Project Management

What two (2) things does the Development Team do during the first Sprint?

1) Deliver an increment of releasable software. 2) Develop and deliver at least one piece of functionality. OR 1) Build a thin slice of potentially shippable functionality. 2) Test the product. The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a "Done", usable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created. This applies to every Sprint

What is the agenda of the Sprint Review Meeting?

1) Live Product Demonstration of a potentially shippable (properly tested) product increment 2) Product Owner declares which committed PBIs are done and which items aren't. 3) (Optional) Measure Velocity 4) Stakeholder feedback resulting in additional items added to the Product Backlog

What are effective ways to encourage collaborations between the Scrum Development Team and external departments or other Scrum Teams?

1) Remove impediments to team member travel. 2) Walk them over to their desks and meeting spaces. 3) Introduce them to each other. 4) Listen to their communications.

The Length of a Sprint should be:

1) Short enough to keep the business risk acceptable to the Product Owner. 2) Short enough to be able to synchronize the development work with other business events. 3) No more than one month.

Who is on the Scrum Team?

1) The Scrum Master 2) The Product Owner 3) The Development Team The Scrum Team consists of the Scrum Master (manages the process), the Product Owner (decides what to do) and the Development Team (does the work).

What are the explicitly defined questions in the Daily Scrum Meeting?

1) What did I do yesterday (or since the last Scrum Meeting)? 2) What will I do today (or before the next Scrum Meeting)? 3) What impedes me (blocks my progress, reduces my effectiveness, etc.)?

What is the recommended size for a Development Team (within the Scrum Team)?

3 to 9 Optimal Development Team size is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work. Fewer than three Development Team members decreases interaction and results in smaller productivity

The maximum length of the Sprint Review (its time-box) is:

4 hours for a monthly Sprint. For shorter Sprints it is usually shorter. Sprint Review is a four-hour time-boxed meeting for one-month Sprints. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter.

How long should the Sprint Planning Meeting be for a two-week Sprint?

4 hours maximum.

During Sprint Execution, when are new Sprint Tasks added?

As soon as possible after they are identified, unless they reflect a scope change in the Sprint goals or committed Product Backlog Items.

In a good retrospective, when are decisions made?

At the end of the meeting, after all team members have expressed themselves.

When are PBIs committed, or forecasted, to the Sprint?

During the Sprint Planning Meeting.

The Sprint Backlog is fully formulated in the Sprint Planning meeting and does not change during the Sprint. (T/F)

False The Sprint Backlog makes visible all of the work that the Development Team identifies as necessary to meet the Sprint Goal. The Development Team modifies the Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, and the Sprint Backlog emerges during the Sprint.

In a Scrum organization, what is a responsibility of management external to the Scrum Team?

Help resolve team-reported impediments and improve the larger organization.

When does a Development Team member become the sole owner of a Sprint Backlog item?

Never. All Sprint Backlog Items are "owned" by the entire Development Team, even though each one may be implemented by an individual development team member. Sprint Backlog and all of its items are collectively owned by the Development Team. No individual team member can claim ownership over an item as this would block communication and collaboration.

Is Test Driven Development (TDD) a part of Scrum?

No. Scrum is only a feedback framework. It does not specify particular technical practices.

How many Sprints are planned during a Sprint Planning Meeting?

One Sprint only. Once a team has established a consistent velocity, the Product Owner can use this velocity to make longer range forecasts and release plans.

What is a good size for a Sprint Task?

One person-day or less, so other team members can easily detect when a task is stuck.

What best describes a Product Owner's responsibility?

Optimizing the value of the work the Development Team does. The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team.

Between a PBI and a task, which is more about the "what" and which is more about the "how"?

PBI: What Task: How

During a Sprint, a Development Team determines that it will not be able to finish the complete forecast. Who should be present to review and adjust the Sprint work selected?

The Product Owner and the Development Team. During the Sprint, scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Development Team as more is learned.

Who owns Sprint plans?

The Team owns them collectively.

What's the best time within the Sprint Review Meeting to discuss feedback from outside stakeholders?

The end, after the demonstration and measurement of which goals were achieved.

When is the Sprint Backlog created?

During the Sprint Planning Meeting, though the tasks needed to accomplish the fixed goals will change during Sprint execution.

How frequently do experienced Agile software developers test?

Every time the code changes (potentially many times per day).

