Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Scrum Master as Leader Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Scrum Master notices that the Development Team frequently defers all decisions to the Product Owner. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Coach the team on self-management and encourage them to make decisions within their domain (Correct answer)
- Ask the Product Owner to stop making decisions for the team
- Escalate the issue to senior management
- Start making technical decisions on behalf of the team
Correct answer: Coach the team on self-management and encourage them to make decisions within their domain
A Scrum Master as a servant-leader coaches the team toward self-management rather than creating new dependencies.
Question 2: Which behavior best demonstrates the Scrum Master acting as a leader who serves?
- Assigning tasks to team members each Sprint
- Removing impediments and fostering an environment where the team can thrive (Correct answer)
- Approving all design decisions before implementation
- Reporting individual performance metrics to stakeholders
Correct answer: Removing impediments and fostering an environment where the team can thrive
Servant-leadership focuses on enabling the team by removing obstacles and creating conditions for success.
Question 3: How should a Scrum Master lead when the organization resists adopting Scrum practices?
- Force compliance by mandating Scrum ceremonies
- Help the organization understand the value of empiricism and guide incremental change (Correct answer)
- Ignore organizational resistance and focus only on the team
- Replace resistant managers with Scrum advocates
Correct answer: Help the organization understand the value of empiricism and guide incremental change
A Scrum Master leads organizational change by educating stakeholders and facilitating understanding of Scrum's benefits.
Question 4: During Sprint Planning, two team members have a strong disagreement about the technical approach. What leadership stance should the Scrum Master take?
- Decide the approach to save time
- Facilitate a constructive discussion and help the team reach consensus (Correct answer)
- Cancel Sprint Planning until the conflict is resolved
- Ask the Product Owner to choose the approach
Correct answer: Facilitate a constructive discussion and help the team reach consensus
The Scrum Master facilitates healthy conflict resolution while letting the Development Team own technical decisions.
Question 5: A Scrum Master is coaching a newly formed Scrum Team. Which leadership approach is most appropriate initially?
- Provide more direct guidance on Scrum practices and gradually shift to a coaching stance as the team matures (Correct answer)
- Immediately adopt a hands-off approach and let the team figure things out
- Manage the team's daily work to ensure they follow Scrum correctly
- Delegate all Scrum facilitation to the most experienced developer
Correct answer: Provide more direct guidance on Scrum practices and gradually shift to a coaching stance as the team matures
Effective servant-leaders adapt their approach based on team maturity, providing more structure early and shifting toward coaching over time.
Question 6: What is the PRIMARY way a Scrum Master demonstrates leadership to the broader organization?
- By managing project timelines and budgets
- By helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work (Correct answer)
- By serving as the communication bridge between the team and management
- By ensuring all teams follow identical Scrum implementations
Correct answer: By helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work
The Scrum Master leads the organization by promoting understanding of empiricism and Scrum principles.
Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Scrum Master as Leader Questions and Answers 2
A Scrum Master notices that the Development Team frequently defers all decisions to the Product Owner.
What should the Scrum Master do?