Answering: “True or False: Product Owners must specify complete acceptance criteria for a Product Backlog item before the Developers can select the item in Sprint Planning.”

False. The Developers can select an item in Sprint Planning without complete acceptance criteria. Scrum only asks that items be refined enough to be done within one Sprint.

Exam Question

True or False: Product Owners must specify complete acceptance criteria for a Product Backlog item before the Developers can select the item in Sprint Planning.

• A. True
• B. False

Correct Answer

B. False

Why This Is the Correct Answer

The Scrum Guide says items “that can be Done by the Scrum Team within one Sprint are deemed ready for selection in a Sprint Planning event.” Acceptance criteria are not part of Scrum, and in complex work they could never be truly complete before the work starts. The Product Owner and Developers keep clarifying details during the Sprint, and “scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned.”

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

A. True Requiring complete criteria up front is a gate the Scrum Guide does not have. It also suggests a hand-off from Product Owner to Developers, when Scrum expects them to work out details together.

Exam Tip

This question has a twin about “clear and unambiguous” acceptance criteria. Both are false for the same reason: Scrum never requires acceptance criteria.

Key Takeaways

• Ready for selection means it can be done within one Sprint.
• Acceptance criteria are optional and emerge over time.
• Details are clarified collaboratively during the Sprint.