CSM Service to the Scrum Team Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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?

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

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.

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

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

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

Question 2

During a Sprint, a Scrum Team member is consistently interrupted by stakeholders requesting urgent, non-Sprint related features. What is the most effective way for the Scrum Master to serve the team in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the stakeholders on how to work effectively with the Product Owner to prioritize their needs for future Sprints.. The Scrum Master serves the team by protecting them from external interference, ensuring they remain focused on the Sprint Goal. By coaching stakeholders on the Scrum process and the importance of Sprint stability, the Scrum Master fosters a sustainable development environment. This action is critical because it prevents context switching, maintains team velocity, and upholds the integrity of the Scrum framework by enforcing the roles and boundaries defined in the Scrum Guide.

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Instruct the team member to complete the extra requests after regular working hours to avoid impacting the Sprint.

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Update the Sprint Backlog immediately to include these urgent stakeholder requests to ensure visibility.

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Ask the Product Owner to facilitate all communication between the team and stakeholders for the remainder of the Sprint.

Question 3

Refer to the exhibit. The Scrum Team experienced a significant drop in velocity during Sprint 3. As a Scrum Master, what is your primary step to serve the team?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a session to identify impediments that occurred during Sprint 3 and help the team create an improvement plan.. The Scrum Master serves the team by facilitating a deeper investigation into the root cause of the drop in velocity during the Retrospective. Rather than focusing solely on the metrics, the Scrum Master encourages transparency and inspection of team dynamics, process blockers, or environmental issues. Addressing these systemic impediments allows the team to self-organize and implement improvements, ensuring the team remains resilient and capable of delivering consistent value in future Sprints.

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Reassign tasks to individual team members to increase accountability and boost the output for the next Sprint.

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Report the performance discrepancy to senior management to request additional staffing for the upcoming Sprint.

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Adjust the team's definition of done to allow for smaller story point increments to inflate future velocity.

Question 4

During a Sprint, a developer approaches the Scrum Master complaining that another team member's coding style violates internal standards, creating friction during code reviews. How should the Scrum Master address this service to the Scrum Team?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a conversation between the developers to help them establish shared coding norms and update their team agreements.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by facilitating self-organization and helping them resolve internal conflicts rather than imposing external rules. Encouraging the developers to collaborate on updating their Definition of Done or team agreements fosters ownership. This approach builds team maturity and sustainable engineering practices while preventing reliance on the Scrum Master as a mediator.

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Report the compliance issue to the engineering manager so management can formally discipline the developer.

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Rewrite the problematic code yourself to align with standards and demonstrate the expected technical quality.

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Cancel the Sprint immediately because technical disagreements prevent the team from meeting their Sprint Goal.

Question 5

A newly formed Scrum Team is struggling to establish a shared understanding of their Definition of Done, leading to inconsistent increments at the end of sprints. How should the Scrum Master best serve the team in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate dedicated sessions for the team to inspect their current workflow and collaboratively build their own Definition of Done.. The Scrum Master facilitates collaboration rather than imposing rules, helping the team inspect their current practices and build collective ownership over their quality standards. This empowers self-management and ensures the resulting Definition of Done genuinely reflects their technical capabilities and organizational constraints.

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Draft a comprehensive Definition of Done based on industry best practices and mandate that the team adopt it immediately.

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Escalate the inconsistency to functional managers so they can enforce strict quality guidelines across the development department.

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Postpone increments until quality improves and advise the Product Owner to reject any backlog items that fail basic testing.

Question 6

During a Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team identifies that external dependencies from other departments are frequently blocking their progress. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to serve the team in removing these organizational impediments? (Choose the best TWO answers)

Accepted Answer

Work with the team to make these external dependencies transparent across the organization to highlight systemic bottlenecks.. The Scrum Master acts as a servant-leader by removing organizational barriers and coaching the wider organization on Scrum principles. Helping the team visualize bottlenecks and engaging cross-functional stakeholders directly addresses systemic waste without taking away the team's ability to self-organize.

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Directly manage and negotiate delivery timelines with the external department managers on behalf of the developers.

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Reassign backlog items that require external collaboration to a dedicated integration team outside of the Scrum framework.

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Instruct the Product Owner to remove all backlog items containing external dependencies from the Product Backlog entirely.

