DevOps-Foundation PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Exam Questions and Answers

Continuous Delivery’s primary benefit is that itreduces the cost, time, and risk of delivering incremental changes. By keeping software deployable at all times, teams can ship small, low-risk releases as needed.

A:Prioritizing features over deployability increases risk.

B:Not all releases are deployed immediately; CD keeps themready.

D:CD doesn’t automate everything—some manual steps may remain, especially in Continuous Delivery (vs. Continuous Deployment).

Extract-style reference:

“Continuous Delivery reduces deployment pain by ensuring that code is always in a deployable state, decreasing the cost, time, and risk associated with releases.”

—Continuous Delivery, Jez Humble & David Farley

PeopleCert Syllabus: Highlights CD as a strategy for safer, more efficient business change.

The scenario describes entrenched silos and resistance to change—managers are protective of their domains and don’t see the value of DevOps.

This is a textbook example ofcultural debt: the gap between the organization’s current culture and the adaptive, collaborative culture needed for DevOps success.

Cultural debt, like technical debt, accumulates over time and “must be paid back” for transformation to succeed. It creates friction, slows delivery, and blocks cross-team collaboration.

Why not the others?

Organizational changeis what’s needed, not what they’re suffering from.

Change fatiguearises when people are burned out bytoo muchchange, not resistance.

Low trustis a symptom, but the core problem here is ingrained culture.

Reference/Extract:

“Cultural debt is accrued when organizations fail to evolve their culture to match new ways of working, like DevOps. It manifests in resistance to collaboration, entrenched silos, and leadership unwilling to change.”

—DevOps Handbook, Ch. 2, and PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Syllabus Section 3.4

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.

TheThird Wayof DevOps emphasizescontinuous learning and experimentationto drive improvement. Scrum supports this principle throughSprint Retrospectives, which are dedicated sessions at the end of each sprint where the team reflects on what went well, what could be improved, and how to adapt processes or behaviors.

Retrospectives create a structured space for honest discussion, experimentation, and the application of lessons learned. This aligns directly with the Third Way’s focus on learning from successes and failures, promoting innovation, and building a culture of continual improvement.

Bfocuses on throughput, which aligns more with the First Way (flow).Ccould improve collaboration but is not a core mechanism of the Third Way.D(shorter feedback loops) is more related to the Second Way.

Thus,Ais correct because Sprint Retrospectives directly embody the Third Way’s goal of learning and adaptation.

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.

TheThird Wayin DevOps emphasizescontinual learning and experimentation. One of the most effective resilience-building practices in this category ischaos engineeringor deliberate fault injection. This involves introducing controlled failures into systems—such as shutting down services, simulating network latency, or exhausting resources—totest the organization’s recovery capabilityin realistic scenarios.

By practicing recovery under controlled conditions, teams identify weaknesses in monitoring, automation, documentation, and communication before a real incident occurs. This improvesMean Time to Recovery (MTTR)and overall system resilience.

OptionA(constraint analysis) relates to theFirst Way(flow optimization). OptionCfocuses on feedback loops (Second Way). OptionD(adding redundancy) is a possible improvement but does not inherently practice and improve operational recovery skills in the same way as deliberate fault injection.

Therefore,Bis the most appropriate Third Way principle for improving resilience in this scenario.

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.

The urgency for DevOps adoption is driven by increasing market competition, evolving customer expectations, and the need for rapid delivery of value.

B: Nimble start-ups often deliver faster and more innovatively, putting pressure on established enterprises.

C: Customers expect continuous improvement and seamless digital experiences (“app mentality”).

D: Reducing time-to-value is essential for staying competitive and meeting business demands.

However,Adescribes a siloed culture—something DevOps actively works to eliminate, not a reason for its importance. In fact, remaining siloed is an obstacle to achieving DevOps benefits, not a driver for adoption. Therefore,Ais the correct “NOT” choice.

ChatOpsis the integration of chat platforms with tools and workflows, allowing teams to manage operations and incidents directly through chat.

Using anAPI (Application Programming Interface)is the correct, scalable way to transfer incident-related data automatically from chat clients to ITSM (IT Service Management) tools, preserving traceability and reducing manual errors.

Why not manual cut/paste?

Manual processes are error-prone and slow; DevOps aims for automation and integration.

Extract-style reference:

“APIs enable seamless transfer of information between ChatOps platforms and ITSM tools, supporting automation, accuracy, and auditability in incident management.”

—DevOps Handbook;ChatOps: Managing Operations and Collaboration in the Cloud, Jason Hand

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Promotes APIs for integration, automation, and collaboration.

According to PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6, the five primary values that guide successful DevOps adoption are summarized in theCALMSframework:Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement, and Sharing.

