PeopleCert DevOps-Foundation Exam Practice Test Instant Access

Question 1

Why is it important for IT to understand and support the business' "why"?

AIT must understand why the organization exists and its purpose, cause and belief

BIT must understand why they should develop or acquire certain software products

CIT must understand why the organization will benefit from a DevOps approach

DIT must understand specific business processes so that they can support the organization properly

Answer : A

One of the core DevOps values is aligning IT efforts with business objectives---understanding the business ''why.'' The Foundation syllabus highlights the need for IT to understand the organization's purpose, cause, and belief. Without this, IT can't effectively support value delivery or drive digital transformation. Understanding the organizational ''why'' connects daily activities to strategic objectives, a key DevOps mindset. Reference: DevOps Foundation v3.6 syllabus section 1.2; 'Start with Why' by Simon Sinek.

Question 2

Which of the following sets of skills are essential for a DevOps professional?

ABusiness, technical, core (soft) skills, self-management

BBusiness, Agile, infrastructure, communication

CBusiness, Agile. ITSM, Lean and networking

DBusiness, development, cloud and containers, core skills

Answer : A

A DevOps professional needs:

Business skills: Understanding the business context and value.

Technical skills: Automation, coding, cloud, infrastructure.

Core (soft) skills: Collaboration, communication, empathy, learning.

Self-management: Time, priorities, feedback.

Other options miss the full blend or focus too much on tech or process.

Extract-style reference:

''DevOps success requires a blend of business, technical, and core (soft) skills, as well as the ability to self-manage and continuously learn.''

--- DevOps Handbook; Accelerate

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Holistic skillsets are emphasized for cross-functional teams.

Question 3

Which two measures together BEST show shared success across technology teams?

AThroughput and stability

BDeployment frequency and change lead/cycle time

CMean Time to Repair (MTTR) and change failure rate

DEmployee retention and Net Promoter Score

Answer : A

The two best measures to show shared success across technology teams are throughput and stability:

Throughput (deployment frequency, lead time): Measures how fast teams deliver value.

Stability (change failure rate, MTTR): Measures how reliably systems operate.

Why these two? Focusing on both ensures teams deliver quickly and safely. High throughput without stability causes outages; stability without throughput slows business.

Other options:

Deployment frequency + change lead/cycle time: Both are throughput measures, missing stability.

MTTR + change failure rate: Both are stability, missing throughput.

Employee retention and NPS: People measures, not delivery.

Extract-style reference: ''High performers in DevOps exhibit both high throughput (deployments per day) and high stability (low failure rates, fast recovery), proving it's possible to achieve both.'' --- Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps, Ch. 2 PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Shared success is about flow and reliability, not just one or the other.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a metric for culture?

AEmployee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

BDeployment frequency

CEngagement and morale

DRetention

Answer : B

Deployment frequency is not a culture metric.

It's a process metric, indicating how often code is released.

Culture metrics focus on engagement, morale, retention, psychological safety, and NPS.

Why not the others?

Employee NPS: Measures employee satisfaction and willingness to recommend.

Engagement/morale: Direct indicators of cultural health.

Retention: How well an org keeps talented people, reflecting culture.

Extract-style reference: ''Measuring DevOps culture relies on employee engagement, morale, and retention, not on delivery metrics like deployment frequency.'' --- State of DevOps Report PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Culture metrics focus on people, not just process.

Question 5

A major retail organization is experiencing declining sales and wants to boost its online business. Teams within Dev and Ops have been independently experimenting with DevOps practices to speed up changes to the company's website but have yet to see tangible benefits.

What can the IT management team do in this situation to achieve bottom-line benefits with DevOps?

AEncourage intelligent risk taking

BCreate a shared vision, goals and incentives

CBuild a high-trust culture

DPromote a customer (outside-in) focus

Answer : B

When independent Dev and Ops teams adopt DevOps practices without coordination, results are limited.

The most important action IT management can take is to create a shared vision, goals, and incentives.

Shared goals align everyone to business outcomes, reduce conflicting priorities, and foster real collaboration.

Why not the others?

Intelligent risk taking (A) and high-trust culture (C) are important, but without a shared vision, teams won't move in the same direction.

Customer focus (D) is essential, but won't create cross-team alignment by itself.

Reference/Extract: ''Creating a shared vision and goals across Dev and Ops is critical to breaking down silos and delivering end-to-end value to the business.'' --- The Phoenix Project, Accelerate, and PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Section 3.3

Question 6

An organization is finding that defects found in production had frequently already been identified and recorded in testing and staging and sometimes, although they optimized performance locally, they caused global degradation. Upon further inspection, it was found that this was happening because the testing phase was often delayed due to constraints around resource availability, impacting the flow of work from left to right.

Which of The Three Ways should they took to for direction on how to resolve the situation?

AThe First Way

BThe Second Way

CThe Third Way

DContinuous Experimentation and Learning

Answer : A

When work is delayed due to resource availability or local optimizations causing global degradation, the issue relates to The First Way---maximizing flow from left to right. Organizations should analyze and remove bottlenecks in the delivery pipeline (e.g., in testing).

Extract-style reference: ''Optimizing the flow of work requires eliminating bottlenecks, delays, and handoffs that slow the movement of changes from development to operations.'' --- The Phoenix Project DevOps Foundation courseware discusses value stream mapping and the First Way as critical tools for diagnosing and correcting such issues.

Question 7

Firmly entrenched silos and a combative relationship between Dev and Ops is an example of:

ALow trust

BPoor leadership

CChange fatigue

DCultural debt

Answer : D

Cultural debt---not just low trust or poor leadership---best describes the scenario of entrenched silos and combative Dev/Ops relations.

Cultural debt leads to resistance to new ways of working, lack of cooperation, and a focus on individual rather than collective success.

Why not the others?

Low trust and poor leadership are symptoms of cultural debt.

Change fatigue occurs after repeated failed initiatives; here, the core issue is cultural stasis.

Reference/Extract: ''DevOps transformation often fails without addressing cultural debt. Breaking down silos, building shared understanding, and changing incentives are essential for sustainable change.'' --- DevOps Handbook, State of DevOps Report, PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Section 3.4

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 DevOps-Foundation Exam Practice Test