In this article, you will be learning about the Professional Scrum Master Certification exam questions and answers with detailed explanations. These newly updated free questions fasten up your exam preparation and help you build more confidence in facing the actual exam.
Our certified experts crafted these PSM 1 exam questions and answers for free to help you in passing the exam on the first attempt. Let us start learning!
Q1 : What are the advantages of the Scrum Framework?
A. Fine-grained requirements are only defined when they are really needed.
B. All activities to design, build and testing certain functionality are kept together in one phase.
C. Changes are expected and welcomed by Scrum team.
D. None of the given answers
Correct Answers: A, B and C
Explanation
A – The requirements are broken down to the level that is understandable by the Development Team in the Sprint Planning meeting. The level is granularity is totally dependent on the Development Team’s understanding, and so some tasks need not be broken down.
B – Since the purpose of the development team is to produce is potentially releasable product at the end of the sprint, all activities related to a feature is completed within a sprint
C – Scrum and Agile thrives on rapid changes, and with the development cycle being of single sprints, changes are expected by the development team.
Q2 : Which two are properties of the Daily Scrum?
A. It is fifteen minutes or less in duration.
B. It is facilitated by the team lead.
C. It consists of the Scrum Master asking the Team members the three questions.
D. Its location and time should remain constant.
Correct Answers: A and D
Explanation
A – Daily Scrum has is a time-boxed event of 15 minutes, therefore it should be completed within 15 minutes.
B – Team Lead is not a role in Scrum.
C – The Scrum Master may or may not attend the Daily Scrum. It’s the development team who is attend the Daily Scrum, to answer the three questions – what was done yesterday, what will be done today, and if there are any impediments.
D – Scrum suggests keeping the location and time of the Daily Scrum constant to reduce complexity.
More details on Scrum Theory can be found here: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-daily
Domain : Scrum Events
Q3 : Which of the following is not an input to the Sprint Planning Meeting?
A. Sprint Backlog
B. Latest Product Increment
C. Projected capacity of the Scrum team during the Sprint
D. Past performance of the development team
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
Inputs to the Sprint Planning Meeting are:
- Product Backlog
- Latest product Increment
- Projected capacity of the Development Team during the Sprint,
- Past performance of the Development Team
All the above factors are included in the Sprint Planning to better estimate what needs to be done, and how much can be done in the upcoming Sprint.
Sprint backlog is an output of the sprint planning.
Reference: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-planning
Q4 : The Product Owner is empowered to punish the team if it fails its sprint commitment – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
Scrum does not empower anyone to punish anyone. The success or failure of a Sprint is a Development Team’s collective responsibility but that can happen due to multiple reasons. Those reasons need to be identified in the Sprint Retrospective and worked upon.
Remember the five values of Scrum – Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness and Respect.
More details on Scrum Theory can be found here: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#values
Q5 : Scrum Master is responsible for leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
- The Scrum Master serves the organization in several ways, including:
- Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
- Planning Scrum implementations within the organization;
- Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development;
- Causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team; and,
- Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.
More details on Scrum Theory can be found here: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-sm
Domain : Scrum Team
Q6 : Could the product owner and scrum master be a part of the development team?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
Scrum does not prohibit the Product Owner and Scrum Master to be a part of the Development Team and work on Sprint Backlog. It is just not suggested that the Product Owner be a part of the Development Team because this may lead to conflict of interests. The fact that Scrum allows for them to be a part of the Development Team can be understood from the statement in the Scrum Guide “The Product Owner and Scrum Master roles are not included in this count unless they are also executing the work of the Sprint Backlog.”
More details on Scrum Theory can be found here http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-dev
Q7 : What are the core responsibilities of the Product Owner?
A. Maximize the value of the product
B. Maximize the value of the work done by the Development Team
C. Keeping the external stakeholders from interfering in the activities of the development team
D. Making sure all the work is done at the end of the Sprint
Correct Answers: A and B
Explanation
A, B – Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of both the product and the work done by the development team.
C – The Scrum Master is responsible to educate the organization to not interfere in the activities of the development team.
D – The Development Team is responsible to make sure that all the work is done at the end of the Sprint.
Q8 : Who ensures that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all?
A. Scrum Master
B. Product Owner
C. Development Team
D. Business Stakeholders
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
According to Scrum, the product owner has the following responsibilities:
- Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
- Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;
- Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team performs;
- Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
- Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog to the level needed.
By clearly expressing and ordering the backlog items, the Product Owner makes sure that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent and clear to all.
Q9 : The rules of Scrum bind together the events, roles and artifacts, governing the relationships and interaction between them – True or False
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
According to Scrum, “The rules of Scrum bind together the events, roles, and artifacts, governing the relationships and interaction between them”.
More details can be found at: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#definition
Q10 : Velocity of different teams working on the same product CANNOT be compared – True or False.
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
Velocity of different teams can never be compared, even if they may be working on the same product. The thing about estimation using story points is that the estimation is an abstract number and is not representative of the performance of a team in a Sprint in isolation but rather a comparison of its own performance among multiple Sprints.
Q11 : The Definition of Done can be different for different development teams working on the same product – True or False
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
When a Product Backlog item or an Increment is described as “Done”, everyone must understand what “Done” means. Although this varies significantly per Scrum Team, members must have a shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete, to ensure transparency. This is the definition of “Done” for the Scrum Team and is used to assess when work is complete on the product Increment.
If there are multiple Scrum Teams working on the system or product release, the development teams on all of the Scrum Teams must mutually define the definition of “Done.”
The correct answer is False
Q12 : Product owner is not mandated to attend the Sprint Planning meeting – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
Product Owner is required to attend the Sprint Planning Meeting, because he is the person who would decide what is needed to be picked up during the current Sprint.
