Cross-functional, self-organizing Teams. Responsibilities.

Teams 1 and 2 work on two different projects. Team 1 has 5 members, and a velocity of 450. Team B has 9 members, and a velocity of 700. Which team has a higher performance?

It depends on another factor. Velocity is not equal to value.

Which of the following is designed to synchronise multiple teams working on the same product?

Scrum-of-scrums is the meeting to synchronise multiple teams working on the same product

Who estimates the work during the Sprint?

All estimates are done by the Development Team, since they are the ones who know how to do the work.

The customer wants the Development Team to add a very important item to the current Sprint. What should they do?

Ask the Product Owner to work with the customer. Only the Product Owner can add new items to the Product Backlog, not to Sprint Backlog! The Product Owner should make the rejection clear to the customer, not the Dev Team. In very special cases, the new feature might be so especial, that the introduction of the new feature makes the current Sprint Goal invalid, and therefore the Product Owner will cancel the Sprint. Remember, this doesn't happen often.

Who monitors the remaining work of the Sprint Backlog?

The Development Team is responsible for measuring the progress of the Sprint and tracking the remaining work in the Sprint Backlog

The Scrum Team gathers for the Sprint Planning meeting. The Product Owner has some stories but the team finds that the stories do not provide enough information to make a forecast. The next immediate step is

The Development Team makes it transparent that they cannot make a forecast with insufficient information and negotiates with the Product Owner on refining the stories.

Who adds new work to the Sprint Backlog during the Sprint?

The Development Team owns the Sprint Backlog, and they are the only people who can change it. They may consult the Product Owner to see what the best change is.

Which of the following roles can set the definition of "Done"?

The development organization may have a definition of "Done" composed for all projects, in which case the team will use it as a minimum. Otherwise, the Development Team would be responsible for composing the definition of "Done".

What does it mean for a Development Team to be cross-functional?

The team includes not only programmers, but also testers, architects, UI designers, etc. Everything needed to create a potentially releasable piece of software, usable for the end users, should be done in the cross-functional team. So, they need to have all the expertise.

When multiple teams are working on the same project, how many Definitions of Done should they use?

There can be multiple definitions, as long as they have minimum required by organization and capable of creating a potentially releasable Increment. The teams might be working on different parts of the product (e.g. desktop application, mobile application, web application) or simply have different styles of work, and therefore require different Definitions of Done.

What's the main responsibility of testers?

There's no tester role in Scrum. There are only three roles in Scrum: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team. It's not allowed to define new roles and the Development Team members should not have any titles; they are all just "developers". It is so, because we want all of them to be accountable for everything and to collaborate with each other. Each person has his/her own area of expertise, such as testing, and that person will be more focused on testing tasks, but it doesn't mean that we can call the person "tester"; they are just developers who are experts in testing

Which of the following is common when the Scrum Team becomes mature enough during the project?

They will improve the Definition of Done. The Definition of Done includes quality methods and that's why we keep improving it when we mature.

Which of the following are ways for the stakeholders to interact with the Development Team? (choose 2 answers)

Through Product Owner and during Sprint Review. We don't want the team to be distracted; they need to stay focused and productive.

All work that the developers should do originate from the Product Backlog.

True. The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product. It is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product.

When multiple teams are working on the same product, their Sprints should be synchronised, and their outputs should be integrated into one integrated Increment.

True. Without this, it will be impossible to create a product

When can the composition of the Development Team change?

We can make the decision at any time, but make it effective in the beginning of next Sprint (not during Sprint). We don't expect it to change often, because it creates a short time reduction in the productivity, due to time spent on knowledge sharing. Increasing the number of developers does not always increase productivity.

Who's required to attend the Daily Scrum?

Daily Scrum is only for the Development Team, so no one else is "required to attend", and if they do, they are not supposed to "participate"; they just listen and watch

What does the Development Team do during the first Sprint? (select all that apply)

Develop and deliver at least one piece of done functionality every Sprint. This Increment is usable, so a Product Owner may choose to immediately release it.

How should multiple teams be composed for a single project?

Developers themselves will decide on how to form the teams.Developers should be self-organized and it's their responsibility to form the teams. Besides the initial formation, the developers might also decide to shift among teams at the beginning of each Sprint.

How are Product Backlog items selected in scaled Scrum?

Development Teams pull in items in agreement with the Product Owner

Who updates work remaining during the Sprint?

Development team. The Sprint Backlog is a plan with enough detail that changes in progress can be understood in the Daily Scrum. The Development Team modifies the Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, as it learns more about the work needed to achieve the Sprint Goal.

