PSM II sample questions

Question 1

A Scrum Master is not only a servant-leader to the Scrum Team and organization, it’s also considered a management position.

Which three activities describe what a Scrum Master manages as reflected by the Scrum Guide? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The way Scrum is understood and enacted within the organization.

Accepted Answer

Managing the process in which Scrum is applied.

Accepted Answer

Removing organizational impediments that limits the team’s progress and productivity.

Answer

Reporting on the performance of the Sprint.

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Managing the capacity and utilization of each Development Team member.

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Managing the Product Backlog items and work in the Sprint Backlog.

Question 2

An organization has just hired you as a new Scrum Master to help them transition their teams from their current traditional process to Scrum. The teams are currently structured to specialize in a single function. This is also known as component teams where a team would only address a single layer (i.e. design, frontend, backend, database, testing, etc.). You’ve introduced the concept of cross-functional teams where all the skills needed to produce business functionality, from end to end, are inside of a single team.

What should you keep in mind when transitioning from siloed teams to cross-functional teams? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Newly formed teams will need time to stabilize before reaching their peak performance. During the initial stages of forming, performance will suffer and productivity may be low, although even then delivery of business value is still likely to increase.

Accepted Answer

People from the different layers and components will need time to become accustomed to working and delivering unified functionality together as one Scrum Team thus productivity may suffer.

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It is easier to compare the performance between cross-functional teams in order to identify to which teams to assign tasks and which teams need additional coaching.

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Without feature teams, you cannot do Scrum. Postpone Scrum adoption until the teams are reorganized in feature teams.

Question 3

Because the Development Team is the ones doing the work, they are best suited to inspect and adapt the progress toward the Sprint Goal. At minimum, this is done every 24 hours through the Daily Scrum. It is the Scrum Master’s responsibility to teach the Scrum Team the value and objective of each Scrum event in order for them to optimize the benefits of each event. Because the Daily Scrum is owned by the Development Team, it is up to them on how they should run it but the Scrum Master can provide guidance to ensure it adheres to the Scrum guidelines.

What is the most effective way to recover?

Accepted Answer

The Development Team informs Paul that the progress he has perceived to date is not correct.
The Increment is not releasable. They give Paul their estimate of the effort it would take to get the previous work ‘done’, and suggest doing that work first before proceeding with new features. The team also re-estimates the effort to make the remaining Product Backlog items ‘done’, including all integration effort. In the end, it is Paul’s call to continue the project or to cancel.

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In the next Sprints, the Development Team strives to make the selected work as close to ‘done’ as possible and at the minimum 90% completed. Any undone work is divided into new Product Backlog Items that will be deferred to the last Sprint in order to maintain stable velocity.

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The Scrum Master will manage the Sprint Backlog and assign work to the Development Team members to ensure maximum utilization of each member. He/she will keep track of unused resources so that it does not impact the budget. Unused budget can be allocated for additional Sprints if needed.

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The Scrum Master sets the open work aside to be performed in one or more release Sprints. They remind Paul to find funding for enough Release Sprints in which this remaining work can be done.
Up to one release Sprint per three development Sprints may be required. It is Paul’s role to inform users and stakeholders of the impact on the release date.

Question 4

Paul, a Product Owner of one of the Scrum Teams, has been attending the Daily Scrum. During the Daily Scrum, the Development Team members have been reporting their daily work to Paul so that he is aware of their Sprint progress and what each member is working on.

What is the best action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Coach Paul and Development Team members on the purpose of the Scrum events and let them figure out what to do in this situation.

Answer

Ask Paul to stop attending the Daily Scrum.

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Allow the Paul to participate in the Daily Scrum as he is responsible for the success of the product.

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Facilitate the Daily Scrums to avoid any conflicts between the Development Team members and Paul.

Question 5

Steven, the Scrum Master, is approached by one of the Development Team members saying that they are not completing regression tests for all of the work they are performing to the level defined in the Definition of Done. They have discussed this with the Product Owner and decided to remove regression testing from the Definition of Done.

Which two actions are the most appropriate for Steven to take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner what problem they are trying to solve by altering the Definition of Done and removing regression testing from it. In what ways will this decision impact transparency and quality?

Accepted Answer

Ask the Development Team and the Product Owner if they are still able to produce potentially shippable product increments by altering the Definition of Done?

Answer

Reject the decision as the long term maintainability of the product will be negatively impacted by modifying the Definition of Done.

