PMP Q#14 – Doing Iteration Planning?
Q14. During iteration planning, the team finds it difficult to estimate and plan some of the product backlog items because they need to be more detailed for sprint planning. How can such situations be avoided?
A. The product owner should define the test criteria before discussing the backlog items.
B. As per the agreement in the definition of ready, the backlog items should be ready.
C. As per the agreement in the definition of done, the backlog items should be ready.
D. The product owner should create a detailed requirement before discussing the backlog items.
This question is primarily testing the understanding of the Definition of Ready:
What is the Definition of Ready – The Definition of Ready defines pre-conditions for product backlog items or user stories. These pre-conditions must be fulfilled before user stories can go into the Iteration Backlog. Meeting these pre-conditions ensures that the team does not pick unrefined user stories for the iteration; they pick only ready user stories.
A user story is ready to work in an iteration only when –
- Team members have a shared understanding of the user story, and they understand its work to a good level
- Enough acceptance criteria are defined for the user story to ensure testing, and
- User Story is small enough to complete in one sprint
In other words, the Definition of Ready ensures user stories are refined to a level enough to start work during a sprint.
During Iteration Planning, the team picks items from the top of the Product Backlog to work on only when they see –
That these user stories fulfilling the criteria of the Definition of Ready.
Fulfilling the Definition of Ready pre-conditions requires backlog refinement activity. The team is encouraged to do refinement activity before the iteration Planning meeting. It is not possible to do proper refinement during Iteration Planning. The idea of iteration planning is to make a plan for the next iteration, not refine user stories.
Here the question is asking – how to avoid the situation where the team is finding it difficult to estimate and plan some of the product Baclokg items? The answer is – Do backlog refinement activity as per the Definition of Ready.
In the way, option B is best.
