PeopleCert DevOps-Foundation - PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Exam

One of the core DevOps values is aligning IT efforts with business objectives—understanding the business “why.” The Foundation syllabus highlights the need for IT to understand the organization's purpose, cause, and belief. Without this, IT can’t effectively support value delivery or drive digital transformation. Understanding the organizational “why” connects daily activities to strategic objectives, a key DevOps mindset.

In DevOps, success depends on collaboration betweenall key stakeholdersacross the software delivery value stream. This includes:

Software Engineers & Operations Teams: Responsible for designing, building, deploying, and maintaining applications and services.

Business Representatives: Define requirements, prioritize work, and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Security and QA Testers: Ensure that quality, compliance, and security are built into the delivery pipeline from the start (shift-left approach).

PeopleCert emphasizes the idea of “BizDevOps” and “DevSecOps,” highlighting the need for business, development, operations, and security to work as an integrated team. The removal of silos and the inclusion of all perspectives ensure that value is delivered faster and more reliably, while maintaining quality and compliance.

Choosing only one group would miss the cross-functional nature of DevOps. Hence, the correct answer isD – All of the Above.

Wait Timeis the time work spends waiting between process steps—wasted, non-value-added time.

Mathematically,Wait Time = Lead Time – Cycle Time

Lead Time:Time from work request to delivery.

Cycle Time:Time spent actively working on the item.

Why is this important in DevOps?

Identifying and reducing wait time (waste) is central to Lean/DevOps, directly improving flow and reducing delays.

Extract-style reference:

“Wait time is calculated as the difference between lead time and cycle time—highlighting bottlenecks in the value stream.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Wait time is a core Lean concept for optimizing flow.

Agile funding is flexible and adapts to the iterative, incremental nature of Agile and DevOps projects.

It can be fixed cost for some work, continuous cost for ongoing value streams, and is reviewed frequently to align with evolving priorities.

All three characteristics are true, so D (“All of the Above”) is correct.

Extract-style reference:

“Agile funding models support continuous review and adaptation, providing the flexibility required for digital transformation and DevOps ways of working.”

— Project to Product, Mik Kersten

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Advocates funding models that encourage agility, experimentation, and rapid value delivery.

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 emphasizes thatthere is no single “ideal” team structurefor DevOps. The optimal structure depends on organizational size, maturity, product complexity, and culture.

While cross-functional teams (as described inAandC) are common in mature DevOps environments, and temporary tiger teams (B) may be used for rapid initiatives, the key is flexibility. Some organizations integrate DevOps practices into existing teams, while others create dedicated platform teams, guilds, or enablement teams.

The focus should be onremoving silos, fostering collaboration, and aligning around value streams—not adhering to a rigid structure.

ADevOps toolchainis an integrated set of tools that supports the entire software delivery lifecycle—planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, and monitoring. Regardless of whether tools are open source or proprietary, their ability to work together depends onApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs).

APIs define how different software components communicate and exchange data. In a DevOps context, APIs enable:

Automation by allowing tools to trigger actions in other tools

Data flow between systems (e.g., CI pipelines updating ticketing systems)

Integration across heterogeneous environments

A(open source applications) is about licensing, not integration.B(containers) package and run applications consistently but do not inherently integrate tools.D(microservices) is an architectural style for applications, not the integration mechanism between delivery tools.

Therefore,C—APIs—are essential for efficient, effective toolchain integration.

ChatOpsis the DevOps practice of using chat platforms (like Slack, Teams, Mattermost) as the central interface for communication, collaboration, and even automated deployment or support tasks.

It encourages “conversation-driven development, delivery, and support,” making processes transparent and collaborative.

Second Way(A) is about feedback loops, but not specifically conversational platforms.

Communication Platforms(C) is a generic term.

VisOps(D) is not a standard DevOps term.

Extract-style reference:

“ChatOps is a collaboration model that connects people, tools, process, and automation into a transparent workflow. Teams communicate and execute commands from a central chat client.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert Foundation v3.6: ChatOps promotes rapid feedback and a culture of sharing.

When work is delayed due to resource availability or local optimizations causing global degradation, the issue relates toThe First Way—maximizing flow from left to right.

Organizations should analyze and remove bottlenecks in the delivery pipeline (e.g., in testing).

Extract-style reference:

“Optimizing the flow of work requires eliminating bottlenecks, delays, and handoffs that slow the movement of changes from development to operations.”

—The Phoenix Project

DevOps Foundation courseware discusses value stream mapping and the First Way as critical tools for diagnosing and correcting such issues.

When teams have experienced frequent top-down mandates without adequate involvement, they may feel change fatigue and resist new initiatives. PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 emphasizes the importance ofengagement and empowermentto build buy-in and ownership for DevOps transformation.

Empowering people means involving them in decisions, encouraging contribution of their ideas, and making them active participants in shaping the DevOps adoption plan. This approach builds trust, reduces resistance, and taps into collective knowledge, leading to solutions that are practical and widely accepted.

OptionsA,B, andCcan support DevOps adoption but do not address the root cause of low enthusiasm—lack of involvement. Empowerment fosters intrinsic motivation, which is essential for sustained cultural change.

Thus,Dis the most effective choice.

According to PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6, the five primary values that guide successful DevOps adoption are summarized in theCALMSframework:Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement, and Sharing.

Culturefocuses on breaking down silos, encouraging trust, and promoting collaboration between development, operations, security, QA, and business teams.

Automationis essential for speeding up delivery, reducing manual errors, and ensuring repeatability across the software delivery lifecycle.

Leanemphasizes the elimination of waste, limiting work in progress (WIP), and improving flow.

Measurementmeans using metrics and data to inform decisions, identify bottlenecks, and drive continuous improvement.

Sharingfosters transparency, knowledge transfer, and a unified approach to goals and problem-solving.

Option A replaces automation and lean principles with softer collaboration aspects, which are important but not recognized as the formal value set. Option C replaces “Measurement” with “Metrics,” which is only a part of measurement. Option D substitutes “Accountability” for “Automation,” which is not part of the CALMS model.

Therefore, the official correct set of values per the DevOps Foundation syllabus isB.