CAPM Agile Frameworks and Methodologies — Timed 30 Questions

Question 1

A team is using Scrum and notices that the Product Owner frequently changes priorities during the Sprint, causing the team to rework tasks. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on the Sprint Backlog rule and the impact of changes.. Option A is correct because the Scrum Master's primary responsibility is to ensure Scrum is understood and enacted. The Product Owner is violating the Sprint Backlog rule, which states that once a Sprint starts, the Product Owner cannot change the Sprint Backlog items; only the team can modify the Sprint Backlog to meet the Sprint Goal. By coaching the Product Owner on this rule and the impact of changes (e.g., rework, loss of focus, and potential Sprint Goal failure), the Scrum Master addresses the root cause without disrupting the team's workflow.

Answer

Shorten the Sprint duration to minimize rework.

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Ask the team to be flexible and accept the changes.

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Escalate to the project sponsor for resolution.

Question 2

In Kanban, the team is experiencing frequent bottlenecks at the testing stage. Which practice should they adopt to improve flow?

Accepted Answer

Limit the WIP at each stage, especially testing.. In Kanban, limiting Work in Progress (WIP) at each stage is a core practice to expose bottlenecks and improve flow. By capping the number of items allowed in testing, the team prevents work from piling up, forcing them to finish existing tasks before pulling new ones. This directly addresses the frequent bottlenecks by making the constraint visible and actionable, enabling the team to focus on completing testing rather than starting more work.

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Increase the batch size of work items.

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Conduct daily stand-up meetings.

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Add more testers to the testing phase.

Question 3

A distributed Scrum team is having difficulty with communication across time zones. The Daily Scrum is scheduled at 9 AM in the US, which is midnight in India. What is the best approach to resolve this?

Accepted Answer

Rotate the time of the Daily Scrum so that no one is always inconvenienced.. Option C is correct because rotating the Daily Scrum time shares the inconvenience of time zone differences equitably across the distributed team, preserving the event's purpose of daily synchronization and inspection. The Scrum Guide requires the Daily Scrum to be held at the same time and place each day, but for distributed teams, rotating the time is an acceptable adaptation that maintains the event's time-boxed, collaborative nature without breaking the inspect-and-adapt cycle.

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Record the Daily Scrum for the India team to watch later.

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Replace the Daily Scrum with asynchronous updates.

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Hold two separate Daily Scrums for each location.

Question 4

During Sprint Planning, the Product Owner proposes a user story that is too large to fit in one Sprint. What should the team do?

Accepted Answer

Collaboratively break down the story into smaller, sprint-sized stories.. In Scrum, user stories that are too large (often called 'epics') must be decomposed into smaller, sprint-sized stories during Sprint Planning. The Product Owner and Development Team collaboratively break down the story to ensure each piece can be completed within a single Sprint, maintaining the Sprint Goal and timebox. This aligns with the Agile principle of sustainable pace and the Scrum Guide's emphasis on the Development Team's self-organization to determine how to deliver the Product Backlog items.

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Reject the story and ask for a smaller one.

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Accept the story and work overtime to complete it.

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Accept the story and commit to completing it in the Sprint.

Question 5

A team is new to Agile and wants to implement a framework that emphasizes iterative development, time-boxed iterations, and a prioritized backlog. Which framework should they adopt?

Accepted Answer

Scrum. Scrum is the correct framework because it explicitly prescribes time-boxed iterations (sprints), a prioritized backlog (Product Backlog), and iterative development through defined events like Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. This aligns directly with the team's requirements for a structured Agile framework that enforces these core practices.

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Kanban

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Lean

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Extreme Programming (XP)

Question 6

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.

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Facilitating the Daily Scrum.

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Removing impediments for the team.

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Enforcing timeboxes for Sprint events.

Question 7

Which THREE of the following are core values of the Agile Manifesto?

Accepted Answer

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.. Option A is correct because the Agile Manifesto explicitly values 'Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.' This means that while processes and tools are important, the people doing the work and how they communicate take precedence. The Manifesto emphasizes that collaboration and human factors drive project success more than rigid adherence to prescribed procedures.

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Following a plan over responding to change.

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Contract negotiation over customer collaboration.

Question 8

During Sprint Planning, the team realizes the password reset story involves a third-party email service that has not been integrated yet. The team has no experience with that service. What is the best action?

Accepted Answer

Create a time-boxed spike to research the integration.. The team has no experience with the third-party email service, and integrating it involves unknown technical risks. A time-boxed spike (Option B) is the best action because it allows the team to research the integration within a defined timebox, reducing uncertainty before committing to the story in a Sprint. This aligns with the Scrum principle of managing risk through validated learning, not through guesswork or scope changes.

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Accept the story and figure it out during the Sprint.

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Add more developers to the team for this Sprint.

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Remove the story from the Product Backlog.

