Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Development Team member tells the Scrum Master that the Product Owner keeps assigning tasks directly to individuals during the Sprint. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Allow it since the Product Owner owns the Product Backlog and has authority over the team
- Coach the Product Owner that the Development Team self-manages and selects their own work (Correct answer)
- Escalate the issue to senior management immediately
- Restructure the Sprint so the Product Owner has a formal task assignment session
Correct answer: Coach the Product Owner that the Development Team self-manages and selects their own work
The Scrum Master is accountable for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted. The Development Team is self-organizing and decides internally how to accomplish Sprint Backlog items. The Scrum Master must coach the Product Owner on this boundary.
Question 2: A stakeholder complains to the Scrum Master that they never know what the team is working on. Which Scrum event best addresses this concern?
- Daily Scrum, which should be opened to all stakeholders
- Sprint Review, which provides transparency to stakeholders on the Increment and progress toward the Product Goal (Correct answer)
- Sprint Retrospective, where stakeholders give feedback on team performance
- Sprint Planning, which stakeholders should attend to set priorities
Correct answer: Sprint Review, which provides transparency to stakeholders on the Increment and progress toward the Product Goal
The Sprint Review is the formal inspect-and-adapt event that invites stakeholders to examine the Increment and collaborate on what to do next. It is the primary mechanism for external transparency.
Question 3: The Scrum Master notices that the Daily Scrum has turned into a lengthy status report to the manager who attends. What is the most appropriate action?
- Schedule a separate status meeting with the manager outside the Daily Scrum
- Cancel the Daily Scrum and replace it with written status updates
- Allow it since management visibility improves accountability
- Remind the team that the Daily Scrum is for Developers and refocus it on their plan for the next 24 hours (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Remind the team that the Daily Scrum is for Developers and refocus it on their plan for the next 24 hours
The Daily Scrum is an event for the Developers to inspect progress and adapt their plan. It is not a status meeting. The Scrum Master protects the team by ensuring the event serves its intended purpose.
Question 4: A Scrum Team is unable to reach a consensus on their Definition of Done. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Define the Definition of Done on behalf of the team to save time
- Facilitate a discussion to help the team agree on quality standards that produce a potentially releasable Increment (Correct answer)
- Defer to the Product Owner to set the Definition of Done unilaterally
- Remove the Definition of Done requirement since it blocks progress
Correct answer: Facilitate a discussion to help the team agree on quality standards that produce a potentially releasable Increment
The Definition of Done is a shared understanding of what makes an Increment complete. The Scrum Master facilitates—not dictates—this agreement, ensuring the team owns and understands their quality commitment.
Question 5: Midway through a Sprint, the Development Team discovers that the remaining work is significantly more than originally estimated and the Sprint Goal is at risk. What should happen?
- The Scrum Master should extend the Sprint to accommodate the extra work
- The Product Owner should cancel the Sprint immediately
- The Development Team should collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate Sprint Backlog scope while protecting the Sprint Goal (Correct answer)
- The Scrum Master should remove team members who underestimated the work
Correct answer: The Development Team should collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate Sprint Backlog scope while protecting the Sprint Goal
The Sprint Goal is fixed, but the scope of the Sprint Backlog can be renegotiated. The Development Team and Product Owner collaborate to adjust scope so the Sprint Goal remains achievable within the time-box.
Question 6: A new Scrum Master joins an organization where teams use Scrum terminology but follow a rigid, phase-gated process. What is the Scrum Master's primary responsibility in this situation?
- Adopt the existing process to avoid disrupting established workflows
- Help the organization understand and implement Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide, coaching toward empiricism and agility (Correct answer)
- Redefine Scrum to match the organization's current process so the terminology is consistent
- Report the non-compliance to the Scrum Alliance immediately
Correct answer: Help the organization understand and implement Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide, coaching toward empiricism and agility
The Scrum Master serves the organization by leading and coaching it in Scrum adoption. When organizations use Scrum in name only, the Scrum Master must educate, coach, and influence change toward true empirical process control.
Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master 1
A Development Team member tells the Scrum Master that the Product Owner keeps assigning tasks directly to individuals during the Sprint.
What should the Scrum Master do?