PSK-I Professional Scrum with Kanban (PSK 1) Exam Question and Answers

Throughput, which measures the number of items completed over a specific period, is essential forforecasting future delivery rates. By analyzing historical throughput data, Scrum Teams using Kanban can make informed predictions about how many items they can complete by a given date. References: The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams​​.

The four key flow metrics in Scrum with Kanban are:

•Work in Progress (WIP): The number of items that are currently being worked on.

•Work Item Age: The time that has elapsed since an item started, which helps identify aging work that may need attention.

•Throughput: The number of items completed over a specific period, helping to measure productivity.

•Cycle Time: The total time from when an item starts until it is finished, used to assess how quickly items are moving through the process.

These metrics are essential for understanding and optimizing the flow of work in a Scrum team using Kanban practices

For teams practicing Professional Scrum with Kanban, the most appropriate metrics to inspect are:

Control Chart:This chart helps visualize process stability and identify any significant deviations from the expected behavior. By tracking key metrics like lead time and cycletime, teams can identify trends and potential issues.

Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD):The CFD provides a visual representation of the flow of work through the system. It helps teams understand bottlenecks, identify areas for improvement, and assess the overall health of their workflow.

Aging Chart:This chart shows the age of work items as they progress through the workflow. It helps teams identify items that are taking too long to complete and prioritize them accordingly.

These metrics are particularly relevant for Kanban teams because they focus on the flow of work and the identification of bottlenecks. By tracking these metrics, teams can make data-driven decisions to optimize their workflow and improve delivery performance.

Options B, C, and D are not the most appropriate metrics for Kanban teams. Story points and historical velocity are more commonly used in Scrum, while t-shirt size is a relative estimation technique that may not be suitable for all Kanban teams.

When WIP limits are implemented, Developers are encouraged to focus on completing existing tasks rather than starting new ones. This leads to a more collaborative approach, as team members may swarm to complete items together. Additionally, limiting WIP enhances transparency in the process, which in turn strengthens self-management by the team. These principles align with Kanban’s emphasis on active management and the Scrum framework's focus on collaboration. References: The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams​​.

Lagging indicator metrics are metrics that provide information about past performance:

1.Velocity (Option A): This is a measure of the amount of work a Scrum Team completes in a Sprint. It is a lagging indicator because it reflects what has been done rather than predicting future performance.

2.Cycle Time (Option B): This metric measures the time taken to complete a work item from start to finish. It is a lagging indicator because it provides data on how long work items took to complete in the past.

3.Throughput (Option D): This refers to the number of work items completed in a given period. Like Velocity, it reflects past performance and is considered a lagging indicator.

Work in Progress (Option C) and Work Item Aging (Option E) are not lagging indicators:

•Work in Progress (C): is a current state metric that indicates how much work is currently in progress.

•Work Item Aging (E): is a leading indicator, providing insights into how long a work item has been in progress, helping predict delays or bottlenecks

Adjusting WIP limits can directly impact Cycle Time and overall flow by reducing bottlenecks and increasing focus. Lowering WIP can enhance the team’s ability to complete work within a Sprint by minimizing task switching and promoting faster delivery of value. References: The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams​​.

Limiting Work in Progress (WIP) has several potential benefits for a Scrum Team, including:

1.Shorter feedback cycles (Option A): By limiting the amount of work in progress, the team can focus on completing work faster, which leads to shorter feedback loops and quicker validation of hypotheses or deliverables.

2.More sustainable pace of work (Option B): Limiting WIP helps prevent overburdening the team, promoting a more balanced and sustainable work pace.

3.Faster realization of value (Option C): By completing items more quickly and reducing multitasking, the team delivers value faster to stakeholders.

4.Improved collaboration (Option D): When WIP is limited, team members are more likely to collaborate to finish tasks that are already in progress rather than starting new ones.

Reducing batch size does not always guarantee an increase in overall efficiency. While smaller batch sizes can lead to faster feedback, more frequent deliveries, and reduced risk, there can be situations where reducing the batch size too much results in inefficiencies, such as increased overhead costs or excessive context switching. Thus, the relationship between batch size and efficiency depends on the context, system constraints, and the nature of the work

Work in Progress (WIP) and Work Item Aging are considered leading indicator metrics in Scrum with Kanban. Leading indicators are metrics that provide information that can help predict future outcomes or performance.

•Work in Progress (WIP): This metric indicates the number of work items currently being worked on and can provide early signals about potential bottlenecks or issues in the workflow. Managing WIP effectively can help teams optimize their flow and predict how work might proceed in the future.