When multiple teams work together on the same product, each team should maintain a separate Product Backlog. (T/F)

False Products have one Product Backlog, regardless of how many teams are used. Any other setup makes it difficult for the Development Team to determine what it should work on.

It is mandatory that the product increment be released to production at the end of each Sprint. (T/F)

False The product increment should be usable and releasable at the end of every Sprint, but it does not have to be released.

When does the next Sprint begin?

Immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.

How big should tasks be?

No bigger than one day of work.

Is a safety check by itself a complete Sprint Retrospective?

No.

Should the Product Backlog contain tasks?

No.

In Scrum, is it acceptable to postpone testing until another Sprint?

No. In Scrum, teams attempt to build a potentially shippable product increment every Sprint.

During the Daily Scrum, what physical arrangement encourages collaboration the most?

Standing in an unobstructed circle, without laptops or phones.

What's the difference between the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog?

The Product Backlog contains everything we might ever work on, while the Sprint Backlog contains just the thing we'll work on during one Sprint.

If we keep the product visible and encourage open communication, will the Product Backlog usually get bigger or smaller over time?

The Product Backlog will grow because people will ask for things in response to what they've seen.

During a Sprint Execution, who are the "information radiators" such as the taskboard or sometimes a Sprint Burndown Chart for?

The Team, so they can take responsibility for their own work habits.

Why is the Daily Scrum held at the same time and same place?

The consistency reduces complexity.

What is the reason to demonstrate working products frequently?

To accelerate our understanding of the user's real needs.

What is the main objective of the Backlog Refinement Meeting?

To get a better understanding of upcoming work and split it to form smaller PBIs.

What's a good use for velocity?

To help the Product Owner make forecasts about what might be done by a given release date.

Some Scrum Teams who have learned how to define small enough PBIs no longer find tasks necessary. (T/F)

True.

What are the two primary ways a Scrum Master keeps a Development Team working at its highest level of productivity?

1) By facilitating Development Team decisions 2) By removing impediments that hinder the Development Team A Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Development Team. Facilitation and removing impediments serves a team in achieving the best productivity possible.

In a Scrum organization, what is a responsibility of management internal to the Scrum Team?

1) Coordinate activities between Scrum Teams. 2) Set up performance appraisals. 3) Monitor the Sprint Burndown Chart to ensure individuals are contributing. 4) Monitor the Daily Scrum Meetings and reward team players.

What two conditions of a Sprint foster creativity, quality, and productivity?

1) The Development Team should not be interrupted during the Sprint. 2) The Sprint Goal should remain intact.

Who must attend the Sprint Planning Meeting?

1) The Product Owner. 2) The Scrum Development Team. 3) The Scrum Master.

The time-box for a Daily Scrum is?

15 Minutes The length of a daily Scrum is time-boxed at 15 minutes, it does not change with the length of a Sprint.

What is the Timebox for a Sprint Retrospective Meeting?

3 hours for a monthly Sprint. For shorter Sprints it is usually shorter.

The time-box for the Sprint Planning meeting is?

8 hours for a monthly Sprint. For shorter Sprints it is usually shorter.

What best describes Scrum?

A framework within which complex products in complex environments are developed. OR A framework with built-in reality checks for complex work in uncertain domains. Scrum is not a process or a technique for building products; rather, it is a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques.

In an uncertain world, should a Scrum Master focus on creating an efficient team or a learning team?

A learning team. A learning team can become efficient when necessary.

What is the difference between a PBI and task?

A well-formed PBI represents distinct business value, ideally from the customer's perspective. A task is just a step by the team to create that value.

How often do Scrum teams that fully embrace Agile technical practices integrate their work and rerun the regression tests?

Continuously as things change; potentially many times per day.

What's the difference between acceptance criteria and definition of done?

Definition of done applies globally to all PBIs of a product, while acceptance criteria pertain to specific items. Acceptance criteria could also form the basis of new stories.

The team should expect to know all the tasks necessary to complete the committed PBIs during the Sprint Planning Meeting. (T/F)

False. Other tasks, such as unanticipated dependencies, will be discovered during the Sprint Execution.

Most organizations that claim to be doing Scrum _____.

Have modified the difficult, uncomfortable parts that could have led to breakthroughs.

What is the main reason for the Scrum Master to be at the Daily Scrum?

He or she does not have to be there; he or she only has to ensure the Development Team has a Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master enforces the rule that only Development Team members participate in the Daily Scrum.

What does the term "refactoring" mean when applied to source code?

Improving internal structure only, e.g. removing duplicate code.

