Processing the ICE surge isn’t over, professor says



Hamline University creative writing professor Angela Pelster-Wiebe never expected to have to make a plan like the one she brought to her students on the first day of the semester in January.  

She told them a plan for what they would do in the unlikely situation of immigration enforcement officers coming into class.  

“It was really awful to say that and to watch people’s faces fill with fear, even just talking about it. It made me sick. It still makes me sick thinking about it,” Pelster-Wiebe said. 

It was the peak of what the federal government called “Operation Metro Surge,” causing palpable tension across the small St. Paul university. 

She wanted to assure students that since Hamline is a private college, ICE is not allowed on campus without a warrant. She explained that, if they were to show up, no one should lie. They would all work to ensure laws were followed and that they looked out for their “most vulnerable” classmates. 

It was inspired by a plan another professor made. They felt it was necessary to address the topic that had become an unescapable reality for both the school and the surrounding Hamline-Midway community. 

Now, nearly two months later, Pelster-Wiebe said it remains too early to talk about what happened as people process. She said she sees the ripple of anxiety and trauma in her classes still. 

“It feels like people are emotionally unwell in a way that feels a little bit different from other years,” Pelster-Wiebe said. "Maybe I’m just making that connection because it feels like it's a difficulty I’m still processing. But it‘s not usual for students to just start crying in class one after the other.”

Since the drawdown of federal immigration officers in the state, she has noticed students have resorted to a “back to normal” approach, attempting to shift their focus on the semester wholeheartedly, even though it seems many are still navigating the emotional effect of the ICE surge.  

For Pelster-Wiebe, it feels rooted in a lack of coping mechanisms. It reminds her of how people slowly got life back to normal after the worst of the COVID pandemic because no one knew what else to do.

“We haven’t figured out how to help students holistically as a society,” she said. “It’s really weird on individual levels when we get students in the classroom who are desperately trying to hold things together but don’t really have structures in place to deal with it.”  

Less than 1 percent of Hamline’s student body are international students; however, nearly half identify as people of color, according to the university. Pelster-Wiebe said students feared for their own safety and their peers after seemingly racially targeted arrests in the cities.  

Moving forward  

Creative writing has always offered Pelster-Wiebe a space for processing. As primarily a nonfiction writer, her work often explores trauma-induced storytelling.  

Throughout everything that has happened, she’s turned to writing to help feel grounded.  

“I keep needing to have affirmed what we went through, because it was so unlike anything I’ve ever lived. There’s so much of part of it that just feels not real.”  

It’s something she continues to offer her students through class. She is noticing themes of what happened seeping into her students' work in unforeseeable ways, though she admits it is too early to know what it means.  

“My students, who maybe used to write about werewolves and dragons and otherworldly creatures, are writing about that less, and their writing seems to me to be more focused on reality,” Pelster-Wiebe said.  

Pelster-Wiebe and the creative writing program initially hosted writing and art events for the university and the surrounding community. They have since shifted to partnering with other campus and surrounding events since different spaces in the surrounding community were hosting events on the same nights.  

The importance of not rushing into the future is top of mind for Pelster-Wiebe. She doesn't know how or when a feeling of safety will be restored. 

“I feel like we’re in this moment of shock and processing now,” Pelster-Wiebe said. “Now that the anxiety and the reoccurring traumas have slowed down, I think we're just in this period of taking stock of everything.”  



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In this article, you can go through the set of Agile PLM interview questions most frequently asked in the interview panel. And these lists will help you to crack the interview as the topmost industry experts curate these at HKR training.

Most Frequently Asked  Agile PLM  Interview Questions

Give a brief idea about the testing principles of Agile testing?

Ans: The following are the principles of Agile testing: 

1. Customer satisfaction 

2. Developing a work environment where the business people and developers work together as a team. 

3. The primary focus should be on the essence rather than lengthy documentation. 

4. Customers would focus on welcoming the changes or developments or enhancements. 

5. Promotion of sustainable development 

6. A big free clean mode 

7. Face to face conversation is encouraged and appreciated. 

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List out a few agile frameworks?

Ans: Below mentioned are the few frameworks of Agile.

  1. Feature-driven development
  2. Test-driven development
  3. Kanban

Give a brief idea about sprint retrospective meetings and release candidate?

Ans: Sprint retrospective meeting: Sprint retrospective meeting is referred to the last part of the sprint. The sprint retrospective meeting is usually done after the review meeting of the sprint. All the teams, along with the scrum master, will join the discussion. The meeting duration would go around 2 to 3 hours.

Release candidate: When developing the applications or the software, there must be no errors or problems behind the work done. Hence, the release candidate is a code or version or a build that is released to ensure that there are no errors in the development stage.

Give a brief idea about the main roles in Scrum?

Ans: There are three main roles in the scrum. They are:

  1. Scrum team: The scrum team includes the individual who is involved in working collectively to complete the set of tasks involved.
  2. Scrum Master: The scrum master is the individual who is responsible for paper execution of the result obtained from the scrum team.
  3. Product owner: The product owner is the individual who is involved in delivering the concept to be built and convey the same idea to the team members.

Describe about zero sprints in Agile?

Ans: A zero sprint in Agile is referred to as the pre-step to be performed before the first sprint. You will need to set up the set of activities that have to be performed before the start of the initial sprint which can be treated as Zero sprint. The activities include backlog preparation, set up the environment to develop, etc.

