20 Important Agile Interview Questions You Must Know To Get Hired

Introduction

In Product Management, Agile software development redefines the way Product Managers think about planning and building products. Product Management enthusiasts must be well-versed in Agile methodology to perform well in Product Management job interviews. In this article, we have curated top 20 Agile Interview Questions to keep in mind while preparing for your job interview. Let’s discuss them without any further delay!

Questions Covered

  1. What kind of approach is appropriate for a tester to deal with continuously changing requirements?
  2. What are the benefits & drawbacks of Exploratory Testing & Scripted Testing?
  3. In what ways is Extreme programming different from Scrum?
  4. Define Epics, User stories & Tasks.
  5. What do you mean by Refactoring?
  6. What are the 4 Values of Agile Manifesto?
  7. Can you mention the critical difference between Sprint Backlog & Product Backlog?
  8. List the 12 Principles of Agile Manifesto.
  9. Explain the meaning & purpose of Spike & Zero Sprint in Agile.
  10. What do you mean by Test-Driven Development (TDD)?
  11. What kind of prototypes does Empirical Design use?
  12. What is Application Binary Interface?
  13. Explain Burn-up & Burn-down charts in the Agile context.
  14. Explain Scrum ban.
  15. Define Story Points.
  16. Can you explain a Tracer Bullet?
  17. What is a Test Stub?
  18. State the differences between RUP (Rational Unified Process) & Scrum methodologies.
  19. Why is Continuous Integration vital for Agile?
  20. What kind of testing takes place during Agile?

List Of Agile Interview Questions & Answers

The following Agile interview questions and answers shall help you get a better understanding of Agile methodology in a short span of time. We have included Agile testing interview questions, Agile scrum interview questions, Agile coach interview questions and more! Let’s explore this dynamic list –

  1. What kind of approach is appropriate for a tester to deal with continuously changing requirements?

An agile tester can follow the below-mentioned strategy in the case of continuously changing requirements – 

  • Formulate common test-cases focusing on the requirement’s aim instead of its distinct features.
  • Operate closely with the Product Owners or Business Analyst to understand the scope of change.
  • Discuss the risks concerned with changing requirements with the team when the Sprint ends.
  • Try to implement as minimum changes as possible through negotiation.
  • Implement changes during the next Sprint if needed.
  1. What are the benefits & drawbacks of Exploratory Testing & Scripted Testing?

Exploratory Testing

Benefits

  • Needs Less preparation
  • Easy to modify when requirement changes
  • Works well when documentation is limited

Drawbacks

  • Difficulty in presenting progress & coverage to Project Management

Scripted Testing

Benefits

  • Useful when testing against legal or regulatory requirements 

Drawbacks

  • Time-consuming test preparation
  • Repetitive testing of the same steps
  • Difficulty in modification due to change in requirements
  1.  In what ways is Extreme programming different from Scrum?
Scrum Extreme Programming
Scrum teams usually work in iterations (Sprints) with a duration that lies between two weeks to one month XP team works in iteration lasting for one or two weeks
Scrum teams restrict change in their sprints XP teams are more flexible & switch their iterations
The Product Owner prioritizes the Product Backlog. The team gets to decide the sequence to follow while developing the backlog items XP teamwork in strict priority order. The customers prioritize the developed features
Scrum does not appoint any Engineering practices XP prescribes Engineering practices
  1.  Define Epics, User stories & Tasks.
  • Epics

An Epic is a customer-specified software feature itemized in the Product Backlog. An Epic gets subdivided into User Stories.

  • User Stories

User Stories are prepared from the client’s perspective, defining project or business functions & it is delivered in a particular sprint as expected.

  • Tasks

The User Stories are broken down into different tasks

  1. What do you mean by Refactoring?

Refactoring means modifying the existing code for improved performance. It is important to note that code-functionality remains unchanged during Refactoring.

  1.  What are the 4 Values of Agile Manifesto?

The 4 Values of Agile Manifesto are –

  • Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools
  • Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation
  • Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation
  • Responding to Change Over Following a Plan
  1. Can you mention the critical difference between Sprint Backlog & Product Backlog?

Product Backlog

The Product Owner holds the Product Backlog. It contains a list of all required features.

Sprint Backlog

Created in the Sprint Planning Meeting, the Sprint Backlog is the Product Backlog’s subset. The Development Team owns it and commits to deliver it in a Sprint.

