Cumulative Flow Diagrams

Correct Answer: This implies an alarming situation, signalling a blocked or stalled project.

In a Cumulative Flow Diagram, convergence of all bands towards one point signifies a situation where a blockage or stall has occured in the project. This happens because there are no tasks moving forward and everything is converging or meeting at one point, signaling a possible standstill or delay. Hence, the idea that 'This implies an alarming situation, signalling a blocked or stalled project' is the most accurate answer. Let's consider other options. 'The project is proceeding smoothly with all resources being utilized effectively' is not accurate because in a smoothly progressing project the bands in the diagram should be more or less parallel and evenly spaced. 'The project is about to finish with all tasks converging to completion' is also incorrect. Although tasks do converge towards the end of a project, they do not all converge at one point in the diagram but rather decrease progressively. Lastly, 'The project just started thus all tasks are in the initial stages, causing the diagram to converge.' is not accurate. At the start of a project, the diagram should show some tasks underway, some completed, and some not yet started, rather than all bands being at the same point.

Correct Answer: The testing team is unable to keep up with the completion of tasks, causing potential backlogs.

A Cumulative Flow Diagram is a visual tool used in agile project management to represent the workflow of a project. The widening 'Completed' band in the Cumulative Flow Diagram alongside a stagnant 'In Testing' band signifies that although work is being completed, there is a delay or bottleneck in the testing process. This implies that the testing team is unable to keep up with the volume of tasks completed, possibly leading to a backlog in the testing phase. This matches with the answer 'The testing team is unable to keep up with the completion of tasks, causing potential backlogs.' The other three answers can be disregarded due to the following reasons. The statement 'The testing team is overperforming and thus not many tasks remain 'In Testing'.' is incorrect as it contradicts the given scenario where the 'In Testing' band is not expanding as expected. The argument 'The development team is underperforming leading to the widening 'Completed' band.' is incorrect because the 'Completed' band typically widens when more tasks are completed indicating a high performance from the development team, not underperformance Lastly, 'This is a positive situation where completed work is increasing drastically.' is misleading. While the increase in completed tasks seems advantageous, the lack of proportional expansion in 'In Testing' band points towards a potential bottleneck issue that could delay the entire project, thus it is not an entirely positive situation.

Correct Answer: Work is moving through the system at a constant rate.

The correct answer is 'Work is moving through the system at a constant rate'. In a Cumulative Flow Diagram, if all bands are parallel to each other, it means that the inflow of work is equal to the outflow, hence work is moving through the system at a steady pace. This is the ideal scenario in Kanban, showing a healthy, predictable system. The other options are incorrect because: - 'The project is falling behind schedule' would be indicated by widening bands, which means that the work is piling up and not enough is being completed - 'There is wastage in the system' is incorrect because parallel bands do not provide any information regarding wastage or efficiency of the system. Other metrics or observations would be needed to identify wastage - 'There are bottlenecks in the workflow' would be represented by bulges in the chart, not parallel bands. Bottlenecks in the workflow cause work to accumulate and slow down the flow, which distorts the diagram.