Interview Qs Flashcards
What’s your relationship with your Product Owner?/How do you describe your relationship with your Product Owner?
My Product Owners are awesome! We have a great relationship, we work together very well to make sure that the backlog is refined and I meet with them on a weekly basis to make sure that the stories we need to go over are discussed. I support them in anything they need, understand their priorities and make sure their backlog items are prioritized.
What is your favorite agile manifesto?
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools simply because I understand how valuable various tools and processes can be, but I am a firm believer that the individual is a company’s greatest asset and that one always has the potential to provide the greatest return.
How would you train a newly formed Scrum Team?
I would monitor and observe where they are currently on their agile journey and how they’ve been working with their old framework. And see how agile can help them—once i get enough information and getting their pain points and how they work—i would start slowly implementing the scrum framework by starting off light with the ceremonies and explain to them why each ceremony is important (dsu—for us to get together and commit to the sprint goal)
What does a successful retrospective look like to you?
A successful retrospective is when the team enjoys attending the retros, it’s a safe space for transparency, they are having fun as I like to include fun warm ups, reflect on the past sprint, we discuss any issues that we may have, make sure the team addresses these issues, create an action plan for continuous improvement, keep the team encouraged, and give recognition to everyone
What does a successful Sprint look like to you? Why would a sprint being successful help the business?
A successful sprint is when working software is being produced every 2 weeks. A successful sprint is helpful to the business because they are consistently delivering a valuable shippable product. This ensures the company is able to stay ahead in market trends.
What will you do for a shy team member who doesn’t speak?
During meetings, I would ask them directly for their feedback. I would say hey [x], “What’s your viewpoint on this?” This would allow them to feel valued and that their input is valuable. Or I would reach out to them and set up a one on one meeting to really get to know them, build a relationship and encourage them to let them know they are valued. I would also set up team building activities, to build bonds, trust, and transparency among the team.
How would you handle individuals that don’t speak during retrospective(or during meetings)?
I would ask directly to people not speaking or being active. I would say hey [x], “What’s your viewpoint on this?” This makes the person feel valuable and that their inputs are valuable. They’ll feel more comfortable speaking up. I would also set up team building activities, to build bonds, trust, and transparency among the team.
What are the repercussions of a developer finishing on the last day of the sprint ?
There may be potential for under delivering as there wouldn’t be an opportunity to inspect the quality of work. There wouldn’t be time to check the DOD to see if it has been met.
How do you prioritize between the two teams?
The priority is determined by the business, so if there is a team that is more mission critical that gets more work done and quicker, that would be the team that I would do everything 1st with. So first half of the day i’d work the first team, then another half with the other
How would you teach the Scrum framework to a new team member?
I would create knowledge based sessions, encourage knowledge transfer, ensure their participating in the scrum meetings so they can understand the scrum theory and have lunch and learn sessions
What are the scrum values and how do you use them?
So the first scrum value is having the Courage to speak up, focusing on the sprint goal, committing to achieving the sprint goals, having openness about all the work being done and being open to the stakeholders feedback, respecting each other as we are all working closely together.
Before you were a SM, what did you do?
I was a Project Coordinator where I was responsible for assisting my Project Manager with their status reports, scheduling meetings, completing documentation, and managing project artifacts.
What is Scrum?
Scrum comes from the agile methodology. Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.
How did that previous Role help you as a SM?
My previous role helped me build good communication skills, excellent time management, leadership skills and creative thinking.
How do you solve conflicts?/How do you deal with conflict? (Is this conflict a team level or individual?)
I would first figure out what is driving this conflict and if it has happened before. I would see if there has been a previous resolution and look at the working agreement. I would speak to each team member one on one, then facilitate a conversation between them and come to a resolution. I then would go back to the working agreement, make necessary adjustments if needed, and create a resolution. If that doesn’t get resolved then I would escalate to higher up.
Always refer to working agreements as it will cause us to be more aligned and hold each other accountable
What is the importance of having a backlog?
The backlog is very essential to the sprint as that is the heart of the sprint. It holds the vision of the product and the developers use the backlog as a blueprint to get the work done.
