Scrum Interview Questions and Answers – I

Scrum Interview Questions and Answers: Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. Scrum Interview Questions and Answers will help you in accessing your knowledge & skills as a Scrum Master or Product Owner. Welcome to Scrum Interview Questions and Answers – I.

Please read Agile Interview Questions and Answer for questions related to Agile Fundamentals.

Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers – Part II : Click Here

Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers – Part III : Click Here

Scrum Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is Scrum and few advantages of doing Scrum?

Answer: A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. It is light weight, simple to understand and difficult to master. Few advantages of Scrum are

• It minimizes the risk in response to changes requested by stakeholders.
• It increases ROI ( Return of Investment) and user satisfaction for stakeholders.
• It improves the process continuously in an iterative process.
• Quicker release of usable product to users and customers.
• Higher quality, Higher productivity and Lower costs for development of product.

2. What is the ideal duration is for Sprint?  How it affects the workflow?

Answer: Sprint in Scrum usually one month or less.  The two-week sprint is preferred for various reason. First, it makes it easier for the team to estimate, plan and complete the work in two weeks. Secondly, it gives enough time to the product owner to change the priorities more often and allows the team to adapt quickly to the market pressures.

3. Why can Scrum not be considered “a process, technique, or definitive method”

Answer: Scrum is none of these because it is a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques. Scrum makes clear the relative efficacy of your product management and work techniques so that you can continuously improve the product, the team, and the working environment.

4. What does the Scrum framework consist of?

Answer: Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules. Each component within the framework serves a specific purpose and is essential to Scrum’s success and usage.

5. What are 5 things Scrum has been used extensively worldwide for?

Answer: Scrum is extensively used for

1. to research and identify viable markets, technologies, and product capabilities;
2. to develop products and enhancements;
3. to release products and enhancements, as frequently as many times per day;
4. to develop and sustain Cloud (online, secure, and on-demand) and other operational environments for product use;
5. to sustain and renew products.

6. What is the Product Owner is responsible for?

Answer: Product Owner responsible for

1. The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team.
2. The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog. Product Backlog management includes:
3. Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
4. Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;
5. Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team performs;
6. Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next; and,
7. Ensuring the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog to the level needed.
8. For the Product Owner to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions.
9. The Product Owner’s decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog.
10. No one is allowed to tell the Development Team to work from a different set of requirements, and the Development Team isn’t allowed to act on what anyone else says.

7. What is the essence of Scrum?

Answer: A small team of people that is highly flexible and adaptive.  Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team. Cross-functional teams have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team.

8. What idea is Scrum founded on?

Answer: Empirical process control theory, or empiricism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known. Scrum employs an iterative, incremental approach to optimize predictability and control risk.

9. What are the three pillars that uphold every implementation of empirical control?

Answer: Transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

10. Describe the importance of Transparency.

Answer: Significant aspects of the process must be visible to those responsible for the outcome. Transparency requires those aspects be defined by a common standard, so observers share a common understanding of what is being seen.

11. Give two examples of Transparency.

Answer: Two examples of transparency are

1. a common language referring to the process must be shared by all participants;
2. Those performing the work and those inspecting the resulting increment must share a common definition of “Done”.

12. Describe the importance of Inspection.

Answer: Scrum users must frequently inspect Scrum artifacts and progress toward a Sprint Goal to detect undesirable variances.

13. How often should Inspection be performed?

Answer: Inspection should not be so frequent that it gets in the way of the work. Inspections are most beneficial when diligently performed by skilled inspectors at the point of work.

14. Describe the importance of Adaptation.

Answer: If an inspector determines that one or more aspects of a process deviate outside acceptable limits, and that the resulting product will be unacceptable, the process or the material being processed must be adjusted. An adjustment must be made as soon as possible to minimize further deviation.

15. What are the four formal events for Inspection and Adaptation?

Answer: Four formal evens of I & A are

1. Sprint Planning
2. Daily Scrum
3. Sprint Review
4. Sprint Retrospective.

16. What are the five Scrum values?

Answer: Scrum values are

1. People personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team
2. The Scrum Team members have courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems
3. Everyone focuses on the work of the Sprint and the goals of the Scrum Team
4. The Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work
5. Scrum Team members respect each other to be capable, independent people

17. What is a scrum of scrum?

Answer: Scrum of scrum is used to refer to the meeting after the daily scrum.  The responsible person from each agile team attends the meeting and discuss their work and answer the questions like

• Since the last meeting, what is the progress of the team?
• What your team is expected to do or should accomplish, before the next meeting?
• What are the obstacles your team faced while completing the task?
• Were you going to allow any of your work to the following team?

