Preparing for the Certified Scrum Master certification exam for BVOSM, CSM, or PSM titles is not easy.
However, we provide sample questions and answers to help you prepare for your certification exam. You don’t have to memorize all the questions and answers, you just have to understand what is happening. Reference: “Quick and easy preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam“, https://www.businesspad.org/quick-and-easy-preparation-for-the-scrum-master-certification-exam/
Preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam with the title BVOSM, CSM or PSM
Although these three different certification bodies have different study materials and exams, if you read our sample questions and answers carefully, it will be much easier for you to take your Certified Scrum Master certification exam (BVOSM, CSM, PSM). Reference: “Preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam (PSM, CSM, BVOSM) with sample questions“, https://www.libraryofmu.org/preparation-for-scrum-master-certification-exam/
Here are sample questions and answers for preparing for your certification exam.
A member of your team who is planning to go on vacation soon has just started working on User Story, which is expected to be planned for the next sprint.
Working on a user story that isn’t even planned yet can be a waste of time, and instead of helping, it can just be pointless. After the Review, this may be canceled.
It is good to discuss your intentions with the Product owner and he also shares his opinion.
A member of the team expresses dissatisfaction with the idea that everyone knows what the other is doing. He is used to solitude. He prefers to work without explaining exactly what or to see his work in software systems. It guarantees that it will deliver very good results and on time.
I will explain what is the philosophy and idea of Scrum and that here it relies mainly on teamwork and collaboration to create a larger product.
Like everyone working on it or parts of it in sync with the rest of the team. The goal is not for someone to follow him, but to gain an overview and transparency of the whole picture.
The truth is that there is no way a product can be complete and complete if it is made by several people or a team and everyone works for themselves without the others being aware of what is happening. (More Scrum framework articles…)
This saves time and significantly reduces the possibility of defects.
A colleague of yours, Scrum Master from your organization, meets you in the hallway and asks for advice on the length of his team’s sprint. None of the teams can offer a duration for their sprint. He asks you to recommend a time for their sprint.
The time of the sprint is determined by the development team and agreed with the product owner.
Whatever term I propose will be just a coincidence, especially since I have no idea about the project.
What I can do to help is offer to connect them with members of my team (if there are any and are free to help) who have worked on similar projects and have a rough idea of how long some of the tasks take.
Of course, this will still be very relative and should not be taken for granted.
The other option is to just start working on consumer stories and see for yourself how long it will take. Reference: “Certified Scrum Master exam preparation: CSM, PSM, BVOSM sample questions“, https://scrumtime.org/certified-scrum-master-exam-preparation-questions/
Thus, based on experience, they will be able to predict the next sprints more accurately.
The Product Owner and Scrum
The Product Owner role of your team wants to change the duration of the sprint to 6 weeks as you start integrating very complex systems and do not want to discredit yourself, your team, and the organization in front of the client with sprints where you risk not being able to deliver real work done.
As a rule, the sprints have the same duration and their length is set at the beginning of the project.
It is usually between 1 and 4 weeks. There are exceptional cases in more complex developments, in which a 6-week sprint is a bet.
If the development team and the product owner agree that this is necessary and necessary, the product owner should coordinate it with the stakeholders and make a decision. Reference: “Preparation for CMS and PSM Certified Scrum Master exam with sample questions“, https://phron.org/preparation-for-cms-and-psm-certified-scrum-master-exam-with-sample-questions/
Project Manager and Scrum
You receive an email from your client’s Project Manager. He asks you if there is a problem if your sprint is 6 working days. He expects a quick response so he knows what to pass on to his superiors.
There is no quick answer to this question and I am not the one to give it unilaterally. The duration of the sprint is determined by the entire Scrum team and this is a process that follows certain steps. First, the product owner must compile a Product backlog and at the planning meeting present to the development team what needs to be done, and they in turn should give an estimated time for this. (The club of 7 master universities)
Your team is very eager to go on holiday and asks you to postpone the retrospective of your sprint to the beginning or end of the other sprint.
Retrospection is part of the life cycle of the sprint and without it, it would not be complete. It is an important part that should not be missed.
It is made at the end to analyze and evaluate the work done and is a meeting.
I would talk to the team to finish the flashback while the sprint is still “warm” and to go on leave before the next sprint. Reference: “Certified Scrum Master exam preparation with sample questions“, https://customessaysonline.net/certified-scrum-master-exam-preparation-with-sample-questions/
The client informs you that he/she is starting repair procedures in his / her office and asks you to send him/her a summary by e-mail from your meeting with the team and your opinions about the Sprint Review meeting. He trusts you completely for your analysis.
