CSM Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

During a Sprint Review, the Product Owner presents the current state of the Product Backlog and projected delivery dates based on the team's recent velocity. A stakeholder challenges the accuracy of these projections, and the Developers begin defending their estimates. How should the Scrum Master facilitate the remainder of the event?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Refocus the discussion on the Increment and the feedback it generates, reminding participants that projections are the Product Owner's responsibility and that the Review is for inspection and adaptation.. The Sprint Review is a collaborative working session where the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog. The Scrum Master facilitates by keeping the focus on product inspection and feedback, while recognizing that delivery projections are the Product Owner's responsibility. Defending estimates or removing the Developers undermines the event's purpose.

Answer

End the Sprint Review early, since the disagreement indicates the event is no longer productive.

Answer

Ask the Developers to leave the meeting so the Product Owner and stakeholders can negotiate delivery dates privately.

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Step in and provide a definitive delivery date based on the team's historical velocity to settle the disagreement.

Question 2

A Product Owner is new to Scrum and keeps changing the Sprint Goal mid-Sprint based on stakeholder feedback. The Developers are frustrated by the shifting priorities. How should the Scrum Master best serve the Product Owner?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on the purpose of the Sprint Goal and the impact of changing it mid-Sprint.. Coaching the Product Owner on the Sprint Goal's purpose and the effects of mid-Sprint changes directly serves their need to understand Scrum's boundaries. It empowers the Product Owner to manage stakeholder feedback without destabilizing the Developers, preserving focus and value delivery.

Answer

Tell the Developers to ignore the Product Owner's changes and continue with the original plan.

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Suggest the Product Owner cancel the Sprint and start a new one whenever priorities change.

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Ask the stakeholders to stop providing feedback until the Sprint Review.

Question 3

An organization has multiple Scrum Teams working on the same product and wants to reduce the time spent in Sprint Reviews. A vice president proposes that each team skip the Sprint Review and instead send a written status report to stakeholders. What should the Scrum Master do to serve the organization?

Accepted Answer

Explain that the Sprint Review is a formal Scrum event and that replacing it with reports would prevent stakeholders from inspecting the Increment and adapting the Product Backlog.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it adopt Scrum effectively. The Sprint Review is a formal event designed for stakeholders and the Scrum Team to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog. Replacing it with written reports would remove the empirical feedback loop and hide risks. The Scrum Master should explain the purpose of the event and help the organization make it productive.

Answer

Let each team decide whether to hold a Sprint Review or send a report, since Scrum Teams are self-managing.

Answer

Combine all teams' work into one quarterly review and cancel individual Sprint Reviews to reduce stakeholder time.

Answer

Agree to the written reports because they are more efficient and allow stakeholders to review updates asynchronously.

Question 4

A Scrum Master is asked by a line manager to provide a weekly report showing exactly how many hours each Developer spent on each Product Backlog item, so the manager can assess individual productivity. The team's Developers are uneasy about this request. What is the most appropriate response from the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Educate the manager on why Scrum favors team-level transparency, and offer Sprint-level information such as progress toward the Sprint Goal and the increment instead.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by coaching it on Scrum and helping it understand that progress is inspected at the team and product level, not through individual hour tracking. Offering Sprint Goal progress and increment information meets the manager's need for visibility while protecting the team's collective accountability and trust.

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Decline the request and tell the manager that Scrum forbids any reporting to people outside the Scrum Team.

Answer

Provide the requested hours, since transparency is a core Scrum value and the manager has a legitimate need for information.

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Ask the Developers to log their hours quietly so the manager receives the data without the team feeling scrutinized.

Question 5

A newly formed Scrum Team has just completed its first Sprint. The Scrum Master wants to serve the team by helping it establish habits that support self-management and empiricism from the start. Which two actions are appropriate for the Scrum Master to take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to use the Sprint Retrospective to inspect how it worked and to choose one improvement to try next Sprint.. Serving the Scrum Team means coaching self-management and empiricism, which includes clarifying that the Developers own and may adapt the Sprint Backlog and helping the team use the Retrospective to improve its way of working. Fixed roles, imposed velocity targets, and reporting rituals to the Scrum Master all substitute external control for the team's own accountability and would slow the growth the Scrum Master is trying to encourage.

Answer

Require the Developers to present a detailed status report to the Scrum Master at the end of each Sprint.

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Introduce a velocity target that the team must meet every Sprint to keep stakeholders satisfied.

