Scrum Professional Scrum Master II PSM-II Exam Questions

Answer : A, E

A: You organize an offsite team building activity to establish a foundation of trust. You observe whether the problem persists after the offsite activity. This is a good way to foster a positive team culture and improve the relationships among the team members. The offsite activity can help the team to have fun, relax, and bond with each other. It can also create an opportunity for the team to discuss their issues and concerns in a more informal and friendly setting. The Scrum Master can observe whether the problem of disagreement is resolved or reduced after the offsite activity, and provide feedback and support as needed.

E: To every team member expressing this concern you suggest raising this with the full team. You offer to help initiate the conversation but not to resolve the concern yourself. This is a good way to empower the team to address their own problems and find their own solutions. The Scrum Master can encourage the team members to speak up and share their perspectives and feelings with the whole team, rather than keeping them to themselves or complaining to others. The Scrum Master can also facilitate the conversation and ensure that it is respectful, constructive, and productive, but not intervene or impose their own opinion or decision.

Scrum Guide 2020, page 13: ''The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality.''

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 20: ''The Scrum Master can help the team to build trust by creating a safe environment where people can express themselves openly and honestly, without fear of judgment or retaliation.''

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 21: ''The Scrum Master can help the team to resolve conflicts by facilitating dialogue, listening actively, asking powerful questions, and supporting collaborative decision making.''

Answer : B, C

B: Productivity, in terms of lines of code or story points, will probably suffer during the transition, although even then delivery of business value is still likely to increase. This is a realistic expectation, as the teams will need to learn new skills, collaborate more effectively, and adapt to changing requirements. However, the benefit of feature teams is that they can deliver working software that provides value to the customers and stakeholders every Sprint, rather than waiting for the integration of different components.

C: Feature teams will require time to become productive as people from the different layers and components become accustomed to working and delivering unified functionality together, as one Scrum Team. This is a natural consequence of changing the team structure and culture, as the teams will need to overcome some challenges and conflicts, build trust and rapport, and establish a shared vision and goal. The Scrum Master can help the teams with this transition by facilitating communication, coaching, and mentoring.

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 17: ''Feature teams are cross-functional teams that can deliver end-to-end functionality for a product. They have all the skills and competencies needed to work on multiple layers of the system.''

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 18: ''Component teams are teams that specialize in one layer or component of the system. They often depend on other teams to deliver a complete functionality for a product.''

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 19: ''Feature teams have many advantages over component teams, such as faster feedback, higher quality, lower complexity, and more customer value.''

Answer : D

The most effective way to recover is to restore transparency and trust by informing the Product Owner that the progress she has perceived to date is not correct.The Increment is not releasable because it does not meet the Definition of Done12, which is a shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete12. The Developers should give the Product Owner their estimate of the effort it would take to get the past work done, and suggest doing that work first before proceeding with new features.This way, the Developers can ensure that they deliver a valuable, useful, and potentially releasable Increment every Sprint12. The Developers should also re-estimate the effort to complete the remaining backlog, including all testing, and communicate any changes or risks to the Product Owner.In the end, it is the Product Owner's call to continue the project or to cancel it, based on the value and feasibility of the product12.

Some reasons why the other options are not correct are:

A: The Developers set the open work aside to be performed in one or more release Sprints. They remind Marian to find funding for enough Release Sprints in which this remaining work can be done. This option is not correct because it violates the Scrum framework and the Scrum values.The Scrum framework does not prescribe any release Sprints or separate phases for testing or integration12.The Scrum values include commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage12. The Developers should commit to delivering a potentially releasable Increment every Sprint, not postpone or hide their undone work. The Developers should focus on creating value for the customers and users, not on meeting artificial deadlines or metrics. The Developers should be open and honest about their progress and challenges, not mislead or deceive the Product Owner.The Developers should respect the Product Owner's authority and accountability for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Developers12, not shift the responsibility or blame to them. The Developers should have the courage to face their problems and seek help, not avoid or ignore them.

B: Transparency needs to be restored by adding the undone work to the Product Backlog. The Developers must figure out a way to deliver in the upcoming Sprints a velocity of not only 13 units of new work, but also two additional points to catch up undone work. It is the Scrum Master's duty to assess whether such repair is possible. If not, the Scrum Master initiates a restart with a more reliable team or cancels the project. The Scrum Master will have to inform Product Owner and the stakeholders. This option is not correct because it violates the Scrum framework and the Scrum roles.The Scrum framework does not prescribe any velocity or points as measures of progress or success12.The Scrum roles include Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers12.The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Developers12, not for tracking or controlling their velocity or points.The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide1, causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team1, and working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization1, not for assessing or judging the performance of the Developers or initiating a restart or cancellation of the project.The Developers are accountable for creating a valuable, useful, and potentially releasable Increment every Sprint12, not for meeting a predetermined velocity or points target.

