Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Facilitating Scrum Events Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During Sprint Planning, the Development Team cannot agree on how much work to commit to. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Decide the Sprint Backlog on behalf of the team
- Facilitate a discussion to help the team reach consensus using historical velocity data (Correct answer)
- Escalate the disagreement to the Product Owner for resolution
- Cancel the Sprint Planning and reschedule for the next day
Correct answer: Facilitate a discussion to help the team reach consensus using historical velocity data
The Scrum Master facilitates the event and helps the team use empirical data like velocity to make informed commitments.
Question 2: What is the Scrum Master's primary role during the Daily Scrum?
- To assign tasks to each team member for the day
- To ensure the event happens and stays within the 15-minute timebox (Correct answer)
- To report progress to stakeholders
- To update the Sprint Burndown chart
Correct answer: To ensure the event happens and stays within the 15-minute timebox
The Scrum Master ensures the Daily Scrum takes place, is timeboxed to 15 minutes, and that only Developers participate actively.
Question 3: A stakeholder frequently interrupts the Sprint Review to criticize the team's technical decisions. How should the Scrum Master respond?
- Ask the stakeholder to leave the meeting
- Redirect the conversation to focus on the product increment and gathering feedback (Correct answer)
- Allow the criticism since stakeholders have the right to say anything in the Review
- Tell the Product Owner to handle all stakeholder communication
Correct answer: Redirect the conversation to focus on the product increment and gathering feedback
The Scrum Master facilitates the Sprint Review to keep focus on inspecting the increment and adapting the Product Backlog based on feedback.
Question 4: The team's Sprint Retrospective has become unproductive, with members repeating the same complaints each Sprint. What facilitation technique should the Scrum Master try?
- Cancel Retrospectives until the team requests them again
- Use a different Retrospective format to generate fresh perspectives and actionable improvements (Correct answer)
- Limit the Retrospective to only positive feedback
- Invite management to enforce accountability for previous action items
Correct answer: Use a different Retrospective format to generate fresh perspectives and actionable improvements
Varying the Retrospective format helps prevent staleness and encourages the team to think about improvements from new angles.
Question 5: During Sprint Planning, the Product Owner is unable to attend. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Cancel Sprint Planning and wait for the Product Owner
- Have the Development Team select items they think are most important
- Ensure someone can represent the Product Owner and clarify Product Backlog items, or reschedule if impossible (Correct answer)
- Act as the Product Owner for this Sprint
Correct answer: Ensure someone can represent the Product Owner and clarify Product Backlog items, or reschedule if impossible
Sprint Planning requires Product Backlog clarity; the Scrum Master should find a delegate or reschedule rather than proceeding without proper input.
Question 6: How should a Scrum Master handle a situation where the Daily Scrum consistently runs over 15 minutes?
- Extend the timebox to 20 minutes to accommodate the team
- Coach the team on keeping discussions focused and deferring detailed conversations to after the event (Correct answer)
- Remove team members from the Daily Scrum to reduce discussion time
- Switch to written status updates instead of a meeting
Correct answer: Coach the team on keeping discussions focused and deferring detailed conversations to after the event
The Scrum Master coaches the team to respect the timebox by focusing on progress toward the Sprint Goal and taking detailed discussions offline.
Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Facilitating Scrum Events Questions and Answers 2
During Sprint Planning, the Development Team cannot agree on how much work to commit to.
What should the Scrum Master do?