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Accept the decision as a mutual agreement has been made between the Development Team and the Product Owner.

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The Scrum Master has not ensured transparency.

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The project plan proposed to the sponsors at the start of the project followed stringently.

Question 6

At the end of the eighth Sprint, the internal sponsors are upset and angry with the progress of the product being built. The current state of the product is not as expected and will require additional Sprints and more budget than originally anticipated at the start of the project.

What factors may have led to this? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The Product Owner has not been engaging with sponsors frequently enough and has not been kept aware of the overall progress of the project.

Accepted Answer

The sponsors haven’t been using the Sprint Reviews to actively engage, and inspect and evaluate progress.

Accepted Answer

The Scrum Master has not ensured transparency.

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The scope changes have not been tracked adequately and the change request process has not been followed properly.

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The stakeholders have not been using the Daily Scrum effectively to track the Development Team’s progress.

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The project plan proposed to the sponsors at the start of the project followed stringently.

Question 7

Three Development Teams are currently building a single product and pulling work from the same Product Backlog. All three teams have identified that they will need Dan, a database specialist, to work full time in their team for the next several Sprints.

What should Steven, the Scrum Master, do to solve this potential problem?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with all Development Teams on how they want to deal with this issue, and help them implement their preferred solution.

Answer

Manage the items in the Sprint Backlogs so that Dan can be utilized evenly for each team.

Answer

Assign Dan to the team with the most urgent tasks first and then move him to the next team and so on until the required support is completed.

Answer

Ask Dan to work with the HR department to recruit and hire additional database specialists. In the meantime, have the Product Owner move items that do not depend on Dan to the top of the Product Backlog.

Question 8

Because the Development Team is the ones doing the work, they are best suited to inspect and adapt the progress toward the Sprint Goal. At minimum, this is done every 24 hours through the Daily Scrum. It is the Scrum Master’s responsibility to teach the Scrum Team the value and objective of each Scrum event in order for them to optimize the benefits of each event. Because the Daily Scrum is owned by the Development Team, it is up to them on how they should run it but the Scrum Master can provide guidance to ensure it adheres to the Scrum guidelines.

Which two things should Steven first advise? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

One Product Backlog to represent all of the known work needed to be done for the product.

Accepted Answer

Having one Product Owner to be accountable for maximizing the flow of value throughout the development process and provide transparency on the overall progress.

Answer

Each Scrum Team has its own Product Backlog with items only their team will be working on.

Answer

Three Product Owners, one for each Scrum Team.

Question 9

A Development Team has a total of six members, 4 members who work full time in the office and 2 members who work part time at home. The Development Team is complaining that it is too difficult to synchronize every day and has suggested having the Daily Scrum every other day instead.

What would be three key concerns if the Daily Scrum is held less frequently? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Impediments are raised and resolved more slowly.

Accepted Answer

Opportunities to inspect and adapt the Sprint Backlog are reduced.

Accepted Answer

Less information about the progress will be shared causing the Sprint plan to become inaccurate and reducing transparency over progress toward the Sprint Goal.

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The Scrum Master loses the ability to update the burndown chart adequately.

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The Product Owner cannot accurately inspect utilization of the individual team members.

Question 10

Steven is a Scrum Master asked to assist in creating five new Scrum Teams that will be working to build a highly anticipated product. He talks with them about the importance of being able to integrate their Increments by the end of their Sprints. This includes the first Sprints. The product is very important to both the end users and the organization.

Of the choices raised by future team members, what would Steven encourage?

Accepted Answer

All Scrum Teams agree on a mutual understanding of ‘done’ that defines all work necessary to deliver a potentially shippable Increment that includes all previous Increments delivered for the product.

Answer

Each Scrum Team delivers Increments in its own code branch. After UAT is performed at the Sprint Review, the code branch is isolated until enough Increments are considered acceptable. All code branches will then be merged during the release phase.

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Each Scrum Team delivers functionality at the end of each Sprint. New Product Backlog items will then be added to the next Sprint Backlog to integrate their functionality with the other teams to create a unified Increment.

Answer

Wait until enough of the infrastructure and architecture is in place before starting the first Sprints.
This will increase the success of delivering integrated Increments in Sprint 1.

Free PSM II sample questions

A Scrum Master is not only a servant-leader to the Scrum Team and organization, it’s also considered a management position. Which three activities describe what a Scrum Master manages as reflected by the Scrum Guide? (Choose three.)

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