The number of developers has increased from 7 to 14. Now the Daily Scrums do not fit in 15 minutes. What's the best response to this problem?

Divide developers between scrum teams.

When the Scrum Team becomes mature enough, it doesn't need a Scrum Master anymore.

FALSE. Every Scrum Team needs a Scrum Master and a Product Owner, even if they are mature. Both roles can be part-time. Remember that the Scrum Master is also responsible for removing impediments. And it doesn't matter how mature you are in the process; it's always great to have someone to help you with issues.

What are two common benefits of self-organization?

Increased self-accountability and Increased commitment. Being self-organized means that the team finds its own way, instead of receiving orders. When it is so, there is more buy-in (commitment), accountability, and creativity among team members.

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.

When multiple teams are working on the same product, each team should have their definition of "Done".

All teams can use the same definition of "Done", but if required, they can have different definitions, as long as all have the minimums required by the development organization, compatible and capable of creating integrated Increments.

When multiple Scrum teams are working on the same product, should all of their outputs be integrated every Sprint?

All teams start and finish the Sprint at the same time, and their outputs would be combined and create an integrated Increment.We can't be sure that something is "Done", unless it's integrated. We usually integrate new pieces of code more than once a day in Agile projects.

How many hours per day should a Development Team member work?

At a sustainable pace.Working at a sustainable pace is one of the Agile principles. This helps increase productivity and quality.

The Development Team cannot deliver the Increment because they don't understand a functional requirement. What should they do?

Collaborate with the Product Owner to solve the problem. The Product Owner is responsible to make all items clear and understood. If the problem wasn't solved, then there's no option other than leaving it to go back to the Product Backlog at the end of the Sprint and be done later. If the Development Team cannot deliver some of the items, they will go back to the Product Backlog at the end of the Sprint, and they will be ordered again; they do not go to the next Sprint automatically.

Choose 3 activities which are the responsibilities of the Development Team in Scrum:

Designing the software as it's is part of the development. They are self-organized and make technical decisions. Estimation is the responsibility of the developers because they are the people who will develop the item.

Which is NOT a Development Team responsibility?

Breaking down Product Backlog items into smaller items. This is the responsibility of the Product Owner. The Development Team usually "helps" in this, but it doesn't make them responsible

Self-organizing teams are characterised by their ability to ...

Choose How to best accomplish its work. Make local decisions.

Who assigns tasks to the developers?

Developers themselves. They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality;​

Which is a Development Team responsibility?

Resolving internal team conflicts, Optimizing the work required for Sprint Backlog items, Measuring the performance of the Sprint.

The Development Team has decided not to have Daily Scrums. What should the Scrum Master do?

The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the framework is understood and enacted entirely. Otherwise, the Scrum Master should train and coach the members to do the right thing; s/he doesn't have the organizational authority to "order" them, because they are self-organized. For the same reason, we do not have an escalation system in Scrum.

The Development Team has realized that they have over committed themselves for the Sprint. Who should be present when they review and adjust the work?

When you see that you cannot deliver most of the items in the Sprint Backlog, you may want to refine priorities to make sure that you will deliver the highest value. To do that, you need to consult the Product Owner. The result can be a change in the priority of the items, or a change in the tasks. Stakeholders should not blame the developers for not delivering all items, because they start picking fewer items for the Sprint and became less productive.

Nine (9) Scrum Teams are working on a single product. Which of the following is the best way of planning Sprints?

Everyone meets in the same time to check the Product Backlog and to receive information from the Product Owner. Then they coordinate dependencies (even though PB items should be independent, the dependency between teams is a common problem in Scaled Scrum), shift team members as needed, and create their Sprint Backlogs. As long as whole The Development Team is sharing ownership and responsible for pulling items from Product Backlog, having one person representing a team is not a good option.

Scrum Teams should normalize their estimations, so that management can measure and compare their performance.

FALSE. It's almost impossible to make the estimate units (e.g. story points) comparable, and only creates problems such as padding. Besides that, the "management" is not supposed to measure their performance; they should be focused on the values generated by the project.

A real self-organized team does not need a Scrum Master.

False. A Scrum Team always needs a Scrum Master to ensure that the process is understood and followed entirely. The Scrum Master also protects the team and removes impediments.

A comprehensive branching and merging model in shared version control reduces the coordination problems when multiple teams are working on the same code

False. A development option is to "branch" a piece of code from the mainstream, make changes, and merge it back when it works properly. Others can branch the same code while other branches are developed, and it might create problems with merging. There might be some benefits in branching and merging, but it doesn't help with coordination and even makes it worse, because conflicts will be discovered later.

Developers sign up to own (individually) sprint backlog items at the Sprint Planning.

