CSM Scrum Master Core Competencies Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that because the Daily Scrum is 'for the Developers,' the Scrum Master should simply bar the Product Owner from attending rather than coach on the event's purpose.
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 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.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
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.
Why this is correct
The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. The Scrum Master serves the team by coaching on Scrum theory and practice, so refocusing the Product Owner on the event's purpose addresses the root cause without removing a legitimate stakeholder or dictating the Developers' format.
- ✗
Instruct the Developers to give shorter answers so the meeting finishes within the timebox regardless of who attends.
Why it's wrong here
Coaching the Developers to compress their answers treats the symptom and implicitly accepts that the event is a reporting session for the Product Owner. The Daily Scrum format belongs to the Developers, but the Scrum Master's job is to teach the purpose of the event, not to enforce brevity while the underlying misunderstanding persists.
- ✗
Ask the Product Owner to leave all future Daily Scrums so the Developers can speak freely.
Why it's wrong here
Nothing in Scrum forbids the Product Owner from attending the Daily Scrum, and an outright ban is a heavy-handed fix that damages the working relationship between the Product Owner and the Developers. The real issue is the purpose and facilitation of the event, not the person's presence, so exclusion is the wrong first intervention.
- ✗
Cancel the Daily Scrum and replace it with a written status report that the Product Owner can read asynchronously.
Why it's wrong here
Cancelling the Daily Scrum removes the Developers' daily opportunity to inspect and adapt their plan toward the Sprint Goal. The event exists to create transparency and self-management, not to feed status reports. Replacing it with written updates would solve the symptom while destroying a core Scrum event, which is not the Scrum Master's call.
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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.