CAPM Agile Frameworks and Methodologies — 50 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO of the following are responsibilities of the Product Owner in Scrum?

Accepted Answer

Prioritizing the Product Backlog items.. The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team. This includes clearly expressing Product Backlog items and ordering them to best achieve goals and missions, which is prioritizing the Product Backlog. Managing the Product Backlog, which encompasses ensuring its visibility, transparency, and understanding, is also a core responsibility of the Product Owner as defined in the Scrum Guide.

Answer

Facilitating the Daily Scrum.

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Removing impediments for the team.

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Enforcing timeboxes for Sprint events.

Question 2

A Scrum team has five members. During a Sprint, two members are pulled to work on a critical production issue. The remaining three are unable to complete all committed stories. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Let the Development Team decide how to adjust the Sprint Backlog.. In Scrum, the Development Team is self-organizing and responsible for managing its own work within the Sprint. When two members are pulled to a critical production issue, the remaining three team members have the authority to decide how to adjust the Sprint Backlog to reflect their reduced capacity. The Scrum Master should facilitate this self-management rather than imposing a solution, as option C respects the team's autonomy and the Scrum principle of self-organization.

Answer

Extend the Sprint by one week to complete the remaining work.

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Ask the Product Owner to remove work from the Sprint Backlog.

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Remove the least valuable stories from the Sprint Backlog.

Question 3

Given the exhibit, which action should the Scrum Master take?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to focus on completing User Story A, and defer B and D to the next Sprint.. The Scrum Master should protect the Sprint Goal and ensure the team focuses on completing committed work. In this scenario, User Story A is the highest priority and likely critical for the Sprint Goal; deferring B and D to the next Sprint maintains focus, avoids overloading the team, and preserves the integrity of the current Sprint. This aligns with the Scrum principle of delivering a potentially releasable increment at the end of each Sprint.

Answer

Ask the team to start work on User Story B in parallel.

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Add another user story to the Sprint Backlog to keep the team busy.

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Cancel the Sprint and start a new one.

Question 4

You are the Scrum Master for a distributed team of 8 developers working on a mobile app. The team uses two-week Sprints and has a stable velocity of 20 story points. In the current Sprint, the team committed to 22 points. By Day 5 of the Sprint (out of 10), the team has completed only 6 points. During the Daily Scrum, several members mention they are blocked by missing API documentation from a third-party vendor. The Product Owner says the vendor promised the documentation by Day 3, but it has not arrived. The developers have started working on other tasks, but they are not well-defined and are causing confusion. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with the vendor to escalate the issue, and work with the team to re-prioritize the Sprint Backlog, possibly removing low-priority items to achieve a realistic Sprint Goal.. The Scrum Master's primary responsibility is to remove impediments and facilitate the team's progress. By escalating the missing API documentation to the vendor and facilitating a re-prioritization of the Sprint Backlog, the Scrum Master directly addresses the blocker and ensures the team can focus on well-defined, achievable work. This aligns with the Scrum Guide's principle of transparency and adaptation within the Sprint, especially given the team's stable velocity of 20 points and the current 6-point completion rate.

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Tell the team to continue working on other tasks and hope the documentation arrives soon.

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Ask the Product Owner to remove the blocked stories from the Sprint Backlog without consulting the team.

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Extend the Sprint by 3 days to allow the vendor to deliver the documentation and the team to complete the work.

Question 5

You are the project manager for a cross-functional team developing a mobile banking application using Scrum. The team consists of 7 members: 3 developers, 2 testers, 1 UX designer, and 1 product owner. The product owner is highly available and prioritizes the backlog weekly. The team has been working for 3 months and consistently delivers each sprint. However, after the last sprint review, stakeholders complained that the product does not meet their expectations—specifically, the user interface is not intuitive, and a critical security feature is missing. The product owner insists that the backlog items were clearly defined and prioritized. The development team argues that they followed the acceptance criteria exactly. Retrospectives have been unproductive, with team members blaming each other. The Scrum Master is frustrated. Based on the Scrum Guide, what is the MOST likely root cause of these issues?

Accepted Answer

The Product Owner did not sufficiently refine the Product Backlog and ensure acceptance criteria were clear and complete.. The root cause is that the Product Owner failed to sufficiently refine the Product Backlog and ensure acceptance criteria were clear and complete. The stakeholders' complaints about an unintuitive UI and missing critical security feature indicate that the Product Owner did not validate the backlog items against stakeholder expectations or include non-functional requirements (like security) in the acceptance criteria. According to the Scrum Guide, the Product Owner is responsible for ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible, and understood, which includes refining items to a level of detail that enables the team to deliver value.

Answer

The team did not conduct a proper sprint review to gather stakeholder feedback early.

