CSM Scrum Team Roles and Accountabilities Practice Question
A Scrum Team has grown to nine Developers, and the Scrum Master observes that the team is spending too much time coordinating and too little time delivering value. What should the Scrum Master do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is jumping to structural solutions like splitting the team or adding a coordinator, when the Scrum Master should first coach the team on self-management.
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
✓
Coach the team on self-management and help them find ways to reduce coordination overhead.
The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching on self-management and helping them improve their way of working. When coordination overhead increases, the Scrum Master should first help the team inspect and adapt their own practices, rather than imposing structural changes or adding management roles that conflict with Scrum principles.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Recommend splitting the team into two Scrum Teams, each with its own Product Owner and Scrum Master.
Why it's wrong here
While large teams may benefit from splitting, each new Scrum Team would still need to work from the same Product Backlog and share a Product Owner to avoid conflicting priorities. Creating separate Product Owners would fragment product direction. The Scrum Master should first coach on self-management and coordination before recommending structural changes.
- ✗
Add a project manager to coordinate the Developers' tasks and report progress.
Why it's wrong here
Introducing a project manager contradicts Scrum's self-management principle. The Scrum Team is accountable for managing its own work, and adding a coordinating role would undermine that. The Scrum Master should coach the team on self-management and help them address coordination challenges directly, not introduce a traditional management layer.
- ✓
Coach the team on self-management and help them find ways to reduce coordination overhead.
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team by coaching on self-management and helping them improve their processes. When coordination overhead grows, the Scrum Master should first help the team inspect and adapt their own way of working, such as refining their Definition of Done or improving collaboration, rather than imposing structural changes prematurely.
- ✗
Extend the Daily Scrum to 30 minutes to allow more coordination time.
Why it's wrong here
The Daily Scrum is timeboxed to 15 minutes and should not be extended. Longer daily meetings often mask deeper coordination issues and reduce focus. The Scrum Master should help the team improve its self-management and coordination practices rather than lengthening an event beyond its prescribed timebox.
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.