The Certified Scrum Master title cannot be easily acquired. You need to pass a certification exam on multiple Scrum topics.
Preparing for the Certified Scrum Master certification exam for PSM, CSM and BVOSM take a lot of time. Reference: https://bvop.org/posts/scrumexamtestquestions/ We present sample questions and answers to help you prepare for your exam.
Preparation for the Certified Scrum Master certification exam for PSM, CSM, and BVOSM
The director of your organization wants to start the development of three new products and tells you that for the largest volume product, he wants a team of 10 people. The available specialists for all new products are a total of 15 people.
In Scrum, the Development Team is expected to have between 3 and 9 developers in total. This does not include the Scrum Master and Product Owner roles.
This limit of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 9 people was created due to the understanding that less than 3 people will have trouble creating a product. And with more than 9 people, the team will be too big and you will all have difficulty following the rules and principles of Scrum. A 10-person team means 8 devs, 1 Scrum Master, and 1 Product Owner. Reference: “Preparation for PSM, CSM, and BVOSM Scrum Master certification exam with sample questions“, https://www.policymatters.net/preparation-for-psm-csm-and-bvosm-scrum-master-certification-exam-with-sample-questions/
The teams for the other products remain, which can be divided accordingly: 4 developers. , 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner, and 3 Developers, 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner.
Personally, of course, I would recommend that the teams be:
Ekpi 1 – 7 developers, 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner
Team 2 – 4 developers, 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner
Team 3 – 4 developers, 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner
Thus, it is assumed that all teams will have enough prepared developers to work cross-functionally on the products. Reference: “Preparation for Certified Scrum Master certification exam with sample questions”, https://www.azarnewsonline.com/preparation-for-certified-scrum-master-certification/
The product director thinks that lower priority products do not need to have a Product Owner role.
The Product Owner role can also participate in the development of the product and everyone works together on the tasks in the Sprint. Thus, one of the development teams will also be the Product Owner. Reference: “Preparation for Certified Scrum Master certification exam with sample questions“, https://www.shihannews.net/preparation-for-certified-scrum-master-certification-exam/
The project director insists that because he has many years of experience in managing people, he wants to be the chief operating manager of the largest team, setting daily tasks and demanding reports from each team member.
It is proper for the team to choose its technologies and tools for work, without outsiders demanding specific ones. This freedom of choice allows the team to choose tools and technologies through which they can achieve better results than they would have achieved with externals imposed on the team.
The team, and all members, know best their skills, knowledge of technology, and level of competence. He is used to certain tools. Source: “Example questions for the Scrum Master certification exam“, https://customer-service-us.com/example-questions-for-the-scrum-master-certification-exam/
When the team uses a base with which they have experience and are used, everyone’s confidence and peace of mind are greater. This can be a factor in increasing the overall quality of the product and reducing possible errors and defects.
The director tells you that for each product, on the client’s side, a project manager has been assigned, who, in case of urgent requests, will assign each team member a priority task for the day.
I would remind him that there are three roles in Scrum:
- Development team
- Product Owner
- Scrum Master
There are no other roles in Scrum, no varieties or positions. Accordingly, there is no Project Manager role. The development team is self-organizing and self-assigns tasks based on which of the developers has what knowledge. The only one who can add or remove a task is the Product Owner role. Accordingly, the Project Manager must communicate everything with the Product Owner and, at his discretion, the task can be added to the backlog and, if necessary, will prioritize it (add to the next sprint). Original article: “Preparation for the certification exam for CSM and PSM I (BVOSM) Scrum Master“, https://www.mu7club.com/preparation-for-certification-exam-scrum-master/
One of the team’s senior programmers tells everyone that since the team is big and he has a lot of experience, he will officially accept the role of Team Lead. He adds that he will choose technologies, propose a way of working for each member of the team and monitor the progress of tasks.
There is no hierarchy in Scrum. Everyone in the team works together and assigns their tasks. The development team decides together what technologies to use based on the knowledge they have. And the progress of the tasks is monitored by the entire Scrum Team as well as by the Scrum Master and Product Owner in particular. Original article: “Certified Scrum Master exam preparation with sample questions“, https://customessaysonline.net/certified-scrum-master-exam-preparation-with-sample-questions/
A new employee in your organization, recently hired, tells you that because he is a novice and still on probation, he prefers not to interfere in team decisions and does not want to take responsibility for product work.
I will tell him that decisions are made by the whole team, regardless of whether someone is new or on probation. The team self-assigns tasks depending on the experience of all the developers in it.
You understand that the majority of your team members have already spoken to your HR manager and received permission to work outside the office.
