CSM Practice Test 18 — 15 Questions

Question 1

During a Sprint, a key developer is assigned to work on a separate project by their department manager, leaving the Scrum Team short-handed. How should the Scrum Master address this?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the impact of this change with the department manager and the Scrum Team to find a resolution that respects the Sprint commitment.. The Scrum Master must act as a change agent and protector of the Scrum Team's integrity. By addressing this with organizational management, the Scrum Master highlights the negative impact of interrupted focus and broken team cohesion. This intervention is vital because it preserves the team's ability to self-organize and deliver on their commitments, ultimately preventing structural disruptions that lead to failed Sprints and lowered morale.

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Advise the team to work harder and accept that management has the final say on resources.

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Remove the task from the Sprint Backlog immediately without consulting the Product Owner.

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Ask the remaining developers to pick up the missing developer's tasks without adjustment.

Question 2

During Sprint Planning, the Product Owner demands that the Development Team commit to a specific set of items to meet a quarterly company milestone. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Educate both parties that the Development Team forecasts its capacity and pulls work iteratively.. The Scrum Master must protect the integrity of the Scrum framework by clarifying that the Development Team alone estimates and pulls work. Product Owners manage value, not capacity. This distinction matters because forcing arbitrary commitments destroys morale and distorts forecasting metrics.

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Support the Product Owner by enforcing the quarterly milestone as a binding team commitment.

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Realign the Product Backlog items into smaller tasks so the team can absorb the extra pressure.

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Take over Sprint Planning facilitation and unilaterally assign tasks to balance the workload.

Question 3

How can a Scrum Master best serve the Scrum Team in improving their definition of 'Done'?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate sessions where the team inspects their current Definition of Done and identifies areas for improvement.. The Scrum Master facilitates discussions about quality standards and ensures the Definition of Done is transparent and understood. By encouraging the team to continually raise the bar for quality, the Scrum Master helps eliminate technical debt and ensures a higher-quality product increment. This is vital for maintaining the team's agility and ensuring that the work produced is genuinely releasable, preventing hidden issues from accumulating over time.

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Define the Definition of Done for the team to ensure it meets high industry standards.

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Ask the stakeholders to provide a list of requirements for the Definition of Done.

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Ignore the Definition of Done unless the team's quality drops significantly.

Question 4

A newly formed Scrum Team is struggling to finish their Sprint Backlog items by the end of the time-boxed Sprint. The Product Owner demands that the Sprint duration be doubled to four weeks to accommodate their slow velocity. How should the Scrum Master respond?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with the team to investigate root causes of incomplete work and improve refinement.. The Scrum Master should advise against extending the Sprint length, as fixed time-boxes limit risk and provide a predictable cadence for inspection and adaptation. Instead, the team should focus on improving estimation, refining backlog items, and reducing work in progress. Extending the Sprint reduces the frequency of feedback loops, directly undermining the empirical nature of Scrum and masking underlying delivery dysfunctions.

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Support the Product Owner by extending the Sprint duration to four weeks to provide immediate relief.

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Advise the team to work through weekends to finish the items so the Sprint length can remain unchanged.

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Transfer the unfinished items back to the Product Backlog and cancel the remaining days of the Sprint.

Question 5

A mid-sized company has three Scrum Teams working on the same product. Each team follows Scrum internally, but they maintain separate Product Backlogs and release independently. The Product Owner complains that integration issues are discovered late and that the overall product vision is fragmented. As the Scrum Master serving the organization, what is the most appropriate first step?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a meeting with the Product Owners and stakeholders to help them recognize the need for a single Product Backlog and a shared Product Goal.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it understand and apply Scrum effectively. When multiple teams build one product, separate backlogs and goals create integration and vision problems. The most appropriate first step is to facilitate awareness among Product Owners and stakeholders about the benefits of a single Product Backlog and a shared Product Goal, rather than imposing technical practices or taking over accountabilities.