I would like to thank you for the vote of confidence and suggest that the meeting be held in our office or a neutral place, but that the client attend it. His opinion and needs come first and it is important to hear his opinion firsthand.
As another alternative, I can offer an online meeting in a format that allows the client to demonstrate. This is a better option than presenting dry matter by e-mail. Even more, can be discussed and all parties can express their views. Reference: “Preparation for Scrum Master certification exam on Sprint event“, https://medfd.org/preparation-for-scrum-master-certification-exam-on-sprint-event/
Your principal has heard that your Sprint is over, but there is unfinished business. He is angry and asks you to remove some of the big User Stories from those planned by the end of the sprint and replace them with smaller ones that you can find in the general list.
The arrangement of User stories is made based on priorities that are pre-agreed with the client and cannot be changed until the end of the sprint.
Such a cast at the end of the sprint would have the exact opposite effect and negative effect. Also, whether one user story should be dropped or replaced with another is a decision to be made by the Product owner after agreeing with the Development team. Reference: “Preparation for Scrum Master certification and tips for Scrum professionals”, https://www.kievpress.info/preparation-for-scrum-master-certification/
The sprint retrospective will discuss the reasons for the delay and take the necessary measures for the next sprint, and the Product owner will be tasked with writing user stories for the next sprint based on these discussions and analyzes.
Scrum Development Team and Sprint Review
The team informs you this morning that they are ready with all their work two days before the end of the sprint and ask you to arrange a meeting with the client to hold a Sprint Review meeting with him and start the new sprint tomorrow. Read more: “Preparation with sample questions for Scrum Master certification exam CSM & PSMI”, https://wikipedia-lab.org/preparation-sample-questions-scrummaster-certification-exam/
While you are at the Sprint Review meeting, they will attend an interesting company training, but promise to make amends by asking the HR department to give you an extra day off this year.
In this case, there is no need to rush the sprint review meeting. The team can go to the training and the meeting can be done as originally planned. In this way, they will have the opportunity to be present and answer questions, and give explanations if necessary. Reference: “Free preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam (CSM, PSMI, PSMII, BVOP)”, https://brightonbot.com/preparation-scrum-master-certification-exam/
The team informs you that they prefer not to work with a fixed time for sprints, but prefer each sprint to have a duration according to their work and judgment. They have already discussed this proposal with the Product Owner role and he said he has no claims.
As a scrum master, I must ensure that scrum principles are observed and implemented. According to them, sprints should be of equal duration.
This will benefit the entire scrum team. This will make it easier to compare results, plan time more easily, and build habits and a steady pace of work.
At the beginning of each sprint, they will discuss with the Product Owner what tasks to include within the pre-set sprint duration. Reference: Original Website publication
Product Owner goes on a business trip
Your assigned Product Owner on a project goes on a business trip to the client and sent you a Sprint Goal this morning for the next sprint. He has also made a collection with all the user stories that the team will work on.
That’s enough information for the team to get started as long as the stories are prioritized. If they are not, I will ask you to advise him to do it before he leaves, so as not to interrupt and hinder the work of the team during the sprint. I will ask the Development team to keep in touch with him during the sprint if he needs further clarification or questions. Read more: “Free training to prepare for the Scrum Master Certification exam”, https://www.islandjournal.net/scrum-master-certification-exam/
The Product Owner of the project has sent you an email stating that he will collect detailed information on many details and plans to communicate with the client on an ongoing basis so that he can describe as many details as possible about the work for a long time to come.
I will ask the product owner to clarify the purpose for which he will collect this information and how this will help the project. Likely, the overburdening of the client with unnecessary details will further harass him.
I will also talk to the development team about what they think about whether this will not slow down their work and make it even more difficult for them.
Project Team and Product Owner
You are returning from vacation. The project team and Product Owner tell you that there is no time and the sprint should start without planning, as the team will work independently and choose User Stories, ranked at the top of the Product Backlog collection.
In my opinion, this is a hasty decision taken in a moment of panic due to lack of time. I will insist that the processes be followed because otherwise there is a high probability that additional time will be lost due to the lack of organization of the sprint work. To catch up, fewer user stories can be included in the sprint, but discuss which ones are the highest priority and make planning. Read more: “Best Scrum Master Certifications for 2022 and 2023“, https://eduwiki.me/best-scrum-master-certifications-for-2021-and-2022/
The Product Owner role and project functionalities
The Product Owner role has told your team that some functionality is expected in a few months. Your team plans to do technology research from now on to save yourself any problems and lack of competencies over time.
The first risk to anticipate is that this may take time from the time spent working on consumer stories in the current sprint. Such a study can only be done if they are already advanced enough to work on the current sprint and have free time left.
