CSM Practice Test 24 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A Product Owner is new to Scrum and is unsure how to effectively order the Product Backlog to maximize value. They have asked the Scrum Master for guidance. Which approach best aligns with Scrum principles?

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

Accepted Answer

Suggest the Product Owner collaborate with the Developers and stakeholders to identify value drivers and then order the backlog accordingly.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by facilitating collaboration and helping them understand techniques for effective Product Backlog management. Encouraging the Product Owner to work with the Developers and stakeholders to identify value drivers ensures that ordering decisions are well-informed and aligned with maximizing product value. This approach respects the Product Owner's accountability while leveraging the team's collective knowledge.

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Instruct the Product Owner to order the backlog based solely on the estimated effort of each item, with smaller items first.

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Advise the Product Owner to use a simple prioritization technique like MoSCoW without involving others.

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Tell the Product Owner to let the Developers order the backlog since they know the technical dependencies best.

Question 2

A Scrum Master is coaching a newly formed Scrum Team. The Developers are unsure about who should estimate the Product Backlog items. What should the Scrum Master advise?

Accepted Answer

The Developers should estimate the items because they are the ones who will do the work.. The Developers are accountable for estimating Product Backlog items because they are the ones performing the work. The Scrum Master should coach the team on collaborative estimation techniques and ensure the Product Owner is available for clarifications. This fosters ownership and improves the accuracy of forecasts.

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The Scrum Master should estimate the items to ensure consistency across Sprints.

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A designated senior developer should estimate all items to save time.

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The Product Owner should estimate the items because they are accountable for maximizing value.

Question 3

A Product Owner asks the Scrum Master to assist with the Refinement of the Product Backlog. What is the most effective way for the Scrum Master to serve the Product Owner?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on how to facilitate effective refinement sessions with the Developers.. Refinement is an ongoing process of adding detail, estimates, and order to the backlog. The Scrum Master's role is to ensure the process is collaborative, efficient, and well-understood by all team members. By coaching the Product Owner on techniques for refinement, the Scrum Master helps create a ready-to-work backlog that enables the Developers to perform at their best during the Sprint.

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Conduct the backlog refinement sessions personally to save the Product Owner time.

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Assign the Developers to refine the backlog items independently to reduce the Product Owner's workload.

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Cancel refinement sessions because they are not a mandatory Scrum event.

Question 4

A team is transitioning to Scrum and struggling with self-management. Which THREE strategies should the Scrum Master employ to support them?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team on how to manage their own tasks and support each other in achieving the Sprint Goal.. The Scrum Master serves the team by gradually shifting the responsibility of task management and process improvement to the developers. By coaching, facilitating, and providing a safe space for experimentation, the Scrum Master helps the team build confidence and competence. This transition is essential for the team to move from being told what to do to becoming an autonomous unit capable of delivering high-value, high-quality work.

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Assign tasks to each team member at the start of every day to ensure work is completed.

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Create a rigid checklist of steps for them to follow until they become more experienced.

Question 5

A Scrum Master is coaching a team that has been asked by senior management to provide weekly progress reports with percentage completion for each Product Backlog item. The team is spending significant time preparing these reports, and the Scrum Master wants to reduce this overhead while still meeting management's need for transparency. Which two actions are most appropriate? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Work with management to help them understand that the team's progress is already transparent through the Sprint Backlog, Sprint Review, and Increment.. The two most appropriate actions are to help management understand Scrum's built-in transparency and to collaborate on a lightweight reporting solution. Both address the root cause by reducing unnecessary overhead while preserving transparency and trust. They also align with the Scrum Master's role as a coach and facilitator.

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Instruct the team to stop producing the reports immediately and tell management to attend the Sprint Review instead.

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Have the Developers work extra hours to complete both their Sprint work and the reports without impacting the Sprint Goal.

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Ask the Product Owner to prepare and present all progress reports to management on behalf of the team.

Question 6

What is the primary role of the Scrum Master during the Sprint Planning event?

Accepted Answer

Facilitating the event and ensuring it stays within the timebox.. The Scrum Master ensures that the Sprint Planning event takes place and that its purpose is understood. They facilitate the process, ensuring the team stays within the timebox and focuses on defining the Sprint Goal and the plan for the Sprint. This keeps the team focused and ensures that planning is efficient, collaborative, and grounded in the Scrum framework's values.