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Create a consolidated Product Backlog yourself and assign it to one of the Product Owners to manage.

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Recommend that the teams merge into a single large team to eliminate coordination overhead.

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Instruct each team to adopt the same Definition of Done and Sprint length to ensure consistency across the product.

Question 6

A Scrum Master notices that the Developers have stopped attending the Daily Scrum because they feel it is just a status meeting for the manager. What should the Scrum Master do to help the team get value from the event?

Accepted Answer

Teach the Developers that the Daily Scrum is for inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapting the Sprint Backlog.. The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. When the team views it as a status report, the Scrum Master should coach them on its purpose and help them self-manage the event, thereby restoring its value and aligning with Scrum theory.

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Attend every Daily Scrum and take detailed notes to share with management.

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Cancel the Daily Scrum and replace it with an asynchronous written update.

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Ask the manager to set clear daily task assignments before each Daily Scrum.

Question 7

A Scrum Team is struggling with a persistent lack of clarity about the scope of the Sprint. During the Sprint, Developers keep discovering work that was not discussed in Sprint Planning. Which accountability best addresses this by ensuring a clear Sprint Goal and a shared understanding of the work?

Accepted Answer

The entire Scrum Team, which collaboratively creates the Sprint Goal and plans the Sprint during Sprint Planning.. The Sprint Goal and Sprint plan are created together by the whole Scrum Team during Sprint Planning. No single accountability owns the scope; clarity comes from collaboration. Improving shared understanding of the Sprint Goal and selected items is a team responsibility, so the entire Scrum Team is the best answer to the described lack of clarity.

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The Developers, who self-manage and decide how to turn Product Backlog items into a valuable Increment.

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The Scrum Master, who facilitates the Scrum events and coaches the team on Scrum theory.

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The Product Owner, who is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.

Question 8

During a Sprint, a stakeholder interrupts the Developers to request an urgent feature addition. How should the Scrum Master facilitate this?

Accepted Answer

Coach the stakeholder on the Scrum process and suggest adding the item to the Product Backlog.. The Scrum Master must protect the Sprint Goal and the Developers' autonomy. By coaching the stakeholder to wait for the next Sprint Planning, the Scrum Master maintains the integrity of the Sprint Backlog. This is a core competency, as the Scrum Master acts as a coach and process guardian, ensuring the team remains focused on the commitment made during Sprint Planning rather than succumbing to external pressure that could jeopardize the Sprint outcome.

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Add the feature to the current Sprint to satisfy the stakeholder.

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Ask the Product Owner to decide if the team should perform the work.

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Direct the Developers to work on the feature if they have extra capacity.

Question 9

During Sprint Retrospective, a Developer says, 'I don't see the point of these meetings. Nothing ever changes.' Other team members nod in agreement. The Scrum Master wants to turn this into a productive Retrospective. What is the most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Ask the team to identify one or two small, actionable improvements and ensure they are addressed in the next Sprint.. The most appropriate action is to help the team identify a small number of actionable improvements and ensure they are implemented. This directly addresses the frustration that nothing changes and demonstrates the value of the Retrospective. It also reinforces the Scrum principle of continuous improvement through inspect and adapt.

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Agree with the Developer and propose canceling the Retrospective until the team has a clear need for improvement.

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Remind the team that the Retrospective is a required Scrum event and that attendance is mandatory.

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Suggest that the team stop holding Retrospectives and instead use the time for additional Sprint Planning.

Question 10

During a Sprint Planning event, the Developers state they cannot commit to the Product Owner's high-priority items because technical debt is slowing down their delivery velocity. As a Scrum Master, how should you facilitate this situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers to articulate the business impact of the technical debt so the Product Owner can balance feature work with refactoring.. Facilitating a collaborative dialogue helps the Developers and Product Owner negotiate a realistic Sprint Backlog while balancing technical health. Product value and technical sustainability must coexist, and the Scrum Master guides the team to transparently forecast work without dictating technical solutions or bypassing the Product Owner's authority.

