategy from monolith to microservices. A strong answer defines service boundaries via Bounded Contexts, manages data with events, and uses an API Gateway for contracts.
How would you handle a SAFe rule that hinders agility?
Tests your ability to pragmatically adapt process instead of just complaining. A great answer identifies a specific SAFe rule, explains how it can backfire, and proposes a concrete alternative that still achieves the original goal.
Estimating Cross-Team Initiatives in PI Planning
This tests your ability to lead multi-team estimation. A good answer covers decomposing work, bottom-up team estimates, mapping dependencies, and synthesizing a risk-assessed plan. A red flag is a single top-down estimate that ignores team capacity.
Technical Prerequisites for LeSS Feature Teams
Tests if you can link agile structure to technical architecture. A great answer covers codebase design for shared ownership, a fast CI pipeline for frequent integration, and a robust automated testing strategy.
What is the purpose of a shared 'Definition of Done'?
Tests your ability to ensure quality and transparency across multiple teams. A shared 'Definition of Done' is a formal description of quality for the integrated Increment. It ensures all work is combinable and shippable.
What is a Scrum of Scrums, and what do you share there?
Tests your understanding of scaling agile and representing your team's technical risks. A good answer defines it as a coordination meeting, not a status report, and focuses on sharing/receiving info on cross-team dependencies and blockers.