The second possible risk is that by the time these technologies are used, they may be outdated or the customer may change their needs and priorities and no longer need them.
If the team is progressing and there is free time left, it would be good for the development team and the product owner to discuss the possibility of adding more priority user stories to the current sprint.
The End of the Scrum Sprint Planning meeting
At the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, your Product Owner states: Colleagues, please all of you now assume the success of the sprint by giving a score of 1 to 4 as one will mean that we will fail to achieve our goal, and 4 means that you assume high success for the sprint.
If the time set for the meeting has already passed and this assessment has not been made, I would advise the team to skip it. Moreover, it is made at the discretion of the Scrum Master, not the Product Owner, and ratings are set from 0 to 3 instead of 1 to 4.
At the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, your Product Owner says: Colleagues, it was exhausting sprint planning and we all worked hard all day. Would you be so kind as to send me and our Scrum Master tomorrow your presentation on how you would complete your sprint tasks and what your self-organization plan is? Thanks in advance.
Again, this is a discussion that should be part of Sprint planning and take place during the meeting. This is one of its most important parts – “how will the work on the increment be done?”.
Scrum Master must have allocated the right time and this issue should be discussed. Any further presentation of the self-organization plan in writing would rather slow down the process. This is a completely unnecessary manipulation. Reference: “Preparation for the certification exam for CSM and PSM I (BVOSM) Scrum Master”, https://www.mu7club.com/preparation-for-certification-exam-scrum-master/
This plan may also change, but it is enough to discuss it internally in the team and inform the other roles if it is important and needs further clarification and coordination.
This is part of their ability to organize themselves.
A sprint of three weeks awaits you, the team and the product owner have discussed the necessary details on unclear User Stories. It’s been an hour and a half.
The duration of such a 3-week sprint planning meeting should not exceed 6 hours. Having already discussed the ambiguities of user stories, this means that they have clarified exactly which user stories will enter the sprint. Therefore, half the work is done.
There are 4 and a half hours left for the final discussion of how the work will be done and the team will organize itself. This should take about 2 hours – 2 and a half hours. Therefore, there will be time. I can suggest that we use it to evaluate the success of the sprint according to each of them.
At the sprint planning meeting, you have 6 members of the Development team. Everyone guesses with a number about the success of your sprint. You count the result and the total number is 15
This means that the average score for each team is 2.5. If 0 is a failure and 3 is a complete success, it means that there is a high overall score. Then we can close the meeting.
During your Sprint Planning, you notice that a novice member of the Development Team systematically discards cards that have the numbers 1 or 3 and always puts his card last. Other members choose much larger cards. This provokes a discussion every time that ends quickly. Then this colleague of yours plays card 13 every time. Why do you think he does it? What exactly would you do?
Probably the colleague is inexperienced and has no real view of things. He “expresses an opinion” by showing his card, which he is not ready for and does not know how to defend, but he is afraid to admit his inexperience to the team.
This inappropriate behavior only slows down the work. If I just ask him to watch, I would discredit him in front of the team and he will probably feel uncomfortable and out of place.
So I would explain to him (if there is an opportunity in private for a coffee break) that everyone’s opinion is important and it is part of the philosophy of the scrum, but such a difference in assessments provokes constant discussions that waste time and I will ask him to he tried to think carefully before pointing out a map, to be able to justify his choice, to express his own opinion, and not to try to guess what the others would say.
Probably after a few sprints, this exercise will seem quite easy to him when he gains more experience in working with this team.
Senior member of the Development Team
During your Sprint Planning, you notice that a senior member of the Development Team systematically discards cards that have the numbers 3 or 5 and always puts his card first. Other members choose much larger cards. Explain the possible cause and actions.
Most likely, this member gives the assessment based on his knowledge, experience, and speed, without taking into account that not everyone in the team works with his pace and knowledge.
I will listen carefully to the discussions that are taking place to find out the exact reason for this before taking action.
Just before your Sprint Planning, your Product Owner informs the others that beginners will not throw cards because there is a lot of work to be done, and in his opinion, the time will not be enough.
Excluding people from the team in this game is against the idea. The better option is to choose another faster way to evaluate.
Senior members of the Development team suggest that the Sprint Planning be held with open cards and that their numbers be visible so that beginners can more easily choose their choice of cards.
This makes the game meaningless and thus suppresses new team members. Being new does not mean that they should not express their opinion and be underestimated.
They may have good suggestions for workable solutions that are worth considering. If one of them doesn’t have an opinion, he can use the term “pass” and thus miss some of the stories on which he has no idea what exactly needs to be done.
