Eight months ago your company started developing a new product consisting ot several major components. You are the Scrum Master on the team building the "core" component of the product; your component also integrates all the other components.
The Scrum Teams work in monthly Sprints, and the team has forecast that it will deliver the integrated product in three Sprints. Recently the team's progress slowed because of changes to the other components that they integrate. The program manager is extremely upset when they find out that the team will need two more Sprints. The project managers of the other components confirm their adherence to the original forecast.
As a Scrum Master, what could you do to help the Product Owner?
(choose the best answer)
Correct : C
As a Scrum Master, you could help the Product Owner by suggesting working with the program manager and the project managers of the other components on the ordering and the value of your open Product Backlog items to redefine the possible delivery date. This would allow you to collaborate with the stakeholders and align on the expectations and priorities of the product. You could also inspect and adapt your integration process and communication channels with the other teams to minimize the impact of changes and dependencies.
The Scrum Guide 2020, section ''The Scrum Master''
The Scrum Master Learning Path, module ''The Scrum Master as a Coach''
The Professional Scrum Master II Course, topic ''Stakeholder Management''
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A Scrum Team consists of Developers working from globally distributed locations. Organizing the Scrum events requires conferencing tools that are not easily available within the organization. The Developers propose doing a Daily Scrum only on Tuesdays. Which are the most appropriate responses for their Scrum Master?
(choose the best two answers)
Correct : A, B
As a Scrum Master, you could help the Developers understand that lowering the frequency of communication will only increase the feeling of disconnect between the team members, especially when they are working from globally distributed locations. You could also coach the Developers on why a daily frequency is important as an opportunity to update the Sprint Plan and how it helps the team organize work toward achieving the Sprint Goal. You could suggest alternative conferencing tools or methods that are easily available and effective for the team. You could also facilitate the Daily Scrum by ensuring that it is positive, productive, and focused on the Sprint Goal.
Acknowledging and supporting this self-managing team's decision might seem like a good option, but it would not help the team to improve their collaboration and alignment. Having the Developers vote to make sure there is consensus within the team might also seem like a democratic way to handle the situation, but it would not address the underlying issue of why the team wants to reduce the frequency of the Daily Scrum.
The Scrum Guide 2020, section ''The Daily Scrum''
What Is the Daily Scrum?, A Guide to the Daily Event - Scrum Alliance
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How does the Scrum Master serve the Scrum Team?
(choose the best two answers)
Correct : A, D
What is a Scrum Master? | Scrum.org, section ''The Accountabilities of the Scrum Master''
The Scrum Guide 2020, section ''The Scrum Master''
What is a scrum master? [+ Responsibilities] | Atlassian, section ''Scrum master responsibilities''
[The 8 Stances of a Scrum Master by Barry Overeem], section ''The Servant Leader''
[What Is a Scrum Master (and How Do I Become One)? - Coursera], section ''What is a scrum master?''
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The Developers are waiting for an external supplier to deliver a specific product component that they need to integrate and use. Without that component there will not be enough work in the next Sprint to occupy the full team. They ask their Product Owner to re-order the Product Backlog. The Product Owner asks the Scrum Master for help. What would be good advice for the Product Owner?
(choose the best answer)
Correct : B
In this scenario, the Developers are waiting for an external supplier to deliver a specific product component that they need to integrate and use. Without that component there will not be enough work in the next Sprint to occupy the full team. They ask their Product Owner to re-order the Product Backlog. The Product Owner asks the Scrum Master for help. A good advice for the Product Owner would be to tell them that their primary concern is the flow of value reflected in the ordering of the Product Backlog. Timeline of the flow might be influenced by such dependencies and require some level of Product Backlog re-ordering.
This advice would help the Product Owner to focus on delivering value while also considering the impact of the external dependency. The Product Owner could work with the Developers and stakeholders to identify and prioritize other valuable work that can be done in the next Sprint without relying on the external component. The Product Owner could also communicate with the external supplier and try to minimize or eliminate the dependency as much as possible.
The other options are not good advice for the Product Owner. Telling them that they need to re-order the Product Backlog to maximize utilization of the Developers would imply that keeping productivity high is more important than delivering value. This would go against the Scrum values of focus and respect. Telling them to remove all work involving the external component from the Product Backlog and create a new backlog for it would imply that they are ignoring or avoiding the dependency rather than managing it. This would go against the Scrum values of courage and openness.
The Scrum Guide 2020, section ''The Product Owner''
What is a Product Backlog? | Scrum.org, section ''Ordering''
Product Backlog Ordering - Zen Ex Machina, section ''Ordering by Value''
Product Backlog Ordering - Zen Ex Machina, section ''Ordering by Risk''
Ordered Not Prioritized | Scrum.org, section ''Ordering by Dependencies''
[The Scrum Values | Scrum.org], section ''The Scrum Values''
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Your organization has announced a release to its user base three Sprints from now To be able to include all functionality in the release, work needs to accelerate. The Product Owner puts some testing from the Definition of Done on hold for the next three Sprints, while adding a generic item to the Product Backlog to resolve this in a future release.
The Developers object that this will lead to technical debt. Select two ways that explain the impact of technical debt to the Product Owner.
(choose the best two answers)
Correct : C, D
What is Technical Debt in Scrum? | StarAgile, section ''The technical debt is created when''.
Technical Debt & Scrum: Who Is Responsible? | Scrum.org, section ''What Is Technical Debt?''.
Managing Technical Debt in a Scrum Project | SCRUMstudy Blog, section ''Technical debt accrues''.
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