Question 9

The team notices that work is piling up in the Testing column. The WIP limit for Testing is 3, but currently there are 5 items. What should the team do first?

Accepted Answer

Focus the team on completing testing items until the WIP limit is met.. Option D is correct because when a WIP limit is exceeded, the team should swarm on the bottleneck to complete the items in that column, thereby reducing work-in-progress and restoring flow. In Kanban, exceeding a WIP limit signals a constraint that must be resolved by finishing existing work, not by adding more. This aligns with the core principle of limiting WIP to improve throughput and cycle time.

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Move items from Backlog to To Do to increase throughput.

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Ignore the WIP limit and continue as is.

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Move some testing items back to In Progress.

Question 10

A startup is adopting Scrum for the first time. During the Sprint Review, stakeholders request many changes to the product increment. What is the best way for the Scrum Master to handle this?

Accepted Answer

Ask the Product Owner to add the changes to the Product Backlog for prioritization in future Sprints.. In Scrum, the Sprint Review is a time for stakeholders to inspect the increment and provide feedback, but changes cannot be made to the current Sprint as the Sprint Goal and scope are fixed. The Product Owner is responsible for managing the Product Backlog, so the best action is to capture these change requests and have the Product Owner add them to the Product Backlog for future prioritization. This ensures the Development Team remains focused on the current Sprint Goal and that changes are evaluated against business value and priority in upcoming Sprints.

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Let the Development Team decide which changes to implement immediately.

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Add the changes to the current Sprint Backlog immediately.

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Ignore the feedback since the Sprint is complete.

Question 11

In a Kanban system, the team notices that work items are spending too much time in the 'In Progress' column. Which practice should the team adopt to improve flow?

Accepted Answer

Set a strict WIP limit for the 'In Progress' column.. Setting a strict Work In Progress (WIP) limit for the 'In Progress' column directly addresses the bottleneck by capping the number of items the team can work on simultaneously. This forces the team to finish existing work before pulling new items, reducing multitasking and cycle time. In Kanban, WIP limits are the primary mechanism to expose flow inefficiencies and improve throughput.

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Use longer development cycles.

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Increase the number of items allowed in the 'In Progress' column.

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Remove the 'In Progress' column to simplify the board.

Question 12

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.

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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 13

An XP team is practicing pair programming. A new developer feels uncomfortable because the partner frequently corrects their code. What is the best way to foster a positive pairing experience?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the pair to set expectations and rotate roles (driver/navigator) regularly.. Option D is correct because setting expectations and rotating roles (driver/navigator) is a core XP practice that fosters collaboration, psychological safety, and skill transfer. In pair programming, the driver writes code while the navigator reviews and suggests improvements; rotating roles ensures both developers contribute equally and learn from each other, reducing the new developer's discomfort by making corrections a shared, constructive process rather than a one-sided critique.

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Ask the senior developer to only observe and not comment.

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Have the new developer work alone until they gain more confidence.

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Discontinue pair programming for that pair.

Question 14

Which TWO are Scrum artifacts? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Product Backlog. The Product Backlog is a Scrum artifact because it is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product, serving as the single source of requirements for any changes to be made. The Sprint Backlog is also a Scrum artifact, as it comprises the Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint plus a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal. Both are explicitly defined in the Scrum Guide as the three artifacts (along with the Increment).

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Kanban Board

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User Story

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Gantt Chart

Question 15

Which THREE are principles of the Agile Manifesto? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Deliver working software frequently, with a preference to the shorter timescale.. Option A is correct because the Agile Manifesto explicitly states 'Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.' This principle emphasizes iterative delivery and rapid feedback cycles, which are core to Agile frameworks like Scrum and XP.

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Use pair programming for all production code.

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Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

Question 16

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.. Option D is correct because 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.

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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 17

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.. Option B is correct because 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 18

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.. Option D is correct because 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.

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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 19

A software development team is transitioning from a plan-driven approach to Scrum. The Product Owner is enthusiastic but struggles to break down the product backlog into small, independent items. The team frequently encounters dependencies between user stories, causing delays in sprints. What is the best course of action for the Scrum Master to address this issue?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on how to split user stories to minimize dependencies.. The Scrum Master's primary responsibility is to coach the Product Owner and the team on Scrum practices. In this scenario, the root cause is the Product Owner's inability to decompose user stories into small, independent items, which creates dependencies. By coaching the Product Owner on effective story splitting techniques (e.g., using vertical slicing, splitting by workflow steps, or by acceptance criteria), the Scrum Master directly addresses the source of the problem, enabling the team to deliver value incrementally without cross-story delays.

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Have the team self-organize to handle dependencies by assigning a dependency owner.

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Increase the sprint duration to allow more time to resolve dependencies.

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Ask developers to manage dependencies during the sprint by coordinating with other teams.

Question 20

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