•Work Item Aging: This metric shows how long work items have been in progress without being completed. It provides an early indication of delays and can help teams identify items that might need attention to maintain a steady flow

When Developers reserve capacity for unplanned work during a Sprint, the Sprint Goal becomes even more crucial. It serves as the guiding objective that aligns the team's focus amidst uncertainties or when unplanned work is introduced. By having a clear Sprint Goal, the Developers can ensure that any new items brought into the Sprint Backlog still align with the overarching objective of the Sprint, helping them maintain focus and coherence in their efforts throughout the Sprint

The Work Item Aging Chart is the best chart to determine when a specific Sprint Backlog item that has been started will be finished. This chart provides a visual representation of how long each work item has been in progress, without being completed. It focuses on items that are currently active and helps teams identify which items are aging too much in the workflow, which might require attention to ensure they are completed promptly. The Work Item Aging Chart helps to quickly identify items that might be taking longer than expected, making it ideal for forecasting when a started item willbe finished

The best answer is option A, which outlines the core Kanban practices for Scrum:

•Visualizing Flow: Helps the team see the state of work items at a glance.

•Limiting Work in Progress (WIP): Prevents overloading the team and promotes focus on completing work.

•Actively Managing the WIP: Ensures the team continuously monitors and manages the amount of work in progress.

•Inspecting and Adapting the Workflow: Regularly reviewing and adjusting the workflow to improve efficiency and effectiveness

The Definition of Workflow clarifies how value moves through the system, establishes a shared understanding of when work items are considered to be in progress and completed, and enhances transparency, particularly around WIP limits. This provides structure to the Kanban system within Scrum and helps the team optimize their flow and maintain consistency. References: The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams​​.

Within the same Kanban system, Work in Progress (WIP) is not a leading indicator for "Story points delivered." While WIP can influence throughput and cycle time, it does not directly correlate with story points delivered, as story points are a measure of effort or complexity rather than flow. The number of story points delivered is not directly influenced by the current WIP levels

1.WIP Limits provide a boundary/container in which the Scrum Team self-manages (Option B):

WIP Limits establish clear boundaries within which the Scrum Team can make decisions about how much work they take on. This framework allows the team to self-manage their workflow more effectively, as they must decide collectively how to stay within these limits while delivering value.

2.As part of self-managing, Scrum Teams figure out their own WIP Limits (Option D):

A fundamental principle of Scrum is self-management. The team collectively decides its WIP limits, adjusting them based on empirical evidence and ongoing learning about their capacity, flow, and delivery capabilities. This decision-making process is a key aspect of the team's autonomy and self-management(

Options A and C are incorrect because WIP limits do not inhibit self-management (A); instead, they enable it. Additionally, a Scrum Master does not define WIP limits (C); the Scrum Team decides them.

Cycle Time in the context of Professional Scrum with Kanban is defined as the time it takes for a single work item to move from the start to the end of a specific process or workflow. This metric is crucial for understanding how efficiently a team can process individual work items through their defined workflow stages.

•Option A describes a broader measurement from the initial concept to customer feedback post-release. This could align more with the concept of Lead Time rather than Cycle Time.

•Option B correctly describes a possible measurement for Cycle Time — the time a work item spends in one specific column (workflow stage). This is in line with the definitions provided in the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams, where Cycle Time can measure time within distinct parts of the workflow.

•Option D accurately reflects the definition of Cycle Time, which measures the elapsed time from when work starts on an item until it is completed.

•Option C describes "Throughput," which is a measure of the number of items delivered over a specific time period (e.g., daily or weekly). This is not related to Cycle Time but is a separate flow metric often used alongside Cycle Time to understand team performance and capacity better(

Thus, Option C is the correct answer as it does not correctly describe Cycle Time. This explanation is verified with resources from Scrum.org that define Cycle Time within the scope of ProfessionalScrum with Kanban practices.

The Scrum framework already contains elements that create a pull system. In Scrum, the team members "pull" work into the Sprint Backlog during Sprint Planning. They decide which Product Backlog items they will commit to completing based on their capacity and the Sprint Goal. This is a form of a pull system where the team only takes in as much work as they believe they can complete within a Sprint, aligning with Kanban principles that limit Work in Progress (WIP) to optimize flow

Little's Law states:

•Average Cycle Time = Average Work in Progress (WIP) / Average Throughput.

Little's Law is used to understand and forecast the performance of a workflow system. It implies that if you know two of these three variables (Cycle Time, WIP, Throughput), you can calculate the third. The correct formula is Option A(

Options B, C, and D do not correctly state Little's Law.