PSM Notes

Wednesday, 1 July 2020 11:13 AM

Continue to Medium
Sign up
Already have an account?
Sign in
To make Medium work, we log user data and share it with service providers. Click “Sign Up” above to
accept Medium’s Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.
Become a member
Sign in
Get started

PSM1: Notes from “The Scrum

Guide”
Sanjeev Ramani
Follow
Feb 1, 2018 · 10 min read

The essence of the Scrum Guide, in a question and answer

format. I used this for my PSM­1 assessment preparation.
Scrum Definition
1) What is scrum?
A framework within which people can address complex adaptive
problems, while creatively and productively delivering products
of highest possible value.
2) What does Scrum framework consist of?
Scrums teams and their roles, events, artifacts and rules.
Scrum Usage
3) What are the scenarios where you can use scrum?
a) Research and identify markets, technologies and product
capabilities
b) Develop products and enhancements
c) Release products and enhancements
d) Develop and sustain cloud and other operational
environments
e) Sustain and renew products
f) Develop software, hardware, embedded software, networks
of interacting function, autonomous vehicles, schools,
government, marketing, managing the operations of
organizations
4) What is the essence of scrum?
A small team of highly flexible and adaptive people.
Scrum Theory
5) What is Scrum founded on?
Empiricism or empirical process control theory.
6) What does empiricism assert?
Knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based
on what is known.
7) What does scrum do to optimize predictability and control
risk?
Scrum adopts an iterative and incremental approach.
8) What are the 3 pillars of empirical process control?
Transparency, inspection and adaptation.
Transparency
9) What is transparency?
A significant aspect of process must be defined by a common
standard so that observers can share a common
understanding — Definition of Done.
Inspection
10) How frequent must a scrum inspection be?
Frequent, but not too frequent that it gets in the way of work.
Adaptation
11) When are adaptations made?
As soon as possible, to avoid further deviation.
12) What are the 4 formal events for inspection and adaptation?
a) Sprint Planning
b) Daily Scrum
c) Sprint Review
d) Sprint Retrospective
Scrum Values
13) What are the scrum values?
Commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect.
Scrum Team
14) What is the scrum team made up of?
Product Owner, Scrum Master and the Development team.
15) What are the characteristics of Scrum teams?
Self­organizing and cross functional.
16) What does Self­organizing mean?
Teams know how best to accomplish their work, rather than
being directed by others outside the team.
17) What does Cross functional mean?
The team has all the competencies needed to accomplish the
work without depending on others who are not part of the
team.
18) What does the team model in scrum optimize?
Flexibility, creativity and productivity.
Product Owner
19) What is the product owner responsible for?
a) Maximizing the value of the product and development team
b) Managing the product backlog
20) What does Product Backlog management include?
a) Clearly expressing product backlog items
b) Ensuring dev team understands the product backlog items
c) Ordering the items in the product backlog
d) Ensuring that the product backlog is clear, visible and
transparent
e) Optimizing the value of work the development team performs
Development Team
21) What are the characteristics of the development team?
a) Self­organized
b) Cross Functional
c) No sub teams
d) No sub titles
e) Share collective Accountability
22) What is the ideal development team size?
3–9
Scrum Master
23) What is the scrum master responsible for?
Supporting and promoting scrum.
24) What are the Scrum Master characteristics?
a) Ensures scrum is understood and enacted
b) Servant leader
c) Maximizes productivity of scrum team
d) Helps those outside the team understand which of their
interactions are helpful
25) What is Scrum Master’s Service to the Product Owner?
a) Product Backlog management techniques
b) Ensuring team understands need for clear and concise PBIs
c) Ensuring Product owner knows how to arrange PBIs to
maximize value
d) Ensuring team knows how to understand and practice agility
e) Facilitate scrum events as needed
f) Ensuring that goals, scope and product domain are
understood by the scrum team
g) Understanding product planning in an empirical environment
26) What is Scrum Master’s service to the development team?
a) Coaching development team in self­organization and cross
functionality
b) Removing impediments
c) Creating products of high value
d) Facilitate scrum events as needed
e) Coaching dev teams in environments where scrum is not yet
fully adopted or understood
27) What is Scrum Master’s service to the organization?
a) Leading and coaching the organization in scrum adoption
b) Planning scrum implementations within the organization
c) Helping employees and stake holders understand and enact
scrum and empirical product development
d) Causing changes that increase productivity of scrum team
e) Working with other scrum masters to increase effectiveness
of scrum
Scrum Events
Sprint
28) What are the events in scrum for inspection and adaptation?
Sprint Planning, Daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective.
29) Is sprint an event for inspection?
No, the sprint is just a container event.
30) When does a new sprint start?
Immediately after the conclusion of the previous sprint.
31) Once a sprint begins
Its duration is fixed and cannot be lengthened or shortened.