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The development team did not collaborate enough with the Product Owner during the sprint.

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The Scrum Master failed to facilitate effective retrospectives and team collaboration.

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are core roles in the Scrum framework?

Accepted Answer

Product Owner. The Product Owner is a core Scrum role responsible for maximizing the value of the product and managing the Product Backlog. This role is explicitly defined in the Scrum Guide as one of the three accountabilities (alongside the Scrum Master and Developers) and is essential for the framework's operation.

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Business Analyst

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Project Manager

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Tester

Question 7

Based on the exhibit, what is the most significant risk for the upcoming iteration?

Accepted Answer

The team is overcommitting based on historical velocity data.. The exhibit shows a planned velocity of 30 story points per iteration, but historical velocity averages 21 story points. This mismatch means the team is overcommitting, which will likely lead to unfinished work and reduced quality. In Agile, using historical velocity as a baseline is critical for realistic iteration planning.

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The product backlog may have scope creep from new requirements.

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The team's velocity is dropping, indicating a need to add more team members.

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The team's velocity is trending upward, so the plan is realistic.

Question 8

Drag and drop the steps in the correct order as they typically occur during the early phases of a project according to PMI's project management framework.

Accepted Answer

Step 1: Assign project manager, Step 2: Develop and approve project charter, Step 3: Identify stakeholders, Step 4: Conduct kick-off meeting. According to PMBOK, initiating processes include developing the project charter and identifying stakeholders. The project manager should be assigned as early as possible, typically before or during charter development. While the kick-off meeting is part of planning, it often follows initiating. Therefore, the correct sequence is: first assign the project manager, then develop and approve the project charter, then identify stakeholders, and finally conduct the kick-off meeting.

Answer

Step 1: Develop and approve project charter, Step 2: Identify stakeholders, Step 3: Assign project manager, Step 4: Conduct kick-off meeting

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Step 1: Conduct kick-off meeting, Step 2: Develop and approve project charter, Step 3: Identify stakeholders, Step 4: Assign project manager

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Step 1: Identify stakeholders, Step 2: Develop and approve project charter, Step 3: Assign project manager, Step 4: Conduct kick-off meeting

Question 9

Match each project management process group to its primary purpose.

Accepted Answer

Initiating: Define a new project or phase and obtain authorization. The five process groups are Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. Each has a distinct purpose: Initiating authorizes, Planning defines scope and plan, Executes performs work, M&C tracks and adjusts, Closing formalizes completion.

Answer

Planning: Monitor and control project progress

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Monitoring and Controlling: Establish project scope and objectives

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Initiating: Track, review, and regulate project performance

Question 10

Match each conflict resolution technique to its description.

Accepted Answer

Withdraw/Avoid: Retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation. The correct matches are: Withdraw/Avoid (retreating), Smooth/Accommodate (emphasizing agreement), and Collaborate/Problem Solve (integrating perspectives). Common confusions include misattributing definitions to Force or Compromise.

Answer

Force/Direct: Emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference

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Compromise/Reconcile: Retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation

Question 11

During a Sprint, the development team realizes they have taken on more work than they can complete. According to Scrum, what should they do?

Accepted Answer

Collaborate with the Product Owner to remove or defer some Product Backlog items.. In Scrum, the development team is self-managing and responsible for committing to a Sprint Goal. If they realize they have taken on too much work, the correct action is to collaborate with the Product Owner to remove or defer Product Backlog items, as this preserves the Sprint's timebox and focus on the highest-value work. This aligns with the Scrum principle of transparency and inspection, allowing the team to adjust the Sprint Backlog without changing the Sprint duration.

Answer

Continue working and deliver whatever is done at the end of the Sprint, regardless of missing items.

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Inform management about the issue and ask for more resources.

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Extend the Sprint duration to complete all the work.

Question 12

Refer to the exhibit. What is the most likely explanation for the data?

Accepted Answer

The team has not begun the sprint work.. The exhibit shows a sprint burndown chart where the remaining work line is flat at the top (no downward slope) for the first several days of the sprint. This indicates that no story points have been completed yet, meaning the team has not started or finished any sprint backlog items. In a burndown chart, the ideal line slopes downward steadily; a flat line at the beginning means zero progress, which is most likely because the team has not begun the work. Options A, B, and C would produce different patterns: a short sprint would still show a steep slope, high productivity would show a rapid drop, and overestimated points would show a drop faster than planned.

Answer

The sprint duration is too short.

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The team is highly productive.

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The story points are overestimated.

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. The team has a policy of not committing code that fails tests. What does this indicate about their process?

