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

Wait Timeis the time work spends waiting between process steps—wasted, non-value-added time.

Mathematically,Wait Time = Lead Time – Cycle Time

Lead Time:Time from work request to delivery.

Cycle Time:Time spent actively working on the item.

Why is this important in DevOps?

Identifying and reducing wait time (waste) is central to Lean/DevOps, directly improving flow and reducing delays.

Extract-style reference:

“Wait time is calculated as the difference between lead time and cycle time—highlighting bottlenecks in the value stream.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Wait time is a core Lean concept for optimizing flow.

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.

Shift Left Testingmeans moving testing earlier in the development process, so defects are found sooner and fixes are cheaper.

Unit testing as part of CIis the classic “shift left” strategy: automated unit tests run with every code change, catching errors before code moves further down the pipeline.

Testing in production(A) is “shift right.”

Manual testing(B) is typically late-stage and not automated.

Biannual vulnerability assessments(D) are after-the-fact and far from “shift left.”

Extract-style reference:

“Shift left means performing testing activities earlier, for example by including unit tests in the CI process, reducing costly late-stage defects.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert Foundation: “Shift left” is a key DevOps testing principle—find issues fast, fix fast, deploy safely.

Learning through immersionis powerful in DevOps because:

People learn by doing (A)

People learn from subject matter experts (B)

People learn from failures in a safe environment (C)

All of the above (D) are true

DevOps encourages hands-on, real-world, collaborative, and safe-to-fail learning environments.

Extract-style reference:

“Immersive learning, including hands-on labs, peer interactions, and blameless retrospectives, is vital to building DevOps capabilities.”

—DevOps Handbook,Accelerate

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Calls for learning culture, blamelessness, and experimentation.

Command(authoritarianism) is not a crucial ingredient for leading digital transformation.

The key ingredients:

Collaboration

Curiosity

Courage

DevOps leadership is about empowering teams, experimenting, and driving change,notcommand-and-control.

Extract-style reference:

“Digital transformation leaders embrace collaboration, curiosity, and courage, fostering an environment where experimentation and learning drive change.”

—Accelerate,DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Advocates servant and transformational leadership, not command/control.

Forcing all development teams toimmediately migrateto a standard set of tools dictated by IT Operations isnota recommended DevOps strategy.

DevOps promotescollaboration, flexibility, and evolutionof toolchains, allowing teams to choose what fits their needs while moving toward sensible defaults and integration over time.

Abrupt, top-down mandates undermine trust and autonomy, often leading to resistance and lower adoption.

Why are the other options better?

IT Ops or infra squads managing toolchain as a service(A),sensible defaults(C), andself-service(D) are all recognized best practices to support DevOps evolution and developer enablement.

Extract-style reference:

“Mandating a single toolset without considering team needs reduces engagement. Toolchains should be managed as self-service platforms with sensible defaults, supporting but not constraining teams.”

—State of DevOps Report;DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Encourages enabling choice, not enforcing uniformity without context.

ADevOps cultureis built on principles like being data-driven, reflective (willing to learn from experience), and accountable (taking ownership, not blaming others).

Command and controlcultures are the opposite: hierarchical, rigid, discouraging initiative and learning. DevOps strives for empowerment, experimentation, and psychological safety.

Why not the others?

Data-driven:Decisions are based on measurement and feedback, core to DevOps.

Reflective:Regular retrospectives and post-incident reviews are essential DevOps rituals.

Accountability:Teams are responsible for the software they build and operate.

Reference/Extract:

“DevOps culture values collaboration, continuous learning, and a data-driven, accountable approach to improvement. Command and control structures stifle innovation and slow down feedback.”

—State of DevOps Report(2019), PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Section 3.2

Successful DevOps transformation hinges onmanagement commitment to cultural change. This includes leadership support for breaking down silos, encouraging collaboration, fostering psychological safety, and aligning incentives.

