Pass the Scrum Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO I) Exam PSPO-I Questions and answers with ValidTests

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.

A Sprint is a timebox of one month or less within which a “Done” product Increment is created. A Sprint consists of the Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective. A Sprint is also a feedback loop that allows the Scrum Team and the stakeholders to inspect and adapt the product and the process.

During a Sprint, a Product Owner is typically responsible for:

Collaborating with stakeholders, users, and customers: The Product Owner engages in frequent and regular interactions with the people who have a stake or interest in the product, such as customers, users, sponsors, managers, or other teams. The Product Owner solicits and incorporates their input, feedback, and insights to understand their needs and expectations, discover new opportunities or ideas, align and collaborate on the product direction and priorities, and validate and deliver value to them.

Working with the Scrum Team on Product Backlog refinement: The Product Owner works closely with the Developers to clarify, refine, and review the Product Backlog items and their acceptance criteria. The Product Owner provides clear and concise descriptions of what is needed and why it is valuable for each Product Backlog item. The Product Owner also empowers and trusts the Developers to make technical decisions and trade-offs that best meet the product goals and quality standards. The Product Owner also involves key stakeholders in defining and prioritizing the Product Backlog items and their acceptance criteria.

The other options are not valid or relevant responsibilities of a Product Owner during a Sprint. They are either too administrative, micromanaging, or unrelated to the product value delivery. They are:

Creating financial reporting upon the spent hours reported by the Developers: This is not a responsibility of a Product Owner during a Sprint. This is an administrative task that does not contribute to the value or quality of the product or service delivered. It may also create unnecessary overhead or bureaucracy for the Developers. The Product Owner should focus on maximizing value rather than tracking hours.

Updating the work plan for the Developers on a daily basis: This is not a responsibility of a Product Owner during a Sprint. This is a micromanaging task that does not respect the self-organization or cross-functionality of the Developers. The Developers are responsible for planning and executing their own work during a Sprint, based on their empirical experience and collaboration. The Developers also update their progress daily during the Daily Scrum event.

Nothing: This is not a valid answer for a Product Owner’s responsibility during a Sprint. A Product Owner has many important responsibilities during a Sprint, as mentioned above. A Product Owner should be actively involved in collaborating with stakeholders, users, customers, and Developers throughout a Sprint to maximize value delivery.

Attending every Daily Scrum to answer questions about the Sprint Backlog items: This is not a mandatory responsibility of a Product Owner during a Sprint. The Daily Scrum is an event for the Developers to inspect their progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan for the next 24 hours. The Daily Scrum is not a status meeting or a reporting session for anyone else. The Product Owner may attend the Daily Scrum as an observer or as an invited participant if they have something valuable to contribute or if they need some clarification from the Developers.

References:

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

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

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

Stakeholders: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/stakeholders

Daily Scrum: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-daily-scrum

According to Scrum.org, when splitting a large group into multiple Scrum Teams, it can be beneficial to allow the people to self-organize into smaller teams12. This approach respects the principle of self-organization, which is a key aspect of Scrum12. It allows individuals to choose the team they feel they can contribute to most effectively12. However, it’s important to note that this process should be facilitated and guided to ensure a balanced distribution of skills and capabilities across the teams12.

According to the Scrum Guide, a Sprint can be canceled before the Sprint time-box is over. Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint, although he or she may do so under influence from the stakeholders, the Developers, or the Scrum Master. A Sprint would be canceled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This might occur if the company changes direction or if market or technology conditions change. In general, a Sprint should be canceled if it no longer makes sense given the circumstances. But, due to the short duration of Sprints, cancellation rarely makes sense. Developers cannot cancel a Sprint on their own, even if they face challenges or difficulties with the selected Product Backlog items, the functional expectations, the technical dependencies, or the Product Owner’s availability. Instead, they should collaborate with the Product Owner and the Scrum Master to find the best way to deliver value within the Sprint and adapt to the changing situation.

References:

The Scrum Guide

Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework

Professional Scrum Product Owner™ I Certification

 New work or further decomposition of work is added to the Sprint Backlog as soon as possible after it is identified because:

It reflects the current state of the Sprint. The Sprint Backlog is a plan that the Developers create and update throughout the Sprint, based on their progress, learnings, and changes. By adding new work or further decomposition of work to the Sprint Backlog promptly, the Developers can ensure that the Sprint Backlog is transparent, accurate, and up-to-date.

