CSM Service to the Scrum Team Practice Question
A Scrum Team is struggling to maintain focus during the Sprint because external stakeholders frequently interrupt Developers with requests for minor feature tweaks. How should the Scrum Master address this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume the Scrum Master should personally handle stakeholder requests or yell at stakeholders, forgetting that the Product Owner manages the backlog.
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 stakeholders on why the Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog.
The Scrum Master must protect the team from external interference to ensure the Sprint Goal remains achievable. By coaching stakeholders on the role of the Product Owner, the Scrum Master establishes a clear channel for requirements, allowing Developers to focus on their commitments. This intervention is vital for maintaining velocity and ensuring the Scrum framework's integrity, preventing the team from being constantly derailed by ad-hoc, unplanned tasks.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Direct the Developers to ignore all external communication until the Sprint ends.
Why it's wrong here
Absolute isolation harms collaboration and transparency, which are core Scrum values. Ignoring all communication prevents necessary feedback and team growth. The Scrum Master should facilitate a process where the Product Owner manages incoming requests rather than encouraging the team to operate in a silo that ignores stakeholder needs.
- ✗
Update the Sprint Backlog to include these minor tweaks immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Modifying the Sprint Backlog during the Sprint without Product Owner alignment compromises the Sprint Goal. While the Product Owner can change scope with the Developers, frequent, uncontrolled interruptions undermine the team's ability to focus and deliver. This approach ignores the need for professional boundary setting in Scrum.
- ✓
Coach the stakeholders on why the Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog.
Why this is correct
Directing stakeholders to the Product Owner ensures that requests are properly prioritized and evaluated against the product strategy. This protects the Developers from context switching and keeps the team focused on the Sprint Goal, reinforcing the accountabilities defined in the Scrum Guide regarding product backlog management and stakeholder engagement.
- ✗
Require that the Developers hold a formal meeting with stakeholders every day.
Why it's wrong here
Adding mandatory formal meetings increases the administrative burden on the Developers, reducing their time for actual work. Scrum relies on the Daily Scrum for team synchronization, not constant meetings with external parties. The Scrum Master's role is to minimize distractions, not to mandate more meetings for the team.
About these practice questions
This CSM question is part of Courseiva's 312-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.