Balancing Standardization and Flexibility in Way of Working

Correct Answer: Teams should evolve their standards based on context and experience while maintaining consistency

In Disciplined Agile (DA), teams are encouraged to evolve their practices and standards based on their specific context and experience while maintaining appropriate consistency. This approach aligns with DA's pragmatic, choice-driven framework. The correct answer emphasizes both evolution and consistency, which reflects DA's fundamental principle of context-based decision making and continuous improvement. Other options are incorrect because: - Rigid standards and maintaining them throughout the project lifecycle contradicts DA's adaptive nature - Creating detailed documentation and enforcing strict compliance goes against DA's flexible, context-sensitive approach - Uniform implementation of industry practices across an organization fails to account for team-specific contexts and needs, which is central to DA's philosophy DA promotes the idea that teams should choose and evolve their way of working based on their context, while ensuring enough consistency to enable effective collaboration and delivery.

Correct Answer: At regular retrospectives based on team performance metrics and feedback

In Disciplined Agile, teams should review and adjust their practices during regular retrospectives based on performance metrics and team feedback. This aligns with the agile principle of continuous improvement and empirical process control. This is the most appropriate approach because: - It enables frequent inspection and adaptation - It uses actual performance data to drive improvements - It incorporates team feedback and experiences - It maintains the team's autonomy in improving their processes The other options are incorrect because: - Waiting for milestone completion and stakeholder approval creates unnecessary delays in process improvement - Relying on governance board mandates removes team autonomy and doesn't account for team-specific needs - Requiring extensive documentation and formal approval from all team members adds bureaucracy and slows down improvement cycles DA promotes right-sized governance and empowers teams to make appropriate adjustments to their way of working based on regular reflection and measured outcomes.

Correct Answer: Start with lightweight guidance and evolve practices based on team context and experience

Starting with lightweight guidance and evolving practices based on team context and experience is the optimal approach in Disciplined Agile because: - It aligns with DA's principle of 'Choice is Good' and context-driven decision making - It enables teams to learn and adapt their practices gradually - It balances the need for organizational consistency with team autonomy - It supports continuous improvement through experimentation and learning Other approaches are less effective because: Mandating enterprise-wide standards first limits team creativity and doesn't account for different team contexts and needs. Applying strict standards and reducing controls based on maturity creates unnecessary bureaucracy and doesn't trust teams to make good decisions from the start. Letting teams create completely unique practices risks organizational chaos and missed opportunities for shared learning, while potentially leading to incompatible ways of working between teams.