While budget, reorganization, and deployment pipelines are important enablers, they cannot deliver sustainable transformation without cultural alignment. Leaders must model desired behaviors, remove systemic blockers, and reinforce the new ways of working.

Without cultural change, DevOps becomes a tooling initiative rather than a true organizational shift.

Automationbrings multiple key benefits in DevOps:

Higher quality:Automated tests and deployments catch errors earlier, reduce human error, and ensure consistency.

Faster recovery:Automated monitoring and remediation help restore services quickly after incidents.

Other options either decrease quality, increase errors, or make releases less predictable—contradicting DevOps goals.

Extract-style reference:

“Automation reduces errors, increases quality, accelerates lead time, and shortens recovery by ensuring repeatable, reliable processes.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Automation is a pillar of DevOps, referenced throughout the syllabus as a key driver for speed and reliability.

When work is delayed due to resource availability or local optimizations causing global degradation, the issue relates toThe 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.

High-performing organizationsembed learning into their culture, which leads to continuous improvement, innovation, and adaptability.

Employees and leadership committed to learning (option C) is a proven characteristic of high performance.

Other options—individualism, mandated training, and disincentivized development—are actually barriers to DevOps success.

Extract-style reference:

“High-performing organizations deliberately invest in learning and development and have leaders who model and reward learning behaviors.”

—Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps, Nicole Forsgren et al.

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: The syllabus highlights that a “culture of learning” and psychological safety are core characteristics of successful DevOps organizations.

Continuous fundingreplaces rigid, annual budgeting with a more adaptive model. This approach aligns funding to value streams or long-lived products rather than fixed projects. Funds can be adjusted incrementally based on changing priorities, business feedback, and delivery performance.

This method supports DevOps by allowing teams to pivot quickly, experiment, and scale initiatives without waiting for lengthy budget approvals. It aligns financial governance with the iterative and adaptive nature of DevOps delivery.

A(project-based funding) locks budgets to specific outcomes and timelines, limiting flexibility.C(quarterly rolling waves) is more flexible than annual cycles but less responsive than continuous funding.Dis not a recognized funding approach in DevOps.

Therefore,Bis the correct choice.

DevOps shifts the focus fromactivity-based metrics(outputs) toimpact-based metrics(outcomes and value). Measuring outcomes means assessing whether work delivers the intended business or customer benefit.

Outputslike lines of code, number of deployments, or velocity measure activity but not whether value is being delivered. PeopleCert emphasizes that outcomes should align with business objectives—such as improved customer satisfaction, revenue growth, or reduced failure rates.

Therefore,B—Outcomes and value—is preferred for guiding meaningful improvements.

Creating Single Points of Failure (SPOFs)is not a feature of Safety Culture—in fact, it’s the opposite.

Safety Culture in DevOps promotesblameless post-mortems,valuing incidents as learning opportunities, andthanking contributors for uncovering weaknesses.

SPOFs increase risk and discourage experimentation.

Extract-style reference:

“Safety Culture is built on blamelessness, psychological safety, and learning from failure, not punishment. SPOFs are an anti-pattern that increases fragility.”

—The DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Stresses the importance of a safe, collaborative environment for innovation.

Ablame cultureis toxic and inhibits innovation. DevOps encourages a culture where risk-taking and experimentation are rewarded, not punished.

Organizations should "build rituals that reward risk taking"—examples include celebrating “fast failures” and running blameless post-mortems.

Extract-style reference:

“Encourage a culture where failure is seen as a learning opportunity, not a cause for punishment. Rituals that reward risk-taking foster innovation and create psychological safety.”

—DevOps Handbook

DevOps Foundation v3.6 (Cultural Principles section) advocates psychological safety, learning from failure, and reward systems that incentivize experimentation.

PeopleCert emphasizes thatarchitecturemust be planned before automating processes. This means mapping the value stream, understanding dependencies, identifying bottlenecks, and defining integration points before selecting or configuring tools.