What should a Product Owner usually do with a partially complete PBI?

Return the entire PBI wherever he wants within the Product Backlog.

Does Scrum have rules, or just guidelines?

Scrum has had a few simple rules for a decade or two, with minor refinements.

What is the role of Management in Scrum?

Support the Product Owner with insights and information into high value product and system capabilities. Support the Scrum Master to cause organizational change that fosters empiricism, self-organization, bottom-up intelligence, and intelligent release of software. Management has no active role in the actual product development through Scrum. However, management external to the Scrum team is incredibly important in setting the vision and strategy to guide the overall direction of the organization.

Who should know the most about the progress toward a business objective or a release, and be able to explain the alternatives most clearly?

The Product Owner The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog, which includes that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next.

Who has the final say on the order of the Product Backlog?

The Product Owner The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog.

In an organization that embraces Agile values, who would be responsible for tool selection and configuration?

The teams, who would have to coordinate with each other.

What is pair programming?

Two people share one workstation, typically taking turns typing while the other pays attention and helps.

The Product Backlog is ordered by:

Whatever is deemed most appropriate by the Product Owner. The Product Owner decides what makes the most sense to optimize the value of the work being done by the Development Team.

When should a Product Backlog Item (PBI) be considered done?

When the Product Owner declares it meets the definition of done and any acceptance criteria negotiated with the team.

When is Sprint Execution Completed?

When the timebox expires.

The purpose of a Sprint is to produce a done increment of working product. (T/F)

True The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a "Done", usable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created.

The Development Team should have all the skills needed to

Turn the Product Backlog items it selects into an increment of potentially releasable product functionality. The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable increment of "Done" product at the end of each sprint. Development teams are cross-functional, with all of the skills as a team necessary to create a product increment.

Upon what type of process control is Scrum based?

Empirical Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory, or empiricism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known.

In Scrum, how often is the Sprint Retrospective Meeting conducted?

Every Sprint.

How can one Scrum team build a potentially shippable product increment within one Sprint?

1) By checking code in multiple times per day, and by reducing or eliminating branches in the version control system. 2) By full-time allocation to one team, focusing on only one set of Sprint goals. 3) By improved collaboration techniques: pair programming, working in a team room, and eliminating "over the wall" hand offs. 4) By using modern software engineering approaches, such as test-driven development (TDD), continuous design, continuous integration, merciless refactoring. 5) By organizing teams around features rather than architectural components. 6) By agreeing to a smaller amount of feature scope at the Sprint Planning Meeting, allowing more time for integration, testing, and fixing during each Sprint.

What skills are often useful or necessary on a Scrum Development Team?

1) Coding 2) Software design/architecture 3) Database 4) Business domain knowledge and requirements analysis 5) User interface design, user experience, information architecture 6) Testing 7) Technical writing

The three pillars of empirical process control are:

1) Inspection 2) Transparency 3)Adaptation Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory, or empiricism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known. Three pillars uphold every implementation of empirical process control: transparency, inspection, and adaptation

To avoid technical debt, what should the team write down in their definition of done?

1) Regression tests for new functionality run automatically with every build. 2) Manual, exploratory testing has been conducted. 3) All previous regression tests pass. 4) Duplicate code has been removed through refactoring. 5) Messy and poorly designed code has been cleaned up through refactoring. 6) Checkout and build are fully reproducible, typically with one or two commands. 7) Code has been written by pairs, or at least reviewed by other team members.

What is the Development Team responsible for?

1) Resolving internal conflicts. 2) Planning how to meat a Sprint goal. 3) Increasing Productivity and learning. 4) Coordinating daily during the Sprint to meet the Sprint goal.

What is the order of Scrum Events?

1) Sprint Planning Meeting 2) Daily Scrums (Daily) 3) Sprint Review Meeting 4) Sprint Retrospective Meeting Backlog Refinement Meeting: required activity, not required event

What are effective ways for the Scrum Master to encourage collaboration between the Scrum Development Team and Product Owner?

1) Teach the team to talk in terms of business needs and objectives. 2) Listen to their communications. 3) Teach the Product Owner about technologies the team uses.

An organization has decided to adopt Scrum, but management wants to change the terminology to fit with terminology already used. What will likely happen if this is done?

1) Without a new vocabulary as a reminder of the change, very little change may actually happen. 2) The organization may not understand what has changed with Scrum and the benefits of Scrum may be lost. 3) Management may feel less anxious.

