Free Practice Questions for Scaled Agile SAFe-DevOps Exam

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."1 Therefore, WSJF helps teams prioritize their backlog items for continuous delivery.

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."1 Therefore, it is recommended to use short-lived feature branches and merge them frequently into the trunk/main branch.

The primary benefit of value stream mapping is that it provides insight into organizational efficiency and value flow. Value stream mapping is a lean technique to analyze, design, and manage the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a customer. It uses a system of standard symbols to depict various work streams and information flows, and to identify value-adding and non-value-adding activities. Value stream mapping helps the organization to gain insight into the current state of the delivery process, such as the lead time, cycle time, throughput, quality, and waste. This insight can help the organization identify bottlenecks, dependencies, handoffs, delays, and inefficiencies that affect the flow of value. Value stream mapping also helps the organization understand how the flow of value can be improved by applying the principles and practices of DevOps, such as culture, automation, lean flow, measurement, and recovery. By improving the flow of value, the organization can increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance business agility

One practice that prevents configuration drift between production and non-production environments is immutable infrastructure. Immutable infrastructure is a management approach for infrastructure resources where changes are made by deploying new versions of resources instead of modifying existing ones. In this approach, the infrastructure is treated as an immutable asset that is built, deployed, and disposed of, rather than modified in place. For example, instead of modifying an existing virtual machine (VM), a new VM with updated configurations and software is deployed, and the old VM is disposed of. This approach eliminates the possibility of configuration drift and reduces the risk of introducing unintended changes to the infrastructure. Immutable infrastructure also simplifies the management of infrastructure resources, increases the reliability and security of the infrastructure, and facilitates rapid and consistent deployment

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, one of the top advantages of mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline is to achieve a collective understanding and consensus around problems. Mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline is a technique that helps teams visualize and analyze their current processes, practices, and performance. Mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline enables teams to identify pain points, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. Mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline also fosters collaboration, communication, and alignment among team members and stakeholders. By mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline, teams can gain a shared vision of their current situation, challenges, and goals. This can help them to reach a collective understanding and consensus around problems that need to be solved or opportunities that need to be pursued. Therefore, mapping the current state of the delivery pipeline is an advantage that can improve team cohesion and decision making.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, Features are prioritized in the ART Backlog in the Synthesize activity of Continuous Exploration. This activity involves creating Solution hypotheses based on customer needs and market research, and then selecting the most promising ones to be implemented in the ART Backlog. The handbook states that "Synthesize is the activity of creating Solution hypotheses based on customer needs and market research, and then selecting the most promising ones to be implemented in the ART Backlog."1 Therefore, Synthesize is where Features are prioritized for continuous delivery.

In addition to Continuous Integration, two other aspects of the CDP are Continuous Deployment and Continuous Exploration. Continuous Deployment automates the migration of new functionality from a staging environment to production, where it is made available for release. Continuous Deployment enables the ability to release value at any time, in a sustainable way. Continuous Exploration focuses on creating alignment on what needs to be built, using design thinking and hypothesis-driven development. Continuous Exploration enables the discovery of the most valuable solutions for the customers and the enterprise

The correct answer is B. Compile. The Build activity of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline is responsible for creating deployable binaries and merging development branches into the trunk. The Build activity includes the following practices:

Compile – Compile is the process of transforming the source code into executable code that can run on a specific platform or environment. Compile involves checking the syntax, semantics, and dependencies of the code, and resolving any errors or conflicts. Compile also involves linking the code with other libraries or components that are required for the functionality of the solution.

Package – Package is the process of bundling the compiled code and other resources into a format that can be easily deployed to the target environment. Package involves creating archives, containers, or installers that contain the necessary files and metadata for the deployment process. Package also involves applying versioning and configuration information to the packages, to ensure traceability and consistency.

Verify – Verify is the process of ensuring that the code and packages meet the quality standards and security checks, and that they are ready for deployment and release. Verify involves applying automated tools and processes, such as static code analysis, code coverage, code review, and code quality metrics, to detect and resolve any issues or vulnerabilities in the code and packages. Verify also involves ensuring compliance with the coding standards and guidelines, and documenting the results and feedback of the verification process12

The %C&A metric measures the percent of time downstream customers receive work that is usable as-is in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. The %C&A metric is a measure of the quality of the work output from a process step. It indicates the percentage of time that the downstream customers receive work that is acceptable as is, without any rework or errors. To calculate the %C&A metric, the people responsible for the next step need to inspect the work output from the previous step and determine whether it meets the quality standards and expectations. They also need to provide feedback to the previous step on the defects or issues they find and how they affect the value stream. By measuring the %C&A metric, the enterprise can gain insight into the current state of the delivery process, such as the lead time, cycle time, throughput, quality, and waste. This insight can help the enterprise identify bottlenecks, dependencies, handoffs, delays, and inefficiencies that affect the flow of value. The %C&A metric can also help the enterprise understand how the flow of value can be improved by applying the principles and practices of DevOps, such as culture, automation, lean flow, measurement, and recovery. By improving the %C&A metric, the enterprise can increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance business agility