It enables the Developers to self-manage their work. The Developers are accountable for organizing and managing their own work, and they have the authority to change the Sprint Backlog as needed. By adding new work or further decomposition of work to the Sprint Backlog promptly, the Developers can exercise their autonomy and empowerment, and adjust their plan accordingly.

It supports the achievement of the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is a single objective that provides guidance and focus for the Developers throughout the Sprint. By adding new work or further decomposition of work to the Sprint Backlog promptly, the Developers can ensure that their work is aligned with and contributes to the Sprint Goal.

References:

Scrum Guide 2020, page 6: “Developers are the people in the Scrum Team that are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 6: “The Developers are accountable for … organizing and managing their work.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 10: “The Sprint Goal is a single objective for the Sprint.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 14: “The purpose of each Sprint is to deliver Increments of potentially releasable functionality that adhere to the Scrum Team’s current Definition of Done.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 14: “The Sprint Backlog is composed of … all of the work needed to deliver a product Increment that meets the Definition of Done.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 14: “The Developers can change the content of the Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint as more is learned.”

In Scrum, there is only one product and one Product Backlog for a given product. The Product Backlog is the single source of truth for the Scrum Team and the stakeholders. It contains all the requirements, features, functions, enhancements, fixes, and anything else that can deliver value to the customers and users of the product. The Product Backlog is ordered by the Product Owner based on the product vision, goals, and value.

Having multiple Product Backlogs for one product would create confusion, duplication, inconsistency, and waste. It would also make it harder to align the Scrum Teams and the stakeholders on the same product direction and priorities. Therefore, a Product Owner with multiple teams working on one product should not maintain separate Product Backlogs for each team.

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.

In some cases, when there are multiple Scrum Teams working on one product, it may be necessary to have some form of scaling or coordination mechanism to ensure alignment and collaboration among the teams. However, this does not mean that there should be multiple Product Owners or Product Backlogs. Instead, there should be ways to facilitate communication, feedback, integration, and transparency among the teams and with the Product Owner. For example, some frameworks or practices that can help with scaling Scrum are Nexus, LeSS, SAFe, or Scrum of Scrums.

References:

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

Nexus: [1]

LeSS: [2]

SAFe: [3]

Scrum of Scrums: [4]

The Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable increment every Sprint. The Increment is the sum of all Product Backlog items Done during a Sprint and the value of all the previous Increments. The entire Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable and useful Increment every Sprint1. The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team1. The Developers are responsible for creating a Done Increment that meets the Sprint Goal1. The Scrum Master is responsible for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide and helping everyone understand Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values1. References:

Scrum Guide

What is an Increment and how Does it Connect with the other Elements of Scrum?

The Professional Product Owner

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.

 A Scrum Team is required to deliver a done Increment by the end of a Sprint. Done means:

No work is left to meet the Definition of Done. 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 it means for work to be complete. It may include criteria such as coding standards, testing, documentation, security, performance, etc. If a Product Backlog item or an Increment does not meet the Definition of Done, it cannot be released or presented at the Sprint Review.

Ready to be released to end users. The Increment is a concrete output of the Sprint that adds value to the product. It is a potentially releasable functionality that adheres to the Scrum Team’s current Definition of Done. It is not necessarily released at the end of each Sprint, but it must be in a state that allows for immediate release if the Product Owner decides so. The Increment should also align with the Sprint Goal and the Product Goal, and satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers and stakeholders.

References:

Scrum Guide 2020, page 10: “The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 10: “The moment a Product Backlog item meets the Definition of Done, an Increment is born.”

Scrum Guide 2020, page 14: “The purpose of each Sprint is to deliver Increments of potentially releasable functionality that adhere to the Scrum Team’s current Definition of Done.”

The Product Owner is typically responsible for collaborating with stakeholders, users, and customers to understand their needs and expectations, and to validate the value of the product. The Product Owner is also responsible for working with the Scrum Team on Product Backlog refinement, which is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to Product Backlog items.1 These two responsibilities help the Product Owner to maximize the value of the product and the work of the Developers.

References:

1: The Scrum Guide2, page 18

2: The Scrum Guide

If a stakeholder is unhappy with the quality of the product, the Scrum Master can coach the Product Owner on how to effectively communicate this concern to the Developers1. The Scrum Master can also encourage the Product Owner to put quality specifications on the Product Backlog1. This allows the Developers to understand the stakeholder’s expectations and work towards meeting them1. The Developers are responsible for building quality into the product, but the stakeholders (through the Product Owner) are responsible for setting what is expected in terms of product and process quality1.