18. What are two key characteristics of a Scrum team?

Answer: Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team. Cross-functional teams have all competencies needed to accomplish the work without depending on others not part of the team. 

19. How do Scrum teams deliver their product(s)?

Answer: Scrum teams deliver products iteratively and incrementally, maximizing opportunities for feedback. Incremental deliveries of “Done” product ensure a potentially useful version of working product is always available.

20. What is the Product Owner responsible for?

Answer: The PO is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Development Team. How this is done may vary widely across organizations, Scrum Teams, and individuals. The PO is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog. The PO is one person, not a committee. The PO may represent the desires of a committee in the Product Backlog, but those wanting to change a Product Backlog item’s priority must address the PO.

21. What does Product Backlog management include?

Answer: PBI includes

1. Clearly expressing backlog items.
2. Ordering the items to achieve goals and missions.
3. Optimizing the value of the work the dev team performs.
4. Ensuring the product backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all.
5. Understands dev team understands items in the backlog.

22. What is necessary for a Product Owner to succeed?

Answer: For the PO to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions. The PO’s decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog. No one can force the Dev. Team to work from a different set of requirements.

23. What is the Development Team?

Answer: The Dev. Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint. A “Done” increment is required at the Sprint Review. Only members of the Dev. Team create the Increment.

24. How is the Dev Team structured?

Answer: Dev. Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Dev Team’s overall efficiency and effectiveness.

25. What are characteristics of the Dev Team?

Answer: Characteristics of the Dev Team are

1. They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Dev. Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality;
2. Dev. Teams are cross-functional, with all the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment;
3. Scrum recognizes no titles for Dev. Team members, regardless of the work being performed by the person;
4. Scrum recognizes no sub-teams in the Dev. Team, regardless of domains that need to be addressed like testing, architecture, operations, or business analysis;
5. Individual Dev. Team members may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Development Team as a whole.

26. What is the optimal Development Team size?

Answer: Optimal Development Team size is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint. Fewer than 3 Dev. Team members decrease interaction and results in smaller productivity gains. Smaller Development Teams may encounter skill constraints during the Sprint, causing the Dev. Team to be unable to deliver a potentially releasable Increment. Having more than 9 members requires too much coordination. Large Dev. Teams generate too much complexity for an empirical process to be useful. The PO and Scrum Master roles are not included in this count unless they are also executing the work of the Sprint Backlog.

27. Describe the role of Scrum Master?

Answer: The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. Scrum Masters do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values. The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.

28. In what ways does the Scrum Master serve the Product Owner?

Answer: Scrum Master serves the product owner by

1. Ensuring that goals, scope, and product domain are understood by everyone on the Scrum Team as well as possible;
2. Finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management;
3. Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items;
4. Understanding product planning in an empirical environment;
5. Ensuring the PO knows how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value;
6. Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed.

29. In what ways does the Scrum Master serve the Development Team?

Answer: Scrum Master serves the Dev Team by

1. Coaching the Dev. Team in self-organizing and cross-functionality;
2. Helping the Dev. Team create high value products
3. Removing impediments to the Dev. Team’s progress;
4. Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed,
5. Coaching the Dev. Team in organizational environments in which Scrum is not yet fully adopted and understood.

30. How does the Scrum Master serve the organization?

Answer: Scrum Master serves the organization by

1. leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption;
2. planning Scrum implementation within the organization;
3. helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development;
4. causing change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team;
5. working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.

31. Why are prescribed events used in Scrum?

Answer: To create regularity and minimize the need for meetings not defined in Scrum. All events are time-boxed events, such that every event has a maximum duration. Once a Sprint begins, its duration is fixed and cannot be shortened or lengthened

32. What is each scrum event an opportunity for?

Answer: Other than the Sprint itself, which is a container for all other events, each event in Scrum is a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt something. These events are specifically designed to enable critical transparency and inspection. Failure to include any of these events results in reduced transparency and is a lost opportunity to inspect and adapt.

33. What are the Scrum Events?

Answer: Scrum events are

1. the Sprint
2. Sprint Planning
3. Daily Scrum
4. Sprint Review
5. Sprint Retrospective

34. Describe a Sprint?

Answer: The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done” useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created. Sprints have consistent durations throughout a development effort. A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.