Accepted Answer

They are violating continuous integration principles.. The team's policy of not committing code that fails tests indicates that they may delay integration until tests pass, which can lead to large, infrequent integrations. This violates continuous integration (CI) principles, which require frequent merging of code changes, even if tests fail temporarily, to quickly detect and fix issues. Option A is not necessarily true; TDD involves writing tests before code, but the policy alone doesn't confirm TDD. Option C is incorrect because the policy actually undermines proper CI. Option D is tangential and not indicated by the policy.

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They practice test-driven development.

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They use continuous integration correctly.

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They need more pair programming.

Question 14

In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), what is the primary responsibility of the Solution Train Engineer (STE)?

Accepted Answer

Acting as a servant leader to coordinate and improve the solution train's delivery.. In SAFe, the Solution Train Engineer (STE) is the servant leader for the Solution Train, analogous to the Release Train Engineer (RTE) for an Agile Release Train. The STE facilitates and coordinates the work of multiple ARTs and suppliers building a large solution, drives continuous improvement across the Solution Train, and helps remove impediments that span ARTs. The role is explicitly one of facilitation and coaching, not technical architecture or vision ownership.

Answer

Designing the technical architecture for the solution.

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Facilitating the Agile Release Train (ART) ceremonies.

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Defining the solution vision and roadmap.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. A team uses this CI pipeline. What action should the team take to resolve the pipeline failure?

Accepted Answer

Fix the failing unit test in test_calculator.py and re-run the pipeline.. The pipeline failure is caused by a failing unit test in test_calculator.py, which halts the CI pipeline at the Test stage. The correct remediation is to fix the underlying code or test so the unit test passes, then re-run the pipeline to allow it to progress through subsequent stages. This preserves the integrity of the CI process and ensures only validated code is deployed.

Answer

Skip the Test stage and proceed to Deploy.

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Review the Build stage for errors.

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Deploy the code manually because the Build succeeded.

Question 16

Refer to the exhibit. What does the increase in remaining work from Day 3 to Day 4 indicate?

Accepted Answer

The team added new work to the Sprint Backlog.. The increase in remaining work from Day 3 to Day 4 indicates that new work was added to the Sprint Backlog. In a burndown chart, the remaining work line typically goes down as tasks are completed. An upward spike means the total scope increased, which happens when items are added to the Sprint Backlog. This is a common scenario when the team discovers additional necessary work or when the Product Owner introduces new urgent items.

Answer

The team had a holiday on Day 4.

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The team removed some work from the Sprint Backlog.

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The team finished work faster than expected.

Question 17

Refer to the exhibit. What problem does this Kanban board reveal?

Accepted Answer

The WIP limit for In Progress is exceeded.. A Kanban board enforces WIP limits per column to expose bottlenecks and encourage flow. When the number of cards in the 'In Progress' column exceeds the configured WIP limit, the board is signaling that the team has taken on more concurrent work than the process can absorb. This is the classic visual cue Kanban is designed to surface, so the correct diagnosis is that the WIP limit for In Progress has been exceeded.

Answer

The To Do column is nearly empty.

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Too many items are in the Done column.

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There are blocked items that need attention.

Question 18

What is the primary purpose of the daily stand-up in Scrum?

Accepted Answer

Identify impediments to progress.. The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute inspect-and-adapt event for the Developers, whose purpose per the Scrum Guide is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as needed. In practice, its most valuable output is surfacing impediments — blockers, dependencies, or risks — so the team or Scrum Master can remove them quickly. It is not a status report to management, nor a detailed work-review or planning session.

Answer

Provide a status report to management.

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Review completed work from the previous day.

Answer

Plan work for the next 24 hours.

Question 19

A Product Owner is struggling to prioritize a backlog that includes both technical debt and new features. According to agile principles, which approach is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Prioritize based on business value, considering the cost of delay for each item.. Agile prioritization focuses on business value and cost of delay, considering both new features and technical debt. Option A is wrong because ignoring technical debt can harm future value delivery. Option B is wrong because value should be the primary driver. Option D is wrong because arbitrary alternation is not value-driven.

Answer

Alternate between technical debt and features each sprint.

Answer

Always prioritize technical debt because it improves velocity.

Answer

Always prioritize new features over technical debt because they deliver immediate value.

Question 20

Refer to the exhibit. The team has a capacity of 5 story points for the sprint. Which items should they commit to?

Accepted Answer

Item 1 only. With a team capacity of 5 story points, the team should commit only to work that fits within that capacity. Item 1 alone (assuming it is sized at or under 5 points) is the only option that does not exceed the 5-point limit. Committing to more than capacity violates the principle of sustainable pace and reliable delivery in agile/Scrum.

Answer

Items 2 and 3

Answer

Items 1 and 2

Answer

Item 3 only