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Assign each Developer a fixed role, such as tester or integrator, so the team has clear accountability from Sprint one.

Question 6

A Scrum Master is serving a Scrum Team that is struggling with internal conflicts. Two Developers frequently argue over technical approaches, and the arguments are escalating and affecting team morale. The Scrum Master wants to help the team navigate this conflict constructively. Which two actions are most appropriate for the Scrum Master to take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers on healthy conflict resolution and facilitate a conversation to help them understand each other's perspectives.. The Scrum Master should coach the Developers on healthy conflict resolution and facilitate a conversation, as well as raise the issue in the Sprint Retrospective for team-wide improvement. These actions serve the team by building conflict resolution skills and leveraging the Retrospective for collective adaptation. They empower the team to self-manage and improve communication, rather than relying on the Scrum Master to solve the problem or avoiding it.

Answer

Reassign one of the Developers to a different team to eliminate the source of conflict and restore harmony.

Answer

Meet with each Developer individually to hear their concerns, then make a decision on the technical approach to end the argument.

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Ignore the conflict, as it is a natural part of self-organizing teams and will resolve itself over time.

Question 7

A Scrum Master notices that the Developers rarely talk to each other during the Sprint and often discover integration problems only at the Sprint Review. The team is co-located but works in silos. Which action best serves the Scrum Team?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers on the benefits of frequent collaboration and integration, and facilitate a Retrospective where they can decide how to work together more closely.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching self-management and fostering collaboration. Coaching the Developers on frequent integration and facilitating a Retrospective where they choose how to work together more closely builds ownership. Mandatory meetings, forced reassignments, or backlog prescriptions impose solutions from outside the Developers, which weakens the self-management the Scrum Master is meant to strengthen.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to add an integration task to every Sprint Backlog item so the Developers are reminded to integrate their work.

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Reassign Developers to new pairs each Sprint so they are forced to work with different people and integration problems surface earlier.

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Introduce a mandatory daily integration meeting led by the Scrum Master so the Developers report their integration status to the team.

Question 8

During a Sprint Review, a stakeholder criticizes the Increment sharply and questions whether the team should exist. The Product Owner becomes defensive and the Developers go silent. What is the most appropriate way for the Scrum Master to serve the Scrum Team in this moment?

Accepted Answer

Intervene to keep the discussion constructive, help the stakeholder focus on the Increment and its value, and ensure the Developers and Product Owner can respond.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team and the wider organization by facilitating effective events and coaching constructive collaboration. When a Sprint Review turns hostile, the useful move is to refocus the group on the Increment and its value so the Developers and Product Owner can engage with the feedback rather than shut down. Defending the team, cutting the event short, or ejecting the stakeholder all reduce transparency and the team's ability to learn.

Answer

Defend the team's work by explaining the technical constraints that caused the shortcomings the stakeholder identified.

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Ask the stakeholder to leave the Sprint Review and submit written feedback through the Product Owner afterward.

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End the Sprint Review early to protect the team from further criticism and reschedule it once emotions have settled.

Question 9

During a Sprint Review, the Product Owner presents the current state of the Product Backlog and projected delivery dates based on the team's recent velocity. A stakeholder challenges the accuracy of these projections, and the Developers begin defending their estimates. How should the Scrum Master facilitate the remainder of the event?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner and Developers that the Sprint Review is a working session to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog, and help them restructure the event around a live demonstration.. The Sprint Review exists so the Scrum Team and stakeholders can inspect the working Increment and adapt the Product Backlog together. A slide-driven event that omits the increment destroys the transparency stakeholders rely on. Coaching the Product Owner and Developers to rebuild the event around a live demonstration and collaborative discussion corrects the root cause.

Answer

Invite only the stakeholders who understand the difference between planned and delivered work to future Sprint Reviews.

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Add a written status document that clearly labels which features are planned versus delivered, and distribute it after each Sprint Review.

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Ask the Product Owner to shorten the slide deck and add a brief demonstration only when stakeholders specifically request one.

Question 10

A Scrum Master is working with an organization that has a strict change management process requiring a formal change request for any modification to a released product. The Scrum Teams find this process slows down their ability to respond to customer feedback. Which TWO actions best demonstrate the Scrum Master serving the organization in this situation? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a workshop with change management and Scrum Team representatives to map the current process and identify bottlenecks.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it adopt Scrum and remove impediments. Facilitating a workshop to map the change process and coaching the change management team on how Scrum can reduce risk through incremental delivery are collaborative, educational actions. They address the bottleneck without bypassing governance or demanding radical change.