Can you describe a time where you improved a teams process/quality?
Making sure that user stories are written clear, the acceptance criteria is clear, helping the team understand their requirements with good refinement sessions, helping the team stick to the sprint goal, and keeping open communication in MS Teams so that we are able to adapt to changes quickly due to the frequent communication.
How do you explain to someone who doesn’t know anything about software development what Agile is?
Being agile means to have the ability to be able to evolve or adapt to changing circumstances quickly and build projects around motivated teams to produce quality results.
What is a Kanban System?
A Kanban system is a workflow management structure that encourages visibility, transparency, and accountability across teams. Consistent flow of work in and out.
Can you share a fun retrospective that you have done with the team?
There are several ways to make a fun and interactive warm-up. Like what I have done with my team is “create a meme of the last iteration and post it on the board” or “if our product was a house, what would it look like”? Things like that.
How are you impending the action items from the retrospective into the next Sprint? Walk me through what that looks like.
It can vary, but one action plan was the DSU running outside of the timebox. The action plan for that was to have a parking lot conversation after the DSU and having another channel where we can discuss ways to collaborate and solve any issues that come up.
Another one is that we were having a problem with technical debt, so we created a technical debt backlog and created user stories for that and when we found time during the sprint, we would pull one or two and work on those.
What are the most important characteristics for being a great Scrum Master?
I think there are a great number of characteristics a Scrum Master should have, but being a great listener, Communicator, Problem Solver, Servant leader, Born facilitator, Coach/Teacher
People often refer to the importance of having an AGILE MINDSET . What does that mean to you?
Being agile means having the ability to be able to evolve or adapt to changing circumstances quickly.
What is SERVANT LEADERSHIP?
Servant leadership is promoting innovation, empowering others, and assuring the well-being of those around them. Servant leadership also aims to develop leadership qualities in others.
I understand that servant leadership is the best way for scrum teams to thrive. It encourages team members to be creative and more collaborative. It really encourages emergent leadership to arise.
How do you serve your team(s)?
I serve my team in a multitude of ways, but one thing that I really like to do to help my team out is, sometimes some of my team members will forget to log their hours in Jira, so I will offer to do it for them. I’ll also record our meetings and I’ll store the recordings in Confluence to make it available to them.
What metric did I use to measure a team’s success?/ What indicators show a team is successful?/How do you measure and effectiveness in a scrum team?
The metric I use is I would look at the burndown/burnup chart because I am able to see whether or not the team is able to meet their sprint goals and if we will complete on time. I also look at how well the team is communicating and working with each other, and how committed they are to the goal.
Walk me through how you hold your retrospective?
The way that I hold my retros is, I like to create an easy retro board so that the team can input information. I like to have fun activities too to get them more engaged and wanting to participate. One of the activities I like to do is, have them show me a meme of how the last sprint went. I hold this for 45 minutes right before my Sprint Planning and we would discuss what went well, what didn’t go well, and what we can improve upon. I would then create a list of action items for continous improvement, encourage openness and transparency. And give kudos to the team members.
What sequence do you pick in order to write user stories?
The Product Owner determines the sequence as they identify what features are important and we would write user stories and prioritize based on those features.
SCENARIO: Did you ever experience scope creep and how did you handle it?
A critical new item was added to the Product Backlog which impacted most of the items were presently in the sprint backlog. So what I did to resolve that was by taking out a few items that have not been started of equal size to make room for the new critical item
How do you track Sprint progress?
I track sprint progress everyday during the DSU as well as reviewing the backlog/JIRA board. I’d ask what did you do yesterday, what will you do today? Are there any blockages or issues you may be facing? The DSU allows for us to see how the team is doing collectively and how we inspect our sprint progress
What is VELOCITY?
Velocity is a metric used to measure the total effort the team is capable of during a sprint.
What are the required elements of a USER STORY ?
Value statement and acceptance criteria. A user story must identify the user and determine its functionalities.
SCENARIO: Team A is completing 30 Story POINTS per Sprint and Team B is completing 20 Story POINTS per Sprint. A key client approaches you and is concerned that Team B isn’t as productive as Team A. How do you handle this situation?
