Professional Scrum Master Facilitating Scrum Events 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the maximum timebox for Sprint Planning for a four-week Sprint?
- 2 hours
- 4 hours
- 8 hours (Correct answer)
- 16 hours
Correct answer: 8 hours
Sprint Planning for a one-month Sprint is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours.
Question 2: During a Sprint Review, a stakeholder requests a feature that was never in the Product Backlog. What should the Scrum Master facilitate?
- Reject the request since it was not planned
- Direct the stakeholder to submit a formal change request through the project management office
- Facilitate a discussion where the Product Owner considers the request and decides whether to add it to the Product Backlog (Correct answer)
- Immediately add the feature to the current Sprint Backlog
Correct answer: Facilitate a discussion where the Product Owner considers the request and decides whether to add it to the Product Backlog
The Sprint Review is designed to gather feedback and adapt the Product Backlog; the Scrum Master facilitates that conversation while the Product Owner decides on backlog changes.
Question 3: The Product Owner is frequently absent from Sprint Reviews. What should the Scrum Master do?
- Run the Sprint Review without the Product Owner since the Development Team can present on their own
- Coach the Product Owner on their accountability to attend and the risk of missing critical stakeholder feedback (Correct answer)
- Ask a developer to assume the Product Owner's role during the review
- Cancel Sprint Reviews until the Product Owner commits to attending
Correct answer: Coach the Product Owner on their accountability to attend and the risk of missing critical stakeholder feedback
The Scrum Master coaches the Product Owner on their responsibilities, including attending the Sprint Review to inspect the Increment and update the backlog based on stakeholder feedback.
Question 4: What distinguishes the Sprint Retrospective from the Sprint Review?
- The Retrospective is for stakeholders; the Review is for the Scrum Team only
- The Review inspects the product Increment; the Retrospective inspects the team's process and ways of working (Correct answer)
- The Retrospective is optional; the Review is mandatory
- The Review creates the Sprint Backlog; the Retrospective creates the Product Backlog
Correct answer: The Review inspects the product Increment; the Retrospective inspects the team's process and ways of working
The Sprint Review focuses on the product (Increment and backlog), while the Retrospective focuses on the team's own process and relationships for continuous improvement.
Question 5: A Scrum Master notices that the team's Retrospective action items are never implemented. What is the best response?
- Stop holding Retrospectives since they are not producing results
- Escalate the unimplemented actions to management for enforcement
- Facilitate a discussion about why actions aren't being completed and help the team commit to a smaller, achievable improvement each Sprint (Correct answer)
- Document the actions in a report and distribute to all stakeholders
Correct answer: Facilitate a discussion about why actions aren't being completed and help the team commit to a smaller, achievable improvement each Sprint
The Scrum Master helps the team identify why improvements stall and coaches them to select one realistic improvement per Sprint to rebuild momentum.
Question 6: During Sprint Planning, who is responsible for clarifying backlog items and their acceptance criteria?
- The Scrum Master, who translates requirements for the Development Team
- The Product Owner, who is accountable for the Product Backlog and communicating its items (Correct answer)
- A business analyst embedded in the Development Team
- An external stakeholder who submitted the original requirement
Correct answer: The Product Owner, who is accountable for the Product Backlog and communicating its items
The Product Owner is accountable for the Product Backlog and must be present at Sprint Planning to clarify items and acceptance criteria for the Development Team.
Question 7: A newly formed Scrum Team is unsure what to discuss during the Daily Scrum. Which guidance should the Scrum Master offer?
- Each developer must answer three fixed questions: what did you do yesterday, what will you do today, and are there any blockers
- The Daily Scrum is flexible; the team should use it to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan for the next 24 hours (Correct answer)
- The Scrum Master should lead the Daily Scrum and assign tasks to each team member daily
- The team should use the Daily Scrum to report progress percentages for each backlog item
Correct answer: The Daily Scrum is flexible; the team should use it to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan for the next 24 hours
The 2020 Scrum Guide removed the three fixed questions; the Daily Scrum's purpose is to inspect Sprint Goal progress and adapt the plan, using whatever structure helps the team.
Professional Scrum Master Facilitating Scrum Events 4
What is the maximum timebox for Sprint Planning for a four-week Sprint?