CTFL-AT Certified Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester Questions and Answers

 Early and frequent feedback is one of the core values of Agile development. It helps the Agile team to deliver features with the highest business value first, to discover and resolve quality problems as soon as possible, to provide information on the team’s productivity and progress, and to ensure that the product meets the customer’s expectations and needs. However, early feedback does not necessarily decrease the amount of time needed for system testing, as system testing is still an important activity in Agile projects to verify the integration and functionality of the whole system. Early feedback may reduce the number of defects found in system testing, but it does not eliminate the need for system testing. References: ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Extension Syllabus1, page 10; ISTQB Agile Tester Sample Exam2, question 11.

The Agile Manifesto is a declaration of four values and twelve principles that guide the Agile software development approach12. The four values of the Agile Manifesto are12:

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

These values emphasize the importance of human collaboration, working product, customer feedback, and adaptability over rigid processes, extensive documentation, fixedcontracts, and predefined plans. The values do not imply that the items on the right are not important, but rather that the items on the left are more important and should be prioritized.

Therefore, the statement that is NOT a value from the Agile Manifesto is B, as it contradicts the first value of the Agile Manifesto. The correct statement should be “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”. References: ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Extension Syllabus1, page 10; ISTQB Agile Tester Sample Exam2, question 1.

 The Agile processes promote early and frequent feedback from the customers, users, testers, developers, and other stakeholders involved in the project. This feedback helps to ensure that the product meets the expectations and needs of the customers and users, and that the development process is continuously improved and adapted to the changing requirements and environment. However, increasing the frequency of feedback and communication does not eliminate all communication problems, as there may still be issues such as misunderstandings, misinterpretations, conflicts, or cultural differences that need to be resolved. Therefore, the statement D is not true, as it implies that communication problems are completely avoided by the Agile processes. References: ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus1, Section 1.2.1, page 9; ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Extension Sample Exam Questions2, Question 4, page 5.

The acceptance criteria for a sprint are the conditions that must be met for the user stories to be considered done and deliver value to the customer1. The acceptance criteria should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and testable2. In this case, the plan for the sprint is to increase performance of the system, so the acceptance criteria should reflect that goal. Therefore, the acceptance criteria that would be expected for Sprint 5 are:

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The other options are not relevant or appropriate acceptance criteria for Sprint 5:

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As an agile tester, you should work together with the developer, suggesting reasons why the tests are failing. This is an example of the agile principle of collaboration and communication within the team, as well as the agile testing practice of early and frequent feedback. By working together with the developer, you can help to identify and resolve the root causes of the test failures, as well as share your testing knowledge and perspective. This can lead to faster and better quality delivery of the user story, as well as improved team relationships and trust.

Option A is not a good action, because reviewing and improving the design of the user story is not the tester’s responsibility, and it may not address the test failures. Option B is also not a good action, because creating bug reports for blocked tests is not an agile way of handling issues, and it may create unnecessary overhead and waste. Option D is not a good action, because it does not help to unblock the current user story, and it may distract you from the sprint goal and the team’s focus.

References: ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus, Section 2.3.1, page 171; ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Sample Exam Questions, Question 2.3.1-2, page 82

 A task management tool is a software application that helps agile teams plan, organize, and monitor their work. A task management tool typically allows the team to create, assign, prioritize, update, and track user stories, tests, and other tasks that are part of the agile project. A task management tool can also provide various views and reports to visualize the progress and status of the project, such as Kanban boards, burndown charts, velocity charts, etc. Some examples of task management tools are Jira, Trello, Asana, and Monday.com12345. References: ISTQB® Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus, Section 2.1.1, page 13; ASTQB Agile Tester Certification Resources, Section 2.1.1, page 13.

Acceptance test criteria are the conditions that a user story must satisfy to be accepted by the customer or the stakeholder. They are usually derived from the user story and its acceptance scenarios, and they should cover the functional and non-functional requirements of the user story. Acceptance test criteria should be clear, concise, testable, and agreed upon by the team and the customer or the stakeholder.

In this case, the user story describes the business rule for approving a loan request based on the customer’s income, repayment history, and loan amount. The user story also specifies the roles of the customer assistant and the bank manager in the process. Therefore, the acceptance test criteria should verify that the user story is implemented correctly and that the system behaves as expected for different scenarios and inputs.