35. What do Sprints contain and consist of ?

Answer: Sprints contain and consist of the Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

36. During the Sprint:

Answer: Below activities are applicable during the sprint

1. no changes are made that would endanger the Sprint goal
2. Quality goals do not decrease;
3. Scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Development Team as more is learned.

37. Who has the authority to cancel a Sprint?

Answer: A Sprint can be canceled before the Sprint time-box is over. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint, although he or she may do so under influence from the stakeholders, the Development Team, or the Scrum Master.

38. Why would a Sprint be cancelled?

Answer: A Sprint could be canceled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This might occur if the company changes direction or if market or technology conditions change. In general, a Sprint should be canceled if it no longer makes sense given the circumstances. But, due to the short duration of Sprints, cancellation rarely makes sense.

39. What happens when a Sprint is cancelled?

Answer: When a Sprint is canceled, any completed and “Done” Product Backlog items are reviewed. If part of the work is potentially releasable, the Product Owner typically accepts it. All Incomplete Product Backlog items are re-estimated and put back on the Product Backlog. The work done on them depreciates quickly and must be frequently re-estimated. 

40. Describe Sprint Planning

Answer: The work to be performed in the Sprint is planned at the Sprint Planning. This plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire Scrum Team. Sprint Planning is time-boxed to a maximum of 8 hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. The Scrum Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose. 

41. What two questions does Sprint Planning answer?

Answer: Sprint planning derives

1. What can be delivered in the Increment resulting from the upcoming Sprint?
2. How will the work needed to deliver the Increment be achieved?

42. What is done to address Topic One: What can be done in this Sprint?

Answer: The Development Team works to forecast the functionality that will be developed during the Sprint. The Product Owner discusses the objective that the Sprint should achieve and the Product Backlog items that, if completed in the Sprint, would achieve the Sprint Goal. The entire Scrum Team collaborates on understanding the work of the Sprint.

43. What is the input to Topic One: What can be done this Sprint?

Answer: The input to this meeting is the Product Backlog, the latest product Increment, projected capacity of the Development Team during the Sprint, and past performance of the Dev. Team. The number of items selected from the Product Backlog for the Sprint is solely up to the Dev. Team. Only the Development Team can assess what it can accomplish over the upcoming Sprint.

44. How is Topic Two: How will the chosen work get done? be addressed?

Answer: Having set the Sprint Goal and selected the Product Backlog items for the Sprint, the Development Team decides how it will build this functionality into a “Done” product increment during the Sprint. The Product Backlog items selected for this Sprint plus the plan for delivering them is called the Sprint Backlog. 

45. Describe the Sprint Goal?

Answer: The Sprint Goal is an objective set for the Sprint that can be met through the implementation of the Product Backlog. It provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the Increment. It is created during the Sprint Planning meeting. The Sprint Goal gives the Dev. Team some flexibility regarding the functionality implemented within the Sprint. The selected Product Backlog items deliver one coherent function, which can be the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal can be any other coherence that causes the Dev. Team to work together rather than on separate initiatives.

46. What is the Daily Scrum?

Answer: The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Dev. Team. The Daily Scrum is held every day of the Sprint. At it, the Dev. Team plans work for the next 24 hours. This optimizes team collaboration and performance by inspecting the work since the last Daily Scrum and forecasting upcoming Sprint work. The Daily Scrum is held at the same time and place each day to reduce complexity.

47. How does the Development Team use the Daily Scrum?

Answer: The Development Team uses the Daily Scrum to Inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and to inspect how progress is trending toward completing the work in the Sprint Backlog. The Daily Scrum optimizes the probability that the Development Team will meet the Sprint Goal. Every day, the Development Team should understand how it intends to work together as a self-organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment by the end of the Sprint.

48. What are some example questions that could be asked in a Daily Scrum meeting?

Answer: Examples of questions asked in a Daily Scrum meeting are

1. What did I do yesterday that helped the Dev. Team meet the Sprint Goal
2. What will I do today to help the Dev. Team meet the Sprint Goal?
3. Do I see any impediments that prevent me or the Dev. Team from meeting the Sprint Goal?

49. What is the general process for answering more detailed/in-depth questions that aren’t answered in the Daily Scrum?

Answer: The Dev. Team or other team members often meet immediately after the Daily Scrum for detailed discussions, or to adapt, or re-plan, the rest of the Sprint’s work.

50. Who ensures that the Daily Standup is held (and who is ultimately responsible for it being held)?

Answer: The Scrum Master ensures that the Dev. Team has the meeting, but the Development Team is ultimately responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master teaches the Dev. Team to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15-minute time-box.

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