No problem. Scrum can work from anywhere. Of course, all ceremonies will be observed as they are supposed to be, the only difference being that I will go “virtual” through communication programs and cameras. Reference: “Preparation for the Certified Scrum Master exam (PSM, CSM, BVOSM)“, https://mpmu.org/preparation-for-the-certified-scrum-master-exam-psm-csm-bvosm/
A member of the Development team is excited to tell you that in his spare time, he has written a large collection of programming code that he can easily add to the product, speeding up a lot of his tasks and some of the other people on the team.
Quite an interesting situation. It is good to present all this information to the rest of the team and the Product Owner. And after discussing whether or not it is good for the product to approach decision making. The entire Scrum team spends time and effort on the product increment and works on the planned User Stories.
Development teams offer you the idea, that you set an estimated time to complete the tasks, and they focus on their work and devote their time to the tasks. They shared this with the Product Owner role, and he was quite happy.
The Scrum Master does not make time estimates on tasks. The only ones who can set an “estimated time” for completing tasks are the Development team! They are the people based on technical experience and previous experience on tasks from the product to be able to determine an estimated time for the tasks. This will also be explained to the Product Owner. Read original article: “Preparation for Scrum Master certification exam on Sprint event“, https://medfd.org/preparation-for-scrum-master-certification-exam-on-sprint-event/
The teams of the three parallel products being developed by your organization have decided to reorganize. They desire to divide into teams according to their profession and qualifications. One team will be programmers, the second will be designers, and the third will be quality control.
There is no problem with them being separated into these official positions in the company. But they all together form a Scrum Development Team. In Scrum, it consists of all roles that actively work on the product. Each project/product must have a Development Team that is pre-defined according to the product’s requirements. For this reason, it is recommended that the teams have cross-functionality of the team, especially in teams that are composed of 3 people. Read more: “Professional Scrum Master Certification Online“, https://pm.mba/posts/scrummaster-certification-online/
The Development team shares their opinion that the User Story contains too little information and wants more details.
As the Scrum Master, I will approach the Product Owner with this information and advise him to get more to present to the team. It is okay for the team to abandon work on a particular User Story in their Sprint if they believe there is something wrong with it. In this case, team members, or representatives, should discuss their concerns with the Product Owner role. More on the topic: “Preparation for Scrum Master certification and tips for Scrum professionals”, https://www.kievpress.info/preparation-for-scrum-master-certification/
The Product Owner has asked a team member not to temporarily report product issues and defects publicly to your defect logging system, but to fix them himself.
I would talk to the Product Owner and advise him to follow the basic principles in Scrum. For the Development team, what he wanted is not in them, and if we want correct and problem-free progress of the product, it is good to follow them:
Responsibilities of the Development team
Creates the so-called Product Increment (the update and improvement of the product)
Shares responsibility for creating a quality product with the Product Owner role
Set an estimated time to complete your tasks
Follows Scrum rules and principles, Original source: “Preparation with sample questions for Scrum Master certification exam CSM & PSMI”, https://wikipedia-lab.org/preparation-sample-questions-scrummaster-certification-exam/
The entire Scrum Team spends time and effort on the Product Increment and works on the planned User Stories until each User Story is ready and rated as Done.
The managers of your organization want to start the development of three new products and tells you that for the largest volume product, they want a team of 10 people. The available specialists for all new products are a total of 15 people.
I don’t agree with this decision and I think people should separate in another way. After he wants more people for the biggest project, 7 people can be put on it, and 4 on the others.
With 10 specialists, the project itself will “suffer”. The distribution of the team that I propose is optimal because with more than 9 people, the team is too big and it will be difficult to follow the rules of Scrum. Explanation: “Free preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam (CSM, PSMI, PSMII, BVOP)”, https://brightonbot.com/preparation-scrum-master-certification-exam/
The CEO thinks that lower priority products do not need to have a Product Owner role.
I think that this is not the case. Every product must have a Product Owner. Even if the product is not a priority, there must still be a Product Owner. This is a very important position, there is no way for the Development team to understand exactly what the client wants, no matter how big or important the project is if there is no Product Owner. For the proper development of the project, this is a key position. Today it is not a priority, but tomorrow it may turn out to be very important and be “misunderstood”. Read more: “Free training to prepare for the Scrum Master Certification exam”, https://www.islandjournal.net/scrum-master-certification-exam/
The product director insists that because he has many years of experience in managing people, he wants to be the chief operating manager of the largest team, setting daily tasks and demanding reports from each team member.
This is a very wrong step and I am 100% against it. Scrum is what it is because there is no one to “lead the parade”, give orders, and demand reports. In Scrum, the team is self-organizing, this means that all members participate in the selection and distribution of tasks, and everyone is responsible for the work done. Read article on EduWiki: “Best Scrum Master Certifications for 2022 and 2023“, https://eduwiki.me/best-scrum-master-certifications-for-2021-and-2022/
The CTO tells you that for each product, on the client’s side, a project manager has been assigned, who, in case of urgent requests, will assign each team member a priority task for the day.
