DASSM Practice Questions
Prepare for DASSM with more than an answer.
- Exam fee
- $435 USD
- Level
- Advanced
- Valid for
- 1 year
Domains covered on the exam 6
- Team Development for High-Performance Teams14%
- Emotional Intelligence for High-Performance Teams10%
- Disciplined Agile Toolkit Application35%
- Value Stream Layer and Enterprise Activities19%
- Coordinating and Collaborating Across Teams10%
- Conflict Management for High-Performance Teams12%
- 1
According to the Disciplined Agile 'Context Counts' principle, the potential context factors a DASSM considers when helping a team choose its Way of Working (WoW) are organized into which two categories? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: A, B
PMI's Disciplined Agile 'Context Counts' principle organizes the potential context factors into two categories: selection factors, which drive the initial choice of high-level WoW and in particular the initial lifecycle, and scaling factors (team size, geographic distribution, organizational distribution, skill availability, compliance, domain complexity and solution complexity), which drive detailed tailoring decisions. 'Technical', 'Financial' and 'Stakeholder' are not DA context-factor categories. Source: pmi.org/disciplined-agile Principle: Context Counts.
PMI's Disciplined Agile 'Context Counts' principle organizes the potential context factors into two categories: selection factors, which drive the initial choice of high-level WoW and in particular the initial lifecycle, and scaling factors (team size, geographic distribution, organizational distribution, skill availability, compliance, domain complexity and solution complexity), which drive detailed tailoring decisions. 'Technical', 'Financial' and 'Stakeholder' are not DA context-factor categories. Source: pmi.org/disciplined-agile Principle: Context Counts.
- 2
A team is transitioning to a Lean lifecycle and wants to improve its workflow. The DASSM helps them create a Kanban board and explains that to optimize flow, they should focus on limiting the amount of work being done at each stage of the process. What is this practice called?
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Correct answer: A
Managing Work in Progress (WIP) limits is a fundamental principle of Kanban and Lean. By limiting the number of items in any given state (e.g., 'In Development,' 'In Test'), teams can reduce context switching, identify bottlenecks more easily, and improve the overall flow of value delivery. This practice helps to move work from 'doing' to 'done' more quickly.
- 3
Case Study
A healthcare technology company is developing a new patient portal. The project involves a core development team, but also requires regular input and collaboration with legal, compliance, and clinical advisory departments. These external groups are not part of the agile team and have their own priorities and processes. The development team is often blocked for days waiting for reviews and approvals, and communication is channeled through formal email requests, leading to misunderstandings.
The development team's morale is low due to the constant stop-and-start nature of their work. The DASSM has been tasked with improving the collaboration between the core team and these essential supporting departments.
Which strategy would be most effective for improving cross-departmental collaboration and reducing delays?
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Correct answer: C
This approach directly addresses the root cause of the problem: the siloed nature of the teams and communication barriers. By embedding liaisons or creating a more integrated, cross-functional team structure, communication becomes more fluid, decisions can be made faster, and the supporting departments gain a better understanding of the development team's context and needs. This aligns with the DA principle of breaking down silos to optimize the overall value stream.
- 4
A DASSM observes that during daily coordination meetings, team members provide status updates directly to them, rather than to each other. This is creating a hub-and-spoke communication pattern centered on the DASSM. What is the most likely underlying issue with the team's development?
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Correct answer: A
When a team reports status to a leader instead of coordinating with each other, it's a classic sign that they have not yet matured into a self-organizing unit. They still view the DASSM as a traditional manager responsible for coordination, rather than seeing themselves as a collective responsible for the work. The goal of the meeting should be for the team to coordinate among themselves, not to report to a manager.
- 5
A DASSM is coaching a Product Owner who is new to agile. The Product Owner tends to provide very detailed, prescriptive requirements, leaving little room for the team to innovate or suggest alternative solutions. The DASSM wants to encourage a more collaborative approach. Which practice should the DASSM introduce to the Product Owner and the team?
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Correct answer: A
User stories, particularly following the format 'As a [user], I want [goal], so that [benefit],' inherently focus on the 'what' and 'why' rather than the 'how.' By coaching the PO to write requirements as user stories and collaborating with the team to define acceptance criteria, the focus shifts from a prescriptive specification to a shared understanding of user needs, empowering the team to design the best solution.