32) What does a Sprint contain and consist of?
Sprint planning, daily scrum, the development work, sprint
review, sprint retrospective.
33) What happens during the sprint?
a) Quality goals do not decrease
b) No change is made that would endanger the sprint goal
c) Scope may be clarified and re­negotiated between the PO and
dev team
34) What happens if the sprint is more than one month?
a) The definition of what is being built may change
b) Complexity may rise
c) Risk may increase
35) Who has the authority to cancel a sprint?
The product owner.
36) When can a sprint be cancelled?
The sprint goal becomes obsolete.
37) When does the sprint goal become obsolete?
a) Company changes direction
b) Market or technology changes
38) What happens when a sprint is cancelled?
a) Done product items are reviewed
b) If it is potentially releasable, Product Owner accepts it
c) Incomplete PBIs are re­estimated and put in the backlog
Sprint Planning
39) Who create the sprint plan?
Scrum team.
40) What is the time box for a monthly sprint’s sprint planning?
Eight hours. For shorter sprints, it is shorter.
41) What does a sprint planning meeting clarify?
a) What can be delivered in the increment in the upcoming
sprint?
b) How will the work needed to deliver the increment be
achieved?
42) What are the inputs for sprint planning meeting?
a) Product backlog
b) Increment
c) Projected capacity
d) Past performance
43) Number of PBIs to be selected for a sprint is determined by
whom?
Development team.
44) The sprint goal is crafted by whom?
Scrum team.
45) What is the sprint goal’s purpose?
Provides guidance to the development team as to why it is
building the increment.
46) What is the Sprint Backlog?
a) PBI for the current sprint
b) Sprint plan
47) What happens at the end of the sprint planning meeting?
a) Work planned for the first few days is decomposed often into
units of one day or less.
b) Development team should be able to explain to the Product
Owner and Scrum Master how it intends to work as a self­
organizing team to accomplish the sprint goal and create the
increment.
Daily Scrum
48) What is the time box for a daily scrum?
15 minutes.
49) Why is the daily scrum held at the same place and time?
The consistency reduces the complexity.
50) Is the structure of the daily scrum fixed?
It is not fixed, and is set by the development team.
51) What are the recommended questions for a daily scrum?
a) What did I do yesterday to meet the sprint goal?
b) What will I do today to meet the sprint goal?
c) What are the impediments?
52) Which team is responsible for conducting daily scrum?
Development team.
53) Who is the person who is responsible for teaching the dev
team to keep daily scrum within 15 min?
Scrum master.
54) Who participates in the Daily scrum?
Development team.
55) Who ensures that the daily scrum happens?
Scrum master.
56) Can other nonmembers be present in the daily scrum?
They can be present/attend, but cannot participate.
Sprint Review
57) What is the time box for a sprint review meeting?
4 hours or less for a monthly sprint.
58) What is the purpose of the sprint review?
To inspect the increment and adapt the product backlog.
59) What is the role of scrum master in sprint review?
a) Ensure that the event takes place and attendees understand
its purpose
b) Teaches everyone to keep it within the time box
60) What are the elements of the sprint review?
a) Product owner invites attendees including the scrum team
and key stakeholder
b) Product Owner explains items that are done/not done from
Product Backlog
c) Dev team discusses what went well, problems and their
resolution
d) Dev team demonstrates work done, and answers questions
about the increment
e) Product Owner discusses the product backlog as it stands and
projects likely target date based on progress made
f) Entire group collaborates on what to do next ; inputs for the
subsequent sprint planning
g) Review market, any changes and what is most valuable to do
next
h) Review timeline, budget, potential capabilities etc.
61) What is the outcome of the sprint review?
A revised product backlog that defines probable PBIs for the
next sprint.
Sprint Retrospective
62) What is the time­box for a sprint retrospective?
3 hours or less for a monthly sprint.
63) Define sprint retrospective?
An opportunity for the scrum team to inspect itself and create a
plan for improvements during the next sprint.
64) What does the scrum master ensure during a sprint
retrospective?
a) Attendees attend the meeting
b) The meeting is positive and productive
c) Meeting is kept within time­box
65) Who participates as a peer team member in a sprint
retrospective?
Scrum master.
66) What is the purpose of the sprint retrospective?
a) Inspect how the last sprint went with regards to people,
process, relationships and tools
b) Identify the things that went well, and potential
improvements
c) Create a plan for implementing the potential improvement
67) What happens at the end of the sprint retrospective?
Scrum team identifies improvements that it will implement in
the next sprint.
Scrum Artifacts
Product Backlog
68) Responsibility for the product backlog lies with whom?
The Product Owner.
69) What is the Product Backlog?
a) An ordered list of everything that is required for the product
b) It is the single source of requirements for any changes to
made on the product
70) Is the Product Backlog complete?
Never Complete. It exists as long as the product exists.
71) What are the characteristics of the product backlog?
a) Dynamic
b) Never complete, and exists as long as the product exists
c) Living artifact
72) What are the attributes of a product backlog?
a) Description
b) Order
c) Estimate