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Instruct the Developers to accept the high-priority items and handle technical debt exclusively during weekend maintenance windows.

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Advise the Product Owner to remove all technical debt items from the Product Backlog to maintain absolute focus on customer features.

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Take over Sprint Planning by personally selecting the items that balance technical debt and features based on your own technical background.

Question 11

The organization's CEO asks the Scrum Master to attend the Board of Directors meeting to report on 'Scrum Velocity' as a measure of company success. How should the Scrum Master respond?

Accepted Answer

Politely decline and provide alternative value-based metrics.. The Scrum Master must act as a guardian of the Scrum framework by preventing the misuse of metrics. Velocity is a team-specific tool for capacity planning, not an organizational performance measure. By educating the CEO on why velocity is a poor indicator of company success and suggesting more meaningful business outcomes, the Scrum Master provides a higher level of service to the organization and its leadership.

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Provide the velocity data and explain how it is calculated.

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Attend the meeting and present the velocity data anyway.

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Ask the Product Owner to attend instead of the Scrum Master.

Question 12

A Product Owner wants to track team performance using 'Velocity' and insists that the Scrum Master use this metric to evaluate individual developer performance. How should the Scrum Master respond?

Accepted Answer

Educate the Product Owner on why Velocity is for planning and how it should never be used for individual evaluations.. The Scrum Master must clarify that Velocity is a team-level metric for planning, not an individual performance measurement tool. Using it for evaluation damages morale and encourages behavior that inflates numbers rather than delivering value. The Scrum Master should educate the Product Owner on the dangers of this practice and suggest better ways to measure progress and value.

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Agree to use the metric but warn the Product Owner that it might cause team conflict.

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Suggest using hours worked per developer as a more accurate metric for individual performance.

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Ask the Developers to increase their velocity by 20% to satisfy the Product Owner's performance goals.

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. As a Scrum Master, what is your primary concern regarding the Scrum Team's effectiveness?

Accepted Answer

The Product Owner is failing to provide necessary support for backlog refinement and collaboration.. The exhibit shows a critical disconnect between the Product Owner and the Developers. Effective Product Backlog management requires consistent collaboration. When a Product Owner is absent from the Daily Scrum and limits refinement to only two hours, the Developers lose the business context necessary to build the right thing. This lack of engagement threatens the team's ability to deliver actual value, regardless of their stable velocity.

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The velocity is too low for the size of the team.

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The Scrum Master is not resolving enough impediments.

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The Developers are not taking enough responsibility for the product vision.

Question 14

Which TWO of the following describe a responsibility of the Scrum Master regarding the Developers?

Accepted Answer

Coaching the team in organizational environments in which Scrum is not yet fully adopted.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching the Developers in self-management and cross-functionality. By facilitating sessions and removing impediments, the Scrum Master helps the team increase its effectiveness. These responsibilities are critical for building a high-performing team that can navigate complex work without needing external command-and-control management, which is essential for long-term project success and agility.

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Assigning specific tasks to Developers to ensure the Sprint Goal is met.

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Approving the final Increment at the end of the Sprint.

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Managing the daily schedule of each Developer to track individual utilization.

Question 15

A Product Owner is struggling to communicate a clear product vision to stakeholders. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session where the Product Owner articulates the vision to the team and stakeholders.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by ensuring they can articulate the product's value and purpose. By facilitating workshops or coaching the Product Owner on vision-setting tools, the Scrum Master bridges the gap between technical work and strategic goals. This ensures that the entire Scrum Team and the stakeholders are aligned, which is a foundational requirement for successful product development in complex environments.

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Write the product vision statement on behalf of the Product Owner.

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Tell the Product Owner to create a vision board and present it next month.

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Ask the stakeholders to define the vision since the Product Owner is unable to.