Coach the Product Owner that the Sprint’s selected items are a forecast, not a promise, because work emerges as the team learns. Pushing the team harder, adding people or brushing off the concern are all poor responses.
Exam Question
You are the Scrum Master of a Scrum Team that is new to Scrum. The Product Owner comes to you halfway through the Sprint and says, “I don’t feel like the Developers will be able to meet their commitment to deliver the Product Backlog items selected during Sprint Planning.” What should you do in this situation? (choose the best answer)
- A. Talk to the Developers. Challenge and inspire them to complete all of the work so that they meet their commitment to the Product Owner and have the forecasted velocity.
- B. Coach the Product Owner that with complex software development, you cannot promise the entire scope that was forecast during Sprint Planning. As more is learned during the Sprint, work may emerge that affects the Sprint Backlog.
- C. Advise the Product Owner that the Developers own the Sprint Backlog and it is up to them to meet their commitments. No one tells the Developers how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality.
- D. Add more people to the Scrum Team to meet the Product Owner’s expectations.
Correct Answer
B. Coach the Product Owner that with complex software development, you cannot promise the entire scope that was forecast during Sprint Planning. As more is learned during the Sprint, work may emerge that affects the Sprint Backlog.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
The Scrum Guide calls the selected Product Backlog items a forecast and uses commitment only for the Sprint Goal. It says scope “may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned.” This Scrum Team is new, so the Product Owner still expects fixed delivery of every item. The Scrum Master serves the Product Owner by helping them understand empirical planning. Once the Product Owner sees the forecast as an estimate, the conversation shifts to what matters most for the Sprint Goal. The Product Owner and Developers can then agree on which work to keep.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
A. Push the Developers to meet their commitment and velocity. Pressuring the team treats a forecast as a contract. It risks cutting quality to hit a number.
C. Tell the Product Owner it is the Developers’ problem. The Developers do own the Sprint Backlog, but this answer dismisses the Product Owner and misses the chance to coach on forecasts. It also uses the outdated term “potentially releasable”.
D. Add more people to the team. Adding people mid-Sprint usually slows a team down as newcomers ramp up. It also treats scope as fixed.
Exam Tip
When a question uses “commitment” for selected Product Backlog items, it is often setting a trap. In the 2020 Guide, the Sprint Goal is the commitment and the items are a forecast.
Key Takeaways
- Selected items are a forecast; the Sprint Goal is the commitment.
- The Scrum Master coaches the Product Owner on empirical planning.
- Scope can be renegotiated as the team learns.
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More PSM II exam questions
- Which four of the following risks to product development are addressed by Scrum?
- Several Sprints into a project, the Product Owner tells the Scrum Master that a key stakeholder just started using the product. The stakeholder is unhappy with the slow performance, a complaint that the Product Owner agrees on. How will you move this forward?
- During a Sprint Review, the Product Owner determines that she is going to release the current Increment to production. The stakeholders ask to stop the Sprint to react more quickly to the user feedback that is expected after this release. The Product Owner prefers to continue the Sprint to make progress with the next release. You facilitate a discussion on how to proceed. What are two acceptable results of this discussion?
- Towards the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, the Product Owner and the Developers have not been able to reach a clear, mutual understanding about the highest order Product Backlog items. Because of this, the Developers could not figure out how many Product Backlog items they could forecast for the upcoming Sprint. The Product Owner did make clear what business objective he is hoping to achieve with this Sprint. Which of the following two actions would you support?
- What is the way to determine if the Product Owner is interacting with the Developers enough throughout a Sprint?