There are more than 1 million Certified Scrum Masters across various governing bodies, including Scrum Alliance, Scrum.org, Scaled Agile Academy, ScrumStudy, and more. Scrum Masters oversee the successful implementation of the Scrum framework across projects that require a more Agile approach for the best possible outcome. Just because individuals get certified in Scrum Master Certifications does not guarantee them the job, it helps to validate their knowledge and skills to implement Agile and Scrum practices for projects and the enterprise.
Scrum Master Interview Questions and Answers
However, enterprises conduct a thorough evaluation across various parameters. One such parameter is the performance of the interview with regard to questions on Agile and Scrum to validate your knowledge of a wide array of topics.
If you are applying for a Scrum Master job role, here are the questions they get commonly asked:
1. Explain the Scrum Method.
The Scrum methodology is an Agile framework that helps teams and departments work cohesively. The Scrum method allows the organization to understand processes and required actions at a micro-level and makes room to understand failures and improvements.
2. What are Scrum Master Roles?
There are three core roles within the Scrum method:
- The Product Owner – This individual is responsible for piecing together the core features of a product and prioritizing what needs to be concentrated on during the sprint.
- The Scrum Master – The individual in charge of introducing the best Scrum practices while maximizing business value and minimizing concerns around the team’s interpersonal relationships.
- The Scrum Team – The individuals who work cohesively to deliver on requirements put forward by the stakeholders.
3. What are the Scrum Team’s responsibilities?
A Scrum team is a group of five to seven professionals in charge of:
- Ensuring working products are delivered during every sprint
- Creating a clear system of work assignments for all team members
- Information relayed across all processes is not only correct but streamlined to ensure daily Scrum meetings are successful
- Collaborating with other teams if necessary and fluid internal communication
4. What are the differences between Agile and Scrum?
The Agile ideology is a set of principles while Scrum is a manifestation of implementing the Agile method. While Agile methods may be better suited for projects run by a concentrated team of experts, the Scrum method is better suited for teams that deal with constant requirement rotation.
Agile projects require a project head who handles all the key project tasks, within Scrum, on the other hand, there is a Scrum master who delegates responsibilities to a team. Agile methods cannot handle change as easily as the Scrum framework can. Lastly, the Agile system offers several face-to-face interactions with cross-functional teams, a system not used in Scrum. The Scrum method instead introduces stand-up meetings to assist collaboration.
5. What are Scrum Artifacts?
- Project Backlog – This is a list of new features, changes, issue corrections, and other activities that help create the desired outcome.
- Sprint Backlog – A subset of the project backlog, the sprint backlog is a smaller list of tasks that must be completed to reach the sprint goal.
- Product Increment – The combination of both product backlog items in the sprint and previous sprints. The output of every product increment must be a usable condition.
6. What are the differences between the Sprint and Product backlog?
The product backlog is a comprehensive list of items that must be completed in order to develop a product. The sprint backlog is a subset of the same that lists items that must be completed during the sprint. The product backlog is also produced by the product owner and assigned to the Scrum team, the sprint backlog on the other hand is crafted by the team and dissected into timeframes for the sprint. The product backlog offers a specific overall end goal while the product backlog is specific to the sprint. When the product backlog is complete, the project is complete. Until the project is completed, the sprint creates new backlogs and timelines worked on daily.
7. Who is a Scrum Master?
Scrum Masters are responsible for the promotion and support of the Scrum framework. They are additionally able to:
- Implement theory, practices, rules, and values around Scrum
- Introduce values, principles, and practices to be used by the Scrum team
- Deal with any distractions or concerns around the progress of the project
- Ensure the team delivers maximum value during sprints
8. What are Daily Scrums or Stand-ups?
The Daily Scrum or Stand-up session is a fifteen-minute discussion that happens daily. During the session, the Scrum team understands what tasks have been successfully completed, what tasks are pending, and if there are any obstacles to project completion.
At the end of these meetings, understanding the scope and status of the project is simple.
9. What is Scrum-ban?
- Scrum-ban is a methodology that’s a combination of Scrum and Kanban. Scrum-ban can be used to meet the needs of the team, minimize the batching of work, and adopt a pull-based system.
- It ingeniously includes the structure of Scrum and the flexibility and visualization of Kanban.
10. What are Sprint 0 and Spike?
Sprint 0 refers to the small amount of effort put in to create a rough skeleton of the product backlog. It also includes insights into estimating the release of products. Sprint 0 is required for:
- Creating the project skeleton, along with research spikes
- Keeping minimal design
- Developing some stories completely
- Having low velocity and being lightweight
- The spike is a set of activities that involve Extreme Programming (XP) for research, design, investigation, creating POCs, etc.
- The spike aims to reduce risks of the technical approach, helping gain knowledge to better understand requirements and improve reliability
Conclusion
These were some of the key questions that were asked during the Certified Scrum Master job interview. But there are many others that do get highlighted during the 2-day instructor-led CSM training or during the various retrospective sessions that training providers such as Spoclearn provide for their Agile and Scrum certification courses across various governing bodies. There are many Agile and Scrum-related certification programs on offer, so choose carefully by going through the course agenda and your job and enterprise requirements.
