CSM Scrum Master Core Competencies Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A team has decided to shorten their Sprint length to one week to increase feedback. What should the Scrum Master ensure the team considers?

Accepted Answer

That they must maintain the effectiveness of all Scrum events within the new timebox.. Shortening the Sprint significantly increases the overhead of the Scrum events. The Scrum Master must ensure the team realizes that the events must be kept lean to fit within the new, tighter timebox. This is a critical competency because the Scrum Master needs to guide the team through the implications of process changes, ensuring they don't sacrifice the quality or the purpose of the events for the sake of speed.

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That they can skip the Retrospective to save time.

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That velocity will naturally double.

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That they should stop using the Definition of Done.

Question 2

During a Sprint Planning event, the Development Team realizes they cannot complete the forecast without understanding a complex third-party API integration. The Product Owner insists the item must remain in the Sprint Backlog. How should the Scrum Master facilitate this resolution?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion to help the team and Product Owner adjust the Sprint Goal and forecast to include a spike for investigating the API.. The Scrum Master facilitates collaboration to align the Sprint Goal with realistic capacity while protecting the Product Owner's accountability for ordering the Product Backlog. Forcing unwanted items compromises sustainability, whereas removing the item or scaling back the forecast allows the team to commit with confidence. This ensures adherence to empirical process control and realistic delivery expectations without undermining trust between the roles.

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Direct the Development Team to work overtime to investigate the third-party API and meet the original commitment without changes.

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Remove the Product Owner from the Sprint Planning meeting until they agree to reduce the scope of the disputed backlog item.

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unilaterally delete the ambiguous backlog item from the Product Backlog to eliminate technical risk for the upcoming Sprint.

Question 3

A newly formed Scrum Team is experiencing intense interpersonal conflict during Daily Scrums, frequently devolving into finger-pointing regarding missed targets. The team looks to the Scrum Master to assign individual accountability and arbitrate disputes. What is the most effective coaching stance?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to reflect on their collaboration agreements during the Retrospective and take ownership of their interpersonal dynamics.. Scrum Masters coach teams toward self-organization rather than acting as command-and-control managers who resolve conflicts or assign blame. By facilitating root-cause problem solving and encouraging direct peer communication, the Scrum Master builds sustainable psychological safety. This empowers the cross-functional group to address systemic impediments independently and mature their internal collaboration dynamics over time.

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Act as an active mediator during every Daily Scrum to immediately shut down arguments and assign tasks to individual contributors.

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Escalate the behavioral issues directly to the functional engineering managers to implement formal performance improvement plans.

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Suspend the Daily Scrum event indefinitely until the developers complete mandatory corporate conflict resolution training sessions.

Question 4

A Scrum Master is observing a mature Scrum Team that consistently meets its commitments but shows signs of complacency during Retrospectives, offering superficial feedback and avoiding deep systemic issues. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to revitalize the Retrospective? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Introduce varied facilitation formats and interactive exercises to challenge routine thinking and encourage deeper engagement.. Revitalizing stale retrospectives requires introducing creative facilitation techniques and shifting the team's focus toward psychological safety and systemic impediments. By varying formats and addressing root causes rather than superficial symptoms, the Scrum Master helps the team unlock continuous improvement and higher engagement. This active coaching prevents routine fatigue and fosters a culture of genuine inspection and adaptation.

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Cancel the Retrospective entirely when the team has no major complaints to maximize their time for software development.

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Provide a pre-approved list of process changes that the team must implement during the upcoming Sprint.

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Report the team's lack of engagement directly to the company executives to request mandatory attendance policies.

Question 5

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 6

During the Daily Scrum, a Developer starts a deep technical discussion about a complex architectural design flaw discovered that morning. As the Scrum Master, what is your best immediate action?

Accepted Answer

Interrupt the discussion, remind the team of the Daily Scrum's purpose, and suggest a follow-up breakout session for interested parties.. The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event solely for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan. Detailed problem-solving sessions derail the focus of the event and should be deferred to a separate breakout discussion.

