PMP Agile and Hybrid Approaches 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following BEST describes the role of the Scrum Master in an organization adopting agile for the first time?
- Managing the project budget and timeline
- Acting as the primary liaison between the team and external vendors
- Coaching the team and organization on agile practices and values (Correct answer)
- Writing user stories and maintaining the product backlog
Correct answer: Coaching the team and organization on agile practices and values
The Scrum Master serves as a coach and change agent, helping teams and the organization understand and adopt agile principles.
Question 2: A project manager working in a hybrid environment needs to decide which work packages to deliver using agile and which using predictive methods. What factor should drive this decision?
- The personal preference of the project sponsor
- The level of requirements uncertainty and rate of change for each work package (Correct answer)
- Which method the team has used the longest
- The size of the work package in story points
Correct answer: The level of requirements uncertainty and rate of change for each work package
Work with high uncertainty and changing requirements benefits from agile, while stable, well-defined work suits predictive approaches.
Question 3: What is the primary output of a Sprint Planning event?
- An updated risk register
- A sprint backlog with a sprint goal (Correct answer)
- A signed contract with the product owner
- A resource allocation matrix for the sprint
Correct answer: A sprint backlog with a sprint goal
Sprint Planning produces the sprint backlog — the set of items the team commits to — and a sprint goal that provides direction.
Question 4: In the Agile Practice Guide, which leadership style is recommended for agile team leaders?
- Command-and-control leadership
- Servant leadership (Correct answer)
- Transactional leadership
- Autocratic leadership
Correct answer: Servant leadership
Servant leadership, which prioritizes the team's needs and removes impediments, is the recommended style for agile environments.
Question 5: A team using the Cynefin framework encounters a problem with no clear cause-and-effect relationship and multiple competing hypotheses. Which domain does this situation fall into?
- Simple (Clear)
- Complicated
- Complex (Correct answer)
- Chaotic
Correct answer: Complex
The Complex domain is characterized by unknown unknowns and emergent solutions, requiring experimentation rather than analysis.
Question 6: A development team is practicing continuous integration (CI). What is the MOST important discipline supporting CI?
- Committing code to the main branch at least once per day (Correct answer)
- Conducting weekly code reviews with the product owner
- Writing all tests after the feature is complete
- Deploying only after each sprint is finished
Correct answer: Committing code to the main branch at least once per day
Frequent code commits — at least daily — are essential so that integration problems are detected and resolved quickly.
Question 7: An agile team's product owner is frequently unavailable for backlog refinement and sprint reviews. What is the LIKELY impact?
- The team will self-organize and decide product direction autonomously
- Velocity will increase because there are fewer interruptions
- The team will struggle with unclear priorities and misaligned deliverables (Correct answer)
- The Scrum Master will assume the product owner role temporarily
Correct answer: The team will struggle with unclear priorities and misaligned deliverables
An unavailable Product Owner leads to unclear priorities, misalignment with business needs, and wasted development effort.
PMP Agile and Hybrid Approaches 4
Which of the following BEST describes the role of the Scrum Master in an organization adopting agile for the first time?