CSM Practice Test 3 — 25 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO of the following are effective ways for a Scrum Master to foster self-management in a team?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to determine how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments.. Self-management is a central tenet of Scrum. By delegating decision-making and encouraging collective accountability, the Scrum Master helps the team mature. These actions are vital because they shift the team's focus from waiting for instructions to proactive ownership of their work, which leads to higher engagement and better outcomes as they learn to manage their own process, tasks, and interpersonal dynamics.

Answer

Assign specific tasks to individual team members to ensure accountability.

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Require the team to clear all decisions with the Scrum Master first.

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Create a rigid process that the team must follow for every Sprint.

Question 2

The Product Owner asks the Scrum Master to help them negotiate with stakeholders who are demanding a feature be added to the current Sprint. How should the Scrum Master proceed?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on how to communicate the impact of the change to stakeholders.. The Scrum Master's role is to ensure the integrity of the Sprint while helping the Product Owner manage stakeholder relationships. Instead of doing the work for the Product Owner, the Scrum Master coaches them on how to handle the negotiation. This empowers the Product Owner to defend the team's focus while remaining professional and transparent with stakeholders about the impact of adding new work mid-sprint.

Answer

Tell the stakeholders that the Scrum Master forbids any changes during the Sprint.

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Allow the stakeholders to present their request to the Developers directly.

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Add the feature to the backlog and inform the team it must be done.

Question 3

An organization is transitioning to Scrum, but middle management is concerned about losing control over individual developer task assignments. How should the Scrum Master address this concern regarding 'Service to the Organization'?

Accepted Answer

Coach management on how Scrum enables transparency and empowers teams to pull work from the Product Backlog.. The Scrum Master must facilitate the transition by demonstrating how self-managing teams increase productivity and agility, ultimately reducing the need for traditional micro-management. By coaching management on the empirical process, the Scrum Master helps them shift focus from task management to value delivery. This service to the organization is crucial because it aligns internal structures with Scrum values, fostering a culture of accountability and transparency that empowers teams to deliver high-quality increments consistently.

Answer

Advise management to continue assigning tasks to ensure individual accountability.

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Request that management creates a new 'Project Manager' role to bridge the communication gap.

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Explain that managers should only interact with the team during the Sprint Review.

Question 4

A Product Owner struggles to order the Product Backlog because key stakeholders continuously demand that their individual features receive top priority. How should the Scrum Master best serve the Product Owner in this challenging situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on utilizing transparent, value-based ordering techniques and stakeholder alignment strategies to manage conflicting demands.. The Scrum Master facilitates collaboration and coaches the Product Owner on empirical, value-driven techniques like backlog refinement rather than making the ordering decision for them. This empowers the Product Owner to own the backlog completely, maintaining their sole authority over prioritization while protecting the team from competing stakeholder demands.

Answer

Escalate the stakeholder conflicts to senior management to establish a permanent executive prioritization committee for the product.

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Take over the responsibility of ordering the Product Backlog items to relieve the Product Owner from the intense political pressure of stakeholders.

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Instruct the Development Team to reject any stakeholder requests that do not align with their technical preferences and architectural goals.

Question 5

Which activity is a primary way a Scrum Master provides service to the organization concerning the 'Product Backlog'?

Accepted Answer

Helping the Product Owner find techniques for effective Product Backlog management.. The Scrum Master assists the organization in understanding the importance of an ordered, transparent, and refined Product Backlog. By coaching the Product Owner and stakeholders on these concepts, the Scrum Master ensures that the organization focuses on value and empirical feedback. This service is crucial because it ensures that the work being done aligns with organizational goals, prevents waste, and creates a clear, shared vision for the team and the business.

Answer

Writing the technical specifications for every item in the Product Backlog.

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Directly assigning priorities to items in the Product Backlog based on personal preference.

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Limiting the size of the Product Backlog to no more than ten items at a time.

Question 6

A Scrum Master notices that during Sprint Planning, the Product Owner presents a detailed list of tasks for the Developers to implement, and the Developers simply accept them without discussion. The Scrum Master wants to foster a more collaborative planning session. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner and Developers on the purpose of Sprint Planning, emphasizing that the Developers own the Sprint Backlog and should self-manage how to achieve the Sprint Goal.. The Scrum Master should coach the Product Owner and Developers on the purpose of Sprint Planning, emphasizing that the Developers own the Sprint Backlog and should self-manage how to achieve the Sprint Goal. Sprint Planning is a collaborative event, and the Scrum Master serves the team by ensuring that Scrum roles and accountabilities are understood and applied. This coaching enables the Developers to take ownership and improves the effectiveness of the event.

Answer

Take the task list from the Product Owner and redistribute it among the Developers based on their skills.

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Allow the current practice to continue, since the Product Owner is responsible for maximizing value and knows best what needs to be done.

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Suggest that the Product Owner create the Sprint Backlog alone and then hand it to the Developers for execution.

