CSM Scrum Team Roles and Accountabilities Practice Question
A Development Team member consistently interrupts fellow developers during Daily Scrums and pushes technical architectural changes without team consensus. What is the most appropriate Scrum Master response?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose to escalate to management or force the developer to stop immediately. Both approaches undermine the team's self-management and psychological safety, which the Scrum Master must protect.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Facilitate a private coaching session with the developer to discuss collaborative norms and active listening.
The Scrum Master acts as a servant leader by facilitating self-organization and resolving impediments without taking direct command. Coaching the individual on collaborative behavior helps preserve team autonomy while addressing disruptive dynamics. This matters because a healthy Scrum Team relies on psychological safety and shared ownership rather than autocratic technical dictation by a single dominant developer.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Escalate the developer's behavior to the functional engineering manager for a formal performance review.
Why it's wrong here
Escalating directly to functional management bypasses the team's opportunity to resolve internal conflict. Scrum Masters should coach the team toward self-management before involving external line management, protecting the self-organizing boundary established in the Scrum Guide.
- ✓
Facilitate a private coaching session with the developer to discuss collaborative norms and active listening.
Why this is correct
Private coaching targets behavioral root causes respectfully while upholding servant leadership principles. It empowers the developer to adjust their interpersonal approach without causing public embarrassment, aligning directly with the Scrum Master's core duty of team enablement.
- ✗
Facilitate the Daily Scrum personally to strictly enforce time limits and prevent anyone from speaking out of turn.
Why it's wrong here
Taking over facilitation of the Daily Scrum reduces team accountability and creates dependency on the Scrum Master. The event belongs to the developers, and they must learn to manage their own collaboration and time constraints independently.
- ✗
Remove the developer from the Scrum Team immediately to restore immediate harmony during the next sprint.
Why it's wrong here
Removing the developer unilaterally exceeds the Scrum Master's authority, since only the Scrum Team itself can remove a member, and it addresses behaviour without coaching or facilitation. It is tempting when disruption is severe, but that scenario calls for private coaching and raising the impediment to the team.
Visual reference
About these practice questions
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scrum Alliance exam blueprint
This CSM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scrum Alliance certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CSM exam.