d) Value
73) What does a Product Backlog often include?
Test descriptions that will prove its completeness when done.
74) How many number of product backlogs can we have for
multiple teams?
One.
75) What can multiple teams working on the same product use?
A product backlog attribute that groups items.
76) What is Product Backlog Refinement?
The act of adding details, order and estimate to the items. It is
an ongoing process in which product owner and dev team
collaborate.
77) What is the time taken for refinement in a sprint?
No more than 10% of dev team capacity.
78) Who is responsible for the estimates?
Development team.
79) Where are the items with less detail placed in the product
backlog?
Items with less detail are placed lower in the order.
80) Which items are “Ready” for selection in sprint planning?
Product items that can be done by development team within
one sprint.
81) Who is responsible for Product backlog?
Product owner.
82) Who is responsible for managing the product backlog?
Product Owner.
83) Who can refine the product backlog?
Product Owner
Development team, with the consent of the product owner.
Sprint Backlog
84) What is the Sprint Backlog as an artifact?
A forecast by the dev team about what functionality will be
done in the next increment and the work needed to deliver that
functionality.
85) What is there in the sprint backlog to ensure continuous
improvement?
At least one high priority process improvement identified in the
previous retrospective meeting.
86) What is the level of detail in a sprint backlog?
Detailed enough such that changes in progress can be
understood in the daily scrum.
87) What do you know about the completeness of sprint
backlog?
The dev team modifies the sprint backlog throughout the sprint
and sprint backlog emerges during the sprint.
88) Who can make modifications to the sprint backlog?
Only the development team can make modifications to the
sprint backlog.
89) Who is the sole owner of the sprint backlog?
Development team.
90) What happens when new work is required?
Development team adds it to the sprint backlog.
Increment
91) What is an increment?
The sum of all PBI s completed during a sprint + value of
increments from previous sprints.
92) When is an increment done?
a) When it is usable
b) When it meets the scrum team’s definition of done
Definition of Done
93) What are the benefits of a complete definition of done?
a) Guides development team in knowing how many product
items it can select during the sprint planning
b) Helps people understand when work is complete on the
product increment
c) Ensures Transparency
94) What are factors to be considered while formulating a
definition of done?
a) Conventions, standards or guidelines for the organization
b) Definitions of done of other teams working on the same
product
95) What is the Definition of done for multiple teams working
on the same product?
Dev teams on all scrum teams must mutually define the
definition of done
96) Who is responsible for creating the definition of done?
Development team
Measuring Progress
Progress towards project goal
97) Who measures the progress towards the project goal?
Product Owner
98) What is the frequency of tracking progress towards the
project goal?
At least once every sprint review
99) How to assess progress towards a goal?
Track total work remaining at the end of sprint review and
compare with amount of work remaining in previous sprint
reviews
100) What is the principle of empiricism?
What will happen is unknown, and what has already happened
may be used for forward looking decision making
Progress towards sprint goal
101) How to measure progress towards sprint goal?
Tracking and summing up total work remaining in the sprint
backlog
102) What is the frequency of measuring progress towards
sprint goal?
At least every daily scrum
Artifact Transparency
103) Who is responsible for ensuring artifact transparency?
Scrum master
104) What are the consequences of incompletely transparent
artifacts?
a) Decisions can be flawed
b) Value may diminish
c) Risk may increase
105) How can scrum master detect incomplete artifact
transparency?
a) Inspecting artifacts
b) Sensing patterns
c) Listening close to what is being said
d) Detecting difference between expected and actual results
106) What does scrum master’s work to increase transparency
involve?
a) Learning
b) Convincing
c) Change
 344
○ Agile
○ Scrum
○ Certified Scrum Master
○ Scrum Master
○ Self Study
344 claps

WRITTEN BY
Sanjeev Ramani
Follow
Continuous Learner
See responses (4)
More From Medium
GirlScript Summer of Code 2020 Mentor Experience
Pragati Verma in GirlScript Summer of Code

Hey team, are we moving in the right direction?

Ilja Vishnevski in Serious Scrum

Python’s NotImplementedError for Documenting Inheritance

Adrienne Domingus

Why I think Flutter is the future of mobile app development

Eric Grandt in freeCodeCamp.org

How PAPER Magazine’s web engineers scaled Kim Kardashian’s back­end

(SFW)
Paul Ford in The Message
 Getting Meta: Why Does My Social Post Not Show an Image When I Share a
Link?
Matt Eric in Better Programming

Scraping 180k Luxury Fashion Products with Python

Spencer Guy in The Startup

FOSS driving directions in Nextcloud

peacecop kalmer: in Arvutiteadus

Discover Medium
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take
center stage ­ with no ads in sight. Watch
Make Medium yours
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage
and inbox. Explore
Become a member
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just
$5/month. Upgrade
About
Help
Legal
From <https://medium.com/@sanjeev.ramani/psm1­notes­from­the­scrum­guide­ed77a983aad0>