Reasoning: The Product Backlog is ordered on the basis of the value provided to the
business. Value may be influenced by several other factors like risk, complexity, and criticality
but is not the direct basis for calculating value. The value of the item being delivered is
calculated by the Product Owner, who is responsible for ordering the Product Backlog.
Reasoning: In Scrum, it is mandatory to conduct all the Scrum ceremonies including
the Sprint Retrospective. The Sprint Retrospective is a meeting where ALL the team members sit
and reflect upon the current sprint and lay out action items to improve for the upcoming sprints.
For this reason, the Sprint Retrospective is conducted at the end of each Sprint.
Reasoning: Since they are still in the Sprint Planning meeting and have not yet
started the Sprint, the developers are free to make changes to the Sprint Backlog items. They can
choose to remove some of the items which they think can't be completed at their current capacity.
Note that addition or removal should always be done with the consensus of the Product Owner as the
one who decides on the Priority of these items. Removal is not allowed once the Sprint has
started.
Reasoning: The main responsibility of a self-organizing team is to estimate the
product backlog items, pull them from the top of the Product Backlog, and break them down into
multiple tasks that can be assigned to the individuals in a team and finally developing them.
Reasoning: The Scrum Master is the person who is responsible for facilitating/coaching
the Development Team and the Product Owner to work on the day-to-day development activities.
It is the SM who ensures that the team understands the Scrum Values and Principles and is able to
practice them. At the same time, the Scrum Master also assures that the Team feels enthusiastic
about Agile. The Scrum Master also helps and supports the team to become self-organized,
and removes impediments to their progress.
Reasoning: The ideology behind creating a Definition of Done is to have a checklist
that is common to all Sprint Items and which determines everything that needs to be done in order
to complete a backlog item. Having a Definition of Done will build a common understanding among
everyone on the team, and will allow everyone to understand what it means when a Development Team
says something is complete. Further, the Development Team can now think and plan more effectively
as they know what is expected from a particular work item.
Reasoning: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective are
the four ceremonies
in Scrum. They are opportunities for inspection and adaptation.
During a Sprint Review, the idea is to inspect and seek feedback from the stakeholders.
Reasoning: The Development Team is required to attend the Daily Standup meeting every
day. Anyone else who wishes to attend the meeting is very much welcome, but it is not mandatory
for them. Other than the Development Team, whoever is attending the meeting IS NOT ALLOWED to
verbally participate. They may listen while others are participating. The Scrum Master can attend
the meeting and also facilitate it if he has been requested to do so by the Development Team.
Reasoning: The ideal and recommended development team size should be 6 ± 3.
Development Team size should be chosen very wisely as it can directly hamper the productivity of
the team, impacting the product delivery. The Development Team should not be very large as it
a larger team will require more coordination among the team members. However, for a very small
team, it may be more difficult to have all the skills required to deliver a sprint.
Reasoning: In Scrum, all the ceremonies are time boxed, meaning they cannot be
extended. Except for a Sprint, other activities cannot be shortened, either. The Product Backlog
Refinement is one such meeting that is not timeboxed; rather, it is a continuous process
and can be conducted whenever the team wants. Note that the team shouldn't spend too much of
their time in the Backlog Refinement Meeting, because it could take time away from their assigned
tasks.
Reasoning: The output of every Sprint is an increment of complete working swoftware
which can be delivered to the end user. An item is only marked done if it matches the definition
of done.
Reasoning: In a Scrum Team, there are only three roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner,
and the Development Team. No other role is allowed and there is no exception to this rule. One
of the Development Team members may be more inclined towards testing and may have testing as an
area of expertise, but they would still be called a Developer.
Reasoning: The power to cancel a Sprint lies only with the Product Owner. They can
cancel an ongoing Sprint when the Sprint Items are no longer required by the business, i.e. the
items have become obsolete.
Reasoning: It is the Product Owner's responsibility to measure the Project
performance to insure the team is on track to complete the project on time.
Reasoning: The burndown chart represents the amount of remaining work with respect to
time. The horizontal axis shows time, and the vertical axis shows the amount of work remaining.
The burndown chart is one of several metrics that can be used to project the completion date of
the project given the product backlog, the team's capacity, and that the team's velocity remains
the same.
Reasoning: Because the Sprint can neither be extended nor shortened. For example, if
all the items of a Sprint are not completed, the Sprint is still marked as finished
and the
remaining items are moved to the Product Backlog from where they can be rescheduled to any of the
subsequent sprints. This must be based on a possibly revised priority. Similarly, the Sprint
should never be shortened. If all the Sprint items are completed before the end of the time box,
the development team is free to pull in the top Product Backlog items and start development on
those.
Reasoning: The Sprint Review Meeting is conducted to demonstrate the Sprint Increment
to Stakeholders and Customers, and to present the Project performance to the Stakeholders. The
Development Team is responsible for demonstrating the working product. The Product Owner is
responsible for presenting the Project's performance. The stakeholders and the customers are
openly invited to provide feedback which is then incorporated by the team.
Cross-Functional Development Team?
Reasoning: Cross-Functional Scrum Teams are teams having all the necessary skills
and proficiencies required to accomplish their tasks, without having to rely on anyone outside
the team. Thus, the Scrum Team is a very creative combination of the different skills required
for the project. Each team member may not necessarily have all the skills required to build the
product, but is competent in one area of expertise, or perhaps several. Individual team members
need not be cross-functional, but the team as a whole has to be.
This is NOT to say that individual team members shouldn't have more than one area of expertise; in
fact, it is best if everyone on the team gets to spend some time with ALL PARTS of the product so
that they can learn, and so they will better understand the product's big picture
.
Reasoning: In a case where the team is unable to complete all the Sprint Backlog
items, nothing happens. The Sprint ends on the stipulated date with the completed items. The
Development Team demonstrates the completed items in the Sprint Review meeting. The uncompleted
items are moved back to the Product Backlog and are again prioritized from there.
Reasoning: Product Backlog Refinement is an activity during which the entire team
sits together and brainstorms about the backlog items. During the meeting, backlog items are
refined and details are added. The items are then ordered based on their priority. Once the
items have been refined, the Development Team members estimate their durations.