- 6
True or False: A core principle of Disciplined Agile is that context counts, meaning there is no single 'best' process or practice; rather, the most effective Way of Working (WoW) depends on the specific situation the team faces.
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Correct answer: A
This statement is true. 'Context Counts' is one of the fundamental principles of Disciplined Agile. The entire DA toolkit is built on the idea that teams should be empowered to choose and tailor their process based on context factors such as team size, technical complexity, and organizational culture. DA explicitly rejects prescriptive, one-size-fits-all frameworks.
- 7
A DASSM is working with an organization that wants to improve its overall value stream. The current process is depicted in the following flowchart. Where is the most critical area to apply DA principles to improve flow?
flowchart TD A[Feature Idea] --> B{Portfolio Approval} B --> C[Team Backlog] C --> D[Development Sprint] D --> E[Manual QA Phase - 2 weeks] E --> F{CAB Approval} F --> G[Manual Deployment] G --> H[Done]Show answer details
Correct answer: C
The flowchart clearly shows multiple handoffs and manual processes after the development sprint: a long manual QA phase, a CAB approval gate, and a manual deployment. This entire section represents the largest source of delay and is the primary constraint on the value stream. Applying Disciplined DevOps principles—such as continuous integration, continuous testing, and automated deployment—would collapse these stages, dramatically reducing lead time and improving flow.
- 8
A software development team, consistently missing its release targets, uses a basic Agile (Scrum) lifecycle. A diagnostic reveals that the primary bottleneck is the handoff to a separate QA team, which runs tests manually at the end of each iteration. This creates a two-week delay for every three-week iteration. As the DASSM, which lifecycle change would most directly address this value delivery impediment?
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Correct answer: B
The core problem is a delay caused by a separate, manual QA phase. The Continuous Delivery: Agile lifecycle is specifically designed to address this by integrating development, testing, and deployment activities into a seamless flow. It promotes automation and cross-functional collaboration, directly targeting the handoff bottleneck. The Exploratory lifecycle is for high-uncertainty products, the Program lifecycle is for coordinating teams, and the Lean lifecycle, while good for flow, doesn't inherently mandate the integration of deployment and testing like the CD lifecycles do.
- 9
During a tense retrospective, two senior developers have a heated disagreement about architectural choices. One developer favors a microservices approach for future scalability, while the other advocates for maintaining the current monolith to reduce immediate complexity. The conflict is becoming personal and derailing the meeting. According to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, which conflict resolution style is most appropriate for the DASSM to employ in this situation to achieve a sustainable, high-quality decision?
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Correct answer: D
Collaboration is the ideal conflict resolution mode for Disciplined Agile teams, especially for complex technical decisions. It involves working together to find a win-win solution that addresses the underlying concerns of both parties (scalability and complexity). Competing would alienate one developer, Avoiding would let the problem fester, and Compromising might lead to a suboptimal technical solution. Collaboration aims for the best outcome by synthesizing viewpoints.
- 10
A new team has been formed with members from different departments who have never worked together. The team is struggling to make decisions, individuals are hesitant to share opinions, and there is a general lack of trust. The DASSM recognizes these as signs of a team in the early stages of development. Which TWO actions are most critical for the DASSM to take to foster psychological safety and help the team progress? (Select TWO)
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Correct answer: B, D
A newly formed team with low trust needs explicit norms and personal connection. Facilitating a team charter or working agreements makes mutual expectations explicit and gives the team a shared foundation for how it works together. Team-building activities in which members share personal (non-work) stories build interpersonal understanding and trust, which underpins psychological safety (a DA promise: Create Psychological Safety and Embrace Diversity). Immediate individual metrics, a lead who makes all decisions, or assuming trust will appear on its own all work against safety and self-organization.
A newly formed team with low trust needs explicit norms and personal connection. Facilitating a team charter or working agreements makes mutual expectations explicit and gives the team a shared foundation for how it works together. Team-building activities in which members share personal (non-work) stories build interpersonal understanding and trust, which underpins psychological safety (a DA promise: Create Psychological Safety and Embrace Diversity). Immediate individual metrics, a lead who makes all decisions, or assuming trust will appear on its own all work against safety and self-organization.
