Pass the Scrum Professional Scrum Master PSM-I Questions and answers with CertsForce

The correct answers are A and B, because these are true about the Product Owner role. The Product Owner is one person, not a committee or a team, who is accountable for ordering the Product Backlog and maximizing the value of the product. The Scrum Guide states that “the Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals. … For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions.”

There are no activities that a Product Owner would typically undertake in the phase between the end of the current Sprint and the start of the next Sprint, because there is no such phase. The next Sprint starts immediately after the current Sprint, without any gaps or breaks. The other options are either activities that occur during a Sprint (such as refining the Product Backlog) or activities that are not consistent with Scrum (such as working with Quality Assurance departments or updating project plans).

According to the Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide1. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values1. The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum2. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization while serving the Scrum Team as well as the larger organization2.

Option B is incorrect because keeping track of resource allocation is not a responsibility of the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master does not manage or control the resources of the Scrum Team or the organization. The Scrum Team is self-organizing and responsible for managing its own work within a Sprint1.

Option C is incorrect because managing the performance of the Scrum Team is not a responsibility of the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master does not evaluate or appraise the performance of the Development Team or the Product Owner. The Scrum Master serves the Development Team by coaching them on self-organization and cross-functionality, and serves the Product Owner by ensuring that goals, scope, and product domain are understood by everyone on the Scrum Team1.

Option D is incorrect because the meetings and the objectives that a Scrum Team sets for itself are not a responsibility of the Scrum Master. The Scrum Master does not dictate or prescribe what meetings or objectives a Scrum Team should have. The Scrum Master facilitates the Scrum Events as requested or needed, and ensures that they are positive, productive, and kept within the time-box1.

Three statements that are true about Scrum are:

Each component of Scrum serves a specific purpose and is essential to Scrum’s success and your usage of Scrum to develop complex products.

Scrum is a framework for developing and sustaining complex products.

Scrum is based on empiricism and lean thinking.

These statements are supported by [6]: “Scrum is not a process, technique, or definitive method. Rather, it is a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques. … Each component within the framework serves a specific purpose and is essential to Scrum’s success and usage. … The rules of Scrum bind together events, roles, artifacts, and rules governing their relationships. … The three pillars uphold every implementation of empirical process control: transparency, inspection, and adaptation.”

In the Scrum framework, there is no specific role or accountability for a Tester. Instead, the responsibility for quality lies with the entire Scrum Team, particularly the Developers. Scrum emphasizes cross-functional teams, where every team member contributes to all aspects of the development process, including testing. The Developers collectively ensure that the work meets the Definition of Done and maintains high-quality standards. This approach fosters collaboration, shared responsibility, and continuous improvement, aligning with the core principles of Scrum.

There is no such thing as Sprint 0 in Scrum, as stated in [7]: “Sprint 0 is a term used by some people who use Scrum to describe an initial period before starting Sprints where they do some upfront planning or analysis. However, this is not part of Scrum and contradicts its principles of empirical process control, iterative delivery, and responding to change.”

According to the Scrum Guide, the Developers are accountable for managing the progress of work during a Sprint, as they are responsible for creating a valuable Increment that meets the Definition of Done and the Sprint Goal. The other options are not valid, as they imply that the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, or the most junior member of the team are accountable for managing the progress of work, which is not consistent with Scrum.

When many Development Teams are working on a single product, the definition of “Done” must be shared by all Development Teams and make their combined work potentially releasable, as stated in [4]: “When multiple teams work together on one product they must mutually define and comply with the same Definition of Done. This makes sure all Increments adhere to a consistent quality level.”

The Definition of Done serves the following three purposes:

A. Create a shared understanding of when work is complete.

The Definition of Done is a commitment to the quality of the product increment that is part of Scrum. It is a formal description of the state of the product backlog item or the increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. The Scrum team must have a shared understanding of what ‘done’ means and use it to assess when work is complete and transparent1.

C. Increase transparency.

The Definition of Done increases transparency by providing everyone a shared understanding of what work was completed and what standards were met as part of the increment. This ensures that the product increment is potentially releasable and that the stakeholders can inspect and provide feedback on it2.

D. Describe the work that must be mostly done before the Sprint is allowed to end.

The Definition of Done describes the work that must be done before the Sprint is allowed to end. Work cannot be considered part of an increment unless it meets the Definition of Done. The Definition of Done is used to guide the Developers in creating a "Done", usable, and potentially releasable product increment every Sprint3.

B and E are not purposes of the Definition of Done.

B. Guide the Developers on how many Product Backlog items to select for the Sprint.

The Definition of Done does not guide the Developers on how many Product Backlog items to select for the Sprint. The Developers select how many Product Backlog items they can complete within a Sprint based on their capacity, skills, and experience. The Definition of Done helps them ensure that the selected items are completed to a high standard of quality4.

E. Describe the purpose, Objective, and timebox Of each Scrum event.

The Definition of Done does not describe the purpose, objective, and timebox of each Scrum event. The Scrum Guide describes these aspects for each Scrum event, such as Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective5. The Definition of Done is related to the product increment, not to the Scrum events.

The two effective ways for the Scrum Team to make non-functional requirements visible are C and D.

C. Add them to the Definition of Done so the work is taken care of every Sprint.

The Definition of Done (DoD) is a shared understanding of what it means for a Product Backlog item to be complete and potentially releasable1. The DoD can include non-functional requirements that apply to the entire product or system, such as performance, security, usability, etc. By adding them to the DoD, the Scrum Team ensures that they are met every Sprint and that the quality of the product is maintained2.

D. Add them to the Product Backlog to ensure transparency.

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product1. The Product Backlog can include non-functional requirements that are specific to certain features or functionalities, such as response time, availability, scalability, etc. By adding them to the Product Backlog, the Scrum Team ensures that they are visible to all stakeholders and that they are prioritized and refined along with the functional requirements3.

A and B are not effective ways for the Scrum Team to make non-functional requirements visible.

A. Run the integration and regression tests before the end of the Sprint, and capture the open work for the Sprint Backlog of the next Sprint.

This approach does not make non-functional requirements visible, but rather postpones them until the end of the Sprint. This can lead to incomplete or low-quality Increments that do not meet the expectations of the customers or users. Moreover, this approach does not account for any changes or feedback that may occur during the Sprint4.

B. Put them on a separate list on the Scrum board, available for all to see.

This approach does not make non-functional requirements transparent, but rather isolates them from the functional requirements. This can lead to confusion or inconsistency in how they are handled by the Scrum Team. Moreover, this approach does not align with the principle of having a single source of truth for the product requirements, which is the Product Backlog5.