Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Scrum Team Accountabilities Questions and Answers 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Scrum Team is struggling because the Product Owner frequently changes Sprint Backlog items mid-Sprint. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Allow changes since the Product Owner owns the backlog
- Coach the Product Owner on the importance of Sprint Goal commitment and backlog stability during a Sprint (Correct answer)
- Escalate the issue to management for resolution
- Prevent the Product Owner from attending Daily Scrums
Correct answer: Coach the Product Owner on the importance of Sprint Goal commitment and backlog stability during a Sprint
The Scrum Master should coach the Product Owner to understand that the Sprint Backlog belongs to the Developers and changes mid-Sprint undermine the Sprint Goal.
Question 2: Who is accountable for creating a valuable and useful Increment each Sprint?
- The Scrum Master
- The Product Owner
- The entire Scrum Team (Correct answer)
- The Developers only
Correct answer: The entire Scrum Team
The entire Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable, useful Increment every Sprint, though Developers are specifically accountable for the technical quality.
Question 3: During Sprint Planning, the Developers realize they lack the skills to complete a high-priority Product Backlog item. What is the most appropriate action?
- Remove the item from the Product Backlog entirely
- The Scrum Team collaborates to determine how to acquire the needed skills or adjust the plan (Correct answer)
- Hire a contractor immediately to fill the skill gap
- Skip the item and wait for the next Sprint
Correct answer: The Scrum Team collaborates to determine how to acquire the needed skills or adjust the plan
Scrum Teams are cross-functional and self-managing, so they should collaboratively figure out how to address skill gaps rather than simply deferring work.
Question 4: What is the Scrum Master's primary accountability regarding organizational impediments?
- Solving all impediments personally before they affect the team
- Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team's progress (Correct answer)
- Documenting impediments and reporting them to senior management
- Assigning impediment resolution to individual Developers
Correct answer: Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team's progress
The Scrum Master is accountable for causing the removal of impediments, which may involve coaching, facilitating, or escalating but does not require solving them all personally.
Question 5: A stakeholder asks a Developer directly to add an urgent feature during the current Sprint. What should happen?
- The Developer should add it immediately to satisfy the stakeholder
- The Developer should direct the stakeholder to the Product Owner to discuss prioritization (Correct answer)
- The Scrum Master should reject the request on behalf of the team
- The team should hold an emergency Sprint Review
Correct answer: The Developer should direct the stakeholder to the Product Owner to discuss prioritization
Product Backlog ordering is the Product Owner's accountability, so stakeholder requests for new work should be directed to the Product Owner for prioritization decisions.
Question 6: Which statement best describes the accountability of Developers within a Scrum Team?
- They are accountable only for writing code that passes tests
- They are accountable for creating a plan for the Sprint (the Sprint Backlog) and adapting it daily toward the Sprint Goal (Correct answer)
- They are accountable for completing all items the Product Owner requests each Sprint
- They are accountable for reporting progress to the Scrum Master daily
Correct answer: They are accountable for creating a plan for the Sprint (the Sprint Backlog) and adapting it daily toward the Sprint Goal
Developers are accountable for creating the Sprint Backlog as a plan for the Sprint, instilling quality through the Definition of Done, and adapting their plan each day toward the Sprint Goal.
Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master Scrum Team Accountabilities Questions and Answers 2
A Scrum Team is struggling because the Product Owner frequently changes Sprint Backlog items mid-Sprint.
What should the Scrum Master do?