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Recommend that the organization abandon its change management process entirely to increase agility.

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Instruct the Scrum Teams to ignore the change management process for low-risk changes and document them retroactively.

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Escalate to senior management that the change management process is incompatible with Scrum and must be changed immediately.

Question 11

A Scrum Master has been asked by the head of HR to provide a detailed report of individual team member utilization to support a new performance review system. What is the most appropriate response?

Accepted Answer

Explain that Scrum focuses on team-level accountability and value delivery, and offer to help HR design performance conversations that align with Scrum principles.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it understand that Scrum is built on team-level accountability. Instead of supplying individual utilization data, the Scrum Master should educate HR and collaborate on performance approaches that reinforce collaboration and value delivery. The other options either comply with a harmful request, refuse unhelpfully, or shift the burden to the team without addressing the root conflict.

Answer

Refuse the request outright, stating that Scrum prohibits any form of performance measurement.

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Provide the utilization report as requested, since HR owns performance management and the Scrum Master should not interfere with organizational processes.

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Ask the team to self-report their utilization and submit it to HR on their behalf to avoid direct conflict with HR.

Question 12

A Scrum Master is working with an organization that has a culture of blaming individuals for failures. How can the Scrum Master best serve the organization in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Model and coach the Scrum values of openness, courage, respect, focus, and commitment, and facilitate retrospectives that focus on systemic improvement rather than individual fault.. Serving the organization in a blame-oriented culture means actively coaching Scrum values and facilitating retrospectives that focus on systems, not individuals. This builds psychological safety and supports empirical improvement. The other options either shield the team without changing the system, introduce punitive measures that worsen blame, or pause Scrum, none of which address the root cultural issue.

Answer

Implement a formal disciplinary process for team members who cause failures, to reinforce accountability and prevent future issues.

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Recommend that the organization pause Scrum adoption until the culture becomes more supportive, to avoid damaging team morale.

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Protect the team from blame by shielding them from management and handling all communications, so they can focus on delivery.

Question 13

A Scrum Master is helping an organization that has multiple departments, each with its own backlog and priorities, and teams are frequently interrupted by urgent requests from different managers. Which TWO actions best demonstrate the Scrum Master serving the organization in this situation? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a workshop with department leaders to define how urgent requests should be evaluated and routed through the Product Owner.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it create the conditions for Scrum to succeed. Multiple backlogs and direct requests from various managers create competing priorities and context switching. Coaching the organization on the value of a single ordered Product Backlog and facilitating a workshop to define how urgent requests are routed through the Product Owner address the root cause while respecting the organization's need to respond to emergencies.

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Recommend that each department assign a liaison to sit with the team and assign tasks directly.

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Instruct the teams to reject all requests that do not come from their own manager.

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Ask the Scrum Teams to work overtime to absorb the extra requests without changing priorities.

Question 14

The Product Owner is having difficulty getting stakeholders to agree on the product priorities. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session where stakeholders use objective criteria to prioritize the product backlog.. The Scrum Master should serve the Product Owner by facilitating techniques that help resolve conflict and reach consensus among stakeholders. By focusing on data-driven decision-making and the product's overall strategy, the Scrum Master can help the Product Owner navigate competing interests and achieve a transparent, defensible order of work that serves the business's goals.

Answer

Take over the responsibility of setting the priorities to resolve the stakeholder conflicts quickly.

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Tell the Product Owner that they should ignore the stakeholders and follow their own intuition.

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Advise the Product Owner to rotate the priority list every week to keep everyone happy.

Question 15

The organization is struggling with a culture of siloed departments that refuse to collaborate, leading to long delays in value delivery. As a Scrum Master, how should you best serve the organization?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate workshops to help the organization visualize and improve their value delivery flow.. The Scrum Master must act as a change agent, helping the organization understand the value of empirical process control and cross-functional transparency. By facilitating workshops that focus on organizational design and value stream flow, the Scrum Master helps dismantle silos. This effort is critical because Scrum teams cannot maximize their agility if the broader organizational structure actively prevents the flow of value through rigid, hierarchical departmental barriers.

Answer

Report the uncooperative departments to senior management for disciplinary action.

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Focus solely on the Scrum Teams and ignore external organizational issues.

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Rewrite the job descriptions for all employees to mandate cross-functional collaboration.