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

Deployment frequencyis not aculture metric.

It’s aprocessmetric, indicating how often code is released.

Culture metricsfocus 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.

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.

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.

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

DevSecOps is about integrating security into every stage of the software delivery lifecycle rather than treating it as a separate, post-development activity. PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 stresses that security mustshift left—moving testing, vulnerability scanning, and compliance checks earlier in the process.

Security as Codemeans embedding security policies, controls, and checks directly into infrastructure and application code. This includes:

Automated vulnerability scanning in CI/CD pipelines

Infrastructure-as-code with integrated security configurations

Policy-as-code to enforce compliance automatically

Static and dynamic application security testing (SAST/DAST) integrated into build pipelines

WhileAincorrectly says “shift right” (testing later in production), DevSecOps emphasizes shifting left.B(post-deployment audits) andC(external testing) can complement DevSecOps but don’t fully embed security into the delivery workflow.

Therefore,D – Security as codeis the most direct enabler of DevSecOps practices.

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.

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.

High-performing organizations use Continuous Delivery practices to improveSoftware Delivery and Operational (SDO) performance.

B: Psychological safety encourages open communication, incident reporting, and learning from failures.

C: Trunk-based development reduces integration issues and supports continuous integration/delivery.

D: Cloud technologies provide scalable, on-demand environments that speed up delivery and testing.

On the other hand,A—a heavyweight change process—slows down delivery, increases lead time, and often fails to improve change success rates. Research cited inAccelerateshows that manual, centralized change approvals correlate with lower performance, while automated, peer-reviewed changes produce better reliability and faster delivery.

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 toolchainis an integrated set of tools that supports the entire software delivery lifecycle—planning, coding, building, testing, releasing, deploying, operating, and monitoring. Regardless of whether tools are open source or proprietary, their ability to work together depends onApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs).

APIs define how different software components communicate and exchange data. In a DevOps context, APIs enable:

Automation by allowing tools to trigger actions in other tools

Data flow between systems (e.g., CI pipelines updating ticketing systems)

Integration across heterogeneous environments

A(open source applications) is about licensing, not integration.B(containers) package and run applications consistently but do not inherently integrate tools.D(microservices) is an architectural style for applications, not the integration mechanism between delivery tools.

Therefore,C—APIs—are essential for efficient, effective toolchain integration.

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.

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.

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6 emphasizes thatthere is no single “ideal” team structurefor DevOps. The optimal structure depends on organizational size, maturity, product complexity, and culture.

While cross-functional teams (as described inAandC) are common in mature DevOps environments, and temporary tiger teams (B) may be used for rapid initiatives, the key is flexibility. Some organizations integrate DevOps practices into existing teams, while others create dedicated platform teams, guilds, or enablement teams.

The focus should be onremoving silos, fostering collaboration, and aligning around value streams—not adhering to a rigid structure.

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.

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

The “Three Ways” are foundational principles in DevOps:

The First Wayfocuses on increasing the flow of work from left (development) to right (operations). It is about optimizing the entire system for fast delivery, limiting bottlenecks, and enabling a rapid flow of features and fixes to customers.

The Second Wayis about amplifying feedback loops so corrections can be made early.

The Third Wayemphasizes continual learning and experimentation.

Extract-style reference:

“The First Way emphasizes the performance of the entire system, as opposed to the performance of a specific silo of work or department. The goal is to maximize the flow of work (value) from Development to Operations to the customer.”

—Gene Kim, The Phoenix Project / DevOps Handbook

PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6highlights this in the section on "Principles and Practices," emphasizing The First Way as critical to accelerating flow.

Kanbanis a Lean visual management method that helps teams control and improve workflow. The board displays tasks in columns representing process stages, enabling:

Visualization of work items and bottlenecks

Limiting work in progress (WIP) to improve flow and reduce multitasking

Tracking throughput and cycle time for continuous improvement

B(Value Stream Mapping) is a Lean analysis tool, not a visual board for ongoing work.C(Improvement Kata) is a structured improvement method, andD(Continuous Delivery) is a software delivery practice, not a visual workflow tool.

Therefore,A—Kanban—is correct.

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

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.

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.

According to PeopleCert DevOps Foundation v3.6, theSecond Wayof DevOps focuses on creating and amplifyingfeedback loops. The primary purpose of shortening these loops is toaccelerate the flow of work and informationbetween all stages of the delivery pipeline, especially between Development and Operations.

When feedback loops are short, defects, performance issues, and risks can be identified and resolved earlier in the process, preventing costly delays and large-scale rework. This supportsfaster, safer releasesand improves the organization’s responsiveness to customer needs.

WhileA(learning) andD(knowledge sharing) are important benefits of feedback loops, they aresecondaryoutcomes. The main, direct effect is improvingflow efficiency—ensuring that handoffs between Dev and Ops happen smoothly, quickly, and with higher quality.

OptionC(value stream mapping) is a useful Lean practice to identify delays and bottlenecks, but it is adiagnostic tool, not the primary improvement gained from shortening feedback loops.

Thus, the correct answer isB—shortened feedback loops primarily improve IT performance by ensuringfaster flowbetween Development and Operations.