Question 7

A new team member is struggling to understand their role within the Scrum Team. As a Scrum Master, what is the best way to help?

Accepted Answer

Provide the Scrum Guide and schedule a session to clarify team accountabilities.. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring the Scrum Team understands its accountabilities. By coaching the new member on the principles of Scrum and the specific roles of Developers, Product Owner, and Scrum Master, the individual gains clarity. This educational approach empowers the team member to contribute effectively while maintaining the structure and values that make Scrum successful, ultimately fostering a more cohesive and productive cross-functional team.

Answer

Assign the new member a set of tasks that align with their previous job title.

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Tell them to watch the other team members and copy their behavior.

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Ask the team to create a new role description for the person.

Question 8

Refer to the exhibit. As a Scrum Master serving the organization, what is the most appropriate action regarding these policies?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion with leadership to redefine these policies.. These policies reflect a traditional project management mindset that conflicts with Scrum's empirical process. A Scrum Master serves the organization by leading the transformation, identifying how existing policies hinder agility. By engaging with leadership to modify these constraints, the Scrum Master enables the team to focus on value delivery rather than compliance with bureaucratic processes that provide little to no agility benefits.

Answer

Enforce these policies strictly to maintain organizational compliance.

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Ask the team to ignore the policies while continuing their work.

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Advise the PMO to attend the Sprint Review to gain transparency.

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. A Scrum Master notices this status report for a blocker affecting the team. What should be the Scrum Master's immediate response to serving the team?

Accepted Answer

Help the team reach out to the other involved team to facilitate a collaborative solution.. The Scrum Master's role is to facilitate the removal of blockers, especially those requiring external influence. Escalating to management is a last resort, as the Scrum Master should first try to resolve the dependency through direct communication between teams. By actively working to clear the path, the Scrum Master protects the team from organizational friction, allowing them to focus on delivering value without getting bogged down in external bureaucratic delays.

Answer

Immediately send the escalation to upper management to clear the path.

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Document the delay in the Sprint backlog and adjust the Sprint Goal accordingly.

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Tell the Product Owner that the current Sprint is now a failure and should be cancelled.

Question 10

Who is responsible for ensuring the Scrum Team adheres to the Scrum framework as defined in the Scrum Guide?

Accepted Answer

The Scrum Master. The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization. This accountability is critical because it ensures the team maintains the transparency, inspection, and adaptation required for empirical process control, which ultimately leads to higher team performance and value delivery.

Answer

The Product Owner

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The Developers

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The Organization's Management

Question 11

A new Developer joins the team and asks the Scrum Master to explain who is responsible for the final decisions on the product's release date. What should the Scrum Master say?

Accepted Answer

The Product Owner holds the final responsibility.. The Product Owner holds the accountability for the release strategy and decision-making. Since the Product Owner manages the Product Backlog and maximizes value, they decide when and what to release. The Scrum Master must clarify this accountability to ensure the team understands their roles and maintains focus on their respective domains, preventing confusion about authority within the team.

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The Scrum Team decides collectively by a majority vote.

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The Stakeholders decide at the Sprint Review.

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The Scrum Master manages the release calendar.

Question 12

Which action best demonstrates the Scrum Master's commitment to serving the Scrum Team as a coach?

Accepted Answer

Asking open-ended questions that lead the team to find their own solutions.. A Scrum Master acts as a coach to help the team discover their own solutions to challenges. This shifts the team toward maturity and self-management, which is a fundamental goal of Scrum. By asking powerful, open-ended questions, the Scrum Master encourages reflection and ownership, rather than simply providing answers or directives, which would foster dependency instead of the desired cross-functional team autonomy.

Answer

Updating the team's Jira board daily to ensure tasks are tracked correctly.

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Assigning specific tasks to each team member during the Sprint Planning meeting.

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Attending all meetings to ensure nobody deviates from the official Scrum Guide.

Question 13

A Scrum Master observes that the Scrum Team lacks trust and avoids conflict during Retrospectives. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to improve the situation?

Accepted Answer

Introduce team-building exercises and formats for Retrospectives that encourage open communication and psychological safety.. A Scrum Master focuses on creating a safe environment where team members feel comfortable being vulnerable. By choosing activities that foster open communication and by coaching the team on conflict resolution, the Scrum Master directly improves team health. This is essential because without trust and the ability to navigate healthy conflict, teams cannot effectively inspect their process or continuously improve their performance over time.

Answer

Report the team's lack of trust to the department head to initiate performance management.

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Conduct private interviews with each member and present the findings to the team.

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Facilitate the Retrospective by acting as the sole arbiter of which team member is right in a disagreement.

Question 14

A Product Owner is struggling to maximize product value because they view backlog refinement as an administrative chore rather than a strategic opportunity. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to serve the Product Owner effectively in this situation? (Choose the best TWO answers.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on linking backlog items directly to strategic product goals and measurable customer value outcomes.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by coaching them on techniques for Product Backlog management and product value maximization. By demonstrating how refinement drives empirical learning and release readiness, the Scrum Master helps transform a perceived chore into a powerful strategic advantage for the entire team.