What is the longest allowable iteration, or Sprint, in Scrum?

30 days, or one calendar month, but one or two weeks is recommended.

What is NOT an effective way for the Scrum Master to encourage collaboration between the Scrum Development Team and Product Owner?

Act as a go-between for them.

What is NOT an effective way to encourage collaborations between the Scrum Development Team and external departments or other Scrum Teams?

Act as a go-between for them.

When many Development Teams are working on a single product, what best describes the definition of "done?"

All Development Teams must have a definition of "done" that makes their combined work potentially releasable. Scrum requires an Increment to be releasable. This is an Increment of product. Many teams working on a single product are expected to deliver such an Increment.

When should the Product Backlog be re-prioritized?

Always. The Product Owner should re-prioritize the Product Backlog constantly, as we learn more.

How much work must a Development Team do to a Product Backlog item it selects for a Sprint?

As much as it has told the Product Owner will be done for every Product Backlog item it selects in conformance with the definition of "Done". The purpose of each Sprint is to deliver Increments of potentially releasable functionality that adhere to the Scrum Team's current definition of "Done".

Development Team membership should change:

As needed, while taking into account a short term reduction in productivity. Teams typically go through some steps before achieving a state of increased performance. Changing membership typically reduces cohesion, affecting performance and productivity in the short term.

When should a Retrospective Meeting be held?

At the end of each Sprint, after the Sprint Review Meeting.

How often should the Backlog Refinement Meeting (a.k.a. Backlog Grooming occur?

Every Sprint.

The Product Backlog should contain tasks. (T/F)

False.

What is the best measure of progress?

How much work has been finished.

According to Bill Wake, the acronym "INVEST" can help you remember what a well-formed Product Backlog looks like. What does "INVEST" stand for?

Independent Negotiable Valuable Estimable Small Testable

The CEO asks the Development Team to add a "very important" item to a Sprint that is in progress. What should the Development Team do?

Inform the Product Owner so he/she can work with the CEO. The items selected for a Sprint have been selected as most valuable with the Product Owner. The items serve the Sprint's goal. No changes should be made that endanger the Sprint Goal. No one external to the Scrum Team can force changes on the Development Team (Sprint Backlog) and the Product Owner (Product Backlog).

What often happens to the Product Backlog as development continues from Sprint to Sprint?

It gets larger, because every Sprint Review demonstration prompts requests for more or different features.

What best describes the Sprint Review?

It is when the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect the outcome of a Sprint and figure out what to do next. Every event in Scrum, besides the Sprint which is a container for the other events, is an opportunity to Inspect AND Adapt.

How is the Product Backlog arranged?

Most important items at the top to least important items at the bottom. No two items can be exactly the same priority, especially at the top.

Does Scrum have a concept of a "partially done" PBI?

No. It's important to avoid self deception.

Do most people use most features of most software products?

No. Many people wish the 20% of features they actually use the most had been properly tested.

During the Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master's role is to:

Teach the Development Team to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15 minute time-box. The Scrum Master ensures that the Development Team has the meeting, but the Development Team is responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum. The Scrum Master teaches the Development Team to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15-minute time-box. The Scrum Master enforces the rule that only Development Team members participate in the Daily Scrum.

Who is required to attend the Daily Scrum?

The Development Team Only the people doing the work described on the Sprint Backlog need to inspect and adapt at the Daily Scrum. If the Scrum Master or Product Owner is also on the Development Team, they will need to be at the Daily Scrum. Otherwise, the Scrum Master simply has to make sure the Development Team knows how to conduct a Daily Scrum and does so.

Who is responsible for managing the progress of work during a Sprint?

The Development Team 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.

Who estimates the effort to complete a Product Backlog Item?

The Scrum Development Team, after clarifying the requirement.

What does it mean to say that an event has a time-box?

The event can take no more than a maximum amount of time.

Scrum does not have a role called "project manager." (T/F)

True A Scrum Team has a Scrum Master, a Product Owner and a Development Team. As a whole they have all controls needed.

When is a Sprint over?

When the time-box expires. The duration of a Sprint is fixed and cannot be shortened or lengthened.

What should the Scrum Master do after tallying the safety check results?

Ask the group to interpret the safety graph histogram results.

Is retrospective safety enhanced by inviting outside spectators who weren't working on the team?

No. If the team needs to discuss issues with outsiders it's usually better to do this after the retrospective.

Who is responsible for committing to work in the Sprint Planning Meeting?

The Development Team