What CSM Questions and Answers feature?

When the Scrum Team does not understand the goal, scope, or product domain, theScrum Master should facilitate a discussion between the Stakeholders, Product Owner, and Developers. This ensures clarity and shared understanding, enabling the team to move forward effectively.

According to the2020 Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master serves the team by:

Facilitating stakeholder collaborationas needed.

Ensuring that the Product Backlog is understoodby the Scrum Team.

Removing any barriers that hinder the team's ability to achieve the Sprint Goal.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Direct the Developers to stop working until the Product Owner improves the acceptance criteria:Stopping work is not productive, and collaboration with the Product Owner and stakeholders is the proper approach to resolving misunderstandings.

B. Cancel the Sprint and schedule a new Planning meeting:Cancelling the Sprint should be an absolute last resort and is typically done only when the Sprint Goal becomes unachievable.

C. Do nothing because this is the responsibility of the Product Owner:While the Product Owner owns the Product Backlog, the Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating collaboration and resolving impediments.

When a Scrum Master encounters resistance from outside the Scrum Team, their role is to act as aservant leader and coach, ensuring the organization's adoption of Scrum is effective. Resistance often stems from a lack of understanding or buy-in regarding the value of Scrum.

According to the2020 Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master serves the organization in several ways, including:

Leading, training, and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption.

Planning and advising Scrum implementations within the organization.

Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work.

In this case, the Scrum Master collaborates with other Scrum Masters to amplify the effectiveness of Scrum across the organization. This collaboration is essential for addressing systemic challenges or resistance to Scrum.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Escalate to management to reprimand the resisters:Escalating and seeking reprimand is not aligned with the Scrum Master's role as a facilitator and coach. This approach could create conflict rather than resolve resistance.

B. Not intervene in the business of others:The Scrum Master’s role involves actively addressing impediments and resistance. Avoiding intervention undermines their responsibility to promote Scrum.

C. Create a status update meeting for all Scrum Masters to coordinate teamdependencies:While collaboration among Scrum Masters is essential, "status update meetings" are not a Scrum practice, and coordination of dependencies is typically handled within Sprint Planning or during collaborative refinement sessions.

One of the key accountabilities of aScrum Masteris toimprove the Scrum Team's effectiveness. This aligns with the Scrum Master's role as a servant leader who helps the team deliver value through better practices, collaboration, and adherence to Scrum principles.

According to the2020 Scrum Guide, the Scrum Master is accountable for:

Establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide, helping everyone understand its theory and practices.

Improving the Scrum Team's effectivenessby enabling the team to self-manage, improve cross-functionality, and focus on delivering high-value Increments.

Removing impedimentsthat hinder progress and supporting the team in achieving its Sprint Goals.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Set the budget:The Scrum Master does not manage budgets. Budgeting decisions are outside the scope of the Scrum framework.

B. Provide estimates:Developers are responsible for providing estimates during Product Backlog refinement and Sprint Planning.

D. Decide when to release the product:Decisions about releases are made collaboratively by theProduct Owner, often based on business needs and stakeholder input.