Practice for the Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I) exam with 17 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: What is the impact of a changing environment on the Product Backlog?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- What is the impact of a changing environment on the Product Backlog?
- The Scrum Master does the following regarding the Daily Scrum (select all that apply):
- For the first Sprint, the inputs are the Product Backlog and the Projected Capacity of the Developers. What a…
- What does Product Backlog management include? Select the three most applicable answers.
- Who must present the new increment to the stakeholders during the Sprint Review? (choose the best answer)
- The Scrum Master should not allow the Product Owner to attend Sprint Planning if the Product Owner is not rea…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. What is the impact of a changing environment on the Product Backlog?
Answer: A. The Product Backlog is a living artifact that evolves as the product and the environment in which it will be used evolves.
The Product Backlog is a living artifact that constantly evolves as the product, environment, and stakeholder needs change over time. It is never static or locked in, because Scrum embraces changing requirements to maximize value.
Q2. The Scrum Master does the following regarding the Daily Scrum (select all that apply):
Answer: A,B,C. If others are present at the Daily Scrum, ensures that they do not disrupt the meeting || Ensures that the Developers have the meeting || Teaches the Developers to keep the Daily Scrum within the 15-minute time-box
The Scrum Master ensures the Developers hold the event, teaches them to respect the timebox, and prevents disruptions from others. Remember that the Scrum Master is never responsible for running the Daily Scrum, as it belongs strictly to the Developers.
Q3. For the first Sprint, the inputs are the Product Backlog and the Projected Capacity of the Developers. What are the additional inputs to the subsequent Sprints?
Answer: C,D. Past performance of the Developers || Latest Product Increment
For subsequent Sprints, Sprint Planning also considers the past performance of the Developers and the latest product Increment. This is because prior velocity and the current state of the product help guide realistic planning.
Q4. What does Product Backlog management include? Select the three most applicable answers.
Answer: B,C,D. Optimizing the value of the work the Developers perform || Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions || Ensuring that the Product Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Scrum Team will work on next
The selected answers are correct because Product Backlog management includes optimizing value, ordering items, and ensuring transparency. A key exam cue is that Developers pull items into the Sprint Backlog themselves during Sprint Planning, so moving items is not a Product Backlog management activity.
Q5. Who must present the new increment to the stakeholders during the Sprint Review? (choose the best answer)
Answer: B. The Scrum Team
The entire Scrum Team collaborates with stakeholders during the Sprint Review to inspect the increment. Do not pick the Product Owner or Developers alone, because inspecting the outcome is a shared team responsibility.
Q6. The Scrum Master should not allow the Product Owner to attend Sprint Planning if the Product Owner is not ready with a Sprint Goal. Is this true or false?
Answer: A. False
This is false because the Product Owner must attend Sprint Planning to collaborate on creating the Sprint Goal. Remember that Scrum events rely on teamwork rather than exclusion based on readiness.
Q7. What are the true statements? (choose the best two answers)
Answer: A,D. Only the Developers should be responsible for estimating the Product Backlog Items || Only the Product Owner can cancel the Sprint. Others can only influence the decision to cancel
Only Developers are responsible for sizing or estimating Product Backlog items, and only the Product Owner can cancel a Sprint. Remember that a Product Owner can delegate backlog updates, making that distractor false.
Q8. What is the order of items in the Product Backlog?
Answer: B. Less valuable and most unclear items at the bottom
The Product Backlog is ordered to maximize value, with the most valuable and clear items typically placed at the top. For the exam, remember that the Product Owner orders items based on priority, not simply by when they were added or alphabetically.
Q9. When is the Scrum Team allowed to interact with the Key Stakeholders (select the most applicable option)?
Answer: B. Any time where it's valuable to have the Stakeholder input
A Scrum Team can interact with stakeholders at any time if it provides valuable input for the product. While Sprint Reviews are formal feedback events, Scrum does not restrict necessary stakeholder collaboration to official meetings.
Q10. What does the Sprint Burndown Chart show?
Answer: D. How much work remains till the end of the Sprint
A Sprint Burndown chart visually tracks how much total work remains until the end of the Sprint. While not a mandatory official artifact, it is a highly common progress tracking tool you will see tested on the exam.
Q11. It is a good practice to have from time to time a special technical Sprint that consists only of tasks removing the technical debt without implementing any new functionality.
Answer: A. False
The correct answer is false because Scrum prohibits dedicated technical Sprints; every Sprint must produce a usable Increment. For the exam, remember that fixing technical debt must occur continuously alongside new feature development rather than in separate phases.
Q12. When multiple Scrum Teams are working on the same product, should they integrate all their work into a single functional increment every Sprint?
Answer: D. Yes, so that the whole Scrum Team and the Stakeholders can inspect a full piece of functionality at the Sprint Review.
Multiple teams working on one product must integrate their work into a single functional increment every Sprint. This enables proper inspection at the Sprint Review. Dismiss options suggesting integration sprints or independent deliveries.
Q13. When does inspection occur?
Answer: C. Frequently, but not so often that gets in the way of work.
Inspection happens frequently throughout Scrum events, but it must not get in the way of actual work. While the Sprint Review is a formal opportunity for inspection, adapting and inspecting continually throughout the Sprint is critical for empirical process control.
Q14. Why does the Scrum framework recommend small Scrum Teams of 10 or fewer people?
Answer: B. Because they communicate better
The Scrum Guide notes that smaller teams generally communicate better. However, the official guide primarily highlights that small teams remain nimble while being large enough to complete significant work, making the provided correct option slightly narrow but ultimately accurate.
Q15. What doesn't happen when a Sprint is cancelled? Select two.
Answer: A,E. Several top Product Backlog Items are taken into the Sprint Backlog to replace the obsolete items || At the Sprint Retrospective the Scrum Master determines who from the Developers are responsible for cancelling the Sprint
When a Sprint is cancelled, work does not get swapped in, and blame is never assessed. Any completed work is reviewed, while incomplete items return to the Product Backlog. Remember that only the Product Owner can cancel a Sprint early.
Q16. Select the two events in which people outside the Scrum Team are NOT allowed to participate.
Answer: B,C. The Sprint Retrospective || The Daily Scrum
Only the Scrum Team participates in the Sprint Retrospective, and only the Developers participate in the Daily Scrum. Others may attend Sprint Planning or the Sprint Review, so those two events are not completely closed.
Q17. Although burn-down charts are optional, they can be a useful tool for tracking which measure (choose the best answer)
Answer: A. How much work is remaining across time.
A burn-down chart tracks the amount of work remaining over a given period of time. It is a progress tracking tool for the Developers, not a mechanism for reporting individual performance, accumulated costs, or realized business value to the organization.
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