  1. List the 12 Principles of Agile Manifesto.

The 12 Principles of Agile Manifesto are –

  • Customer satisfaction using early & on-going software delivery
  • Accommodation of varying requirements during the entire development process 
  • Frequent distribution of working software
  • Collaboration among the business stakeholders & developers throughout the project
  • Support, trust & motivation among the people involved
  • Facilitation of face-to-face interactions
  • Measurement of progress via working software
  • Agile processes to support a consistent development pace
  • Attention to technical aspects and design to improve agility
  • Simplicity
  • Self-organizing teams to boost excellent architectures, requirements & designs
  • Regular reflections on bringing more effectiveness
  1. Explain the meaning & purpose of Spike & Zero Sprint in Agile.

Sprint Zero

Sprint Zero performs some research before launching the first Sprint. Mostly, we use this Sprint during the project, beginning for setting development environment, preparing product backlog and other activities.

Spikes

Spikes are story-types used for Research, Exploration, Design, Prototyping and similar activities. We can categorize them into Functional Spikes and Technical Spikes. In between Sprints, you can take Functional or Technical Spikes for the work concerned with any design or technical issue.

  1. What do you mean by Test-Driven Development (TDD)?

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is also known as Test-Driven Design. In TDD, the developer first formulates an automated test-case describing a new function or improvement. Then, it produces tiny codes to pass that test and later refactors the new code to meet the defined standards.

  1.  What kind of prototypes does Empirical Design use?

Prototypes and Wireframes are prototypes that get employed as part of Empirical Design.

  1.  What is Application Binary Interface?

Application Binary Interface is a specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary form across different system platforms and environments.

  1.  Explain Burn-up & Burn-down charts in the Agile context.

To track the project progress, we use Burn-up and Burn-down charts.

Burnup Chart

 It depicts the growth of stories done over time.

Burndown Chart

It gives the amount of incomplete work overtime.

  1.  Explain Scrum ban.

Scrum ban is a Scrum and Kanban-based software development model. It is specially designed for projects requiring frequent maintenance, having unexpected User Stories and programming errors. Using this approach, we can guide the team’s workflow, allowing the least completion time for every User Story or programming error.

  1.  Define Story Points.

A Story Point is a metric that Agile Project Managers and Developers use to estimate the implementation difficulty of a specific User Story. It is a number that informs the team about the User Story’s difficulty level.

  1.  Can you explain a Tracer Bullet?

A Tracer Bullet is nothing but a spike with the current architecture, the current best practices set, current technology set resulting in the Production Quality Code. It is not a throw-away code. Instead, it is a narrow implementation of the functionality.

  1.  What is a Test Stub?

A Test Stub is a small code replacing either an undeveloped or fully developed component within a system being tested. This short code’s design imitates the natural element by generating specifically known outputs and substitutes the actual component.

  1.  State the differences between RUP (Rational Unified Process) & Scrum methodologies.

RUP

  • We define the Formal Cycle across four phases, but some workflows can be concurrent.
  • We use formal project plans associated with multiple iterations
  • We predefine the scope before the project beginning and document it in the scope document. We can revise the scope during the project.
  • The artifacts comprise Scope Document, formal functional requirements package, system architecture document, and more.
  • It works best for long-term, enormous, business-level projects with a medium to high complexity.

Scrum

  • Every Sprint is a whole cycle.
  • There is no end-to-end project plan. We determine every other iteration plan when the current iteration terminates.
  • It uses a Project Backlog and not a Scope Scrum.
  • The only formal artifact is the Operational Software.
  • Organizations that do not depend on a deadline use it for quick enhancements.
  1. Why is Continuous Integration vital for Agile?

Continuous Integration serves to be integral for Agile for the following reasons –

  • It maintains the release schedule on time by identifying bugs or integration errors.
  • It helps to maintain the quality and error-free condition of the code-base.
  • It allows Agile methods to perform efficiently.
  1.  What kind of testing takes place during Agile?

The primary testing activities during Agile are Automated Unit Testing and Exploratory Testing. Still, a tester may execute Functional and Non-functional tests on the Application Under Test (AUT) depending on project requirements.

Conclusion

With this, we come to an end of our article covering Agile methodology interview questions for developers. Jigsaw Academy, and Indian Institute of Management, Indore, offer a 6-month online Postgraduate Certificate Program in Product Management. This extensive course comprises 180 hours of instructor-led mentorship and is the only program that conforms to the 5i Framework. With Bring Your Own Product (BYOP) and other interesting course-components, this Product Management program will undoubtedly give you an edge over your competitors.

If you wish to learn more about Product Management, our 6-month online PG Certificate Program in Product Management with IIM Indore is the reflect option for you! Check it out today.

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