Question 7

A Scrum Team is experiencing low morale and declining velocity because they feel micromanaged by senior leadership during Sprint Reviews. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to serve the team in this situation? (Choose the best TWO answers)

Accepted Answer

Coach senior leadership on the true purpose of the Sprint Review as a collaborative inspection event focused on the increment and adaptation.. The Scrum Master protects the team from external interference and educates stakeholders on effective collaboration. By shifting stakeholder focus away from micromanagement and toward strategic empirical feedback, the Scrum Master preserves team morale and the integrity of the Sprint Review.

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Prohibit senior leadership from attending future Sprint Reviews to shield the team from uncomfortable questioning.

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Cancel all future Sprint Reviews and replace them with private status presentations delivered by the Scrum Master directly to the executives.

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Advise the developers to ignore stakeholder feedback entirely if they disagree with the tone or direction of the executive commentary.

Question 8

A Scrum Team's Product Owner has been unable to attend the last three Sprint Reviews because of conflicting commitments. The Developers have been demoing completed Increments directly to key stakeholders during those sessions, and the stakeholders have begun sending change requests straight to individual Developers. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on the purpose of the Sprint Review and help them re-establish their ownership of stakeholder engagement and Product Backlog ordering.. The Sprint Review is the Scrum Team's opportunity to inspect the Increment with stakeholders and adapt the Product Backlog, and the Product Owner is accountable for maximizing value and ordering that backlog. When stakeholders bypass the Product Owner, the Scrum Master serves the team best by coaching the Product Owner back into that accountability, which restores a single channel for feedback and protects the Developers from unmanaged scope changes.

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Accept the new arrangement and start logging stakeholder change requests in a separate document for the Developers to triage at the next Sprint Retrospective.

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Instruct the Developers to stop demonstrating the Increment until the Product Owner can attend every Sprint Review in person.

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Escalate the Product Owner's absence to their line manager and request that a replacement Product Owner be assigned to the Scrum Team.

Question 9

A Scrum Master joins a newly formed Scrum Team whose Developers come from three different departments. The Developers keep waiting for the Scrum Master to assign tasks, and two of them have begun reporting progress to their functional managers instead of the team. Which two actions best fulfil the Scrum Master's service to the Scrum Team? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers on self-management so they collectively decide how to turn Product Backlog items into valuable Increments.. A newly formed Scrum Team often carries habits from functional hierarchies, so the Scrum Master serves it by coaching self-management and by helping the surrounding organization understand Scrum accountabilities. Together these actions shift decision-making about how to build the Increment to the Developers while reducing the pull of outside reporting expectations that fragment their focus.

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Recommend that the organization restructure so all Developers report to the Product Owner for the duration of the project.

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Take over Sprint Backlog allocation for the first few Sprints until the Developers demonstrate they can work independently.

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Ask the functional managers to attend Daily Scrums so they can track each Developer's individual progress directly.

Question 10

During a Sprint Retrospective, a Developer says the team's Daily Scrum has become a 30-minute round-robin status update for the Scrum Master. Several teammates nod in agreement. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Remind the Developers that the Daily Scrum is their event and facilitate a discussion about how they want to use the 15-minute timebox to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal.. The Daily Scrum belongs to the Developers, who use it to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. When it degrades into a status report for the Scrum Master, the right service is coaching and facilitation that returns ownership of the event to the Developers and reconnects it to the Sprint Goal within its timebox.

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Stop attending the Daily Scrum so the Developers are forced to run it themselves without the Scrum Master present.

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Shorten the Daily Scrum to 10 minutes and require each Developer to submit a written update before the meeting to save time.

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Ask the Product Owner to attend the Daily Scrum and redirect the discussion toward the highest-value Product Backlog items each morning.

Question 11

A Scrum Master joins a team that has been working together for several months. The Developers are technically capable and deliver each Sprint, but they rely on the Scrum Master to decide who works on which Product Backlog item and to chase down every impediment personally. Which action best reflects the Scrum Master's accountability for serving the Scrum Team?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers toward self-management, teaching them to pull work themselves and to resolve or escalate impediments as a team.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching it in self-management and helping it become cross-functional and accountable for its own work. When Developers wait for direction on task assignment and rely on the Scrum Master for every impediment, the appropriate response is to build their capability to decide and act themselves. Shifting decisions to the Product Owner or escalating for an external owner relocates authority instead of growing the team.

