What is Kanban?

Kanban is a popular Agile Software Development Methodology. It is basically a signaling device that instructs the moving of parts in a ‘pull’ production system, developed as part of the TPS (Toyota Production System). Kanban is about envisioning the existing workflow in terms of steps. These steps can be created on the whiteboard. 

The main aim of Kanban is to reduce WIP (Work-In-Progress), or inventory, between processes by ensuring the upstream process creates parts as long as its downstream process needs it. The goal of the Kanban execution is to ensure work items move to the next steps quickly to realize business value faster.

32. What is Planning Poker Technique?

Planning Poker is a fun and collaborative technique in Agile where the team estimates the effort needed for tasks. Each team member gets a set of cards with numbers representing the task’s complexity.

They all reveal their cards simultaneously, and if there’s a difference, they discuss until they agree on an estimate. This helps in getting everyone’s input and ensures a more accurate estimate for the tasks ahead.

33. What is a Sprint Planning Meeting, Sprint Review Meeting and Sprint Retrospective Meeting?

Let’s Explain each one by one

Sprint Planning Meeting:

A Sprint Planning Meeting is when the team gathers to decide what tasks they will work on during the upcoming sprint. They discuss priorities, select user stories, and create a plan for the work ahead.

Sprint Review Meeting:

A Sprint Review Meeting is a session where the team showcases the work they’ve completed during the sprint. They demonstrate new features to stakeholders, gather feedback, and discuss any adjustments needed for the next sprint.

Sprint Retrospective Meeting:

A Sprint Retrospective Meeting is when the team reflects on the recent sprint. They discuss what went well, what could be improved, and brainstorm ways to enhance their processes. It’s a time for continuous improvement and team collaboration.

34. What do you mean by the term “increment”?

In Agile, an “increment” means a small, added piece of the project. It’s like building a project little by little, and after each part is finished, you have a more complete and usable product. Each increment contributes to the overall progress, making the project grow step by step.

35. What are standard or common metrics for Agile?

Some standard agile matrices are:

• Measuring the burndown of deliverables, usually represented in burndown charts
• Velocity
• Lead time
• Cycle time
• Code quality
• Code covered in unit test
• Deployment success rate
• Net promoter score

36. What do you mean by release candidate?

In Agile software development, a “release candidate” is a version of the software that is considered a potential candidate for release to users. It signifies a stage in the development process where the software is believed to be feature-complete and stable. The release candidate undergoes rigorous testing, including functional, integration, and user acceptance testing, to identify and address any remaining issues before it can be officially released to users.

37. What does story point mean in the scrum?

In Scrum, a “story point” is a unit of measure used to estimate the relative effort or complexity of implementing a user story or a task in a product backlog. It is a way for Agile teams to express the difficulty of work items without assigning specific time durations. Story points are often assigned based on factors such as complexity, uncertainty, and effort required.

38. Mention the challenges involved in developing Agile Software?

The significant difficulties encountered when creating Agile Software include: 

• more customer interaction and testing
• management is more affected than developers
• More preparation is needed.

39. When not to Use Agile?

These are some situation where we should avoid the Use of Agile

• If your project lacks urgency, is overly complex, or involves novel and uncertain elements.
• If your team is not self-organizing and lacks experienced, professional developers.
• When your customer insists on detailed documentation for each development cycle.
• When your customer demands approvals at every stage of the development process.
• If your customer prefers traditional methodologies and is unwilling to consider Agile approaches.
• When your organization does not invest in promoting Agile practices among developers, testers, and management.

40. Explain Product Roadmap?

A product roadmap is a tool used by product managers in strategic planning to convey the goals and paths for a product’s development across time. It specifies the features, milestones, and high-level objectives that a product team hopes to accomplish within a given time frame. The purpose of the product roadmap is to allow different stakeholders, including executives, development teams, marketing, sales, and product managers, get aligned around a common plan by giving a visual representation of the product strategy.

41. What is Pair Programming, and what states its benefits?

Pair programming is a development technique in which two programmers work together at single workstation. Person who writes code is called a driver and a person who observes and navigates each line of the code is called navigator. They may switch their role frequently. 

Benefits of Pair Programming:

• Two brains are always better than one
• Detection of coding mistakes becomes easier
• Mutual learning
• Team develops better communication skills

42. How can QA add value to an agile team?

QA can be helpful by approaching the testing of a story in unique ways. They offer prompt feedback to developers about whether the new features are working well or not.

43. What is the Application Binary Interface?

Application Binary Interface (ABI) is the interface between two program modules, one of which is mostly at the machine code level. The interface is the default method for encoding/decoding data into or out of the machine code.

44. What is a tracer bullet?

A Tracer Bullet examines how an entire process works and checks if it’s practical. It’s like a test using the current structure or steps, acting as a spike.

45. What does the Term Impediment Mean?

In Agile, an impediment refers to any obstacle or barrier that hinders the progress of a team in achieving its goals. These impediments can take various forms and may include issues related to processes, communication, resources, or external dependencies. Identifying and addressing impediments promptly is crucial in Agile to ensure the smooth flow of work and to help the team deliver value efficiently.

46. What do Sprint Planning Meetings do?

A Sprint Planning Meeting occurs before the start of every sprint. That meeting defines what set of items could be developed and delivered in the upcoming sprint. Every sprint has a predefined goal and is meant to be accomplished in such a way that the sprint would culminate with a potentially shippable product increment.

During every planning meeting, a Sprint Backlog is created that has a subset of items from the original Product Backlog that the team aims to achieve and develop in the current sprint.

47. Mention the places where the Scrum and Kanban methodologies are used?

Both Kanban and Scrum are process tools that are commonly used in Agile software development. The main aim of the two is to improve efficiency in the software development processes.

48. Describe the main roles in the scrum.

A Scrum team is made up of three roles: the Scrum Master, the product owner, and the development team.

49. What does build breaker mean?

In software development, a “build breaker” refers to a code change or modification that, when integrated into the software codebase, causes the build process to fail. The “build” is the process of compiling source code and linking it to create an executable or deployable artifact. If a code change introduces errors or issues that prevent the successful completion of the build, it is termed a “build breaker.”

50. What are the essential qualities to have as a Scrum Master? 

A good Scrum Master is like a helpful guide for the team. They listen, solve problems, and make sure everyone can work well together. They lead meetings, help the team communicate, and always look for ways to make things better. Being understanding, a good communicator, and ready to learn are important qualities for a Scrum Master.

Agile Software Development is one of the most popular methodologies in the software industry, known for its flexibility, iterative approach, and focus on customer satisfaction. Agile principles include customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery, welcoming changing requirements, delivering working software frequently, and close, daily cooperation between business people and developers. Agile is widely adopted by top companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Google, Netflix, Instagram, Spotify, Amazon, and many more due to its ability to adapt to changing requirements and deliver high-quality software efficiently.

Here, we provide Top Agile Software Development Interview Questions tailored for both freshers and experienced professionals with 3, 5, and 8 years of experience. Here, we cover everything, including Agile principles, Scrum framework, Kanban, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), Agile metrics, Agile tools, and more, that will surely help you to crack Agile interviews.