A new Scrum team is being formed within a marketing agency. The management wants to assign the role of Product Owner to someone who can best ensure the product delivers maximum business value to their clients.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
The Scrum Guide explicitly states that the Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master is a servant-leader responsible for facilitation and impediment removal. The Developers are accountable for the technical solution, and the entire Scrum Team is self-managing.
Question 2
A project team is transitioning from a traditional Waterfall methodology to an Agile approach. They are studying the Agile Manifesto to guide their new way of working.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
The Agile Manifesto states four core values. One of these is valuing 'Responding to change over following a plan.' While 'Individuals and interactions' is also a value, it is paired with 'processes and tools.' 'Comprehensive documentation' and 'Contract negotiation' are the items that are valued less than their counterparts (working software and customer collaboration, respectively).
Question 3
A team is discussing the nature of story points during their first estimation session.
True or False: A story point is a universal unit of measure that directly translates to a specific number of hours and should be consistent across different Scrum teams.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
False. Story points are a relative unit of measure, unique to each team. They represent a combination of effort, complexity, and uncertainty, and do not directly correlate to a fixed number of hours. Their value is specific to the team that made the estimate and should not be compared between teams.
Question 4
A Scrum Master is reviewing the team's Sprint Burn-down chart mid-sprint. They notice the line representing remaining work is flat for three consecutive days.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
A flat line on a burn-down chart indicates that the total amount of remaining work is not decreasing. This could be because no work is being completed, or because new tasks are being discovered and added to the Sprint Backlog at the same pace that other tasks are being finished. It is a signal for the team to investigate the reason for the lack of progress.
Question 5
Multiple answers
A Scrum team has just completed a challenging Sprint. The Scrum Master is preparing for the Sprint Retrospective and wants to ensure it is a productive event focused on improvement. What are the primary purposes of the Sprint Retrospective? (Select TWO)
Answer and explanation
Correct answers: B, D
The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself.
The purpose of the inspection is to identify potential improvements and create a plan to implement them.
Question 6
A large organization is developing a complex product that requires the coordinated effort of five Scrum teams. They need a simple, effective technique to coordinate integration and manage cross-team dependencies. Which scaling practice is specifically designed for this purpose, where representatives from different teams meet to coordinate their work?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
The Scrum of Scrums is a well-established technique for scaling Scrum where multiple teams coordinate. It is a meeting where representatives (often Scrum Masters or technical leads) from each team meet to discuss progress, impediments, and integration points, ensuring the teams remain aligned and the product remains integrated.
Question 7
During a Planning Poker session, the estimates for a user story are 3, 5, 5, 8, and 13. What is the most appropriate next step for the Scrum Master to facilitate?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
The goal of Planning Poker is to foster discussion and reach a shared understanding. When there is a significant divergence in estimates, the best practice is to have the outliers (highest and lowest estimators) explain their perspective. This discussion often uncovers missed assumptions or details about the work, leading to a more accurate consensus.
Question 8
HealthForward Inc., a healthcare technology company, is developing a new patient portal. They have been using Scrum for six months. The Scrum Team consists of a Product Owner (PO), a Scrum Master (SM), and five Developers. During the last two Sprints, the team has consistently failed to meet its Sprint Goal. The Sprint Retrospectives have revealed several issues: the PO frequently adds new, 'urgent' items to the Sprint Backlog after the Sprint has started, and stakeholders often bypass the PO to give direct instructions to the Developers.
The Developers feel overwhelmed and demotivated, as the goalposts are always moving. The SM has tried to coach the PO and stakeholders, but the behavior persists. The PO argues that the market is dynamic and they must be able to react quickly. The stakeholders claim they are just 'clarifying' requirements. The quality of the increment has also started to decline, and more bugs are being reported.
As the Scrum Master, what is the most effective action to take FIRST to address the root cause of these issues?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
The root cause is a lack of understanding and respect for Scrum principles by the PO and stakeholders. The most effective first step is education and facilitation. A dedicated workshop allows the Scrum Master to explain the 'why' behind Scrum's rules, such as protecting the Sprint Goal, and to create a shared agreement on how to interact. This addresses the problem collaboratively rather than confrontationally.
flowchart TD
subgraph Dysfunctional Flow
A[Stakeholder] --> B(Developer)
C[Product Owner] --> D(Sprint Backlog)
end
subgraph Correct Flow
E[Stakeholder] --> F(Product Owner)
F --> G[Product Backlog]
G --> H(Sprint Planning)
H --> I(Sprint Backlog)
end
Question 9
A Scrum team is building a web application. For their first few Sprints, their Definition of Done (DoD) only included 'code complete' and 'unit tested.' They now find that a lot of time is spent in later Sprints fixing integration issues and performance problems. How should the team adapt their Definition of Done to improve the quality and predictability of their increments?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
The Definition of Done is a living artifact that should be adapted to ensure a high-quality, potentially shippable increment is produced each Sprint. If the current DoD is leading to downstream problems, the team should strengthen it by adding necessary quality assurance activities like integration and performance testing. 'Hardening Sprints' are an anti-pattern that delay feedback and violate the principle of producing a done increment every Sprint.
Question 10
A team is using a Kanban board to visualize their workflow within a Sprint. The board has columns: 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' 'In Review,' and 'Done.' The 'In Progress' column has a Work-in-Progress (WIP) limit of 2. Currently, there are two items in that column. A Developer finishes their current task and wants to start a new one from the 'To Do' list. According to Kanban principles, what should the Developer do?
graph TD
subgraph "Sprint Workflow"
direction LR
A["To Do (3 items)"] --> B["In Progress (WIP Limit: 2)
Item A
Item B"] --> C["In Review (1 item)"] --> D["Done (5 items)"]
end
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
A core principle of Kanban is to use WIP limits to prevent bottlenecks and improve flow. When a column is at its WIP limit, it signals that the team should focus on finishing existing work rather than starting new work. The correct behavior is to 'stop starting and start finishing.' The Developer should help move an existing item forward in the workflow, for example, by helping with a code review or testing.