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Assigning tasks to the Developers.

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Defining the Sprint Goal for the team.

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Writing the user stories for the backlog.

Question 7

A Product Owner is constantly missing Sprint Reviews because they are in other meetings. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Discuss the impact of their absence on team alignment and stakeholder feedback with the Product Owner.. The Scrum Master must highlight the importance of the Sprint Review as a critical inspection and adaptation event. By discussing this with the Product Owner, the Scrum Master helps them understand that their absence prevents the gathering of essential feedback from stakeholders. This conversation focuses on the value of the event and the impact of the Product Owner's absence on the product's success.

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Hold the Sprint Review without the Product Owner and summarize the feedback to them later.

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Cancel the Sprint Review if the Product Owner cannot attend to ensure team morale is not affected.

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Report the Product Owner to their manager for failing to attend the necessary Scrum events.

Question 8

A Scrum Master notices that the team is silent during the Daily Scrum, and the Developers only provide status updates to the Scrum Master. How should they respond?

Accepted Answer

Remind the team that the Daily Scrum is for them.. The Daily Scrum is for the Developers to plan their day and synchronize, not a reporting meeting for the Scrum Master. By shifting the focus away from themselves, the Scrum Master encourages peer-to-peer accountability. This is critical because the Daily Scrum is the primary mechanism for the team to inspect their progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan, which is essential for agility.

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Start asking each member specific questions.

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Cancel the Daily Scrum until they can do it properly.

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Report the lack of engagement to management.

Question 9

A Scrum Master joins a team that has been using Scrum for a few months. The Scrum Master observes that during Sprint Retrospectives, the Developers list many improvement actions, but none are ever implemented. The Scrum Master wants to serve the team by helping it actually improve. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate the team in selecting one or two high-impact improvements and defining a concrete, testable action for the next Sprint.. The Scrum Master serves the team by coaching it to turn Retrospective insights into small, testable actions owned by the Developers. Selecting a few high-impact improvements and defining concrete next steps makes follow-through likely and keeps ownership where it belongs. This reinforces continuous improvement and self-management rather than creating dependence on the Scrum Master or the Product Owner.

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Take ownership of the improvement actions and implement them yourself between Sprints so the team sees progress.

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Instruct the Product Owner to add the improvement actions to the Product Backlog so they are prioritized alongside other work.

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Stop holding Retrospectives until the team can demonstrate that it has implemented all previous actions.

Question 10

A Scrum Team has been delivering increments for several Sprints, but the Scrum Master notices that the Developers rarely update the Sprint Backlog during the Sprint. Instead, they rely on the Scrum Master to track progress and remind them of remaining work. Which action best aligns with the Scrum Master's accountability?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers to update the Sprint Backlog themselves as they discover new work, ensuring transparency and self-management.. The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum and coaching the team toward self-management. Since the Developers own the Sprint Backlog, they should update it themselves. Coaching them to do so strengthens transparency and reduces reliance on the Scrum Master, which is the essence of the role. The other options create dependencies or shift accountability away from the Developers.

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Escalate the issue to management so they can assign someone to maintain the Sprint Backlog.

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Ask the Product Owner to take over updating the Sprint Backlog since they are responsible for maximizing value.

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Continue tracking progress for the Developers to ensure the Sprint Backlog remains accurate and up to date.

Question 11

A Scrum Master joins a team where the Product Owner is also the line manager of several Developers. The Developers frequently wait for the Product Owner's approval before making technical decisions during the Sprint. What should the Scrum Master do first to address this?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Scrum Team and the Product Owner on the boundaries between self-management and product ownership, helping them understand that Developers own technical decisions.. The Scrum Master is accountable for coaching the Scrum Team and the wider organization in Scrum theory and practice. When Developers hesitate to make technical decisions because their Product Owner is also their manager, the underlying confusion is about accountabilities. By clarifying that Developers self-manage their technical work while the Product Owner owns the Product Backlog, the Scrum Master removes an impediment and fosters the environment needed for empirical process control.

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Ask the Product Owner to step down as line manager so the Developers can self-manage without interference.

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Raise the issue at the next Sprint Retrospective and let the Developers decide whether to change their behavior.

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Instruct the Developers to stop seeking approval and make all decisions independently from now on.

