Free SAFe® DevOps Practitioner Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the SAFe® DevOps Practitioner practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1A product team wants an approach that combines a mindset, culture, and technical practices to integrate development and operations. Which approach is it describing?

   1. A.Continuous Exploration
   2. B.Continuous Integration
   3. C.DevOpsCorrect answer: C
   4. D.Continuous Deployment

   Explanation: The framework defines DevOps as "a mindset, culture, and set of technical practices that supports the integration, automation, and collaboration needed to effectively develop and operate a solution." The team's description matches that definition; the other choices are activities within the delivery pipeline.

   Reference: DevOps — Definition

2. 2A team tracks a backlog item for ten hours from entering its workflow to release. Team members actively work on it for two hours and it waits for the remaining eight. What is its flow efficiency?

   1. A.20%Correct answer: A
   2. B.25%
   3. C.80%
   4. D.100%

   Explanation: Flow efficiency is "the amount of time backlog items are actively worked on as a percentage of the total time elapsed". Two active hours divided by ten elapsed hours is 20%. Dividing active time by waiting time gives 25%, while using waiting time gives 80%.

   Reference: Accelerating Flow with SAFe — What is flow? Flow Efficiency

3. 3A team proposes a change to an existing product and wants a testable statement predicting the measurable value users will receive. What should the team formulate?

   1. A.An iteration goal
   2. B.A benefit hypothesisCorrect answer: B
   3. C.A release roadmap
   4. D.A system constraint

   Explanation: The framework states that "a benefit hypothesis" defines "how a proposed innovation will provide measurable value to a user." That is the prediction the team needs to formulate.

   Reference: Product Development Flow Discipline — Driving Innovation Through Customer-Centric Product Design

4. 4A release train hosts and validates its integrated solution in an environment before moving it to production. Which continuous integration activity does this represent?

   1. A.Develop
   2. B.Build
   3. C.Test end-to-end
   4. D.StageCorrect answer: D

   Explanation: The framework states that "Stage describes the steps required to host and validate solutions in a staging environment before production". The scenario describes that activity.

   Reference: Continuous Integration — The Four Activities of Continuous Integration

5. 5After deploying a change, a team checks whether it operates as intended in production before customers receive it. Which continuous deployment activity is this?

   1. A.Deploy
   2. B.VerifyCorrect answer: B
   3. C.Monitor
   4. D.Respond

   Explanation: The framework defines verification as "the practices needed to ensure solution changes operate in production as intended before releasing them to customers". The team is checking precisely that condition.

   Reference: Continuous Deployment — The Four Activities of Continuous Deployment

6. 6A product team makes new functionality available to customers when business and customer needs warrant it. Which aspect of the delivery pipeline does this describe?

   1. A.Continuous exploration
   2. B.Continuous integration
   3. C.Continuous deployment
   4. D.Release on demandCorrect answer: D

   Explanation: The framework describes release on demand as the pipeline aspect that "releases new functionality immediately or incrementally based on business and customer needs." The scenario describes making value available at that time.

   Reference: Release on Demand — Definition

7. 7A delivery team is designing its pipeline to restore service quickly after an operational failure. Which CALMR element is the team addressing?

   1. A.Measurement
   2. B.Lean flow
   3. C.RecoveryCorrect answer: C
   4. D.Automation

   Explanation: The course author describes the pipeline as needing "low-risk releases and fast recovery from operational failure." Restoring service quickly addresses the recovery element of CALMR.

   Reference: How We Used DevOps to Rework Our SAFe DevOps Course – The SAFe Approach — The SAFe Approach to DevOps, Recovery

8. 8A delivery team wants to visualize its end-to-end process and information flow to find waste and reduce lead time. Which lean technique is intended for that purpose?

   1. A.Setup reduction
   2. B.Value stream mappingCorrect answer: B
   3. C.Kanban scheduling
   4. D.Workplace organization

   Explanation: NIST describes mapping as "the first step in identifying waste and opportunities to streamline processes and reduce lead times." The exam owner connects it to the delivery pipeline: "execute value stream mapping, measure flow, and spot bottlenecks in the delivery pipeline."

   Reference: Value Stream Mapping — Introduction

9. 9A team visits a customer's workplace to observe how people actually use its product. Which research practice is the team using?

   1. A.GembaCorrect answer: A
   2. B.A survey
   3. C.A focus group
   4. D.A diary study

   Explanation: The framework describes "Gemba walks, in which the team visits customers and observes how they use the solution." That matches the workplace observation in the scenario.

   Reference: Product Development Flow Discipline — Driving Innovation Through Customer-Centric Product Design

10. 10A team plans end-to-end tests of a web service to expose input-handling faults. It wants a tool to generate many unusual inputs automatically and observe failures such as crashes. Which test technique fits this plan?

    1. A.Fuzz testingCorrect answer: A
    2. B.Static code analysis
    3. C.Load testing
    4. D.Historical regression testing

    Explanation: NIST says that "fuzzers create huge numbers of inputs during testing" and that behavior "such as application crashes" may be monitored. This is the input-generation approach the team needs.

    Reference: Guidelines on Minimum Standards for Developer Verification of Software — Section 2.9, Fuzzing, page 8