SAFe-DevOps Questions and Answers

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, hypothesis evaluation is important when analyzing data from monitoring systems in the Release on Demand aspect because it helps link objective production data to the hypothesis being tested. Hypothesis evaluation is the process of measuring and comparing the actual outcomes of a hypothesis with the expected outcomes based on customer feedback and business value. Hypothesis evaluation helps DevOps teams to validate or invalidate their hypotheses, learn from their mistakes, and improve their solutions. By linking objective production data to the hypothesis being tested, DevOps teams can see how well their solutions are delivering value to customers and achieving their goals.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, working in isolation on long-lived code branches can have negative consequences for the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. This includes making the trunk/main branch less stable and more prone to conflicts and errors. The handbook states that "Working in isolation on long-lived code branches can make the trunk/main branch less stable and more prone to conflicts and errors."1 Therefore, it is recommended to use short-lived feature branches and merge them frequently into the trunk/main branch.

 According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, Continuous Deployment is a practice that helps developers deploy their code into production. This means that Continuous Deployment involves moving changes from the staging environment to the production environment, without requiring manual intervention or approval. The handbook states that "Continuous Deployment is the practice of moving changes from the staging environment to the production environment, without requiring manual intervention or approval."1 Therefore, Continuous Deployment enables teams to deliver value to customers faster and more reliably.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, Features are prioritized in the ART Backlog in the Synthesize activity of Continuous Exploration. This activity involves creating Solution hypotheses based on customer needs and market research, and then selecting the most promising ones to be implemented in the ART Backlog. The handbook states that "Synthesize is the activity of creating Solution hypotheses based on customer needs and market research, and then selecting the most promising ones to be implemented in the ART Backlog."1 Therefore, Synthesize is where Features are prioritized for continuous delivery.

The Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) is a key element of the Agile Product Delivery competency in SAFe. It represents the workflows, activities, and automation needed to guide new functionality from ideation to an on-demand release of value. The CDP consists of four aspects: Continuous Exploration (CE), Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment (CD), and Release on Demand. CE focuses on creating alignment on what needs to be built, using design thinking and hypothesis-driven development. CI focuses on building quality into the solution, using practices such as test automation, code analysis, and continuous feedback

The correct answer is B. Flow Efficiency measures the percentage of time spent on value-added activities in the Value Stream. A Value Stream is a sequence of activities that deliver value to the customer, from concept to cash. Value-added activities are those that directly contribute to the customer value proposition, such as coding, testing, and deploying. Non-value-added activities are those that do not directly contribute to the customer value proposition, such as waiting, handoffs, rework, and approvals. Flow Efficiency is calculated by dividing the total time spent on value-added activities by the total flow time, which is the time elapsed from when a work item enters the Value Stream to when it is delivered to the customer. Flow Efficiency is a metric that helps to identify and eliminate waste and delays in the Value Stream, and to optimize the flow of value to the customer. Flow Efficiency can be improved by applying the principles and practices of DevOps, such as reducing batch size, limiting work in progress, implementing pull systems, managing queue lengths, reducing handoffs, implementing Work in Process (WIP) visualization, and implementing Work in Process (WIP) feedback

The Boundaries and Limitations portion of the DevOps Transformation Canvas is used to capture improvement items that require the support of other people or teams. These are items that are outside the scope or control of the current team or value stream, but are necessary for achieving the DevOps vision and goals. They help to identify dependencies, risks, and stakeholders that need to be engaged or aligned

The Agile Release Trains (ARTs) are responsible for building and continually improving the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) in SAFe DevOps. The CDP represents the workflows, activities, and automation needed to guide new functionality from ideation to an on-demand release of value. The CDP consists of four aspects: Continuous Exploration (CE), Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment (CD), and Release on Demand. Each ART builds and maintains, or shares, a pipeline with the assets and technologies needed to deliver solution value as independently as possible. The ARTs use the DevOps Health Radar to assess their current state and identify improvement opportunities for each aspect of the CDP. The ARTs also use the DevOps Transformation Canvas to create a vision, goals, and action plan for their DevOps transformation12