False. The ownership of the items and tasks are shared. The items are not even "assigned" to developers because they require multiple expertise. Only the tasks are assigned, and even then, their ownership is shared and the whole Development Team stays accountable for the work to be done.

When does the Development Team prepare the tools and infrastructure for the development?

Gradually throughout the project. Not upfront, because it requires an understanding of the whole product, which is against the adaptation concept.

Imagine you are a Scrum Master. There are 10 professionals (developers and QAs) and the Product Owner. How to distribute people between development teams?

It can be several teams, unless they are between 3 and 9. Each team should be cross-functional and self-organized. Developers will decide on teams composition. Optimal Development Team size is small enough to remain quick and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint. Fewer than 3 may may have not enough expertise and smaller productivity, more then 9 requires too much coordination. The Product Owner and Scrum Master roles are not included in this count unless they are also executing the work of the Sprint Backlog.

Which statement best describes the Sprint Backlog?

It's the Development Team's plan for the Sprint and its not detailed upfront! The Sprint Backlog is created during the Sprint Planning. It includes the items selected from the Product Backlog (by the Development Team), and the tasks created by decomposing the items (by the Development Team). The Development Team keeps adding tasks during the Sprint, so, the Sprint Backlog updates.

How should developers deal with non-functional features?

Non-functional features are usually part of the Definition of Done, and should be considered for every Product Backlog item and every Increment. Sometime, some non-functional features that address a very particular part of the software can be added as separate items in the Product Backlog.

Within every Sprint, the working Increment should be tested progressively starting from unit testing, then integration testing and then finally user acceptance testing

Not necessarily. It is up to the dev team to find the best approach to achieve this.

Our velocity was 250 at the end of the 6th Sprint. It has become 275 at the end of the 11th Sprint. Therefore, we're creating more value now, compared to the past.

Not necessarily. Velocity and value are not related directly.

What happens if the Development Team cannot complete its work by the end of the Sprint?

Nothing. The Development Team will deliver only the items that are 100% done based on the Definition of Done. Other items will go back to the Product Backlog at the end of the Sprint, and they will be ordered again; they do not go to the next Sprint automatically.

In the middle of the Sprint, a Development Team finds that they have more room for additional work. They decide to change the Sprint Backlog by adding a few more Backlog Items from the Product Backlog. Who should be present to decide additional work and accordingly modify the Sprint Backlog (choose 2 answers)

Product Owner and members of Development Team should decide which items they can add to current Sprint Backlog .

Which 3 of the following are responsibilities of a self-organizing team?

Pull Product Backlog items for the upcoming Sprint. Estimate the amount of work of newly created Product Backlog items. Create tasks for Sprint Backlog items during the Sprint.

While the Sprint Planning is progressing, the Development Team has realized that they don't have enough resources to complete all the selected Sprint Backlog items. Which two of the following is usually the best action?

Remove some of the items from the Sprint Backlog. If we want to, we can just start the Sprint with the high number of items, because nothing happens if we do not deliver everything, but the Product Owner should know the situation.

What should be the frequency of Inspection in Scrum? Select all that apply

Scrum users must frequently inspect Scrum artifacts and progress toward a Sprint Goal to detect undesirable variances. But not so frequently to be destructed from reaching the Goal. 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.

Which is NOT a Development Team responsibility?

Selecting the Product Owner. It's the Development Team's responsibility to measure their productivity and performance during the Sprint, find their way, plan, and optimize the work required for items and the Sprint Goal, and to resolve their own conflicts.

During the Daily Scrum, a team member says he doesn't know when his task will be complete.

The Development Team should collaborate to plan alternative steps such as pairing the member with someone else to eliminate the risk of not meeting the Sprint Goal.

Who makes sure that all developers are doing their tasks during the Sprint?

The Development Team take responsibility for doing the tasks, and the Development Team ensures that all tasks are done properly. When items are "Done", the Product Owner checks them, but this is focused on the item, rather than individuals; all developers are accountable for their outputs

Who must do all the work required for Product Backlog items, to make sure they are potentially releasable?

The Development Team. The Development Team is cross-functional and does the A to Z of each Product Backlog item. They don't need any external help. The work of the Product Owner and the Scrum Master are different and they do not do anything directly on the items.

A developer does not work properly and is blocking the team activity. Who should decide on removing that person?

The Development Team. This is the responsibility of the Development Team, because it's self-organized. Since it's some kind of impediment, they may also get help from the Scrum Master.

Which statement is correct when the developers are working in the middle of the Sprint?

The Product Backlog items in the Sprint Backlog would not be added or removed, but as more is learned, the scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Development Team.