I would explain that the velocity of two teams can’t be compared due to the fact that different teams have different velocity, capacity, skill levels, roadblocks and goals.
Your team’s meeting keeps running over, how do you address this issue?
The way I would address this is, I would encourage them to continue the conversation outside of meetings, in the parking lot. I’ll also address to the team in retro that we are going over the timebox and if we need to increase the time or create a channel where we can provide updates in addition to our meetings.
What type of metrics do you use? (metrics in terms of??)
The type of metrics that I use varies for each team. One of the ways is, as a team we set a goal and at the end of that sprint we determine whether or not it has been met. Another way is I would use escape defects as it provides a view of quality and track the defects, team velocity to see how many stories are being done, and the burndown chart will show me whether or not we are on schedule.
How do you make sure the bugs are fixed?
I would make sure that there is visibility in the bugs, I would create a dashboard specifically for the bugs and talk about it in our defect triage meeting.
Defect Triage - this is a process where the defects are prioritized based on their severity or risk
How do you prioritize work between two teams?
I would place both teams in a cadence schedule and make sure we come to a working agreement. Keep both schedules somewhat similar and maintain clear communication.
How do you manage 3 scrum teams?
I would manage 3 scrum teams by making sure everyone has the same release cadence, I would combine my Sprint Demos into one, and have 3 separate Sprint Plannings, DSU, Backlog Refinements.
When would you deploy Scrum?
For a team that needs to implement this framework. It would depend on the complexity of the teams work and development process.
How do you manage risk?
Actively engage with my teams to identify potential risks early in the project lifecycle. Especially during the DSU as that allows us to see how the teams are doing collectively, any risks and impediments can be identified here. I also create a risk registry to keep a record of all the risks
How do you handle technical debt?/Manage technical debt?
It may vary between teams. I would first identify what the technical debt is, prioritizing the debt by urgency, and having a specific timeline of when the debt would be solved. I would spread them throughout the upcoming sprints if they are severe. If it’s an ongoing thing, I would create a dashboard on the technical debt. I would keep it steady by always chipping away at it.
How agile is your team and what can they improve on?
I would say that my team is pretty mature, they are able to actively solve their problems, collaborate well together and are self managing and organized. One thing they did need improvement on was going over the timebox during the DSU. An action item for that was to carry conversations in the parking lot and we created a channel where they can continue communicating in.
What is the difference between an experienced team and inexperienced team?
With an experienced team, I’m able to see how well they are collaborating with each other, working together to deliver value, and how focused they are on continuous improvement.
Do you have any experience using AWS or Cloud or Azure? (technical question) Or type of code or platform..
I know of Azure Dev Ops I haven’t used it personally in my role. I use JIRA and confluence currently, I’d be interested to learn more about the software you all use and how you guys use that.
How would your manager describe you?
My manager and I have a great relationship. They would describe me as someone who embodies compassion and empathy for others. I’m always empowering people to be their best selves.
How can a scrum master contribute to sprint planning in a way that empowers the team to take the most valuable user stories?
I encourage the team by driving the right conversations and making sure the user stories have the right requirements and the team has clarity on what they are going to be working on. I’m making sure that the user stories have the acceptance criteria and value statement.
Should a scrum master understand the application they are working on?
As a scrum master, I like to understand the application I’m working on and know what the product is and the goal to achieve.
What value does a SM bring beyond the Ceremony?
Scrum Master encourages teams to share their struggles and their successes. Encouraging being open, focused, committed, and respecting one another. Scrum masters also point out times of strong collaboration and facilitate conversations around new ideas.
What would you do if the Product Owner is telling the team what to do ?
I would facilitate a conversation privately with the Product Owner, really emphasize that we must empower the team to speak up and allow them to be self managing and I would coach the Product Owner to help them understand the importance of everyone’s role on the team.
Why do we have the daily stand up?
The daily stand up lets us know how the team is doing collectively, inspect sprint progress, reduces risk, if any issues, blockers or impediments that are occurring we would address them during that time. Without this, our teams would take longer to get their work done and this could increase risk.
