Interview Qs Flashcards
(127 cards)
1
Q
What’s your relationship with your Product Owner?/How do you describe your relationship with your Product Owner?
A
My Product Owners are awesome! We have a great relationship, we work together very well to make sure that the backlog is refined and I meet with them on a weekly basis to make sure that the stories we need to go over are discussed. I support them in anything they need, understand their priorities and make sure their backlog items are prioritized.
2
Q
What is your favorite agile manifesto?
A
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools simply because I understand how valuable various tools and processes can be, but I am a firm believer that the individual is a company’s greatest asset and that one always has the potential to provide the greatest return.
3
Q
How would you train a newly formed Scrum Team?
A
I would monitor and observe where they are currently on their agile journey and how they’ve been working with their old framework. And see how agile can help them—once i get enough information and getting their pain points and how they work—i would start slowly implementing the scrum framework by starting off light with the ceremonies and explain to them why each ceremony is important (dsu—for us to get together and commit to the sprint goal)
4
Q
What does a successful retrospective look like to you?
A
A successful retrospective is when the team enjoys attending the retros, it’s a safe space for transparency, they are having fun as I like to include fun warm ups, reflect on the past sprint, we discuss any issues that we may have, make sure the team addresses these issues, create an action plan for continuous improvement, keep the team encouraged, and give recognition to everyone
5
Q
What does a successful Sprint look like to you? Why would a sprint being successful help the business?
A
A successful sprint is when working software is being produced every 2 weeks. A successful sprint is helpful to the business because they are consistently delivering a valuable shippable product. This ensures the company is able to stay ahead in market trends.
6
Q
What will you do for a shy team member who doesn’t speak?
A
During meetings, I would ask them directly for their feedback. I would say hey [x], “What’s your viewpoint on this?” This would allow them to feel valued and that their input is valuable. Or I would reach out to them and set up a one on one meeting to really get to know them, build a relationship and encourage them to let them know they are valued. I would also set up team building activities, to build bonds, trust, and transparency among the team.
7
Q
How would you handle individuals that don’t speak during retrospective(or during meetings)?
A
I would ask directly to people not speaking or being active. I would say hey [x], “What’s your viewpoint on this?” This makes the person feel valuable and that their inputs are valuable. They’ll feel more comfortable speaking up. I would also set up team building activities, to build bonds, trust, and transparency among the team.
8
Q
What are the repercussions of a developer finishing on the last day of the sprint ?
A
There may be potential for under delivering as there wouldn’t be an opportunity to inspect the quality of work. There wouldn’t be time to check the DOD to see if it has been met.
9
Q
How do you prioritize between the two teams?
A
The priority is determined by the business, so if there is a team that is more mission critical that gets more work done and quicker, that would be the team that I would do everything 1st with. So first half of the day i’d work the first team, then another half with the other
10
Q
How would you teach the Scrum framework to a new team member?
A
I would create knowledge based sessions, encourage knowledge transfer, ensure their participating in the scrum meetings so they can understand the scrum theory and have lunch and learn sessions
11
Q
What are the scrum values and how do you use them?
A
So the first scrum value is having the Courage to speak up, focusing on the sprint goal, committing to achieving the sprint goals, having openness about all the work being done and being open to the stakeholders feedback, respecting each other as we are all working closely together.
12
Q
Before you were a SM, what did you do?
A
I was a Project Coordinator where I was responsible for assisting my Project Manager with their status reports, scheduling meetings, completing documentation, and managing project artifacts.
13
Q
What is Scrum?
A
Scrum comes from the agile methodology. Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.
14
Q
How did that previous Role help you as a SM?
A
My previous role helped me build good communication skills, excellent time management, leadership skills and creative thinking.
15
Q
How do you solve conflicts?/How do you deal with conflict? (Is this conflict a team level or individual?)