Answer

Take full ownership of maintaining, ordering, and refining the Product Backlog so the Product Owner can focus solely on external marketing.

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Cancel all future refinement sessions and rely entirely on spontaneous discussions that occur ad-hoc during the execution of Sprints.

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Report the Product Owner's lack of engagement to their functional line manager to request disciplinary action or a role replacement.

Question 15

An organization is transitioning to Scrum. The Scrum Master notices that middle management continues to assign specific tasks to developers during the Sprint. How should the Scrum Master handle this?

Accepted Answer

Coach the management team on the benefits of self-organizing teams.. The Scrum Master must facilitate an understanding of self-organization. By coaching management on the Scrum framework, the Scrum Master helps them shift from a command-and-control style to a supporting role. This is crucial because organizational culture change is a key part of the Scrum Master's service to the organization, ensuring the Scrum Team retains ownership of their Sprint Backlog and execution plan.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to prevent managers from entering the team area.

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Instruct the developers to politely refuse the assigned tasks.

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Include the managers in the Daily Scrum to improve communication.

Question 16

A department head complains that they don't know the exact release date for the next major feature. What is the most effective way for the Scrum Master to serve the organization in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the department head on how to use Sprint Reviews for transparency.. The Scrum Master must help the organization understand Scrum's empirical approach. By shifting focus from fixed-date delivery to outcome-based progress, the Scrum Master educates stakeholders on the value of transparency and adaptation. This helps manage expectations while aligning with the reality of complex work, where scope and time are variables that must be managed through iterative inspection.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to provide a firm date to appease them.

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Explain that the team works in Sprints and dates are irrelevant.

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Create a Gantt chart showing projected delivery dates for them.

Question 17

Refer to the exhibit. The organizational security audit policy is preventing teams from delivering a Done increment within a 14-day Sprint. How does the Scrum Master best serve the organization?

Accepted Answer

Help the organization transition to a continuous security integration model.. The Scrum Master must facilitate a dialogue about how this policy fundamentally blocks the core Scrum requirement of delivering a Done increment every Sprint. By presenting this as a systemic impediment, the Scrum Master helps the organization see the need to integrate security earlier in the development process. This service is critical because it moves the organization toward 'security as code' and continuous quality, rather than reliance on slow, batch-oriented gatekeeping processes.

Answer

Advise the team to extend their Sprint length to 24 days to accommodate the audit.

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Ask the security department to waive the audit for all Scrum Teams.

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Report the security department to the CEO for blocking the team's progress.

Question 18

A Scrum Team is struggling to meet its Sprint Goal because external dependencies from a shared QA team continually block their progress mid-sprint. What is the most effective action for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Collaborate with the teams involved to make the workflow bottlenecks visible and establish cross-functional alignment.. The Scrum Master serves the wider organization by removing organizational impediments that hinder team progress. By engaging stakeholders and helping visualize systemic bottlenecks across value streams, the Scrum Master protects the team's focus and drives structural improvements. This ensures sustainable flow and prevents burnout caused by external operational dependencies outside the direct control of the developers.

Answer

Adjust the Definition of Done to exclude QA validation so items can be marked as complete by the end of the Sprint.

Answer

Advise the Product Owner to stop accepting items that require shared QA testing until the next release cycle.

Answer

Personally test all backlog items during the Sprint to ensure they meet quality expectations before the review.

Question 19

A Scrum Team has a two-week Sprint. During Sprint Planning, the Developers estimate that they can complete 8 Product Backlog items. However, the Product Owner insists on adding 3 more items to meet a stakeholder request, even though the Developers believe this exceeds their capacity. The Scrum Master is facilitating. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion so the Developers and Product Owner agree on a realistic Sprint Goal and a set of items the Developers are confident they can complete.. The Developers are responsible for determining how much work they can take on during Sprint Planning. The Product Owner may negotiate and prioritize, but cannot unilaterally impose more work than the Developers believe is feasible. The Scrum Master facilitates collaboration to reach a realistic Sprint Goal. Escalation or forced overtime undermines self-management and empiricism, and does not address the root issue of capacity versus stakeholder demand.

Answer

Allow the Product Owner to add the items, but plan to work overtime to meet the commitment.

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Instruct the Developers to accept the additional items because the Product Owner represents the stakeholder's interests.

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Escalate the disagreement to the stakeholders so they can decide which items should be included in the Sprint.

Question 20

What is the maximum timebox for a one-month Sprint's Sprint Planning event?

Accepted Answer

Eight hours.. The Scrum Guide defines timeboxes as maximum durations. For a one-month Sprint, Sprint Planning is capped at eight hours. This ensures that planning is concise and focused, forcing the team to prioritize effectively. If a team feels they need more time, it is usually a sign that they need to improve their backlog refinement process rather than simply extending the meeting time.

Answer

Four hours.

Answer

Sixteen hours.

Answer

Two days.