C: In the next Sprints, the Developers keep making sure that all of the selected scope per Sprint is as done as possible, at least at the past level of 90%. In every Sprint the undone work of the previous Sprint is estimated and added to the Sprint Backlog. It comes on top of the expected forecast of 13 units, so it does not mess up progress on the product Backlog. This option is not correct because it violates the Scrum framework and the Scrum values.The Scrum framework requires that each Sprint delivers a potentially releasable Increment that meets the Definition of Done12, not a partially done or incomplete product that accumulates technical debt or quality issues.The Scrum values include commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage12. The Developers should commit to delivering a potentially releasable Increment every Sprint, not compromise on quality or value. The Developers should focus on creating value for the customers and users, not on meeting artificial deadlines or metrics. The Developers should be open and honest about their progress and challenges, not hide or ignore their undone work.The Developers should respect the Product Owner's authority and accountability for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Developers12, not burden them with additional work or risk. The Developers should have the courage to face their problems and seek help, not avoid or ignore them.

What is an Increment? | Scrum.org

What is a Product Increment? | Scrum.org

Answer : B, C

B: Ask the Developers and the Product Owner if removing regression testing from the Definition of Done allows the team to produce useful and valuable Increments at the end of every Sprint. This is a good way to challenge the decision and make them think about the consequences of lowering the quality standards. The Scrum Master can help them understand the importance of delivering a potentially releasable product increment that meets the expectations of the stakeholders and customers.

C: Ask the Developers and the Product Owner what problem they are going to solve by altering the Definition of Done during the Sprint to remove regression testing. Will this raise transparency or improve quality? This is a good way to explore the root cause of the issue and find out why they are not able to complete regression testing for all of the selected Product Backlog items in the Sprint. The Scrum Master can help them identify and remove any impediments or inefficiencies that prevent them from achieving their Sprint Goal.

Scrum Guide 2020, page 9: ''The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product.''

Scrum Guide 2020, page 13: ''The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team in several ways, including coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality.''

Professional Scrum Master II Course, page 12: ''The Definition of Done is a crucial aspect of transparency. If it is not clear when work is done, then stakeholders may make wrong assumptions about the state of the software.''

Answer : B, F, G

B) Developers with an interest in Stella's domain could volunteer to take on this work in their respective Scrum Teams.

This is a good solution because it is consistent with the Scrum value ofcommitment, which means that the Scrum Team members are willing to learn new skills and take on new challenges to deliver value12.By volunteering to take on this work, the Developers can reduce the dependency on Stella, increase their cross-functionality, and collaborate more effectively within and across the Scrum Teams34. F. Ask Stella for a plan to hire and train additional people in her domain, and in the meantime work with the Product Owner and Scrum Teams to re-prioritize the work so that tasks not depending on Stella can be done first

This is another good solution because it is consistent with the Scrum principle ofempiricism, which means that the Scrum Team learns and adapts based on the actual outcomes and feedback, rather than following a predefined plan12. By asking Stella for a plan to hire and train additional people, the Scrum Master can help address the root cause of the dependency and create more capacity and diversity in Stella's domain.By working with the Product Owner and Scrum Teams to re-prioritize the work, the Scrum Master can also help optimize the value and feasibility of the product backlog items, and enable the Scrum Teams to deliver valuable and functional increments every Sprint34. G. Create a team with Stella and identify people from the Scrum Teams to temporarily work in Stella's domain to learn to better serve the existing teams

This is also a good solution because it is consistent with the Scrum value ofrespect, which means that the Scrum Team members appreciate and value each other's skills and perspectives12. By creating a team with Stella, the Scrum Master can acknowledge and leverage Stella's expertise and experience in her domain.By identifying people from the Scrum Teams to temporarily work in Stella's domain, the Scrum Master can also facilitate knowledge transfer and skill development among the team members, which can improve their self-organization and collaboration34.

Answer : A, C

Done means that the Increment is in a usable condition and meets the Scrum Team's Definition of Done. The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. The Definition of Done creates transparency by providing everyone a shared understanding of what work was completed as part of the Increment. Having an Increment that could be released to end users means that it is potentially releasable, which is one of the goals of Scrum. All work performed meets the Definition of Done means that the Developers have ensured that every Product Backlog item selected for the Sprint conforms to the agreed quality standards.

The Scrum Guide, November 2020, p. 10-11

What is a Definition of Done?, Scrum.org, accessed on September 30, 2023

DONE Understanding Of The Definition Of 'Done'', Scrum.org, December 16, 2019

Answer : D

The Scrum Guide states that ''the moment a Product Backlog item meets the Definition of Done, an Increment is born'' and that ''the Increment is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints''. Therefore, to deliver a product Increment that is integrated and potentially releasable, all Scrum Teams must have a shared understanding of what ''Done'' means and ensure that their work meets that standard. This also enables transparency, inspection, and adaptation across the Scrum Teams.

The Scrum Guide, section 3.4 (The Increment), page 10

The Scrum Master Learning Path, module 5 (The Increment), lesson 1 (What is an Increment?) and lesson 2 (Definition of Done)