A
I would first figure out what is driving this conflict and if it has happened before. I would see if there has been a previous resolution and look at the working agreement. I would speak to each team member one on one, then facilitate a conversation between them and come to a resolution. I then would go back to the working agreement, make necessary adjustments if needed, and create a resolution. If that doesn’t get resolved then I would escalate to higher up.
Always refer to working agreements as it will cause us to be more aligned and hold each other accountable
16
Q
What is the importance of having a backlog?
A
The backlog is very essential to the sprint as that is the heart of the sprint. It holds the vision of the product and the developers use the backlog as a blueprint to get the work done.
17
Q
Can you describe a time where you improved a teams process/quality?
A
Making sure that user stories are written clear, the acceptance criteria is clear, helping the team understand their requirements with good refinement sessions, helping the team stick to the sprint goal, and keeping open communication in MS Teams so that we are able to adapt to changes quickly due to the frequent communication.
18
Q
How do you explain to someone who doesn’t know anything about software development what Agile is?
A
Being agile means to have the ability to be able to evolve or adapt to changing circumstances quickly and build projects around motivated teams to produce quality results.
19
Q
What is a Kanban System?
A
A Kanban system is a workflow management structure that encourages visibility, transparency, and accountability across teams. Consistent flow of work in and out.
20
Q
Can you share a fun retrospective that you have done with the team?
A
There are several ways to make a fun and interactive warm-up. Like what I have done with my team is “create a meme of the last iteration and post it on the board” or “if our product was a house, what would it look like”? Things like that.
21
Q
How are you impending the action items from the retrospective into the next Sprint? Walk me through what that looks like.
A
It can vary, but one action plan was the DSU running outside of the timebox. The action plan for that was to have a parking lot conversation after the DSU and having another channel where we can discuss ways to collaborate and solve any issues that come up.
Another one is that we were having a problem with technical debt, so we created a technical debt backlog and created user stories for that and when we found time during the sprint, we would pull one or two and work on those.
22
Q
What are the most important characteristics for being a great Scrum Master?
A
I think there are a great number of characteristics a Scrum Master should have, but being a great listener, Communicator, Problem Solver, Servant leader, Born facilitator, Coach/Teacher
23
Q
People often refer to the importance of having an AGILE MINDSET . What does that mean to you?
A
Being agile means having the ability to be able to evolve or adapt to changing circumstances quickly.
24
Q
What is SERVANT LEADERSHIP?
A
Servant leadership is promoting innovation, empowering others, and assuring the well-being of those around them. Servant leadership also aims to develop leadership qualities in others.
I understand that servant leadership is the best way for scrum teams to thrive. It encourages team members to be creative and more collaborative. It really encourages emergent leadership to arise.
25
How do you serve your team(s)?
I serve my team in a multitude of ways, but one thing that I really like to do to help my team out is, sometimes some of my team members will forget to log their hours in Jira, so I will offer to do it for them. I’ll also record our meetings and I’ll store the recordings in Confluence to make it available to them.
26
What metric did I use to measure a team’s success?/ What indicators show a team is successful?/How do you measure and effectiveness in a scrum team?
The metric I use is I would look at the burndown/burnup chart because I am able to see whether or not the team is able to meet their sprint goals and if we will complete on time. I also look at how well the team is communicating and working with each other, and how committed they are to the goal.
27
Walk me through how you hold your retrospective?
The way that I hold my retros is, I like to create an easy retro board so that the team can input information. I like to have fun activities too to get them more engaged and wanting to participate. One of the activities I like to do is, have them show me a meme of how the last sprint went. I hold this for 45 minutes right before my Sprint Planning and we would discuss what went well, what didn’t go well, and what we can improve upon. I would then create a list of action items for continous improvement, encourage openness and transparency. And give kudos to the team members.
28
What sequence do you pick in order to write user stories?
The Product Owner determines the sequence as they identify what features are important and we would write user stories and prioritize based on those features.
29
SCENARIO: Did you ever experience scope creep and how did you handle it?