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Do you think it is possible to apply agile methodology to any other testing apart from development testing and software testing?

Ans: Yes, it is possible to apply agile methodology with any other testing apart from development testing and software testing. The methodology of file testing is applicable in terms of biophysics, biomedical, biochemistry and also in the places that do not have sufficient data. You need to ensure that the project has to be completed within a small team.

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Give a brief idea about the most important agile matrices?

Ans: The most agile matrices are listed below:

Velocity: Velocity is the attribute measured by adding all the estimates of the stories that are approved. This is one of the important attributes that give you a clear idea about the progress, capacity and keeps track of the different aspects.

Work strategy allocation: This attribute gives you a clear idea on the aspect or where exactly you are investing your time and also about the priority of your work.

Defect removal awareness: This attribute allows active members to produce quality products.

Cumulative flow diagram: It allows you to check the uniform workflow, which is represented in the form of a diagram. In the graphical representation, the X-axis represents time, and the Y-axis represents the number of efforts.

Sprint burndown metric: The sprint burndown metric helps in keeping track of the work done with the sprint.

Business value delivered: This is an attribute that is related to the work efficiency of the team involved in the work assigned. It helps in measuring the efficiency and work done with 100 percent as a total mark associated with every project.

Time coverage: The time coverage is referred to as the amount of time given to the code during the testing phase. The time coverage attribute is measured based on the number of lines of code in a ratio format, by the number of relative lines of code.

Defect resolution rate: Defect resolution time is the term that is related to the process in which the team members detect the errors, bugs and fix them.

Describe the build breaker and Kanban?

Ans: Build breaker: There will be some scenarios where the developer will commit a bug accidentally in the software. This accidental bug might cause a problem and interrupt the execution or compilation or with a warning. In such scenarios, it is identified that the build is broken. The main task of the tester is to clear the bug immediately.

Kanban: Kanban is a tool that is designed and developed to help the team in reviewing the work-related aspects, especially the progress of the workflow. The Kanban board is used to describe the status of the current development story.

List out the disadvantages of agile models?

Ans: There are some disadvantages to agile models. They are listed below:

1.The agile models are not easy to predict. If a large project is assigned, then it is not flexible in calculating or getting an understanding of the efforts to be made to work on the project within the given deadline.

2.The product developed will not be a good satisfactory product to the customers, if the client requirements are not understood, analysed and met.

3. Using the agile models, the higher authorities will be able to make precise decisions, which would not be understood by the fresher with a little knowledge.

. Give an idea about test-driven development in Agile?

Ans: Test-Driven environment or often called TDD is a method in which the developer writes an automated test case describing the new addon or function and creates small codes to pass the test.

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. List out the challenges involved in developing Agile Software?

Ans: There are many challenges involved in developing agile software. The most important ones are listed below:

  1. Shows impact on the management rather than the developers.
  2. Each feature has to be completed before moving to the next one.
  3. All the coding part has to be clear and correct to ensure that the application is working as expected.
  4. Much planning is needed while developing agile software.
  5. It requires more testing and involvement of the customers.

. When should you not use Agile?

Ans: You must think of the below aspects before deciding to choose Agile:

  1. Customer availability
  2. Requirements flexibility
  3. Team skills and abilities
  4. Functionality split ability
  5. Time constraint

. What is the product burndown chart, sprint burndown chart, release burndown chart, defect burndown chart?

Ans: Product burndown chart: The product burndown chart is referred to as the descriptive that is represented in the form of a graph showing the implemented product backlog.

Sprint burndown chart: The sprint burndown chart represents the number of implemented sprints and non implemented sprints in the scrum cycle.

Release burndown chart: The release burndown chart is used to depict the pending release.

Defect burndown chart: The defect burndown charr is used to represent the number of defects identified and removed.

Related Article: Agile VS Scrum

. List out the agile quality strategies and project management tools used in Agile?

Ans: The following are the strategies and project management tools used in Agile.

Quality strategies:

  1. Iterations
  2. Dynamic code analysis
  3. Re-factoring
  4. Small feedback cycles                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

project management tools:

1. Agilo

2. Icescrum

3. Version one

4. Agilefant

5. X-Planner

6. Rally software

. What is pair programming and list out its benefits?

Ans: The pair programming is a process in which two programmers work together as a team. One programmer is involved in writing the code and the other programmer reviews the code.

The benefits of pair programming are listed below:

  1. Code quality: The second programmer is involved in reviewing the code, which will help in minimizing the coding errors.
  2. Smooth transfer of knowledge: The experienced individual can teach the other partner about the techniques and codes.

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Conclusion:

Agile PLM is a platform that is used by most of the organizations providing multiple opportunities to the business organizations. It has become popular because of the benefits and frameworks that are helping business organizations achieve their success in a short period. I hope the above information is helpful to you. The above interview questions will help you to crack the interview easily. It is recommended to dep-dive more on the topic so that you will be able to answer any question raised by the interviewer. I wish you all the best for the interview and your excellent career ahead.

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As a Senior Writer for HKR Trainings, Sai Manikanth has a great understanding of today’s data-driven environment, which includes key aspects such as Business Intelligence and data management. He manages the task of creating great content in the areas of Digital Marketing, Content Management, Project Management & Methodologies, Product Lifecycle Management Tools. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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