Agile &amp; Scrum

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.

What is a Scrum of Scrums and what's shared there?

This tests your understanding of scaling Agile. A good answer defines it as a coordination meeting for multiple teams, focusing on sharing inter-team blockers, dependencies, and integration points, not just status.

Purpose of a shared Definition of Done for multi-team products

This tests empirical transparency across teams building one Increment. A shared DoD forces cross-team integration and testing before Sprint end. Letting teams keep separate DoDs hides integration debt and breaks transparency.

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.

Purpose of a Shared Definition of Done for Multiple Teams

This tests your ability to maintain quality and transparency across multiple teams. Explain that a shared Definition of Done ensures a consistent quality standard for a usable, integrated Increment, impacting testing by requiring integration and end-to-end…

What codebase and CI/CD prerequisites enable LeSS feature teams?

Tests technical enablers for LeSS feature teams. Strong answers cover sub-10-minute CI, trunk-based development, comprehensive test automation, and decoupled architecture. Red flag: claiming coordination replaces shared ownership and continuous integration.

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.

Technical Prerequisites for LeSS Feature Teams

This tests your grasp of the engineering practices that enable agile scaling. A great answer covers continuous integration for shared ownership, robust test automation, and a loosely coupled architecture. A red flag is focusing only on Scrum ceremonies.

How would you estimate a cross-cutting initiative in PI Planning?

Tests decomposition of cross-cutting work into team enablers with visible dependencies. Good answer: teams estimate own slices in normalized points, map dependencies on the ART board, and reserve IP buffer.

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.

intermediate3 min read

Estimating large, cross-team initiatives in PI Planning

Tests your ability to facilitate collaborative estimation. Break the initiative into features for teams to estimate, then use an ART board to map dependencies. A red flag is providing a single, top-down number without team input.

Describe a SAFe rule that hinders agility and how to mitigate it

Cite one rigid workflow pattern, show how it delays feedback, then propose a lighter cross-team substitute.

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.

How can a SAFe rule hinder agility, and how would you mitigate it?

Tests your ability to pragmatically adapt process. First, name a specific SAFe rule and a scenario where it fails. Then, propose a mitigation that still achieves the rule's original goal, like alignment. A red flag is just complaining about bureaucracy.

Decompose a monolith for scaled agile teams

Tests aligning architecture to team boundaries during incremental monolith decomposition. Cover: bounded contexts with isolated data and sagas, backward-compatible versioned APIs, and replacing shared libraries with duplicated code or versioned SDKs.

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.

Decomposing a monolith for scaled agile teams

Tests your grasp of domain-driven design and data consistency in a microservice migration. A good answer identifies bounded contexts, defines versioned APIs, and uses event-based patterns for data.

How can developers support the Product Owner in backlog refinement?

Developers surface risks, sizing, and dependencies; co-create trade-offs; and split items early.

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.