17 Common Agile Interview Questions For Experienced Software Developers (CLARIFIED)

An Agile iteration is a short one to two week period where a team takes most important user stories, builds them completely and deliver as running-tested-software to the customer. Analysis, design, coding, testing happen during an iteration.

• Epic: A customer described software feature that is itemized in the product backlog is known as epic. Epics are sub-divided into stories.
• User Stories: From the client perspective user stories define project or business functions, and delivered in a particular sprint.
• Task: Further down user stories are broken down into different tasks.

To track the project progress burnup and burn down, charts are used:

• Burnup Chart: It shows the progress of stories done over time
• Burndown Chart: It shows how much work was left to do overtime

Velocity is a metric that is calculated by addition of all efforts estimates related with user stories completed in an iteration. It mesures how much work Agile can complete in a sprint and how much time will it need to finish a project.

• Analysis, design, coding, and testing are continuous activities
• Development is iterative
• Planning is adaptive
• Roles blur
• Scope can vary
• Requirements can change
• Working software is the primary measure of success

Agile is a time boxed, iterative approach (framework) to software delivery that builds software incrementally from the start of the project, instead of trying to deliver it all at once near the end.

It works by breaking projects down into little bits of user functionality called user stories, prioritizing them, and then continuously delivering them in short two week cycles called iterations.

Agile refers to any process that aligns with the concepts of the Agile Manifesto.

Challenges involved in Agile Software development includes:

• It requires more testing and customers involvement
• It impacts management more than developers
• Each feature needs to be completed before moving on to the next
• All the code has to work fine to ensure application is in working state
• More planning is required

While there is value in the items on the right, agile team value the items on the left more:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Agile is a framework and there are a number of specific methods within the Agile movement, for example:

• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Scrum
• Lean Software Development
• Kanban
• Crystal Clear

Acceptance criteria is a metric/statement/list of done definitions the product owner uses to confirm the user story has been implemented to his satisfaction.

In February 2001, 17 software developers met in Utah to discuss lightweight development methods. They published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which covered how they found “better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it” and included four values and 12 principles.