PMI DASM - Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) Exam

In Disciplined Agile (DA), theTeam Memberrole is primarily responsible for building the product correctly. Team Members are the individuals who directly create the product by writing code, testing, designing, and performing other tasks necessary to deliver a working solution. The Architecture Owner may guide architectural decisions, and the Team Lead may facilitate processes, but it is the Team Members who actively build the product and ensure it meets the required standards and specifications.

The Disciplined Agile mindset includes principles that guide individuals and teams in making decisions and taking actions that align with Agile values and the specific context of their organization. Three principles of the Disciplined Agile mindset are:

B. Enterprise awareness: Encourages teams to work with an understanding of their organization’s goals, strategies, and needs, ensuring alignment and collaboration across teams and departments.

C. Delight customers: Focuses on delivering high value and exceptional service to customers, ensuring that their needs are met or exceeded.

E. Be pragmatic: Involves taking a practical and context-sensitive approach, applying tools and practices that best fit the situation rather than adhering strictly to a particular methodology.

Other options likeA. Accelerate deliveryandD. Be a servant leaderare relevant to Agile practices but are not explicitly stated as Disciplined Agile mindset principles.

Thus, the correct answers areB. Enterprise awareness,C. Delight customers, andE. Be pragmatic.

Avalue stream mapis a Lean tool that helps teams visualize the flow of work and identify waste throughout the process of delivering a product or service. The primary purpose of a value stream map is tohelp the team identify problem areas or bottlenecksin the path to realizing value. By understanding where delays, excess inventory, or unnecessary steps occur, teams can target these areas for improvement, thereby minimizing waste and optimizing the flow of value to customers.

B. Focusing on the construction phaseis not specific to minimizing waste across the entire value stream.

C. Reducing delays in the workflow processis an outcome of identifying problem areas but not the direct function of value stream mapping.

D. Applying the five Whys root cause methodis a separate Lean technique that can complement value stream mapping but is not its main purpose.

Aniteration backlog(or sprint backlog) is createdat the beginning of each sprintduring the iteration planning meeting. This backlog consists of the tasks and user stories that the team commits to completing during the iteration. The process involves selecting the highest-priority items from the product backlog and breaking them down into smaller tasks that can be completed within the sprint timeframe.

A. Planning the Kanban boarddoes not typically use an iteration backlog as Kanban is flow-based, not iteration-based.

B. At the beginning of each projectis incorrect because the backlog is created for each sprint, not the entire project.

C. When defining the MBI (Minimum Business Increment)is related to identifying the smallest unit of value delivery but is not when an iteration backlog is created.

AMinimum Viable Product (MVP)is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers andprovide feedback for future product development. The MVP approach allows organizations to test their product hypothesis with minimal effort and investment, gather valuable user feedback, and make informed decisions about further development. By delivering a basic version of the product quickly, teams can learn from real-world use, validate assumptions, and iterate on the product to better meet customer needs in subsequent versions.

In Agile, and specifically within the Disciplined Agile framework, theretrospectiveis a crucial ceremony where the team reflects on their past iteration to identify areas of improvement. The main purpose is to foster continuous improvement by focusing on how the team can better work together moving forward. It encourages open communication, self-reflection, and team accountability, aligning with the agile principles of continuous learning and adaptation.

The other options are incorrect because:

B. Organizing the product backlogis typically done during backlog refinement sessions, not retrospectives.

C. Prohibiting stakeholders from making requestsis not the purpose of a retrospective; stakeholder feedback is valuable and is usually gathered during review sessions.

D. Providing the product owner with insights into team dynamicsmay occur, but it is not the primary goal of the retrospective.

Therefore, the correct answer isA. It allows the team time to focus on how they can better work together moving forward, as it aligns with the continuous improvement objective central to Agile and Disciplined Agile practices.

In Disciplined Agile (DA), aSpecialistis considered a supporting role. Specialists are individuals with deep expertise in a specific area, such as a database administrator, security expert, or a user experience (UX) designer. They are not necessarily core members of the delivery team but can be brought in as needed to provide specific skills or knowledge that the team requires at various points throughout the project. The focus of supporting roles like Specialists is to supplement the team's capabilities and help address specific technical challenges.

In Disciplined Agile, a good Team Lead (or Scrum Master) should act as a servant leader, supporting and enabling team members to succeed. When a team member is falling behind, the appropriate response is tohave a conversation with the team member to understand what is getting in their way and work together to find solutions. This approach fosters an environment of trust and collaboration and helps to identify and remove impediments that may be affecting the team member's performance. The goal is to address the root cause of the issue and provide support, rather than assigning blame or creating discomfort.

Disciplined Agileis described as anagnostic hybrid techniquethat draws upon many different ideas from multiple agile and lean frameworks. Unlike other agile methodologies that prescribe a specific set of practices, Disciplined Agile provides a toolkit that allows teams to choose and tailor their way of working based on their unique context, goals, and constraints. It integrates strategies from Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP (Extreme Programming), SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), and other approaches, providing a more flexible and adaptive approach to project management.