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Upon joining a team, a Scrum Master should focus onfacilitating team collaboration, removing impediments, and creating a psychologically safe space. ThePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 3.3: Scrum Master Role)andMike Griffiths (Chapter 3: Team Performance)stress that early efforts should center onservant leadership, helping the team identify and solve their own challenges.

Option Cis correct: supporting the team through facilitation reflects the core role of a Scrum Master.

Option Ais prescriptive and not aligned with cross-functional team philosophy.

Option Bmay be necessary later, but first, trust and team dynamics must be established.

Option Dfalls under the Product Owner’s responsibility, not the Scrum Master’s.

The correct answer is B — Hold regular retrospectives and have team members commit to specific actions.

Regular retrospectives enable the team to continuously reflect and adapt their processes and product based on new challenges or insights. Commitment to specific action items ensures accountability and fosters a culture of learning and responsiveness.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Teams should hold regular retrospectives to identify areas for improvement and define concrete actions. These actions are tracked and reviewed in subsequent iterations.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.8 – Retrospectives)

Mike Griffiths:

“Continuous improvement is a core agile value. Retrospectives allow teams to evaluate their performance and commit to actionable improvements.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 7 – Continuous Improvement)

Incorrect options:

A is a waterfall mindset.

C lacks structured reflection and accountability.

D is a poor coding practice and anti-pattern.

Answer: B

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As a servant leader, the agile coach’s role is to support and empower the team, helping them overcome obstacles that hinder their progress. In this case, the coach should focus on identifying and removing any impediments that are slowing down the work, whether they are technical, process-related, or communication-based. This approach enables the team to work more efficiently, enhances their ability to self-organize, and ensures they can deliver high-quality results. Simply adjusting the work plan or assigning more resources may not address the underlying issues, and a command-and-control approach is counterproductive in an Agile environment.

The correct answer isB – Review possible options and make an informed decision to cut losses based on delivered business value.In agile, decisions arecontinuously evaluatedbased onvalue delivery,inspect-and-adapt principles, andbusiness justification.

From thePMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile projects emphasize delivering the highest value features early and frequently. When new information emerges—such as the high risk of failure of a critical feature—the product owner must evaluate the cost-benefit, assess remaining value, and make a business-based decision.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.4 – Value-Driven Delivery)

“The agile mindset embraces failure as a learning opportunity but also encourages continuous evaluation of whether a project should continue. It is better to stop a project early based on value delivery assessments than to continue wasteful efforts.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 2.3 – Fail Fast to Learn Quickly)

Mike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Booknotes:

“Agile teams reassess business value frequently. If remaining features do not justify additional investment due to technical, market, or cost concerns, the product owner may decide to stop the project and preserve resources. This decision should always be informed by the value already delivered versus expected benefits.”

(Mike Griffiths, Chapter 3 – Value-Driven Delivery)

Why the other options are incorrect:

Ais a possible outcome, but prematurely terminating without analyzing value delivery is hasty.

C(bringing in experts) may increase costs and still not solve the fundamental issue of failing value.

Dignores the significance of the critical feature and assumes it can be deferred without impact—this may not be viable.

Answer: B

As a scrum master, the goal is to foster a collaborative and self-organizing environment. When conflicts arise, it is essential to guide the team in resolving the issue on their own rather than making unilateral decisions. The scrum master should:

Coach the team individually to understand the root causes of the conflict and ensure each team member feels heard.

Then, bring the team together in a more structured environment, such as the Sprint review, to discuss the disagreement openly and constructively. This helps the team resolve conflicts and learn how to handle similar situations in the future.

The correct answer is D – The Product Owner is responsible for both the budget and the release plans.

In Scrum and Agile frameworks, the Product Owner acts as the voice of the customer and is responsible for maximizing the value of the product. This includes managing the product backlog, prioritization, and release planning. Additionally, in Agile environments, budget management—especially in terms of what value is delivered with what investment—is a key aspect of the Product Owner’s role.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“The Product Owner manages the backlog and prioritizes work based on value delivery. The Product Owner is also typically responsible for budgeting and release planning, often in collaboration with stakeholders.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.2 – Roles and Responsibilities)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Release planning and value-based budget decisions fall under the Product Owner’s responsibilities, as they are closest to business stakeholders and value prioritization.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book, Chapter 3 – Value-Driven Delivery)

Why other options are incorrect:

A is partially correct but misplaces budget responsibility.

B is traditional and does not reflect Agile delegation to the team and Product Owner.

C promotes team ownership but budget and release planning specifically lie with the Product Owner.

Answer: D

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When an agile team's velocity is slowing down, it is essential to regularly evaluate and adjust how the team is performing. By using feedback loops in every sprint, the team lead can continuously assess the team's progress, identify bottlenecks, and address issues early on. These feedback loops, typically discussed in sprint retrospectives, provide an opportunity for the team to identify the root causes of challenges, such as miscommunications, and make improvements to ensure better performance in future iterations. This approach promotes ongoing reflection and adaptation, which are core principles of Agile.

The first step for the Scrum Master should be to identify the key stakeholders as early as possible. Understanding who the key stakeholders are, such as internal or external individuals or groups that have an interest in the project, allows the team to prioritize communication and engagement with them from the outset. Identifying stakeholders early ensures that their needs and expectations can be taken into account when planning and executing the project. This helps avoid misunderstandings or misaligned goals later in the project.

The primary reason for delivering a minimally viable product (MVP) is to reduce risk as quickly as possible. By releasing a version of the product with just the essential features, the team can quickly test assumptions, gather feedback from users, and make necessary adjustments before investing more time and resources. This approach allows the team to identify and address potential risks early in the process, ensuring that the product is on the right track and meets user needs before full-scale development continues.

The correct answer is D — Periodically, at both the release and project level.

Agile planning is iterative and layered. When new requirements or constraints emerge, plans should be updated at the appropriate levels—sprint, release, and potentially the overall project level. Periodic adjustments ensure continued alignment with business needs and system dependencies.

PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile planning is done at multiple levels: product vision, roadmap, release, iteration, and daily. These plans are continually updated based on new learning and stakeholder feedback.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 – Adaptive Planning)

Mike Griffiths:

“Effective planning includes periodic updates at all planning horizons. Adjusting at both the project and release levels ensures strategic alignment and tactical feasibility.”

(PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 – Adaptive Planning)

Incorrect options:

A misses the iterative nature of Agile planning.

B and C are too narrow in scope.

Answer: D

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