Scaled Agile SAFe-DevOps Practice Exam Questions & Answers

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, Lean UX is used in Continuous Exploration to create a platform to continuously explore. Continuous Exploration is the process of creating alignment on what needs to be built, synthesizing Solution ideas into ART Backlog Features, and utilizing WSJF to prioritize a DevOps backlog. Lean UX is a team-based approach to building better products by focusing less on the theoretically ideal design and more on iterative learning, overall user experience, and customer outcomes. Lean UX design extends the traditional UX role beyond merely executing design elements and anticipating how users might interact with a system. Instead, it encourages a far more comprehensive view of why a Feature exists, the functionality required to implement it, and the benefits it delivers. By getting immediate feedback to understand if the system will meet the fundamental business objectives, Lean UX provides a closed-loop method for defining and measuring value. Therefore, Lean UX is used in Continuous Exploration to create a platform that enables teams to experiment with different hypotheses, validate their assumptions, and learn from their failures.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is applied to backlogs to identify relative economic value. This means that the WSJF algorithm uses factors such as user and business value, time criticality, risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement, and job size to rank the jobs in the backlog based on their economic benefit.The handbook states that 'WSJF is estimated as the relative cost of delay divided by the relative job duration.'1Therefore, WSJF helps teams prioritize their backlog items for continuous delivery.

Culture is a core DevOps principle. DevOps is not only a set of technical practices, but also a mindset and a culture that supports the integration, automation, and collaboration needed to effectively develop and operate a solution. DevOps culture is based on the following values and behaviors:

Shared responsibility -- DevOps culture fosters a sense of shared ownership and accountability for the entire solution lifecycle, from ideation to operation. Development and operations teams work together, not only to help each other, but also to ensure that the overall organization succeeds. DevOps culture eliminates the blame game and the silo mentality, and encourages mutual trust and respect among all stakeholders.

Continuous learning -- DevOps culture promotes a culture of continuous learning and improvement, where teams are constantly seeking feedback, experimenting with new ideas, and learning from failures. DevOps culture embraces a growth mindset, where teams are not afraid to try new things, challenge the status quo, and learn from their mistakes. DevOps culture also supports a learning organization, where teams share their knowledge and best practices, and leverage the collective intelligence of the whole enterprise.

Customer focus -- DevOps culture emphasizes the importance of delivering value to the customer, and aligning the solution to the customer needs and expectations. DevOps culture applies customer-centric and design thinking approaches, such as personas, empathy maps, and customer journeys, to understand and empathize with the customer problems and desires. DevOps culture also validates the assumptions and hypotheses about the customer value proposition, by collecting and analyzing data and feedback from the customer.

Automation -- DevOps culture leverages automation to improve the efficiency, quality, and reliability of the solution delivery process. DevOps culture applies automation to various aspects of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline, such as testing, integration, deployment, monitoring, and security.DevOps culture also uses automation to reduce manual work, eliminate human errors, and accelerate feedback loops5

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, working in isolation on long-lived code branches can have negative consequences for the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. This includes making the trunk/main branch less stable and more prone to conflicts and errors.The handbook states that 'Working in isolation on long-lived code branches can make the trunk/main branch less stable and more prone to conflicts and errors.'1Therefore, it is recommended to use short-lived feature branches and merge them frequently into the trunk/main branch.

Two areas that should be monitored in the Release on Demand aspect to support DevOps and Continuous Delivery are the build status and the deployment cycle time. The build status is the measure of whether the code and components can be successfully compiled, linked, packaged, and verified into deployable binaries. The build status indicates the quality and consistency of the code and the readiness for deployment. Monitoring the build status helps to support the Release on Demand aspect in SAFe by providing valuable information for the following purposes:

To identify and fix any errors or defects that may prevent the code from being deployed or released

To ensure that the code meets the quality standards and security checks, such as static code analysis, code coverage, and code review

To verify that the code and components are integrated and merged correctly into the trunk

To track the progress and status of the features and capabilities that are being developed and delivered

The deployment cycle time is the measure of how long it takes to deploy the code and components from the source control system to the production environment. The deployment cycle time indicates the efficiency and reliability of the deployment process and the speed of delivery. Monitoring the deployment cycle time helps to support the Release on Demand aspect in SAFe by providing valuable information for the following purposes:

To optimize the deployment process and reduce the lead time and variability

To automate the deployment process and eliminate manual steps and errors

To align the deployment process with the market demand and release strategy

To evaluate the impact and value of the deployed features and capabilities7

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, when prioritizing improvement items, the steps with short Active Time and high %C&A in the future-state map should be the main focus. Active Time is the amount of time a step spends on performing work, while %C&A is the percentage of capacity utilization of a step. The future-state map shows how the Value Stream will look like after implementing improvements, based on customer feedback and business value. The improvement items are ranked by their impact on flow efficiency, customer satisfaction, and business agility. The steps with short Active Time and high %C&A in the future-state map indicate that they are bottlenecks or waste sources that need to be eliminated or reduced as soon as possible. Therefore, they should be prioritized for improvement actions.