A critical new item was added to the Product Backlog which impacted most of the items were presently in the sprint backlog. So what I did to resolve that was by taking out a few items that have not been started of equal size to make room for the new critical item
30
How do you track Sprint progress?
I track sprint progress everyday during the DSU as well as reviewing the backlog/JIRA board. I’d ask what did you do yesterday, what will you do today? Are there any blockages or issues you may be facing? The DSU allows for us to see how the team is doing collectively and how we inspect our sprint progress
31
What is VELOCITY?
Velocity is a metric used to measure the total effort the team is capable of during a sprint.
32
What are the required elements of a USER STORY ?
Value statement and acceptance criteria. A user story must identify the user and determine its functionalities.
33
SCENARIO: Team A is completing 30 Story POINTS per Sprint and Team B is completing 20 Story POINTS per Sprint. A key client approaches you and is concerned that Team B isn't as productive as Team A. How do you handle this situation?
I would explain that the velocity of two teams can’t be compared due to the fact that different teams have different velocity, capacity, skill levels, roadblocks and goals.
34
Your team's meeting keeps running over, how do you address this issue?
The way I would address this is, I would encourage them to continue the conversation outside of meetings, in the parking lot. I’ll also address to the team in retro that we are going over the timebox and if we need to increase the time or create a channel where we can provide updates in addition to our meetings.
35
What type of metrics do you use? (metrics in terms of??)
The type of metrics that I use varies for each team. One of the ways is, as a team we set a goal and at the end of that sprint we determine whether or not it has been met. Another way is I would use escape defects as it provides a view of quality and track the defects, team velocity to see how many stories are being done, and the burndown chart will show me whether or not we are on schedule.
36
How do you make sure the bugs are fixed?
I would make sure that there is visibility in the bugs, I would create a dashboard specifically for the bugs and talk about it in our defect triage meeting.
Defect Triage - this is a process where the defects are prioritized based on their severity or risk
37
How do you prioritize work between two teams?
I would place both teams in a cadence schedule and make sure we come to a working agreement. Keep both schedules somewhat similar and maintain clear communication.
38
How do you manage 3 scrum teams?
I would manage 3 scrum teams by making sure everyone has the same release cadence, I would combine my Sprint Demos into one, and have 3 separate Sprint Plannings, DSU, Backlog Refinements.
39
When would you deploy Scrum?
For a team that needs to implement this framework. It would depend on the complexity of the teams work and development process.
40
How do you manage risk?
Actively engage with my teams to identify potential risks early in the project lifecycle. Especially during the DSU as that allows us to see how the teams are doing collectively, any risks and impediments can be identified here. I also create a risk registry to keep a record of all the risks
41
How do you handle technical debt?/Manage technical debt?
It may vary between teams. I would first identify what the technical debt is, prioritizing the debt by urgency, and having a specific timeline of when the debt would be solved. I would spread them throughout the upcoming sprints if they are severe. If it’s an ongoing thing, I would create a dashboard on the technical debt. I would keep it steady by always chipping away at it.
42
How agile is your team and what can they improve on?
I would say that my team is pretty mature, they are able to actively solve their problems, collaborate well together and are self managing and organized. One thing they did need improvement on was going over the timebox during the DSU. An action item for that was to carry conversations in the parking lot and we created a channel where they can continue communicating in.
43
What is the difference between an experienced team and inexperienced team?
With an experienced team, I’m able to see how well they are collaborating with each other, working together to deliver value, and how focused they are on continuous improvement.
44
Do you have any experience using AWS or Cloud or Azure? (technical question) Or type of code or platform..
I know of Azure Dev Ops I haven't used it personally in my role. I use JIRA and confluence currently, I'd be interested to learn more about the software you all use and how you guys use that.
45
How would your manager describe you?
My manager and I have a great relationship. They would describe me as someone who embodies compassion and empathy for others. I’m always empowering people to be their best selves.
46
How can a scrum master contribute to sprint planning in a way that empowers the team to take the most valuable user stories?