The following test cases can be treated as acceptance test criteria for the above user story:

• As a customer assistant I can log in to the system and check the history of the customer account for the last year. This test case verifies that the customer assistant can access the system and view the customer’s income information, which is one of the factors for approving the loan request.
• As a customer assistant I can log in to the system and check the history of the customer debts and repayments. This test case verifies that the customer assistant can access the system and view the customer’s repayment history, which is another factor for approving the loan request.
• As a bank manager I can log in to the system and receive the information of all requests waiting for approval. This test case verifies that the bank manager can access the system and see the list of loan requests that have been prepared by the customer assistant, and that the system provides the necessary information for each request.
• As a bank manager I can log in to the system and decide whether to approve a loan for a customer. This test case verifies that the bank manager can access the system and perform the approval action for a loan request, and that the system applies the business rule correctly and updates the status of the request accordingly.

The following test cases cannot be treated as acceptance test criteria for the above user story:

• As a customer assistant I can log in to the system and change my password. This test case is not related to the user story, as it does not verify any of the functional or non-functional requirements of the user story. It is a generic test case that applies to any user of the system, not specific to the customer assistant role or the loan approval process.
• As a bank manager I can log in to the system within 10 seconds. This test case is not related to the user story, as it does not verify any of the functional or non-functional requirements of the user story. It is a performance test case that applies to any user of the system, not specific to the bank manager role or the loan approval process.

References: ISTQB® Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus1, Section 2.3.1, pages 15-16; ISTQB® Glossary of Testing Terms2, version 4.0, pages 2 and 3.

According to the ISTQB Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, a retrospective is a meeting held at the end of each iteration or release, where the agile team reflects on what went well and what can be improved in their processes, practices, and interactions. The purpose of a retrospective is to identify and implement actions for continuous improvement, and to foster a culture of learning and collaboration. Therefore, the items that would be the most effective to generate discussions on process improvement are those that are related to the team’s performance, challenges, feedback, and suggestions. Option D is the least effective item to generate discussions on process improvement, as it is a personal attack on one of the team members, and it does not offer any constructive feedback or solution. This kind of item can create a negative and hostile atmosphere in the retrospective, and damage the trust and respect among the team members. Option A is an effective item to generate discussions on processimprovement, as it identifies a problem with the build process that affects the team’s efficiency and quality, and it can lead to finding ways to optimize the build process or to mitigate the delays. Option B is also an effective item to generate discussions on process improvement, as it reveals a discrepancy between the team’s estimation and actual effort, and it can lead to analyzing the root causes of the deviation and to improving the estimation techniques or the team’s capacity. Option C is also an effective item to generate discussions on process improvement, as it highlights a weakness in the automation tests that hinders the team’s ability to debug and fix the failures, and it can lead to enhancing the automation tests with better logging mechanisms or to reviewing the automation strategy. References: ISTQB Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, section 2.1.1, page 14; ISTQB Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, section 2.1.2, page 15; ISTQB Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, section 2.2.1, page 16; ISTQB Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester syllabus, section 2.2.2, page 17.

The 3C concept of user stories consists of three elements: card, conversation, and confirmation12. The card is a written description of the user story that captures the essence of the feature or functionality from the user’s perspective. The conversation is a dialogue between the product owner and the development team to clarify the details, assumptions, and expectations of the user story. The confirmation is a set of criteria or tests that verify that the user story is implemented correctly and meets the user’s needs12. Therefore, by applying the 3C concept, the correct statement is A, as the conversation should include the acceptance criteria discussion. This will help the team to understand the scope, priority, and value of the user story, as well as the conditions of satisfaction that the product owner expects12. The other statements are incorrect, as they violate the 3C concept. Statement B is wrong, as the card should contain the user story, not the requirements. The user story is a brief and informal way of expressing the user’s goal and benefit, while the requirements are more detailed and specific descriptions of how the software should work. The requirements can be added later as part of the conversation or confirmation12. Statement C is wrong, as the product owner has written a user story, but confirmation is still needed. The confirmation is a vital part of the 3C concept, as it ensures that the user story is testable, measurable, and verifiable. The confirmation also helps to avoid ambiguity, misunderstanding, or disagreement between the product owner and the development team12. Statement D is wrong, as the conversation is required and the team should not start developing without it. The conversation is an essential part of the 3C concept, as it allows the team to ask questions, share ideas, and collaborate with the product owner to refine the user story and reach a shared understanding. The conversation also helps to identify the dependencies, risks, and assumptions that may affect the implementation of the user story12. References: ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester Syllabus1, Section 2.2.1, page 16-17; Effective User Stories - 3C’s and INVEST Guide2, Section The 3 C’s (Card, Conversation, Confirmation) of User Stories.