Automating without a clear architecture can lead to fragmented processes, wasted effort, and technical debt. Once the architecture is sound, teams can implement automation in a way that supports scalability, maintainability, and interoperability.

A(building the toolchain) is important but comes after architecture.C(switching to open source) is a tooling decision, not the first automation step.D(self-service) is a benefit of automation, not the starting point.

Thus,B—Architect before automating—is the correct first step.

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 trustandpoor leadershipare symptoms of cultural debt.

Change fatigueoccurs 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

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

The most important action IT management can take is tocreate 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) andhigh-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

A core goal of DevOps is toeliminate isolationbetween roles, teams, and departments. Isolated teams—cut off from other parts of the value stream—create bottlenecks, reduce visibility, and slow feedback.

While flat hierarchies (A), continuous engagement (C), and balanced skills (D) are positive traits,Bis the opposite of DevOps principles.

Therefore,Bis the correct “NOT” choice.

Lean tools and practicesare foundational to DevOps because they help organizations systematically identify and eliminate waste, optimize value delivery, and continuously improve processes.

Lean thinkingfocuses on value stream mapping, reducing delays, bottlenecks, over-processing, handoffs, rework, and unnecessary tasks—core to making DevOps successful.

Option D, “They help identify waste and assist in the creation of improvement practices,” perfectly captures this focus.

Extract-style reference:

“Lean enables teams to identify value and non-value-added activities and to use continuous improvement techniques such as Kaizen, value stream mapping, and removing waste.”

—DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6: Lean tools like Value Stream Mapping, 5S, and Kaizen are cited as critical enablers for optimizing the flow and improving IT and business alignment.

Organizational culture is defined byshared values and behaviors—what people believe is important and how they act in practice. PeopleCert notes that while founders’ vision, leadership style, and employee commitment can influence culture, the actual culture is visible in the consistent behaviors and priorities of the organization’s members.

Therefore,B—what people value and how they behave—is the most accurate description of what dictates culture.

When teams have experienced frequent top-down mandates without adequate involvement, they may feel change fatigue and resist new initiatives. PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 emphasizes the importance ofengagement and empowermentto build buy-in and ownership for DevOps transformation.

Empowering people means involving them in decisions, encouraging contribution of their ideas, and making them active participants in shaping the DevOps adoption plan. This approach builds trust, reduces resistance, and taps into collective knowledge, leading to solutions that are practical and widely accepted.

OptionsA,B, andCcan support DevOps adoption but do not address the root cause of low enthusiasm—lack of involvement. Empowerment fosters intrinsic motivation, which is essential for sustained cultural change.

Thus,Dis the most effective choice.

When Kanban teams feel overwhelmed and nothing is getting finished, it’s a sign thattoo much work is in progress(WIP).

Work in Progress (WIP) limitsare a key Kanban and Lean practice: they restrict how many tasks can be active at one time, forcing teams to focus, finish, and deliver before starting new work.

Pushing more work(A) oradding more resources(B) worsens the problem.

Unblocking work(D) is helpful, but the core issue isoverload.

Extract-style reference:

“WIP limits encourage teams to finish work before starting new tasks, reducing context switching and enabling better flow and faster delivery.”

—Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for Your Technology Business, David J. Anderson

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation: Limiting WIP is essential for effective flow and sustainable pace.

TheSite Reliability Engineer (SRE)role originated at Google and is now widely recognized. SREs apply software engineering principles to IT operations to create systems that arescalable, reliable, and highly available. Their responsibilities include:

Designing reliability into systems (SLIs, SLOs, SLAs)

Automating operational tasks to reduce toil

Building monitoring and alerting systems

Performing capacity planning and disaster recovery exercises

A(Site resilience engineer) is not a standard industry term.C(Software engineer) focuses on developing applications but not specifically on operational reliability.D(Product Owner) is a role in Agile frameworks that manages product backlog and priorities, not system reliability.

Thus, the correct answer isB – Site Reliability Engineer.