After each “play” to select Story Points on each User Story, the team discusses the differences in card numbers. After the discussion, they take the assumption of the participant with the highest value on the card.
This is likely to be biased for reinsurance purposes. This can lead to unrealistically long deadlines that would make a bad impression on stakeholders. I will call for real assessments so that we are as open as possible.
The Scrum Product Owner commands team members
During your Sprint Planning, a senior member of the Development team openly complained about the User Story, prioritized at the top of the backlog, and carefully prepared for the Development team. All information is available and well described. A senior member of the Development team said that if they do so in this sprint, they are likely to damage important architectural decisions. Your Product Owner emphasizes that it is his responsibility to take care of the backlog, and the development team to develop the product.
In my opinion, this needs to be discussed in more detail. To check what these architectural solutions can be damaged, how important they are, what are the pros and cons of turning this on and off in the sprint, what is the opinion of others in the team, etc.
In reality, the Product owner is responsible for the backlog, but he must make informed decisions that are discussed with the development team to avoid unpleasant situations and problems in the next sprints.
If the issue is really serious and the developer’s opinion is justified, it may be necessary to discuss possible changes with stakeholders.
Velocity of the Scrum Development Team
The development team has a Velocity of 103 points. For Sprint Backlog they choose User Stories with Story Points of 3, 5, 1, 8, 21, 13, 1, 21, 8, 8, 13, 5.
The total number of tasks in this sprint is 107, which is more than the team’s cycling city. In this case, I would recommend removing a story with story points 5 or two smaller, and of course, this should be consistent with the pre-set priorities. If they increase their cycling skills and have time left, they can finish them in this sprint as well.
At the Sprint Planning meeting, the team rolls cards 8, 8, 13, 5, 5, and 8. They average the points and score Story Points for that 8-point User Story.
The principle of this play is not to average the points, but to provoke a discussion by hearing different opinions. In this case, the estimates do not differ strikingly and 8 may be real.
At the Sprint Planning meeting, the team rolls cards 3, 5, 5, 13, 21, and 8. They average the points and score Story Points for that User Story from 13-time points.
Here, however, there is a huge difference between the lowest and the highest score. Therefore, a discussion must be held to see where this difference comes from. It is possible that a member of the team did not understand the task correctly or suggested a more efficient and quick way to implement it.
The middle of a Sprint planning meeting
In the middle of a Sprint planning meeting, you are on your 5th sprint. The development team is taking their seats and you hear your colleagues talking about the fact that they are considering changing some of the technology they use for the product.
It should be clarified why such a change is being discussed, is there a need for what is not working or is not working, is there any option to continue work on the old one, how much time will be lost if a new one needs to be implemented, stakeholders do they agree with such a change.
Your director is calling you. He wants to hear as a guide how many User Stories and which ones your team can do next sprint.
Such information (even indicative) cannot be provided before the planning meeting of the next sprint. I can only say what the team’s cycling city is if that would be a guide for it.
Development Team and the product design
The development team is discussing the idea of stopping work on the preliminary graphic design of elements of the project because they already have a known collection of developed components. Senior team members offer the new designer in the team to stop design work and start checking the usability of the product.
This should be discussed by the development team with each other and then with the Product owner. It can be accepted if they think that this is a rational decision and does not violate the prioritization of work. This is part of the team’s self-organization.
Your Product Owner is on a business trip again
He will not attend the Sprint Planning meeting. He told the team to calmly choose a job for their Sprint Backlog list and set Story Points. According to him, there is no interesting information that can provide them and his departure will not negatively affect anyone.
It is of great importance how and for how long the team has been working, whether they are sufficiently connected, and whether the Product owner has prioritized the work in advance.
The Scrum Master role can help during the meeting, but ultimately the product owner represents the stakeholders and his presence is important. It is an option to join the meeting online to have an overview of how it is going and to monitor for possible deviations from the priorities.
After 5 minutes, your Sprint Planning meeting begins
Your Product Owner tells you at the last minute that your client’s project manager will be present at the Sprint planning meeting because he expects some information from him.
The project manager is not a role in the scrum. The information that the client needs should be provided by the product owner, as he is sufficiently aware of how the project is going and the work on it in detail.
An exception can be made by agreeing in advance not to take part in the discussion of the tasks, but only to attend the meeting.
You have a sprint of 1 week
You settle in comfortably for your sprint planning and the product owner presents the Product Backlog items he has chosen for the Development team to develop during the sprint. All items look clear and understandable. The team has no questions about them and suggests starting a quick forecast of the time of the items for the next sprint.
After specifying all the items, it should be clarified how the work on them will be done. Only then, if there is time left, can the weather forecast for the next ones be started.