Question 12

A Product Owner for a Scrum Team is preparing for an upcoming Sprint Review. She wants to present a clear picture of progress toward the Product Goal, but she is unsure how to structure the conversation with stakeholders who tend to focus on individual features. As her Scrum Master, what is the most appropriate way to serve her?

Accepted Answer

Coach her to frame the review around the Product Goal, using the Increment and current Product Backlog ordering as evidence, and help her rehearse facilitating stakeholder feedback.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by helping her effectively facilitate the Sprint Review and communicate progress toward the Product Goal. Coaching her to frame the event around the Product Goal, using the Increment and Product Backlog ordering as evidence, keeps her accountable while building her capability. Taking over, cancelling, or turning it into a technical demo all undermine the event's purpose and her ownership.

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Advise her to cancel the Sprint Review and instead send a written status report to stakeholders to avoid feature-focused discussions.

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Take over the Sprint Review presentation yourself so the Product Owner can observe how to handle stakeholders effectively.

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Ask the Developers to prepare a detailed technical demo of every completed task so stakeholders can see all the work done.

Question 13

A Scrum Master observes that a Scrum Team's Daily Scrum regularly runs 30 minutes because two Developers debate technical design details while others disengage. The team has asked the Scrum Master to help make the event more effective. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Suggest that the Developers move detailed technical debates to a separate follow-up meeting and keep the Daily Scrum focused on progress toward the Sprint Goal.. The Scrum Master serves the team by coaching it to self-manage the Daily Scrum. Moving detailed technical debates to a separate follow-up meeting keeps the Daily Scrum focused on progress toward the Sprint Goal and the next 24 hours of work. This addresses the root cause while preserving the Developers' ownership of the event and their ability to adapt their plan.

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Recommend that the Product Owner attend the Daily Scrum to redirect the conversation whenever it drifts into technical details.

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Attend every Daily Scrum and enforce a strict 15-minute timebox by interrupting any technical discussion.

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Replace the Daily Scrum with a written status update in a chat channel so Developers can focus on coding.

Question 14

A Scrum Team's Sprint Review has evolved into a one-way presentation where the Developers demo completed work and stakeholders remain silent. The Product Owner wants the event to better fulfill its purpose. Which approach best aligns with Scrum?

Accepted Answer

Convert the Sprint Review into a collaborative working session where the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect the Increment and discuss what to do next.. The Sprint Review exists so the Scrum Team and stakeholders can inspect the Increment and collaborate on what to do next. Turning it into a one-way presentation defeats its purpose. The best remedy is to make it a working session with active stakeholder participation. Extending the timebox, replacing it with a report, or having the Scrum Master present all undermine the event's empirical foundation and reduce its value.

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Replace the Sprint Review with a written status report distributed to stakeholders, since stakeholders prefer not to attend meetings.

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Have the Scrum Master lead the Sprint Review and present the Increment on behalf of the Developers to keep the session efficient.

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Extend the Sprint Review timebox so the Developers can present every completed Product Backlog item in full detail.

Question 15

A Scrum Master at a logistics company learns that the procurement department signs multi-year contracts with a single vendor for all software testing tools, and that this vendor's platform cannot support automated regression suites. Scrum Teams are manually regression-testing for several days each Sprint, and the Definition of Done is eroding. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to serve the organization?

Accepted Answer

Work with the procurement department and teams to make the testing-tool limitation and its impact on delivery visible, and coach them on options such as adding automation-capable tooling or amending the vendor agreement to support the Definition of Done.. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it see how structural decisions, including procurement contracts, affect the teams' ability to produce a Done Increment. Making the tooling limitation and its delivery impact visible, then coaching procurement and teams toward options like automation-capable tools or amended agreements, addresses the root cause. This preserves the Definition of Done and enables empiricism rather than masking the problem with weaker standards.

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Record the manual regression time as an impediment in the Sprint Retrospective and continue with the current vendor until the contract expires, because procurement decisions are outside the Scrum Master's scope and cannot be influenced.

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Advise the teams to reduce the scope of their Definition of Done so that manual regression testing no longer blocks a Product Increment, allowing them to meet Sprint Goals with the current tooling.

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Direct the developers to build a custom automation framework from scratch during Sprint time, since the Scrum Master is responsible for removing impediments and can assign technical work when tooling is inadequate.