CST CST Definition of Done & Team Self-Organization 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary characteristic of a self-organizing Scrum Team?
- The team selects its own Scrum Master each Sprint
- Developers decide internally how best to accomplish Sprint Backlog work (Correct answer)
- The team chooses which Product Backlog items to prioritize
- All team roles can be rotated between members each Sprint
Correct answer: Developers decide internally how best to accomplish Sprint Backlog work
Self-organization means Developers choose the how—methods, assignments, and approaches—without being directed by anyone outside the team.
Question 2: Which management practice most inhibits team self-organization?
- Providing teams with a clear Sprint Goal
- Assigning tasks directly to individual Developers rather than letting the team self-assign (Correct answer)
- Conducting regular Sprint Reviews with stakeholders
- Sharing a Definition of Done across teams
Correct answer: Assigning tasks directly to individual Developers rather than letting the team self-assign
Externally assigning tasks removes the team's autonomy to allocate work based on skill, availability, and emergent needs.
Question 3: In a self-organizing Scrum Team, how are technical decisions about implementation made?
- By the Product Owner based on business priorities
- By the Scrum Master to ensure process compliance
- By the Developers based on their collective expertise (Correct answer)
- By an external architecture review committee
Correct answer: By the Developers based on their collective expertise
Developers own all technical decisions about implementation; neither the PO nor Scrum Master directs the technical approach.
Question 4: A self-managing team disagrees on a technical approach and is stuck. What is the Scrum Master's appropriate response?
- Make the technical decision to unblock the team immediately
- Escalate the decision to the Product Owner
- Facilitate a structured discussion that helps the team reach their own decision (Correct answer)
- Tell the team to revisit the issue in the next Sprint
Correct answer: Facilitate a structured discussion that helps the team reach their own decision
The Scrum Master serves the team's self-management by facilitating good decision-making processes rather than making decisions for them.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes a cross-functional Scrum Team?
- A team with members from multiple departments reporting to different managers
- A team that has all the skills necessary to create value each Sprint without external dependencies (Correct answer)
- A team that permanently handles both development and operations work
- A team where specialists each own a distinct technical layer of the product
Correct answer: A team that has all the skills necessary to create value each Sprint without external dependencies
Cross-functionality means the team collectively possesses every skill needed to take a Product Backlog item from idea to Increment without waiting on others.
Question 6: Why does Scrum prescribe a maximum team size of 10 people?
- Larger teams create too many artifacts and documentation overhead
- Teams larger than 10 require too much coordination, reducing agility and communication quality (Correct answer)
- Scrum events cannot be completed in prescribed timeboxes with larger teams
- Larger teams increase licensing costs for agile tooling
Correct answer: Teams larger than 10 require too much coordination, reducing agility and communication quality
Smaller teams communicate more efficiently and self-organize more effectively; beyond 10, coordination overhead grows faster than capacity.
CST CST Definition of Done & Team Self-Organization 2
What is the primary characteristic of a self-organizing Scrum Team?