PSM II

The Professional Scrum Master II certification, commonly known as PSM II, is considered Scrum.org’s advanced level Scrum Master certification.
Those awarded with it are certified:

an advanced level of Scrum Mastery
an understanding of the underlying principles of Scrum
an understanding of the application of Scrum in complex situations

Basic info

Duration: 90 minutes
Questions: 30; multiple-choice, multi-select, true/false
Passing score: 85%
Number of certification holders: 8,000+

ABOUT THE QUESTIONS

While in PSM I, the questions were mostly dealing with direct facts from the Scrum Guide, in PSM II, the question revolve mainly around the application fo Scrum principles to case studies: they describe situations and ask you to identify where the problem likely has its roots and/or what the best approach to solving this is by applying Scrum principles.

The key areas that are addressed by the questions are:

the Scrum roles and in particular their respective boundaries of responsibilities
self-organization, both of the Scrum Team as well as of the Development Team
empiricism
the Scrum Values
the Definition of Done
the role of the Scrum Master as a servant-leader

Most of the questions with multi-select options, i.e. those where many answers are correct, will inform you how many answers to select, for example stating (choose the best three answers). There are, however, also a few questions asking you to “(choose all that apply)”.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR PSM II

PSM II is an advanced exam and while it can be passed well without attending a dedicated PSM II training session, such a session may be helpful in getting a more well-connected overview of the Scrum framework. It will also allow you to revisit the different aspects of the role of the Scrum Master.

Read the Scrum Guide multiple times until you are comfortable with its terminology and the concepts it describes. Special focus should be placed on the sections concerning the topics listed above. For a comprehensive analysis of the Scrum Guide, read The Scrum Guide Explained.

To understand the role of the Scrum Master more thoroughly, especially regarding what is and is not their job with regard to their fellow team members, it is useful to review my book The Definitive Guide to PSM II. It looks at all elements of the Scrum framework with particular emphasis on the accountabilities and stances of a Scrum Master.

Use the practice quiz provided below.

PSM II PRACTICE QUIZ

PSM II

1 / 30

Which of the following describes activities of a Scrum Master during a Sprint?

Monitor the Development Team’s progress and assign tasks to its members.

Prevent conflicts and inform management if conflicts do occur.

Remove impediments and facilitate opportunities for empirical process control.

2 / 30

What should a Scrum Master do towards coordination of the development work when multiple Scrum Teams work on a product?

Teach all Development Teams that it is their responsibility to self-organize and coordinate with each other to ensure a potentially releasable Increment can be created each Sprint.

Visualize the dependencies between the teams and work with the Product Owner to manage them.

Let the tech leads and the Product Owner prepare the Product Backlog to eliminate dependencies between the teams.

Create a single unified team that works on one single Sprint Backlog.

3 / 30

In a scaled Scrum environment, all Scrum Teams must share a definition of “Ready” (DoR). This is a checklist for the Product Owner on what criteria Product Backlog items must fulfill before items may be presented during the Sprint Planning.

TRUE

FALSE

4 / 30

A company plans to create four new Scrum Teams to work on a new product together. What steps should a Scrum Master take to ensure the teams will be able to deliver integrated Increments?

Attend all four Daily Scrums every day to ensure the teams are aligned and that their Sprint Backlogs remain synchronized.

Teach the developers to divide into teams so that each team has the necessary skills, competencies and experiences to create an integrated Increment each Sprint.

Recommend to the teams to work on separate branches whenever possible and only integrate every four Sprints. This allows them to focus on value delivery.

At the end of the Sprint Planning, the Scrum Master should gather all tasks for the Sprint and set up one final plan for how the Increment will be created.

Coach the Product Owner to work with the tech leads of each team on organizing the Product Backlog. There should be as little dependencies as possible.

5 / 30

Of the following statements about Sprint Goals, which one is INCORRECT?

It provides a guideline for the initial purpose of the Sprint and may be changed as more is learned.

If the Development Team realizes it becomes impossible to achieve, it has to have the courage to inform the Product Owner.

The Product Owner respects the Development Team’s assessment of whether or not they can achieve the Sprint Goal.

The Sprint Goal fosters focus in the Sprint.

The Scrum Team actively discusses multiple ways how to best achieve the Sprint Goal.

The Development Team commits to the Sprint Goal.

6 / 30

How should work be distributed in a scaled Scrum environment?

The Development Team with the highest velocity chooses its work first.

All teams must have an equal amount of User Stories in their Sprint Backlog.

The Product Owner prepares separate Sprint Backlogs for the individual teams.

All Development Teams work together to pull work into their respective Sprint Backlogs. This is done in agreement with the Product Owner.

7 / 30

How can a Scrum Master make sure the communication between the Product Owner and the Development Team is effective?

Make sure all communication is run by the Scrum Master first.

Coach the Product Owner to use technical terms to better syncronize with the Development Team.

Frequently observe their communications and facilitate their discussions if necessary.

Act as a translator between the technical terminology of the Development Team and the business terminology of the Product Owner.

8 / 30

The Development Team proposes holding the Daily Scrum every other day instead of daily. What is the most appropriate reaction of a Scrum Master?

Understand why this is being proposed, coach the team on the importance of the Daily Scrum and support them in generating better outcomes of their Daily Scrums.

Approve of the decision, since it was reached by a self-organizing team.

Put the decision up to a vote, to make sure everybody gets a say in it.

9 / 30

During a Sprint, the Development Team realizes it does not have the necessary tools and infrastructure to get all selected Product Backlog items “Done”. What is the best response for a Scrum Master to give?

Put the Sprint on hold until the Development Team has set up its necessary infrastructure.

Tell the Product Owner to accept un-"Done" work, put the missing work in Product Backlog items and finish them in a hardening Sprint.

Coach the Development Team on how to improve its toolset, infrastructure and the necessary skills over time. Work with the entire Scrum Team to decide how to handle the immediate situation.

10 / 30

Which of the following statements is accurate regaring estimates on Product Backlog items in Scrum.

Estimates are always made in Story Points.

Estimates are always made using relative units.

The Development Team is responsible for providing estimates.

The Product Owner is responsible for providing estimates.

Estimates are made in units using the Fibonacci Sequence.

11 / 30

You are assigned as the Scrum Master for a new Scrum Team that will be created soon. How do you best help the team start?

Ensure the members of the Scrum Team are compatible with each other, let the tech leads define the responsibilities of each role within the Development Team and develop a reward system based on performance.

Let the Scrum Team members introduce each other and state their background and previous experiences, ask the Product Owner to present what is known about the product, and work with the Development Team to create a definition of "Done".

12 / 30

Scrum Master Marcus is approached by a member of the Development Team who informs him of a potential data security risk. How should Marcus deal with this situation?

Inform the testing team.

Add an item to the Product Backlog about this risk.

Ask the Development Team member to share the issue with the Development Team as soon as possible.

Wait until the Sprint Retrospective and jointly adjust the definition of "Done":

13 / 30

Of the following statements, which one is true about the role of the Scrum Master?

Tasks are assigned to the Development Team members by the Scrum Master, who tracks if they are finished with the defined time-box.

Those outside of the Scrum Team are helped by the Scrum Master to understand which interactions are helpful and which ones are not.

The Scrum Master updates the Scrum Board and ensures conflicts are avoided.

The Scrum Master demonstrates the Increment at the Sprint Review.

14 / 30

What would be the likely effects if an organization chooses to adopt Scrum terminology without a proper understanding of Scrum?

Very little change will take place, as the vocabulary is customized for Scrum implementations.

The organization will not realize most benefits of Scrum as there wouldn’t be significant change to the way teams work.

The organization would feel unanxious, as no real change needs to be made.

All of the above.

15 / 30

In a scaled Scrum environment, where multiple teams work from the same Product Backlog, they may diverge from the Scrum Guide in some ways.

TRUE

FALSE

16 / 30

Joe, a Product Owner of a Scrum Team, has been attending their Daily Scrum. During this, the Development Team have been reporting their progress and work plans to Joe to make him aware of their Sprint progress and what every member of the team is working on.

Request from Joe to stop attending the Daily Scrum.

Ensure Joe and the Development Team understand the purpose of the Daily Scrum and let them determine their actions.

Allow Joe’s participation in the Daily Scrum. He has a right to attend because he is responsible for the success of the project.

Start facilitating the Daily Scrum to ensure no coflicts between Joe and the Development Team members arise.

17 / 30

What is the role of management in Scrum?

Providing a proper environment in which the Scrum Team can continually move forward.

Removing low-performing people so that Scrum Teams can be successful.

Monitoring the Development Team regarding their skill level.

Monitoring the Development Team regarding their performance as measured by velocity.

18 / 30

Four Development Teams work on the same product and pull work from the same Product Backlog. All of them have identified that Chuck, a security expert, will need to support them in their next Sprints.

How should Marcus, the Scrum Master, proceed in this situation?

Manage each team’s Sprint Backlog and ensure Chuck can be help each one team 25% of his time.

Marcus should determine the most urgend tasks and assign Chuck to work with the team responsible for them. Once these are solved, Chuck is moved to the next most urgent tasks and so on.

In a group discussion among all Development Teams, facilitated by Marcus, the Development Team members should determine a way to solve this issue. Marcus should then support the implementation of their solution.

Marcus should work with Chuck and the HR department towards recruitment and training of new security specialists. Meanwhile, the Product Owner should move other items to the top of their Product Backlog that don’t involve Chuck.

19 / 30

Joe is a Product Owner for several products, each with its own Scrum Team and a defined budget.

A new product needs to be developed. For similar products, the average velocity was 60 done units of work every Sprint. Based on this, Joe forecasts that a product will be finished in 10 Sprints. In the first 4 Sprints, however, the Development Team reaches an average velocity of 50 done units each Sprint, while not fully conducting integrations testing. Finishing integration testing would add more required effort to create a shippable increment. The Development Team is not sure if the necessary velocity of 60 can be achieved.

What is the best course of action?

In the upcoming Sprint, the Development Teams should bring their selected work as close to "Done" as possible and finish at least 90% of the selected Product Backlog items. Any remaining work should be placed in a new Product Backlog item, which will be worked on in the last Sprint. This allows for an improved velocity.

The Development Team makes it transparent to Joe that his current impression of progress is not accurate, as the Increment is not releasable. They provide Joe with an estimated of how much effort it would take to get the existing work "Done" and propose to work on this before working on new features. Beyond this, the team re-estimates the other Product Backlog items, taking the effort of integration testing into account. Based on this information, Paul can decide whether to continue with the project or not.

The Scrum Master will take over management of the Sprint Backlog and start assining work to members of the Development Team. This will allow for maximum utilization.

The Scrum Master decides to postpone the remaining work necessary to get the increment "Done". Joe has to work towards getting funding for additional Sprints for getting this work done. Joe has to inform users and stakeholders of the impact of this action on the projected timeline.

20 / 30

The Scrum Master Marcus is asked to support the creation of six new Scrum Teams, all working on the same product. Marcus explains the need for integrated Increments from the first Sprint. The future team members make a number of suggestions. Which one should Marcus encourage?

All teams deliver their own Increments on their own branches. Following user acceptance testing during the Sprint Review, the branches deemed acceptable are merged during the next Sprint.

Each Scrum Team prepares functionality in their Sprint. For each piece of funtionality, an integration task will be added to the Product Backlog. These tasks should be addressed in the upcoming Sprint.

All six new Scrum Teams agree on a mutually shared definition of what "done" means for their work to be potentially releasable as an integrated Increment.

Prior to Sprint 1, all necessary architecture for the product is put in place. This increases the chance of delivering Increments from Sprint 1.

21 / 30

Which statement descibes Scrum best?

A strongly specific methodology for software development.

A manual of best practices for developing software.

A process that follows the principles of domain driven design.

A framework to address complex problems.

22 / 30

Which of the following ways to set up Development Teams are most in line with the ideas and values of Scrum?

A Product Owner sets up a skill matrix based on the needs of the project and they and technical leadership staff teams accordingly.

Scrum Master and management collaborate to distribute individuals to ensure a mix of skill, experience and seniority across all teams.

Make the basic parameters transparent to the developers and let them self-organize into Development Teams.

23 / 30

Joe is joining an existing Scrum Team as a new Product Owner. The existing Scrum Team has worked together for quite a while and the Development Team has gained a good understanding of the product, its functionality and its business aspects. Joe, who is new to the company, is unsure about what his responsibilities are. What are two acceptable ways for you as a Scrum Master to help Joe?

You advise Joe to build a good relationship with the product’s stakeholders. A good relationship will allow him to synchronize easily and regularly about possible changes to the requirements and about next steps in the product development.

You inform Joe that due to high competition in your field, the Development Team need to be aware of changes in business requirements on a daily basis. He should use the Daily Scrum for this, as it is the proper platform for such updates between the Product Owner and Development Team.

You stress the importance of clearly expressed Product Backlog items. The best way to achieve these is by running short, separate analysis Sprints, which result in technical plans, designs and architecture proposals.

You suggest that Joe should rely on the stakeholders and his Development Team, who are both knowledgable about the product. He should ask them many thorough questions and work with them to quickly get an understanding of the product.

24 / 30

For further development of a product, Joe the Product Owner introduces a new business objective for the next few Sprints. The features to be developed for this deal with sensitive user data, requiring a higher level of non-functional security requirements. What two ways are best to allow for these non-functional requirements to be dealt with?

They should be worked on in dedicated Sprints prior to the next release. This allows the team to first focus on maximizing business value delivery and to fix other issues later in a hardening Sprint.

They should be placed in a separate Product Backlog and be worked on by a separate security team. Their work should later be merged with the work of the Development Team.

All security-related Product Backlog items have to be created prior to any work being done.

During the next Sprint Retrospective, the Development Team inspects the situation and works towards adding the new requirements to their definition of Done. This ensures that future releases are compliant with the new requirements.

They are added to the Product Backlog. Every Sprint, security-related requirements as well as at least some business functionality is delivered in an Increment.

25 / 30

Marcus is the Scrum Master for four Scrum Teams, all of which are working from the same Product Backlog. The organization’s management wants a standardized calculation of velocity to compare the teams with one another. What response should Marcus provide to the management? (Choose two.)

The relevant measure of success in Scrum is value. There is no direct relationship between value and velocity.

Having a standardized measure of velocity is a good idea, as it makes differences between the teams transparent.

Creating incentives based on velocity will likely increase value delivery.

Velocity is a measure of business functionality delivered by a team in a Sprint. This measure is relative, unique to the team and only serves as an internal measurement.

26 / 30

Development Teams within Scrum should be self-organizing. What two ways are best to identify whether this is the case?

The management has transparency over which member works on which Product Backlog item.

Creativity thrives and new possibilities are explored.

Members of the Development Team are cross-functional and know what is required to deliver all items commited to in the Sprint Planning.

The Development Team can resolve upcoming internal conflicts and resume working.

27 / 30

A high-ranking manager in a company new to Scrum is questioning whether all Development Team members really have to attend the Daily Scrum. He is concerned about the already high burden of meetings.
What two outcomes should Marcus, the Scrum Master, explain to him on why the Daily Scrum is crucial?

The Daily Scrum is an opportunity for the Development Team to share impediments with Marcus which they cannot solve themselves. This allows Marcus a chance to understand the impediments, work to solve them and thereby allow the Development Team to be more productive.

The Daily Scrum provides an opportunity for the Development Team to quickly align on what the next possible steps towards reaching the Sprint Goal are. This inspection and subsequent adaptation increases the chance of identifying possible obstacles and thereby reduces the chance of the Sprint failing.

After every Daily Scrum, the Development Team provides a status report, outlining current progress and the division of tasks among its members. This creates transparency for the management, allowing them to better manage the teams.

The Daily Scrum is used by the Development Team to report the progress of the past 24h to Marcus. This allows him to plan the team’s work for the next 24h.

The Daily Scrum serves to update the Scrum Board on a task level. This allows the high-ranking manager, among other management staff, to observe the progress and exert greater control if necessary.

28 / 30

A company uses Scrum to create six new products. What are the best two options regarding the number of Product Owners?

One Product Owner for each product, six in total. Each one is responsible for managing the Product Backlog of their respective product.

Enough Product Owners to ensure all Development Team members are utilizied as much as possible.

One Product Owner for all six products, one Product Owner in total. This person is not allowed to delegate any Product Backlog management tasks to others.

One Product Owner for all six products, one Product Owner in total. This person is allowed to delegate any Product Backlog management tasks to others, but remains accountable for the value created.

29 / 30

A company has informed its stakeholders that the first release of their new product will be delivered within nine Sprints. During the sixth Sprint, the Scrum Team realizes it will not be able to meet this deadline with all the features the stakeholders expect. The Product Owner suggests lowering the definition of “Done” to speed up the development progress. The Development Team disagrees, citing concerns about technical debt. How would you as a Scrum Master explain the impact of technical debt to the Product Owner? (Choose two.)

If technical debt exists in a release, that makes feature development for the next release impossible until it is removed. The Product Owner must agree to that, if the Development Team lowers its definition of "Done".

Lowering the definition of "Done" increases the risk of errors being introduced into the product. This will make stabalizing the system more difficult and time-consuming, slowing down the speed of development in the future.

A version with a lowered definition of "Done" lacks transparency. The actual state of the product cannot be understood. This will lead to false assumptions and expectations regarding the future development process.

The level of technical debt will need to be analyzed and estimated to understand its impact on future releases and to calculate the number of hardening Sprints needed to remove it.

30 / 30

What behaviours are reflective of servant-leadership in a Scrum Master? (Choose two.)

Facilitating Scrum Events are requested or needed.

Coaching the Development Team, Product Owner and organization on empiricism

Remain away from interactions within the Development Team, thus maximizing their autonomy and freedom.

Resolve every impediment identified by the Development Team.

Your score is