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Participate actively in the technical debate to help the Developers choose the correct architectural design pattern.

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Extend the Daily Scrum time-box beyond 15 minutes to ensure the architectural problem is fully resolved before people leave.

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Log the architectural problem as an impediment and take sole responsibility for researching a solution by tomorrow.

Question 7

During a Sprint, a developer approaches the Scrum Master complaining that the Product Owner frequently interrupts the team with urgent ad-hoc requests that disrupt their planned work. Which action should the Scrum Master take first to best serve the team?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on the negative impact of interruptions and establish a structured channel for handling urgent backlog changes.. The Scrum Master must act as a facilitator and coach, helping the Product Owner understand how constant context switching degrades development flow and predictability. By coaching the Product Owner on sustainable backlog management and channelizing requests through the proper refinement process, the Scrum Master protects the team while preserving Product Owner autonomy.

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Escalate the Product Owner's behavior to the department head to enforce organizational boundaries around the Scrum Team.

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Instruct the developers to completely ignore all direct communications originating from the Product Owner during the active Sprint.

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Modify the Sprint Backlog unilaterally to accommodate the urgent items and formally extend the current Sprint duration accordingly.

Question 8

A Scrum Team is halfway through a Sprint. The Scrum Master observes that the Developers have stopped using the Daily Scrum to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and instead are giving detailed status reports to the Scrum Master. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers on the purpose of the Daily Scrum and help them refocus the event on inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal.. The Daily Scrum is the Developers' event to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. When it becomes a status report to the Scrum Master, the Scrum Master should coach the Developers on its purpose and help them reclaim ownership. This supports self-management and empiricism rather than imposing control or changing the framework.

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Take over facilitation of the Daily Scrum and ask each Developer three standard questions to restore structure.

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Cancel the Daily Scrum and replace it with a written status update in a chat channel.

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Escalate to the Product Owner that the Developers are not collaborating effectively during the Daily Scrum.

Question 9

A Scrum Master is helping a Product Owner who struggles to keep the Product Backlog ordered and refined. Which two actions best fit the Scrum Master's accountabilities in this situation? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Facilitate stakeholder collaboration so the Product Owner can make better-informed ordering decisions.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by teaching effective Product Backlog management techniques and by facilitating stakeholder collaboration. Both actions build the Product Owner's capability and support informed ordering without taking over the Product Owner's accountability. Directing Developers or letting stakeholders vote would undermine the Product Owner's authority over the backlog.

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Ask the stakeholders to vote on the order of the Product Backlog during the Sprint Review.

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Take over ordering the Product Backlog until the Product Owner becomes proficient, then hand it back.

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Direct the Developers to add technical debt items to the Product Backlog on the Product Owner's behalf.

Question 10

A Scrum Master is working with a new Scrum Team. During the first Sprint Retrospective, the Developers say they feel the Scrum Master should assign tasks to each person to ensure fairness. What is the most appropriate response?

Accepted Answer

Explain that the Developers are self-managing and should decide among themselves how to create and adapt the Sprint Backlog.. The Developers are self-managing and accountable for the Sprint Backlog, so they decide how to organize and assign work. The Scrum Master should explain self-management rather than assign tasks, ask the Product Owner to assign them, or create a rotating schedule. Coaching the team toward self-management supports Scrum's principles and builds long-term capability.

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Agree to assign tasks for the first few Sprints to build fairness, then gradually stop.

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Create a rotating task-assignment schedule and post it in the team room so everyone knows their duties.

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Ask the Product Owner to assign tasks because the Product Owner knows the value of each item.

Question 11

A Scrum Master at a software company observes that the Developers have started sending daily status reports to the Product Owner and waiting for approval before moving tasks on the Sprint Backlog. The Scrum Master wants to reinforce self-management without undermining the Product Owner's authority. What is the most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers to make decisions about their work and help the Product Owner understand that the Sprint Backlog is owned by the Developers.. The correct action is to coach the Developers to self-manage their Sprint Backlog and to help the Product Owner understand that the Developers own the 'how' of the work. This preserves the Product Owner's authority over product direction while restoring the team's autonomy, which is essential for Scrum to function.

