Scrum PSPO-I - Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO I) Exam

The Sprint Retrospective is a time-boxed event for the Scrum Team to inspect how the last Sprint went and plan for improvements in the next Sprint. The Scrum Guide states that "The Sprint Retrospective concludes the Sprint. It is timeboxed to a maximum of three hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter."1 This means that the Sprint Retrospective should be held at the end of each Sprint, regardless of the project or release status. The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements, including to product quality and working relationships.1

References:

1: The Scrum Guide2, page 16

2: The Scrum Guide

 The Scrum Team member who is accountable for creating a valuable and usable Increment each Sprint is the Developers. This is because:

The Developers are accountable for creating a “Done” Increment in every Sprint. They must ensure that every Product Backlog item they work on meets the Definition of Done before it is considered complete.

The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. It is a shared understanding among the Scrum Team and the stakeholders of what “Done” means for any Product Backlog item that is selected for a Sprint.

The Increment is a concrete and usable outcome of the Sprint that provides a measure of progress and value delivery. It must be in useable condition regardless of whether it will be released or not.

The Developers are self-managing professionals who organize and manage their own work. They decide how to best accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the Scrum Team.

Other options, such as the CEO, the Product Owner, the Scrum Master, or the Scrum Team, are not accountable for creating a valuable and usable Increment each Sprint. They may have different roles and accountabilities in Scrum, but they do not do the actual work of creating a “Done” Increment.

References:

[Scrum Guide], page 7, section “Developers”

[Scrum Guide], page 10, section “Definition of Done”

[Scrum Guide], page 10, section “Increment”

[Scrum Guide], page 7, section “The Scrum Team”

The length of a Sprint is the timebox within which the Scrum Team creates a potentially releasable product Increment. The Sprint is a container for all the other Scrum events, such as the Sprint Planning, the Daily Scrum, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective. The Sprint is also a feedback loop that allows the Scrum Team and the stakeholders to inspect and adapt the product and the process.

The length of a Sprint should be no more than one calendar month. This is the maximum duration allowed by Scrum, as longer Sprints can increase the complexity and risk of the product development. Longer Sprints can also reduce the agility and responsiveness of the Scrum Team to changing customer needs and market conditions.

The length of a Sprint should also be short enough to keep the business risk acceptable to the Product Owner. The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. The Product Owner is responsible for managing and refining the Product Backlog, collaborating with the stakeholders and the Developers, and ordering the items in a way that best achieves goals and missions. The Product Owner represents the interests of everyone with a stake in the product and ensures that the Scrum Team works on the right things at the right time. The length of a Sprint affects how frequently and effectively the Product Owner can validate, verify, and deliver value to the customers and users.

The length of a Sprint should also be short enough to be able to synchronize the development work with other business events. The Scrum Team operates within a broader organizational context that may have other events, cycles, or deadlines that affect or depend on product development. For example, there may be marketing campaigns, sales promotions, regulatory compliance, or contractual obligations that require coordination and alignment with the product delivery. The length of a Sprint affects how well and timely the Scrum Team can synchronize their work with these other business events.

References:

Scrum Guide: https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Sprint: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-sprint-in-scrum

Product Owner: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-product-owner

The best statement that describes Scrum is: A framework to generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.

Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams, and organizations to deliver valuable products in complex and uncertain environments.

Scrum is based on empiricism, which means that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is observed. Scrum employs an iterative and incremental approach to optimize predictability and control risk.

Scrum is not a defined and predictive process, a complete methodology, or a cookbook that defines best practices. Scrum provides the minimal boundaries within which teams can self-organize and create innovative solutions. References: Scrum Guide, Section 1 (Definition of Scrum) and Section 2 (Uses of Scrum)

The Developers need a Sprint Goal because it gives them a common yet specific goal to focus on during the Sprint. This is because:

The Sprint Goal is a short-term objective that provides guidance and focus to the Scrum Team throughout the Sprint. It is a flexible and negotiable commitment that can be adjusted as more is learned throughout the Sprint.

The Developers are accountable for creating a “Done” Increment in every Sprint. They must ensure that every Product Backlog item they work on meets the Definition of Done before it is considered complete.

The Developers are self-managing professionals who organize and manage their own work. They decide how to best accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the Scrum Team.

The Developers need a Sprint Goal to align their efforts and collaborate effectively as a team. The Sprint Goal helps them prioritize and optimize their work based on value and impact. The Sprint Goal also helps them cope with uncertainty and complexity by providing a clear direction and a shared purpose.

Other options, such as a Sprint Goal only giving purpose to Sprint 0, Sprint Goals being not valuable, or a Sprint Goal ensuring that all of the Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint are implemented, are not valid reasons why the Developers need a Sprint Goal. They may reflect a misunderstanding of what a Sprint Goal is or how Scrum works.

References:

[Scrum Guide], page 15, section “Sprint Goal”

[Scrum Guide], page 7, section “Developers”

[Scrum Guide], page 10, section “Definition of Done”

[Scrum Guide], page 10, section “Increment”

The Scrum Team is a self-organizing and cross-functional team that delivers valuable products in an agile way. The Scrum Team consists of one Product Owner, one Scrum Master, and Developers. They are all accountable for creating a valuable, useful, and potentially releasable product Increment each Sprint.

An Increment is a concrete stepping stone toward the product vision. It is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints. At the end of a Sprint, the new Increment must be “Done”, which means it meets the Definition of Done and is usable.

The Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable increment every Sprint, not just once or occasionally. This means that the Scrum Team must deliver a product functionality that provides value to the customers and users and contributes to the product goals and missions. The value of an increment can be measured by various factors, such as customer satisfaction, feedback, revenue, market share, or social impact.

The Scrum Team is also accountable for creating a valuable increment every Sprint, not just any increment. This means that the Scrum Team must deliver a product functionality that meets the quality standards and expectations of the customers and users and complies with the Definition of Done. The quality of an increment can be measured by various factors, such as usability, reliability, performance, security, or maintainability.

References:

Scrum Guide: https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Scrum Team: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-scrum-team

Increment: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-an-increment

The metrics that will help a Product Owner determine if a product is delivering value are customer satisfaction and time to market. This is because:

Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well the product meets the needs and expectations of the customers5. It reflects the value proposition of the product and the feedback from the users.

Time to market is a measure of how quickly the product can be delivered to the market. It reflects the agility and responsiveness of the Scrum Team and the ability to deliver value early and often.

Other metrics, such as productivity, velocity, and percentage of scope implemented, are not directly related to value delivery. They may indicate how efficiently or effectively the Scrum Team is working, but they do not necessarily reflect how valuable or desirable the product is for the customers or stakeholders.

References:

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 5, section “Product Value”

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 6, section “Product Vision”

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 7, section “Product Backlog Management”

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 8, section “Release Management”

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 9, section “Business Strategy”

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ Training, page 10, section “Stakeholders & Customers”

A Product Owner orders a Product Backlog in any way they think will maximize the value of the product1. They take various factors into consideration when ordering the Product Backlog such as business value, risk, return on investment (ROI), dependencies and impact1. Dependencies between Product Backlog items and their relevance to achieving the Product Goal are two of these factors12. The availability of the Scrum Master and the number of stakeholders who approve of the item are not valid criteria for ordering the Product Backlog3.

Scrum does not have the role of Project Manager. The work is completed by the three roles in the Scrum Team: Product Owner, Development Team, and Scrum Master123. Project Managers can work on any type of project, while Scrum Masters are exclusive to Scrum projects and Scrum teams2.