Hiro Takashimya

In the Sprint Retrospective, there is discussion that the quality of the Increment is not sufficient for going to production. In response, a Scrum Team member points out the high velocity reached by the team. What are the two best actions for the Scrum Master to take?
(choose the best two answers)
A. Stress the value of working product over measured velocity.
B. Agree and praise the Developers for their hard work, so they are motivated to do even more in the next Sprint.
C. Acknowledge the hard work but remind the Developers that they need to improve in order to do even more in the next Sprint.
D. Facilitate a discussion on how to improve the quality to a level sufficient for production, even if the measured velocity will drop in the next Sprint.

True or False: Using Scrum ensures that adding more resources to a product delivery effort proportionally increases the value delivered.
A. True
B. False

After some small experiments with Scrum, your company decides to do a complete project with Scrum. As Scrum Master you have been invited to the “project kick-off meeting” with IT and product management.
The Product Owner asks how many Sprints IT will need to first figure out architecture and infrastructure issues. What are two options to explain how such work is managed using Scrum?
(choose the best two answers)
A. You explain that product management should not worry about such typical IT work. You inform them that you will assure that the team members reach out to the right people within the IT organization when needed. During each Sprint Planning meeting they will keep the Product Owner updated about the additional effort it will take for that Sprint. That effort will come on top of the effort for the forecasted functional development.
B. You explain that technical risks are best controlled when architecture and infrastructure emerge alongside the development of functionality. The additional advantage is that business value is created faster and sooner.
C. You thank product management for understanding that these efforts indeed require effort and budget. You confirm that architecture and infrastructure are best handled before starting Scrum, but that the exact budget is difficult to calculate upfront. You say you will organize this work in timeboxed Sprints of no more than 30 days to limit risk and be transparent toward product management on the actual progress.
D. You educate the Product Owner to add this work to Product Backlog to uphold transparency. Ask the Developers to plan work during the first several Sprints to estimate these items, while also creating some business functionality in these early Sprints.

Another team’s Scrum Master seeks your advice. The Daily Scrum always runs longer than 15 minutes. The Developers suggest splitting the Scrum Team into two teams. What is your response?
(choose the best answer)
A. You agree – this is an appropriate solution to the problem.
B. You disagree – you tell the Scrum Master that as Scrum Master they need to manage the timebox better.
C. You disagree – there is not enough information to justify splitting a team into two teams. You ask if there is anything you can do to help your colleague, for example observe one of the Daily Scrums with them.
D. You agree – splitting the team into two is a good strategy to allow the teams to learn how to run Daily Scrums quickly and effectively. Once they have learned to limit the Daily Scrum to 15 minutes, you can combine the teams again.