52 Scrum Master Interview Questions

scrum.org/resources/blog/52-scrum-master-interview-questions

The Scrum Master Questions

1. What is the Agile Manifesto?

2. What is empiricism?
Decisions are made based on observation, experimentation and experience
rather than on detailed upfront planning. Simply, learning by doing.
3. What are the three pillars of Scrum and why are they important?
The pillars are Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation
These pillars form the basis of Scrum
4. What are the Five events in Scrum?
The Sprint
Sprint Planning
The Daily Scrum
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
5. What are the Three roles in Scrum?
The Scrum Master
The Product Owner
Developers
6. What are the Artefacts in Scrum?
The Product Backlog
The Sprint Backlog
The Increment
7. What events must the Scrum Master be present in?
Sprint itself
Sprint Planning
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective

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 8. What events must the Product Owner be present in?
Sprint itself
Sprint Planning
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
9. What events must the Developers be present in?
Sprint itself
The Daily Scrum
Sprint Planning
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
10. What is the Product Goal?
The Product Goal is the objective of the Sprint and usually results in releasable
value
11. How long is a Sprint?
Fixed length events of one month or less to create consistency.
12. What is the outcome of the Sprint?
A releasable increment of value
13. How does a Sprint control risk?
By limiting work, releasing value early and often and enabling frequent
learning
14. What is the purpose of the Daily Scrum?
Inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as
necessary, adjusting the upcoming planned work.
15. What are the outcomes of the Daily Scrum?
A plan for the day and a list of impediments to be resolved by either the team
or the Scrum Master
16. What is the timebox for the Daily Scrum?
15 minutes
17. What is the purpose of Sprint Planning?
Sprint Planning initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for
the Sprint. This resulting plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire
Scrum Team.
18. What are the outcomes of Sprint Planning?
The Sprint Goal
An initial Sprint Backlog
19. What is the timebox for Sprint Planning?
Sprint Planning is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month
Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter.
20. What is the purpose of the Sprint Review?
The purpose of the Sprint Review is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and
determine future adaptations. The Scrum Team presents the results of their
work to key stakeholders and progress toward the Product Goal is discussed.

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21. Who attends the Sprint Review?
The Scrum Team
Invited Stakeholders
22. What is the timebox for the Sprint Review?
Timeboxed to a maximum of four hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter
Sprints, the event is usually shorter.
23. What are the outcomes of the Sprint Review?
During the event, the Scrum Team and stakeholders review what was
accomplished in the Sprint and what has changed in their environment. Based
on this information, attendees collaborate on what to do next. The Product
Backlog may also be adjusted to meet new opportunities
24. What is the purpose of the Sprint Retrospective?
The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways for a team to increase
its quality and effectiveness. The team does this by reviewing its past
performance and generating concrete actions for improvement, to be executed
in the next Sprint.
25. What is the timebox for the Sprint Retrospective?
Timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter
Sprints, the event is usually shorter.
26. What are the outcomes of the Sprint Retrospective?
Actions for improvement to be executed in subsequent Sprints.
27. Who must attend the Sprint Retrospective?
The Scrum team
28. What are the five values of Scrum?
Successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living
five values:
Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage
29. Who owns the Product Backlog?
The Product Owner
30. Who owns the Sprint Backlog?
The Developers
31. Who can tell the Developers how to do their work?
The Developers self organise, no one tells them how to do their work
32. What skills are needed across the Developers to do their work?
They must be cross functional
33. What is an increment?
The result of a Sprints worth of work; potentially releasable value that builds
on previous releases.
34. Who decides whether an increment should be released or not?
The Product Owner
35. What is the best way to order a Product Backlog?
By Value
36. Who is accountable for delivering every Sprint?
The Scrum Team

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37. Who is accountable for creating a plan for the Sprint?
The Scrum Team in planning
38. What is the Definition of Done?
A checklist which details what a complete piece of work looks like
39. Who creates the Definition of Done?
The Developers or the Development Organisation
40. Who orders the Product Backlog?
The Product Owner with support from collaborators
41. How many people manage the Product Backlog?
The Product Owner manages the Product Backlog
42. Who can write Product Backlog Items
The Product Owner can do this themselves or delegate – the Product Owner
remains accountable for clear expression of Product Backlog Items
43. Who can cancel the Sprint?
Only the Product Owner
44. How does the Scrum Master serve the Product Owner?
Helping find techniques for effective Product Goal definition and Product
Backlog management;
Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product
Backlog items;
Helping establish empirical product planning for a complex environment; and,
Facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed.
45. What is a Product Backlog Item?
A unit of work in that results in value
46. What is the Product Owners responsibilities?
Ensuring that Product Backlog Items are transparent and well understood by
the developers
Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal
Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog items
Ordering Product Backlog items; and,
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood.
47. What work can the Product Owner delegate?
The Product Owner may do the above work (q46) or may delegate the
responsibility to others. Regardless, the Product Owner remains accountable.
48. There are multiple teams working towards delivery of ONE product, how many
product owners should there be?
One
49. During the Sprint new work is discovered, when should it be added to the Sprint
Backlog?
As soon as its discovered
50. What is Backlog Refinement?
Product Backlog refinement is the act of breaking down and further defining
Product Backlog items into smaller more precise items.
This is an ongoing activity to add details, such as a description, order, and size.
Attributes often vary with the domain of work.

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 51. What is the timebox for Backlog Refinement?
As much time as is needed
52. What is the outcome of Backlog Refinement?
A well understood, ordered Backlog

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