Refactoring is the activity of improving the internal structure or operation of a code or component without changing its external behavior. The goal of software development is the continuous delivery of business value to users and stakeholders. Constantly changing technology and evolving business objectives make maintaining and continuously increasing business value difficult. Refactoring enables an emergent design, ensuring the system continues to meet future business needs. Refactors are a particular type of Enabler story in SAFe, and, like any other Story, they must be estimable, verifiable, and valuable, as well as accepted by the Product Owner. SAFe emphasizes the importance of keeping all work visible, including refactoring. Like user value work, refactoring must be planned for, estimated, and prioritized. Therefore, developers should create and estimate refactoring Stories in the Team Backlog, and work on them according to their WSJF1

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, one of the main challenges of a DevOps transformation is when various groups in the organization have different directions and goals. This can create silos, conflicts, and inefficiencies that hinder the collaboration and integration needed for continuous delivery. For example, some groups may prioritize speed over quality, while others may prioritize security over innovation. Some groups may resist change and adopt outdated practices, while others may embrace new technologies and methodologies. These differences can lead to misalignment, duplication, and waste of resources that slow down the delivery pipeline and reduce the value to customers. Therefore, having a common vision, culture, and set of technical practices that support the SAFe CALMR approach to DevOps is essential for overcoming this challenge.

One skill that can significantly accelerate mean-time-to-restore by enabling support teams to see issues the way actual end users did is session replay. Session replay is a technique that allows the support team to replay end-user sessions to research incidents and identify problems. Session replay captures the user’s interactions with the application, such as clicks, scrolls, keystrokes, and mouse movements, and reproduces them in a video-like format. Session replay can help the support team to understand the user’s behavior, context, and feedback, as well as to reproduce and diagnose errors, bugs, and performance issues. Session replay can also help the support team to communicate and collaborate with the development team and the stakeholders, by providing visual evidence and data of the incidents. Session replay can significantly accelerate mean-time-to-restore by reducing the time and effort required to investigate and resolve issues, as well as by improving the quality and reliability of the application

The purpose of value stream mapping is to visualize how value flows from concept to cash and to deliver incremental value in the form of working, tested software and systems. Value stream mapping helps to identify the current state of the value stream, the steps, activities, roles, and tools involved, and the delays, waste, and inefficiencies that can be eliminated or improved. It also helps to create a future state vision and an action plan for continuous improvement

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide and handbook, test data management is one reason for test data management. This means that test data management helps teams ensure that the application under test has a consistent and reliable state, by automating the provisioning of data from various sources and formats. The handbook states that "Test data management is the process of automating provisioning of data to an application in order to set it to a known state before testing begins."1 Therefore, test data management enables teams to perform end-to-end testing with confidence and accuracy.

In addition to Continuous Integration, two other aspects of the CDP are Continuous Deployment and Continuous Exploration. Continuous Deployment automates the migration of new functionality from a staging environment to production, where it is made available for release. Continuous Deployment enables the ability to release value at any time, in a sustainable way. Continuous Exploration focuses on creating alignment on what needs to be built, using design thinking and hypothesis-driven development. Continuous Exploration enables the discovery of the most valuable solutions for the customers and the enterprise

The correct answer is B. Compile. The Build activity of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline is responsible for creating deployable binaries and merging development branches into the trunk. The Build activity includes the following practices:

• Compile – Compile is the process of transforming the source code into executable code that can run on a specific platform or environment. Compile involves checking the syntax, semantics, and dependencies of the code, and resolving any errors or conflicts. Compile also involves linking the code with other libraries or components that are required for the functionality of the solution.
• Package – Package is the process of bundling the compiled code and other resources into a format that can be easily deployed to the target environment. Package involves creating archives, containers, or installers that contain the necessary files and metadata for the deployment process. Package also involves applying versioning and configuration information to the packages, to ensure traceability and consistency.
• Verify – Verify is the process of ensuring that the code and packages meet the quality standards and security checks, and that they are ready for deployment and release. Verify involves applying automated tools and processes, such as static code analysis, code coverage, code review, and code quality metrics, to detect and resolve any issues or vulnerabilities in the code and packages. Verify also involves ensuring compliance with the coding standards and guidelines, and documenting the results and feedback of the verification process12

Trunk-based development is a version control management practice where all developers work on the same trunk of shared code. The trunk is always in a releasable state, which means that at least once a day, developers must integrate their changes to the trunk. This is accomplished through short-lived feature branches related to project tasks. Trunk-based development is a common practice among DevOps teams and part of the DevOps lifecycle since it streamlines merging and integration phases. It also enables continuous integration, which is the practice of merging all development versions of a code base several times a day. Trunk-based development has several benefits, such as:

