Agile Interview Questions and Answers

Question 1 : What is the difference between burn-up and burn-down charts?
Answer : Burn-up and burn-down charts are used to keep track of the progress of the project.
Burn-up charts represent how much work has been completed in any project whereas Burn-down chart represents the remaining work in a project.

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Question 2 : Define the roles in Scrum?
Answer :
There are mainly three roles that a Scrum team have:

  1. The project Owner has the responsibility of managing the product backlog. Works with end-users and customers and provides proper requirements to the team to build the proper product.
  2. Scrum Master Works with the scrum team to make sure each sprint gets completed on time. Scrum master ensures proper workflow for the team.
  3. Scrum Team: Each member of the team should be self-organized, dedicated, and responsible for the high quality of the work.

Question 3 : What is Product Backlog & Sprint Backlog?
Answer : The Product backlog is maintained by the project owner which contains every feature and requirement of the product.
Sprint backlog can be treated as the subset of product backlog which contains features and requirements related to that particular sprint only.

Question 4 : Explain Velocity in Agile.
Answer : Velocity in Agile is a metric that is calculated by the addition of all efforts estimates associated with user stories completed in an iteration. It predicts how much work Agile can complete in a sprint and how much time will it require to complete a project.

Question 5 : Explain the difference between a traditional Waterfall model and Agile testing?
Answer : Agile testing is done parallel to the development activity whereas a traditional waterfall model testing is done at the end of the development.
As done in parallel, agile testing is done on small features whereas, in a waterfall model, testing is performed on the whole application.

Question 6 : Explain Pair Programming and its benefits?
Answer : Pair programming is a technique in which two programmer works as a team in which one programmer writes code and other one reviews that code. They both can switch their roles.
Benefits:

  • Improved code quality: As the second partner reviews the code simultaneously, it reduces the chances of mistake.
  • Knowledge transfer is easy: One experienced partner can teach another partner about the techniques and codes.

Question 7 : What is Re-factoring?
Answer : Modification of the code without changing its functionality to improve the performance is called Re-factoring.

Question 8 : Explain the Iterative and Incremental Development in Agile?
Answer :
Iterative Development: Software is developed and delivered to the customer and based on the feedback again developed in cycles or releases and sprints. Example: Release 1 software is developed in 5 sprints and delivered to the customer. Now, the customer wants some changes, then the development team plan for 2nd release which can be completed in some sprints and so on.
Incremental Development: Software is developed in parts or increments. In each increment, a portion of the complete requirement is delivered.

Question 9 : How do you deal when requirements change frequently?
Answer : This question is to test the analytical capability of the candidate.
The answer can be: Work with PO to understand the exact requirement to update test cases. Also, understand the risk of changing the requirement. Apart from this, one should be able to write a generic test plan and test cases. Don’t go for the automation until requirements are finalized.

Question 10 : What qualities should a good Agile tester have?
Answer :

  • He should be able to understand the requirements quickly.
  • He should know Agile concepts and principals.
  • As requirements keep changing, he should understand the risk involved in it.
  • The agile tester should be able to prioritize the work based on the requirements.
  • Communication is a must for an Agile tester as it requires a lot of communication with developers and business associates.

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Question 11 : Explain Velocity in Agile?
Answer : Velocity is a metric that is calculated by addition of all efforts estimates associated with user stories completed in an iteration. It predicts how much work Agile can complete in a sprint and how much time will require to complete a project.

Question 12 : What is re-factoring?
Answer : Modification of the code without changing its functionality to improve the performance is called re-factoring.

Question 13 : What are the principles of agile testing?
Answer : Some major principles of agile testing are:

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Bug-free clean code
  • Changes are welcome by customer
  • Whole team business people and developers work collectively
  • Instead of lengthy documentation, focus on the essence
  • It focuses on face to face conversation
  • It promotes sustainable development

Question 14 : When to use agile model?
Answer : There are some development and methodologies where you can use agile like feature-driven development, lean software development, crystal methodologies, dynamic development.

Question 15 : What qualities should a good Agile tester have?
Answer :

  1. Agile tester should be able to understand the requirements quickly.
  2. Agile tester should know Agile concepts and principals.
  3. As requirements keep changing, he should understand the risk involved in it.
  4. Agile tester should be able to prioritize the work based on the requirements.
  5. Communication is must for an Agile tester as it requires a lot of communication with developers and business associates.

Question 16 : In what way does agile testing(development) methodology differ from the other testing(development) methodologies?
Answer : In Agile methodology, the code is broken into small parts and at a time, only that particular code is worked or tested. Continuous communication on the particular code part is done by a team so that the focus is only on that particular code. This makes the agile process more flexible and focused.

Question 17 : What is a Taskboard in Agile?
Answer : Task board is a dashboard which shows the progress of the project. It contains:

  1. User Story: which has the actual business requirement.
  2. To Do: Tasks that can be worked on.
  3. In Progress: Tasks in progress.
  4. To Verify: Tasks pending for verification or testing
  5. Done: Completed tasks.

Question 18 : How do you know if you are using agile development?
Answer : 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… you will get to know that you are using agile development.

Question 19 : Explain the Iterative and Incremental Development in Agile?
Answer : Iterative Development: Software is developed and delivered to customer and based on the feedback again developed in cycles or release and sprints. Say in Release 1 software is developed in 5 sprints and delivered to customer. Now customer wants some changes, then development team plan for 2nd release which can be completed in some sprints and so on.
Incremental Development: Software is developed in parts or increments. In each increment, a portion of the complete requirement is delivered.

Question 20 : Explain what is a story point in the scrum?
Answer : It can be considered as a unit to estimate the total efforts required to complete or to do the particular task or implementing a backlog.

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Question 21 : What is Sprint Retrospective meeting?
Answer : This is mostly the last part of the sprint or may be done after a sprint review meeting. ScrumMaster and the whole team participate in it, they discuss ‘ what was good during the sprint’,’ what was bad’,’ what needs to be improved’. It generally lasts for 2-3 hrs.

Question 22 : Describe the places where ‘Scrum’ and ‘Kanban’ are used?
Answer : ‘Scrum’ is used when you need to shift towards more appropriate or more prominent process while if you want improvement in running the process without much changes in the whole scenario, you should use ‘Kanban’

Question 23 : What are the principles of Agile Software Development?
Answer :

  1. Highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of business valuable software
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
  3. Deliver working software frequently
  4. Business people and developers must work together with transparency on daily basis throughout the project
  5. Build projects around motivated individuals
  6. The best form of communication is to do face-to-face conversation
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress
  8. Able to maintain a constant pace
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence
  10. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential
  11. Self-organizing teams
  12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly

Question 24 : How is Agile Testing different from other traditional Software Development Models?
Answer : It is one of the common Agile Testing Interview Questions.
In Agile Methodology, testing is not a phase like other traditional models. It is an activity parallel to development in the Agile. The time slot for the testing is less in the Agile compared to the traditional models. The testing team works on small features in Agile whereas the test team works on a complete application after development in the traditional models.

Question 25 : Which are the top agile matrices?
Answer :
1) Velocity: – Tracking your velocity gives you the clear idea about your progress, capacity etc. Measurement can be done by the sum of all approved estimates of the stories.

2) Work category allocation: –  This factor provides us a clear idea about where we are investing our time or where to set priority.

3) Defect removal awareness: – Quality product can be delivered by active members and their awareness

4) Cumulative flow diagram: – With the help of this flow diagram, the uniform workflow can be checked, where X-axis shows time and Y-axis shows no.  of efforts.

5) Sprint burndown matric: – Tracking on the completion of work along with the sprint is done.

6) A business value delivered: -Business value delivered is an entity which shows the team’s working efficiency. This method is used to measure, in which around 100 points are associated with each project. Business objectives are given value from 1,2,3,5 and so on according to complexity, urgency, and ROI.

7) Defect resolution time: – It’s a process where team member detects the bug and priority intention by the removal of error.

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

8) Time coverage:- Amount of time given to a code in question in testing. It is measured by the ratio of no.  of line of code called by test suite by total no.  of the relative lines of code (in percentage)

Question 26 : When do we use Agile Scrum Methodology?
Answer :
i. When the client is not so clear on requirements
ii. When the client expects quick releases
iii. When the client doesn’t give all the requirements at a time

Question 27 : What are Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog?
Answer : Product Backlog: Product Backlog is a repository where the list of Product Backlog Items stored and maintained by the Product Owner. The list of Product Backlog Items are prioritized by the Product Owner as high and low and also could re-prioritize the product backlog constantly.
Sprint Backlog: Group of user stories which scrum development team agreed to do during the current sprint (Committed Product Backlog items). It is a subset of the product backlog.

Question 28 : What is the difference between Burn-up and Burn-down chart?
Answer : Burn Down Charts provide proof that the project is on track or not. Both burn-up and burn-down charts are graphs used to track the progress of a project.
Burn-up charts represent how much work has been completed in a project whereas Burn-down chart represents the remaining work left in a project

Question 29 : What is Release Burndown Chart?
Answer : A graph which shows List of releases still pending, which Scrum Team have planned.

Question 30 : How long the scrum cycle last?
Answer : Basically, Scrum cycle depends on the project size and the team size. Team size may vary from 3 members to 9 members.  Normally it takes 3 to 4 weeks to complete a scrum sprint. On an average, a scrum sprint ends in 4 weeks.

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Question 31 : What are impediments?
Answer : Any hindrance which prevents the smooth flow of work or due to which the team is not able to perform its task in a better way is what we call ‘impediments’

Question 32 : What are the disadvantages of the agile model?
Answer : Some of the disadvantages of using agile model are as follows:
a) Not easy to predict: When you encounter a large project, it is not easy to get an idea of how much effort will it need
b) If the guidelines given by the customers is not properly grasped, then the final outcome of the project is not customer satisfying
c) Sometimes focusing on design and documentation is not proper
d) High-level decisions are under the hand of Veterans, if not combined with non-experienced one, freshers have little scope to grasp proper knowledge.

Question 33 : Can agile methodology also be applied in other than software testing and development projects?
Answer : There are several places where agile methodology can be applied in the field of biochemistry, biophysics, bio-medical 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.

Question 34 : What are the main roles in the scrum?
Answer :
1) Scrum team: – scrum team is made by an individual person who works collectively to achieve a particular task. The team works in a bond to deliver committed and requested product

2) Scrum master: – scrum master is responsible for the proper execution or working of the scrum team. Being a servant – leader and a coach, he ensures the proper productivity of a team towards scrum an sprint goal.

3) Product owner: – the product owner has the responsibility to deliver a complete picture of what to build and to convey that idea to the team

Question 35 : What is Agile Testing?
Answer : Agile Testing is a practice that a QA follows in a dynamic environment where testing requirements keep changing according to the customer needs. It is done parallel to the development activity where the testing team receives frequent small codes from the development team for testing.