IIBA-AAC practice questions: Initiative Horizon

5 free questions from 78 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up

These 5 questions come from the Initiative Horizon section of our IIBA-AAC bank (78 questions on this area, which carries 25% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.

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1/5 · Initiative Horizon

An initiative team is optimizing one feature so aggressively that integration with adjacent systems, the end-to-end customer journey, and downstream operations are being ignored, causing value to leak elsewhere. Which principle of agile analysis is the team most clearly failing to apply?

AStimulate Collaboration and Continuous Improvement

BGet Real Using Examples

CDeliver Value

DSee the Whole

Show answer & explanation

D is correct. The seven principles of agile analysis include See the Whole, which requires analysts to understand how individual parts relate to the larger system and value stream so that local optimization does not undermine overall value. Over-optimizing one feature while ignoring integration and the end-to-end journey violates this principle.
↗ Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide v2 — Initiative Horizon

2/5 · Initiative Horizon

A team cannot reliably estimate or even shape an upcoming story because it depends on an unfamiliar third-party API whose behaviour and limits are unknown. Rather than guess, they propose creating a small, time-boxed piece of work whose only deliverable is the knowledge needed to reduce that uncertainty before committing to the feature. What is this practice called?

AA hardening iteration

BA walkthrough

CA retrospective

DA spike

Show answer & explanation

D is correct. A spike is a deliberately time-boxed investigative activity whose deliverable is knowledge rather than shippable functionality. Teams use spikes to resolve technical or functional uncertainty — such as an unknown API — so that the dependent story can then be estimated and elaborated. Hardening iterations, retrospectives, and walkthroughs serve different purposes.
↗ Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide v2 — Initiative Horizon

3/5 · Initiative Horizon

A Delivery Horizon team asks the initiative analyst, 'Of everything in the backlog, what do you actually want us to pull next, and in what order?' The analyst recognizes this exchange as the specific way the Initiative Horizon feeds the Delivery Horizon. What does the Agile Extension say the Initiative Horizon provides to the Delivery Horizon?

AThe final acceptance test results confirming the increment is done

BAn indication of the priority and sequencing of solution components

CThe organization's long-term strategy and business need definition

DFully sliced, just-in-time user stories ready for implementation

Show answer & explanation

B is correct. Within Feedback and Learning, the Agile Extension states that the Initiative Horizon provides feedback to the Delivery Horizon by indicating the priority and sequencing of solution components. In turn, the Delivery Horizon feeds the Initiative Horizon learning that tests whether the option, the selected components, their priority/sequence, and the need to deliver each component all remain appropriate.
↗ Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide v2 — Initiative Horizon

4/5 · Initiative Horizon

Facing genuine uncertainty about which of two solution options is preferable, the team runs a small, time-boxed experiment. According to the Initiative Horizon, what is the goal of experimentation in this context?

ATo discover just enough information to enable the selection of an option.

BTo fully validate the chosen option end-to-end before any further analysis.

CTo eliminate all risk from the selected option before recommending it.

DTo produce a working production increment that can ship immediately.

Show answer & explanation

A is correct. Experimentation can be useful when selecting a solution option, and its goal is explicitly to discover just enough information to enable the selection of an option — consistent with the just-enough, waste-avoiding stance of the Initiative Horizon.
↗ Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide v2 — Initiative Horizon

5/5 · Initiative Horizon

Compared to business analysis work performed at the Delivery Horizon, business analysis work at the Initiative Horizon is generally characterized by which of the following?

AA one-time upfront activity that concludes before any delivery work starts and is never revisited.

BA broader, less granular view of requirements — epics, features, and themes — aimed at scoping and sequencing a release, rather than the fully elaborated, testable detail needed to build a single increment.

CNo involvement of business stakeholders, since that engagement occurs only at the Strategy Horizon.

DA focus exclusively on writing detailed acceptance criteria and test cases for the current iteration.

Show answer & explanation

B is correct. Initiative Horizon business analysis operates at a coarser level of detail than the Delivery Horizon — shaping scope, sequence, and roadmap — while remaining an ongoing, stakeholder-involved activity rather than a one-time exercise.
↗ Agile Extension to the BABOK Guide v2 — Initiative Horizon

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Strategy Horizon65 q Principles of Agile Analysis79 q Delivery Horizon79 q

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