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Escalate the issue to the engineering manager and request that the reporting requirement be removed from the team's process.

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Ask the Product Owner to stop communicating with the Developers during the Sprint to eliminate the dependency.

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Instruct the Developers to stop sending reports and ignore the Product Owner's feedback until the next Sprint Review.

Question 12

A Scrum Team has been working together for several Sprints. During a Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master notices that two Developers are discussing a technical design decision in depth, and the conversation is drifting away from the purpose of the event. The other Developers are waiting. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

After the Daily Scrum, coach the Developers on keeping the event focused, and suggest they take detailed technical discussions offline.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by ensuring the Daily Scrum is effective. When the event drifts, the best approach is to let the Developers self-manage during the event and then coach them afterward on keeping it focused. This preserves ownership while improving the team's ability to inspect and adapt their daily plan.

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Allow the discussion to continue, as the Developers are self-managing and the Scrum Master should not interfere.

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Interrupt the discussion and remind the Developers that the Daily Scrum is time-boxed to 15 minutes.

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Take over the Daily Scrum and facilitate it yourself to keep it on track.

Question 13

A Scrum Master joins a team that has been using Scrum for six months. During the Daily Scrum, the Developers give a detailed status report to the Scrum Master, who then updates the Sprint Burndown Chart and assigns follow-up tasks. The team consistently meets its Sprint Goal, but the Scrum Master is concerned about long-term effectiveness. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers to own the Daily Scrum by focusing on progress toward the Sprint Goal and updating their own Sprint Backlog.. The Scrum Master should coach the Developers to take ownership of the Daily Scrum and the Sprint Backlog. The Daily Scrum exists for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan. When the Scrum Master runs the event and assigns tasks, the team is not self-managing, even if they deliver.

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Ask the Product Owner to attend the Daily Scrum and take over the task of updating the Sprint Burndown Chart.

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Stop attending the Daily Scrum so the Developers can self-organize without the Scrum Master's influence.

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Continue the current practice since the team is meeting its Sprint Goal, and introduce changes only if performance declines.

Question 14

A Scrum Master is working with a Product Owner who frequently changes the Sprint Goal mid-Sprint based on new stakeholder requests. The Developers are frustrated and feel their work is being undermined. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Meet with the Product Owner to understand the reasons for the changes and coach them on the purpose of the Sprint Goal and the impact of mid-Sprint alterations.. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by helping them understand and apply Scrum practices. When a Product Owner frequently changes the Sprint Goal, the Scrum Master should first seek to understand the underlying reasons and then coach them on the purpose of the Sprint Goal and the negative impact of mid-Sprint changes on focus and value delivery. This approach respects the Product Owner's role while promoting Scrum principles.

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Tell the Developers to ignore the Product Owner's changes and continue working on the original Sprint Goal.

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Instruct the Product Owner to stop changing the Sprint Goal and to respect the Sprint's integrity.

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Escalate the issue to management, since the Product Owner is not following Scrum.

Question 15

A Scrum Team is six Sprints into a product. The Scrum Master notices that the Product Owner has started attending the Daily Scrum and asking each Developer for a status update, which has stretched the event to nearly 30 minutes. Several Developers have privately complained that the Daily Scrum now feels like a reporting session to the Product Owner. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner that the Daily Scrum is for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan, and that the Product Owner's participation should not turn it into a status report.. The Daily Scrum exists so the Developers can inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan, and the Scrum Master is accountable for the team's effectiveness and for coaching Scrum theory and practice. Coaching the Product Owner on the event's purpose restores the correct dynamic without banning participation or dismantling a core event.

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Instruct the Developers to give shorter answers so the meeting finishes within the timebox regardless of who attends.

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Ask the Product Owner to leave all future Daily Scrums so the Developers can speak freely.

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Cancel the Daily Scrum and replace it with a written status report that the Product Owner can read asynchronously.