- How do you calculate the capacity of a Scrum team?
- How do you calculate the velocity of a Scrum team?
- Do you think the Scrum team should be involved in the product discovery process?
- What is Agile?
- What is Sprint in Scrum?
- What are user stories in Scrum?
- Why are user stories not estimated in man hours?
- What are Artifacts in Scrum?
- Who writes user stories?
- How do you make the Stakeholders attend the daily Scrum?
- What are the Scrum values?
- What is a product owner?
- What are the limitations of Scrum?
- How do you handle conflict within the team?
- What is the best way to order a Product Backlog?
- Who orders the Product Backlog?
- Who has the authority to cancel a sprint?
- What is Backlog Refinement?
- What is the structure of a good user story?
Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers (2023)
In this post, we put together the top Scrum Master interview questions and answers for beginner, intermediate and experienced candidates. These most important questions are categorized for quick browsing before the interview or to act as a detailed guide on different topics in Scrum Master interviewers look for.
Scrum Master Interview Questions
How do you calculate the capacity of a Scrum team?
View answer
Team capacity is calculated as per people availability in that sprint. Let's take an example. Say team is of 5 people, then total capacity assuming 8 hour day, 2 weeks sprint(10 days) is = 5810 = 400 hours.
How do you calculate the velocity of a Scrum team?
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To calculate velocity- add up the total of story points completed from each sprint, then divide by the number of sprints.
Do you think the Scrum team should be involved in the product discovery process?
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The scrum team should be involved in the product discovery process:
- Developers will be able to provide feedback on epics and user stories, which are technically not viable.
- The product owner and scrum team members will develop a common understanding of the market problem and client needs.
- This will foster a sense of ownership amongst the team members, which in turn increases motivation.
What is Agile?
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Agile is an iterative project management and software development methodology that enables teams to deliver value to clients faster and with fewer issues. An agile team provides work in small, consumable pieces rather than putting all 1 big release. Requirements, strategies, and outcomes are all evaluated on a regular basis, giving teams a natural method for adapting to change.
What is Sprint in Scrum?
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A sprint is a short, time-boxed period when a scrum team works to complete a set amount of work. Sprints are at the very heart of scrum and agile methodologies, and getting sprints right will help your agile team ship better software with fewer headaches.
What are user stories in Scrum?
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User stories are a few sentences in simple language that outline the desired outcome. They don't go into detail. Requirements are added later, once agreed upon by the team. Stories fit neatly into agile frameworks like scrum and kanban.
Why are user stories not estimated in man hours?
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There are two reasons that it makes sense to estimate Tasks, and not Stories, using hours. First, Tasks are always smaller than Stories. A Story typically takes a certain number of days. A Task typically takes a certain number of hours.
What are Artifacts in Scrum?
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Agile scrum artifacts are information that a scrum team and stakeholders use to detail the product being developed, actions to produce it, and the actions performed during the project. The main agile scrum artifacts are product backlog, sprint backlog, and increments.
Who writes user stories?
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Generally a story is written by the product owner, product manager, or program manager and submitted for review. During a sprint or iteration planning meeting, the team decides what stories they'll tackle that sprint. Teams now discuss the requirements and functionality that each user story requires.
How do you make the Stakeholders attend the daily Scrum?
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The people who must attend the Daily Scrum are only members of the Development Team. They are responsible for getting it right. The Scrum Master, the Product Owner, or any Stakeholder may attend as listeners, but are not required to do only as long as it is useful to the Development Team.
What are the Scrum values?
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A team's success with scrum depends on five values: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.
What is a product owner?
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In the Scrum methodology, the Scrum Product Owner is usually a project's key stakeholder—typically someone from marketing or product management, or the lead user of a system. They have a deep understanding of users, the marketplace, competitors, and trends.
What are the limitations of Scrum?
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Some of the key challenges are:
- Scrum often leads to scope creep, due to the lack of a definite end-date.
- The chances of project failure are high if individuals aren't very committed or cooperative.
- Adopting the Scrum framework in large teams is challenging.
- The framework can be successful only with experienced team members.
How do you handle conflict within the team?
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One of the best ways to resolve a conflict is by giving personal coaching to the members of the team. As a Scrum Master, it is very important to have a good relationship with the team members and guide them when they go through any impediments.
What is the best way to order a Product Backlog?
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The Product Backlog must be ordered so that the Product Backlog Items represent a sequence of valuable pieces of product to be built. There is always a first item (not two or three first items) then a next item, etc. until you get to the end of the list.
Who orders the Product Backlog?
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The Product Backlog Is Ordered by the Product Owner.
Who has the authority to cancel a sprint?
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A Sprint could be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint.
What is Backlog Refinement?
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Backlog refinement is when the product owner and some, or all, of the rest of the team review items on the backlog to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items, that they are prioritized, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery.
What is the structure of a good user story?
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User stories are often expressed in a simple sentence, structured as follows: “As a [persona], I [want to], [so that].”