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Ask the Product Owner to assign each Developer to specific items so accountability is clearly documented.

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Escalate to management that the team is not mature enough to self-organize and request a formal process owner.

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Continue assigning work and resolving impediments personally so the team keeps delivering predictably.

Question 12

A Scrum Team has just started using Scrum. During the first few Daily Scrums, the Scrum Master notices that the Developers are reporting status to the Scrum Master rather than coordinating with each other. The Scrum Master wants to help the team self-manage. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Coach the Developers on the purpose of the Daily Scrum and help them refocus on inspecting progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapting their plan together.. The correct action is to coach the Developers on the purpose of the Daily Scrum and help them refocus on the Sprint Goal. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by fostering self-management and helping the team improve its practices. By guiding the Developers to coordinate with each other rather than report status, the Scrum Master enables the team to take ownership of the event and its outcomes, which is central to the Scrum Master's role.

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Facilitate the Daily Scrum by asking each Developer three standard questions to ensure everyone speaks.

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Take notes during the Daily Scrum and send a summary to the Product Owner so that stakeholders are informed of progress.

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Cancel the Daily Scrum for a few Sprints until the team is ready to self-organize without the Scrum Master's involvement.

Question 13

A Scrum Master joins a Scrum Team that has been working together for several Sprints. During a Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master notices that two Developers are describing their progress to the Scrum Master rather than to each other. The Scrum Master says nothing and the pattern continues. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

During the next Sprint Retrospective, coach the team to recognize that the Daily Scrum is for the Developers and help them decide how to refocus it on each other.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching self-management and helping the team improve its practices. Because the Daily Scrum is the Developers' event, the Scrum Master should not command or take it over, but should help the Developers see the pattern and decide how to change it. The Retrospective is the appropriate, non-disruptive setting for that inspection and adaptation.

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Take over facilitation of the Daily Scrum and ask each Developer a direct question in turn to ensure the event stays on track.

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Immediately interrupt the Daily Scrum and remind the Developers that they should speak only to each other, then resume the event.

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Report the behavior to the Product Owner so the Product Owner can direct the Developers to follow the correct Daily Scrum format.

Question 14

Midway through a Sprint, the Developers tell the Scrum Master they have discovered that one Product Backlog item is far more complex than estimated and that finishing it as originally scoped would jeopardize the Sprint Goal. They want to renegotiate with the Product Owner. What is the most appropriate way for the Scrum Master to serve the Scrum Team here?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a conversation between the Developers and the Product Owner so scope can be adjusted while protecting the Sprint Goal.. The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by facilitating collaboration and helping remove impediments, and here the impediment is a mismatch between new learning and the original plan. The Developers own the Sprint Backlog and may adapt it, while the Product Owner owns value and scope negotiation. Facilitating that conversation protects the Sprint Goal without overriding either role's authority.

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Instruct the Developers to keep the original scope because the Sprint Backlog was committed to at Sprint Planning.

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Tell the Developers to reduce quality on the complex item so the Sprint Goal is still met on time.

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Cancel the Sprint and ask the Product Owner to re-plan the remaining work in a new Sprint Planning session.

Question 15

A Scrum Master is working with a Scrum Team that has a very quiet, introverted member who rarely speaks during Sprint Retrospectives. The other team members dominate the discussion. The Scrum Master wants to ensure that the Retrospective is a safe and productive event for everyone. What should the Scrum Master do?

Accepted Answer

Use techniques such as silent brainstorming or round-robin to give everyone an equal opportunity to contribute.. Using inclusive facilitation techniques such as silent brainstorming or round-robin ensures that all team members, including quieter ones, can contribute to the Retrospective. The Scrum Master serves the team by creating an environment where everyone feels safe to speak and where diverse perspectives are valued. This leads to more honest inspection and better adaptation, which are the goals of the Retrospective.

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Speak to the introverted member privately and encourage them to be more assertive in the next Retrospective.

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Ask the dominating team members to leave the Retrospective so that the introverted member can speak freely.

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Allow the team to continue as they are, since the Retrospective is self-managed and the Scrum Master should not interfere.