This is not a good practice, if the tasks are to be prioritized, this should happen when discussing the Sprints. Giving individual tasks to team members is not a Scrum practice, the team is self-organizing, and the tasks are defined during the composition of the sprints and should not be changed until the next sprint, this leads to errors, interruption of work, and disruption of the “rhythm” of work of the team. Read more: “Best Scrum Master certification online”, https://scrumtime.org/best-scrum-master-certification-online/
One of the team’s senior programmers tells everyone that since the team is big and he has a lot of experience, he will officially accept the role of Team Lead. He adds that he will choose technologies, propose a way of working for each member of the team and monitor the progress of tasks.
I am against this decision and will do whatever it takes to prevent it from happening. The Scrum team should not be led by anyone and there is no Team Leader role. He determines the method, the time, and his tasks and monitors his progress. Giving tasks and monitoring progress by one person, be it a team member or external to the team, in itself excludes Scrum. “Preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam (BVOSM, CSM, PSM)“, https://mstsnl.net/preparation-for-the-scrum-master-certification-exam-bvosm-csm-psm/
A new employee in your organization, recently hired, tells you that because he is a novice and still on probation, he prefers not to interfere in team decisions and does not want to take responsibility for product work.
I will encourage him to participate in decision-making. Each member of the team must participate in decision-making, distribution of tasks, and bearing responsibility (“With great power comes great responsibility”), no matter how much experience and how long he has been a member of this team.
You understand that the majority of your team members have already spoken to your HR manager and received permission to work outside the office.
I’m not happy about being skipped over in making this decision. If it is a software organization. With the advancement of technology and given the current situation (COVID-19), I think that things can happen with work outside the office, but I do not support the idea that this happens constantly. In my opinion, for the determination of the tasks in the Sprint and the meetings with the Product Owner, try to happen Face-to-face, the rest related to the development can be done remotely, however, technology allows this type of work.
Daily meetings will be held online, and problems will also be discussed that way, a period of getting used to it will be necessary, but in my opinion, the goal is not impossible to achieve. Reference: “Quick and easy preparation for the Scrum Master certification exam“, https://www.businesspad.org/quick-and-easy-preparation-for-the-scrum-master-certification-exam/
A member of the Development team is excited to tell you that in his spare time, he has written a large collection of programming code that he can easily add to the product, speeding up a lot of his tasks and some of the other people on the team.
I will congratulate the person for a job well done, but I will make it clear that I do not encourage this type of behavior. Teamwork is important, so I think it is not a good idea for individual members to take the initiative and work with such an attitude. Single cases can be tolerated, but constant such practice is not well accepted, it disrupts the work process, demotivates the other team members, and makes the Sprints, on which the work is planned, meaningless.
Development teams offer you the idea, that you set an estimated time to complete the tasks, and they focus on their work and devote their time to the tasks. They shared this with the Product Owner role, and he was quite happy.
This is not the correct practice. The Development Team itself must determine the time required for the execution of the tasks, however, they are the specialists who know how much time they need for this. It is good that this forecast is only a guide, and not a specific time, 3 days, 6 hours, etc. In this situation, the Scrum Master can only play the role of “Tiebreaker” if the team hesitates to choose him, and this is only valid if he has enough experience and confidence in his knowledge about the work process.
The teams of the three parallel products being developed by your organization have decided to reorganize. They want to divide into teams according to their profession and qualifications. One team will be programmers, the second will be designers, and the third will be quality control. You have been nominated as the activities coordinator.
I am against this reorganization. The Scrum Team must be composed of heterogeneous members (Cross-functionality). For the team to be productive, everyone in it must have different specialties and skills. Thus, the attention is concentrated on one specific product, and not on 5 different ones, with different characteristics, goals, and deadlines.
The Development team shares their opinion that the User Story contains too little information and wants more details.
I think they should start working on the product with the information they have, and in the meantime, I will request additional information from the Product Owner. At the beginning of the project, in my opinion, we always have information about the main features of the product, we will get the additional information in the next sprint. Then it will become clear in which direction the product will have to pull.
The Product Owner has asked a team member not to temporarily report product issues and defects publicly to your defect logging system, but to fix them himself.
I disagree with this Product Owner’s decision. In my opinion, this should not be the case and this practice should be stopped. The Product Owner should not and cannot interfere in the work of the Scrum team, he should not say who and what should be done. Problems and defects should be reported and the team should decide how and by whom to fix them. The relevant team member may be more useful in another task, there may be a more competent person who can deal with the elimination of the problem faster.