• It reduces the complexity and conflicts of merging long-lived branches
• It improves the quality and consistency of the code by enforcing frequent testing and validation
• It accelerates the delivery and deployment of new functionality by minimizing the transaction cost and risk
• It fosters a culture of collaboration and transparency among developers 

Two of the technical practices that focus on Built-in Quality are pair work and test-driven development. Pair work is a collaborative technique where two developers work together on the same code, one writing the code and the other reviewing it. Pair work improves the quality of the code by reducing defects, increasing knowledge sharing, and enhancing creativity and problem-solving. Test-driven development (TDD) is a practice where developers write automated tests before writing the code, and then refactor the code until it passes the tests. TDD ensures that the code meets the requirements and specifications, as well as improves the design, readability, and maintainability of the code

Ensuring that security controls like threat modeling, application security, and penetration testing are in place throughout the Continuous Delivery Pipeline is an example of Continuous security monitoring. This skill involves the ongoing assessment and oversight of security measures within the pipeline to ensure that the software remains secure against potential threats at all stages of its development and deployment.

Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is a prioritization model used to sequence work for maximum economic benefit. In SAFe, WSJF is estimated as the relative cost of delay divided by the relative job duration. In a flow-based system, priorities must be continuously updated to provide the best economic outcomes. In other words, job sequencing produces the best results rather than prioritization based on a theoretical return on investment for each job. To that end, SAFe applies WSJF to prioritize backlogs. Backlogs are continuously prioritized based on a WSJF algorithm that uses relative user and business value, time criticality, risk reduction and/or opportunity enablement, and job size. WSJF also conveniently and automatically ignores sunk costs, a fundamental principle of Lean economics

The Release on Demand aspect enables the key business objective of delivering business value to customers. Release on Demand is the process by which features deployed into production are released incrementally or immediately to customers based on market demand. It is the final aspect of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CDP) in SAFe DevOps, which enables the delivery of value to the end user as fast as possible, based on market demand. The decision of what and when to release is a critical economic driver that requires careful consideration of the customer needs, market rhythms, and economic outcomes. Release on Demand is decoupled from the Continuous Deployment activity, which automates the migration of new functionality from a staging environment to production, where it is made available for release. Release on Demand involves four activities: release, stabilize and operate, measure, and learn. These activities help to deliver the solution to end users, ensure the solution is working well from a functional and nonfunctional perspective, quantify the value delivered by the solution, and collect feedback and prepare for the next loop through the CDP3

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, a canary release is a type of release on demand that involves making a Solution available to any subset of users, such as a specific team, product, or region. A canary release allows the DevOps teams to test the Solution in a controlled environment and monitor its performance and feedback before rolling it out to the entire customer base. A canary release can help reduce the risk of introducing errors or failures into production and improve the quality and reliability of the Solution.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, one of the organizational anti-patterns that DevOps helps to address is teams that are isolated and working within functional areas (e.g., business, operations, and technology). This anti-pattern creates silos, conflicts, and inefficiencies that hinder the collaboration and integration needed for continuous delivery. For example, some teams may prioritize speed over quality, while others may prioritize security over innovation. Some teams may resist change and adopt outdated practices, while others may embrace new technologies and methodologies. These differences can lead to misalignment, duplication, and waste of resources that slow down the delivery pipeline and reduce the value to customers. Therefore, DevOps helps to break down the functional silos and enable cross-functional teams that work together to deliver value to customers faster and more reliably.

According to the SAFe DevOps Practitioner 6.0 study guide1, scanning application code for security vulnerabilities is an important step in the Continuous Integration aspect of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline. Continuous Integration is the process of developing, testing, integrating, and validating new functionality in preparation for deployment and release. Continuous Integration helps teams to improve quality, reduce risk, and establish a fast, reliable, and sustainable development pace. Scanning application code for security vulnerabilities is one of the ways to ensure that the code meets the quality standards and requirements, and that it does not contain any errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities that could compromise the security or functionality of the Solution. Scanning application code for security vulnerabilities can be performed by using tools such as GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps2, which uses CodeQL to identify vulnerabilities in various languages and frameworks. Therefore, scanning application code for security vulnerabilities is an important step in the Continuous Integration aspect of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline.