#1 Which Scrum ceremony is the most important?
Recommended Answer: In Scrum, each ceremony has its own significance and necessity. Conducting each ceremony in the proper format, team member engagement, and proper facilitation are among the most crucial components of Scrum processes.
The purpose of this question is for the candidate to demonstrate their understanding of Scrum ceremonies’ concepts.
#2 Why might your team consistently fail to meet Sprint Commitments and have unstable Velocity?
Recommended Answer: The Scrum Master must be involved in investigating this issue. There can be multiple causes:
- Frequent team rotation or attrition
- Imbalance between Junior and Senior team members
- Estimation methods aren’t being used correctly
- Team lacks or doesn’t follow Definition of Ready
- High technical debt or working with undocumented legacy code
- Insufficient participation in planning ceremonies
- New tasks added to current sprint without reprioritizing existing tasks
#3 What would you do if a team member considers Sprint Planning a waste of time?
Recommended Answer: This issue clearly falls under the Scrum Master’s responsibility.
The Scrum Master should immediately have a one-on-one conversation with the team member, asking questions that reveal not just a general description of the problem, but the root causes of this perspective.
After identifying the causes, the Scrum Master should explain the importance of planning ceremonies and team member participation.
Additionally, an experienced Scrum Master will raise this issue (in general terms) during retrospective, allowing other team members to discuss the importance of planning ceremonies, further convincing the skeptical team member.
If despite all attempts, the team member maintains their position, the issue should be escalated to their direct supervisor.
#4 What portion of team Capacity would you allocate for technical debt, refactoring, and developing new approaches and visions?
Recommended Answer: The “15-10-5” rule addresses this issue with the following team Capacity distribution:
- 15% for technical debt
- 10% for defects and bugs
- 5% for Spike-type tasks
However, this proportion should be agreed upon with the Product Owner and other relevant stakeholders.
