APM Retrospectives & Continuous Improvement 2

Question 1

A team consistently leaves retrospectives without actionable items. What is the most likely root cause?

Accepted Answer

The team lacks psychological safety to surface real issues

Answer

Without psychological safety, team members avoid voicing genuine problems, resulting in superficial discussions and no meaningful actions.

Question 2

The 'Start, Stop, Continue' retrospective technique is best described as:

Accepted Answer

A framework for categorizing team behaviors into actions, eliminations, and reinforcements

Answer

'Start, Stop, Continue' sorts team feedback into new behaviors to adopt, behaviors to eliminate, and behaviors to maintain.

Question 3

During a retrospective, two team members dominate the conversation while others stay silent. What should the facilitator do first?

Accepted Answer

Use structured techniques like round-robin sharing to include all voices

Answer

Structured facilitation techniques ensure equal participation without singling out individuals or creating confrontation.

Question 4

What does 'Prime Directive' in retrospectives, as coined by Norm Kerth, state?

Accepted Answer

Regardless of what is discovered, everyone did the best they could given what they knew at the time

Answer

Kerth's Prime Directive creates a blame-free environment by assuming all team members acted in good faith with the information available.

Question 5

A team completes a retrospective but never follows up on action items in subsequent sprints. Which practice would best address this?

Accepted Answer

Assign action items as actual Sprint Backlog items with owners

Answer

Converting retrospective action items into sprint backlog items with clear owners makes them visible, trackable, and accountable.

(APM) Agile Product Management Certification Practice Test