More details on Sprint Planning meeting can be found at Link: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-planning
Q13 : How does Definition of “Done” (DoD) help to the Scrum Team? Select all that apply
A. DoD ensures artifact transparency
B. DoD is used to assess when work is complete on the product Increment
C. Guides the Development Team in knowing how many Product Backlog items it can select during a Sprint Planning
D. DoD helps to calculate velocity of the Scrum Team
Correct Answers: A, B and C
Explanation
Definition of “Done” ensures artifact transparency as it defines the parameters for the tasks which the development team is going to deliver, providing insights to the Product Owner on what to expect.
DoD is also as a guideline for the Development Team to understand when the work is done.
DoD also helps the Development team define the scope of the tasks and the acceptance criteria for the backlog items to be considered as done, thereby helping them better estimate how much work it can deliver during the Sprint.
Q14 : Development team can have new member additions during the Sprint as required – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
The Development Team is fixed for each Sprint. Any changes in the development team can be done for subsequent sprint, but once the Development Team starts working on the Sprint Backlog, their constitution remains constant for the rest of that Sprint.
More details on Development Team can be found at Link: http://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-dev
Q15 : Product owner is responsible for the following operations on the product backlog items (Select all that apply)
A. Content
B. Estimation
C. Availability
D. Ordering
Correct Answers: A, C and D
Explanation
Scrum Guide lists the following responsibilities of the Product Owner:
- Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
- Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;
- Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team performs;
- Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
- Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog to the level needed.
More details on the Product Owner can be found at link: http://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-po
Q16 : All Development Teams working on the same Product should use the same Product Backlog – True or False
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: A
Explanation
One product is represented by a single product backlog, even if multiple scrum teams are working on the same product.
More details on the product backlog can be found at Link: http://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#artifacts-productbacklog
Q17 : Who ensures that the Development Team understands the items in the Product Backlog to the level needed?
A. Scrum Master
B. Product Owner
C. Technical advisor
D. Domain expert
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is product owner. Scrum lists the following as the responsibilities of the Product Owner in the Scrum Guide:
- Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
- Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;
- Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team performs;
- Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog to the level needed.
Q18 : An organization decides to have very small Development teams of size fewer than three. The likely result could be?
A. The team may have decreased interaction
B. The team may have skills shortage
C. The team may have low productivity gains
D. All of the above
Correct Answer: D
Explanation
If team size is less than three, it has been observed that there is decreased interaction, there might be shortage of all the skills that is necessary to convert the backlog item into a product increment, and the team may suffer from low productivity gains. So it is generally advised that the team size be greater than or equal to 3 and less than or equal to 9.
More details can be found at Link: http://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-dev
Q19 : Discussion of what to do next is also an additional event as part of the sprint review.
A. False
B. True, and the scope of the next sprint is finalized here.
C. True, and it may capture probable backlog items for next Sprint, but the scope of the next Sprint is deferred until Sprint Planning.
D. None of the above
Correct Answer: C
Explanation
Sprint review generally incites reviews from the stakeholders like, “This is good, we would also want to see…”, “It would be good if we can have this functionality as well”, etc. It is also a good place to take the inputs of the stakeholders as to what they would want to see in the product.
These inputs are taken only for reference, and may or may not be added in the product backlog, with the planning of the actual tasks that would be done in the next sprint being deferred until Sprint Planning meeting.
Domain : Scrum Team
Q20 : Who would be the best person to coach the development team in organizational environments in which Scrum is not yet fully adopted or understood?
A. Product Owner
B. Scrum Master
C. Project Manager
D. None of them
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
Scrum Master is supposed to be a master of Scrum, and he is supposed to coach anyone and everyone on the scrum practices. Therefore, Scrum Master would be the best person to coach the development team in organizational environments in which scrum is not yet fully adopted or understood.
More details on Scrum master can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-sm
Domain : Sprint Goal
Q21 : The Sprint Goal provides the following?
A. Guidance to the team on why it is building the Increment
B. Flexibility to the team about the functionalities implemented in this Sprint
C. Coherence so that the team members can work together
D. All of the above
Correct Answer: D
Explanation
Sprint Goal serves multiple purposes. Details on Sprint Goal can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#events-planning
Domain : Scrum Theory
Q22 : Scrum Master serves the __________ (Select all that apply)
A. Product Owner
B. Development Team
C. Organization
D. Shareholders
Correct Answers: A, B and C
Explanation
Scrum Master serves the Product Owner, the development team and the organization.
More details on Scrum Master can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-sm
Domain : Scrum Artifacts
Q23 : Once the product is released, product backlog ceases to exist – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
Product backlog exists till the product exists, so even after the product is released, the product backlog remains.
More details on product backlog can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#artifacts-productbacklog
Domain : Scrum Events
Q24 : Who assigns the User Stories to the Development team members in a Sprint?
A. Product Owner
B. Scrum Master
C. Team Lead
D. No one
Correct Answer: D
Explanation
No one assigns the user stories to the development team members. Development team is self-organizing and they pick up the user stories for themselves.
More on Development team can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-dev
Domain : Scrum Team
Q25 : The Product Owner can either be one person or a committee – True or False?
A. True
B. False
Correct Answer: B
Explanation
The PO is always a single person, though he may represent a larger group of people which may include different business stakeholders.
More details on PO can be found at: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#team-po
Summary
Hope you have enjoyed this article and found it very useful for Professional Scrum Master (PSM) Certification exam preparation. Experts always recommend spending more time on learning before you attempt the actual certification exam. Just like learning through these free questions, you should also try to attempt the PSM practice test which has a set of mock questions to assess your skills. Keep Learning !
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