Scrum Master Certification Flashcards
What were some early influencers of Scrum?
- Extreme Programming (XP)
- Test Driven Development (TDD)
What ideas drove Scrum to be developed?
- Just enough, just in time
- Do detail design right before development
- Incorporate the customer into the team
What are some descriptors of Agile Development?
- Highly flexible
- Adaptive framework
What are the contrasting values of Scrum?
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
With Scrum, what did defined project management as a value evolve to?
Empirical process
What are 3 valued characteristics of Scrum?
- Lightweight
- Easy to understand
- Difficult to master
What are the 3 Scrum Pillars?
- Transparency - process is visible so the work and definition of done are agreed upon
- Inspection - Timely checks on work to assess progress toward the goal
- Adaptation - Adjustments are made to processes when work is not getting done
What are the 4 Scrum Events?
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
What are the 5 Scrum Values?
- Commitment
- Courage
- Focus
- Openness
- Respect
What is the Scrum Master role?
- Not the same as Project Manager
- Process owner for Scrum
- Provides balance between Development Team and Product Owner
How does the Scrum Master help the Product Owner?
- Ensures backlog is updated
2. Makes sure sprints are appropriate
How does the Scrum Master help the Development Team?
- Protects against outside distractions
- Protects against overwork and burnout
- Prevents complacency
- Owns the Scrum Framework - only makes changes that remain in the Scrum philosophy and values
Why is the Scrum Master sometimes called the Scrum Servant Leader?
- Owner and leader of the process
- Responsible for educating the Product Owner, Development Team and Organization - tells them what actions do and don’t benefit the Development Team
What are 5 ways the Scrum Master serves the Product Owner?
- Clarifies goals and objectives
- Coaches best practices for backlog management
- Guides on process and planning
- Facilitate Scrum Events
- Shares knowledge of agility and scrum
How does the Scrum Master help the whole Scrum Team and the product?
Ensures that the work that comes to the Development Team is in the best condition possible. This will maximize the value the Development Team can deliver.
What are 5 ways the Scrum Master serves the Development Team?
- Coaching the Development Team on self-organization and becoming cross-functional
- Helping the Development Team understand the Scrum Philosophy and values
- Guiding the Development Team on the Scrum Framework
- Facilitating the Development Team in problem solving
- Removing impediments
What are 4 ways the Scrum Master serves the organization?
- Coaches the adoption of Scrum
- Guides awareness and understanding
- Helps other Scrum Masters
- Assists their Development Teams
What is the role of the Product Owner?
- Sole accountable party for product the Development Team is building - just one person, not a committee
- Recommended to be a person from the Business
- Should have enough influence in the organization to be able to negotiate Product Backlog items (PBIs) with their peers and leaders
What are some Product Owner responsibilities?
- Responsible for maximizing the value of the Development Team’s efforts and the value it delivers
- Manages the product backlog - determines and communicates what is the right thing to do and when is the right time to do it. Only the PO can make changes to the Product Backlog
What happens when the PO can’t dedicate enough time for the Development Team’s needs?
A proxy may be selected to act in their place. However, the named PO has the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the product.
What are the 5 key PO responsibilities?
- Clearly express PBIs
- Order the PBIs efficiently
- Ensure backlog is accessible
- Clarify requirements
- Provide status report and forecast
What are some reasons that a PO might abnormally terminate a sprint?
- The PBI being worked on is found to no longer have value.
2. The output from the current design doesn’t meet expectations of quality or performance.
What are the 3 entities that make up the Scrum Team
- Scrum Master
- Development Team
- Product Owner
What is the best size for the Development Team?
3 to 9 people
Who should make up the Development Team?
The Development Team is the group of people with the skills needed to do the work defined in the Product Backlog
What is the purpose of the Development Team?
To produce a potentially shippable product increment at the end of the sprint.
Is the product increment always shipped at the end of the sprint?
Not always, but the Development Team will always receive feedback at the end of the sprint
What are 3 Development Team qualities?
- Self-organizing
- Cross-functional
- Doesn’t acknowledge roles or titles
Who owns the PBIs
Ownership of the PBIs is shared collectively by the team. Team members will sign up for tasks on a PBI, but the whole team has responsibility for the PBI.
How can the Scrum Master minimize disruption when shared resources are being used on the Development Team?
- Early inclusion (of shared or temporary resources)
- Big-picture perspective
- Backlog understanding
- Timing estimations
What are 4 Interaction Team norms to facilitate?
- Considering all ideas (all ideas treated equally)
- Asking for help
- Keeping commitments
- Holding team accountable
What are 2 Communication norms to facilitate?
- Respect
2. Gratitude
What are 3 Meeting Interaction norms to facilitate?
- Device usage (used only with team consensus)
- Start/end time (arrived at by consensus)
- Preferred hours
What are 3 Decision Making norms to facilitate?
- Consensus standards
- Voting rules
- Tie-breakers
What are 3 Conflict Resolution norms to facilitate?
- Process
- Expectations
- Escalation (try to resolve among team first before escalation outside the team)
How often should team norms be revisited?
Every sprint or two. Add or remove from the list as needed.
Do agile methodologies work best when team members are co-located or distributed?
Best when co-located, but can also work well when distributed with compensating approach and tools
What are 3 things to focus on with regard to co-location?
- Caves and commons
- Digital file sharing and collaboration
- Chat and video conference tools