Culturefocuses on breaking down silos, encouraging trust, and promoting collaboration between development, operations, security, QA, and business teams.

Automationis essential for speeding up delivery, reducing manual errors, and ensuring repeatability across the software delivery lifecycle.

Leanemphasizes the elimination of waste, limiting work in progress (WIP), and improving flow.

Measurementmeans using metrics and data to inform decisions, identify bottlenecks, and drive continuous improvement.

Sharingfosters transparency, knowledge transfer, and a unified approach to goals and problem-solving.

Option A replaces automation and lean principles with softer collaboration aspects, which are important but not recognized as the formal value set. Option C replaces “Measurement” with “Metrics,” which is only a part of measurement. Option D substitutes “Accountability” for “Automation,” which is not part of the CALMS model.

Therefore, the official correct set of values per the DevOps Foundation syllabus isB.

TheThomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)is a psychometric tool that measures an individual’s behavior in conflict situations—specifically, how they handle disagreement with colleagues.

It classifies responses into five modes: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating.

Why not the others?

Kubler Ross Change Curve:Describes emotional responses to change, not conflict styles.

Westrum’s Typology:Categorizes organizational culture (pathological, bureaucratic, generative) but doesn’t measure individual behavior.

Value Stream Mapping:A process improvement tool, not a behavioral assessment.

Reference/Extract:

“The Thomas-Kilmann instrument helps teams understand how individuals approach conflict and collaboration, enabling better resolution strategies—a key aspect of high-performing DevOps teams.”

—DevOps Handbook; PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 Section 3.7

Theory of Constraintsis a methodology that seeks to identify the single, most important limiting factor (constraint) in a process and systematically improve it until it’s no longer the limiting factor.

Extract-style reference:

“The Theory of Constraints provides a powerful framework for identifying bottlenecks (constraints) that limit system performance and focusing improvement efforts on these areas to maximize throughput.”

—Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints

DevOps Foundation syllabus discusses this as a foundational Lean concept, directly applicable to software delivery pipelines, where delays or resource shortages can restrict overall throughput.

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.

Agile Service Management (Agile SM)applies Agile principles to the design and improvement of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes. Its goal is to create processes that arelightweight, adaptable, and customer-focused, ensuring they provide just enough control to meet objectives without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

This framework helps align ITSM practices with the speed and flexibility required in a DevOps environment, ensuring that services can be delivered in a timely, efficient, and outcome-focused manner.

A(ITIL) provides a comprehensive ITSM framework but is not inherently Agile.B(COBIT) focuses on governance rather than process agility.D(DevOps) is a cultural and technical movement, not specifically a framework for ITSM process design.

Thus,Cis correct.

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.

The State of DevOps Reports show thatLOW performing organizations have higher change failure rates, meaning a larger percentage of changes lead to incidents, outages, or degraded service. In contrast, high performers have more frequent deployments, faster lead times, and quicker recovery from incidents.

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.

Manufacturingisnota type of IT work in DevOps.

DevOps classifies IT work as:

Business projects:New value-creating work.

Planned work:Routine, repeatable tasks (maintenance, upgrades).

Unplanned work:Incidents, emergencies, support.

Extract-style reference:

“IT work includes business projects, planned work, and unplanned work. Manufacturing is an analogy for flow, but not a category of IT work itself.”

—The Phoenix Project

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6:Recognizes these three categories to manage and improve IT workloads.

In DevOps, success depends on collaboration betweenall key stakeholdersacross the software delivery value stream. This includes:

Software Engineers & Operations Teams: Responsible for designing, building, deploying, and maintaining applications and services.

Business Representatives: Define requirements, prioritize work, and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Security and QA Testers: Ensure that quality, compliance, and security are built into the delivery pipeline from the start (shift-left approach).

PeopleCert emphasizes the idea of “BizDevOps” and “DevSecOps,” highlighting the need for business, development, operations, and security to work as an integrated team. The removal of silos and the inclusion of all perspectives ensure that value is delivered faster and more reliably, while maintaining quality and compliance.

Choosing only one group would miss the cross-functional nature of DevOps. Hence, the correct answer isD – All of the Above.

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.

Poor communication and collaboration slow incident resolution. DevOps emphasizes fast, transparent communication channels between Dev, Ops, and other stakeholders. Implementingchat platforms(e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams) that integrate with monitoring, alerting, and deployment tools enables:

Real-time collaboration across geographically distributed teams

Immediate sharing of incident context and system data

Faster decision-making and coordinated action

A(alerting more people) risks causing noise without improving targeted response.B(social media) is not secure or appropriate for enterprise incident management.C(self-help tools) benefits end-users but does not address Dev–Ops collaboration.

Thus,Dprovides the most direct and effective improvement in communication for faster incident resolution.