CST Product Backlog Refinement 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The 'Definition of Ready' (DoR) is sometimes used to gatekeep items entering a Sprint. What is the main risk of enforcing a strict DoR?
- It eliminates all ambiguity from Sprint Planning
- It can become a bureaucratic barrier that slows delivery and violates Scrum's empirical nature (Correct answer)
- It prevents the Developers from collaborating with the Product Owner
- It makes Sprint Retrospectives unnecessary
Correct answer: It can become a bureaucratic barrier that slows delivery and violates Scrum's empirical nature
A rigid DoR can create a mini-waterfall 'analysis phase' and reduce team agility by blocking imperfect but workable items.
Question 2: During refinement, the team consistently finds that items near the top of the backlog have poor acceptance criteria. This is best addressed by:
- Having the Scrum Master write acceptance criteria for each item
- Coaching the Product Owner to collaborate with Developers when writing acceptance criteria (Correct answer)
- Skipping refinement and relying on Sprint Planning to clarify items
- Asking stakeholders to write detailed specifications
Correct answer: Coaching the Product Owner to collaborate with Developers when writing acceptance criteria
Acceptance criteria quality improves through collaborative Product Owner–Developer conversations, not unilateral writing.
Question 3: A team using Planning Poker during refinement reaches wildly divergent estimates. What should happen next?
- Average the estimates and move on
- The highest estimator's number is used to be safe
- Facilitators reveal the cards, high and low estimators share reasoning, then re-estimate (Correct answer)
- The Product Owner decides the final estimate
Correct answer: Facilitators reveal the cards, high and low estimators share reasoning, then re-estimate
Divergent estimates indicate differing assumptions; discussion surfaces those differences before re-estimating.
Question 4: Non-functional requirements (e.g., performance, security) are best handled in the Product Backlog by:
- Adding them as separate backlog items only when a defect occurs
- Incorporating them into the Definition of Done and/or individual backlog items where relevant (Correct answer)
- Delegating them entirely to the operations team outside of Scrum
- Treating them as Sprint Goals rather than backlog items
Correct answer: Incorporating them into the Definition of Done and/or individual backlog items where relevant
Non-functional requirements should be woven into the DoD and explicitly noted on relevant backlog items to ensure they are always met.
Question 5: An item that is too large to complete in a single Sprint is called an:
- Initiative
- Theme
- Epic (Correct answer)
- Feature
Correct answer: Epic
An epic is a large user story that must be broken down into smaller stories before it can be pulled into a Sprint.
Question 6: How does backlog refinement contribute to accurate Sprint velocity over time?
- It ensures all items are estimated the same way, reducing estimation drift (Correct answer)
- It replaces velocity tracking with story point totals
- It eliminates the need for Sprint Reviews
- It allows the Scrum Master to adjust velocity manually
Correct answer: It ensures all items are estimated the same way, reducing estimation drift
Consistent refinement and estimation practices reduce variance, making velocity a more reliable forecasting tool.
Question 7: A Product Owner is refining backlog items with only the Scrum Master present. Developers are not included. What problem does this create?
- The Scrum Master gains too much power over the backlog
- Estimates and technical insight from Developers are missing, reducing refinement quality (Correct answer)
- The Sprint Goal cannot be set without Developer input in refinement
- This violates the Scrum rule that refinement must include all stakeholders
Correct answer: Estimates and technical insight from Developers are missing, reducing refinement quality
Developers bring technical knowledge essential for realistic estimates and identification of risks during refinement.
CST Product Backlog Refinement 3
The 'Definition of Ready' (DoR) is sometimes used to gatekeep items entering a Sprint.
What is the main risk of enforcing a strict DoR?