I encourage the team by driving the right conversations and making sure the user stories have the right requirements and the team has clarity on what they are going to be working on. I’m making sure that the user stories have the acceptance criteria and value statement.
47
Should a scrum master understand the application they are working on?
As a scrum master, I like to understand the application I’m working on and know what the product is and the goal to achieve.
48
What value does a SM bring beyond the Ceremony?
Scrum Master encourages teams to share their struggles and their successes. Encouraging being open, focused, committed, and respecting one another. Scrum masters also point out times of strong collaboration and facilitate conversations around new ideas.
49
What would you do if the Product Owner is telling the team what to do ?
I would facilitate a conversation privately with the Product Owner, really emphasize that we must empower the team to speak up and allow them to be self managing and I would coach the Product Owner to help them understand the importance of everyone’s role on the team.
50
Why do we have the daily stand up?
The daily stand up lets us know how the team is doing collectively, inspect sprint progress, reduces risk, if any issues, blockers or impediments that are occurring we would address them during that time. Without this, our teams would take longer to get their work done and this could increase risk.
51
Why is DOD important?
It serves as a clear and shared understanding for a work item to be considered complete and meets the teams quality standards. The definition of done covers the product coming out of the sprint and the acceptance criteria is met.
52
What kind of relationship should PO and scrum master have?
A scrum master and Product Owner should have a great relationship, they should be able to work well together to manage the product backlog items and the Scrum Master should be able to have an understanding of the priorities that the Product Owner has.
53
What impediments have you helped remove?
Someone on the dev team reached out to me and said that they were unable to access their development environment. I immediately contacted the help desk / DevOps team and management to get their issue resolved, and then shortly after the dev gained access back and was able to continue working.
54
Can you do a 1 week sprint? Adv/disadvantage?
Yes, it’s possible to do a 1 week sprint, it definitely depends on the team's needs and workflow. The advantage of this is we would get feedback quicker. The disadvantage of this is potential quality issues, since we are cramming that into 5 days. We would have to change the way stories are written, use smaller units of work and more refinement to prepare for the frequency of sprints.
55
What's your favorite scrum ceremony ?
My favorite scrum event is the Sprint Retro, because The retrospective is really important because we want to make sure that we have continuous improvement of agile practices and how things are going with our project. And we are practicing the scrum values of openness and transparency
56
How would you handle a team member that's not speaking up ?
I would make sure that there is safe space for everyone. Ask them questions , get them involved in the conversation and give recognition so that they know they are valuable to the team.
57
How do you motivate teams in the agile process?/Favorite ways to motivate a team?
I woudl find what motivates them. I would make sure that I encourage my team members and show gratitude, give them kudos and just really make sure that they feel valued. Acknowledge any accomplishments that were made, Show them why agile is important, and continuously show them how they are improving.
58
How do you energize a demotivated team?
I find what motivates them first, I would look for any incentives that would motivate them, really encourage the team and do team building activities. I would also ask them questions, continue to keep encrouaging them and give recognition.
(maybe bring up how some of your team members like coffee and you like to give out gift cards?)
59
How to handle scrum members who aren't completing their User stories ?
I would avoid this by checking in everyday during the DSU on the Jira board. I would reach out to the team members and ask if they are having issues completing the story or any blockages there. I would see if they aren’t understanding the requirements I would ask if there’s anything I can do to help them understand better. If they don’t understand I would pair them with a senior dev or dev lead so they get help getting work done. I would avoid making them feel bad and encourage them.
60
How do you deal with developers' egos?
As a Scrum Master I strive to be humble and approachable. I actively listen, acknowlege mistakes and celebrate others' successes. This sets the tone for the team environment.
I believe that a healthy does of confidence is always great, I would focus on finding the root cause and channel it into a way that benefits the entire team.
61
What does your day as a Scrum Master look like?
When I log in for the day, I’ll check my emails/teams. Make sure the ceremonies are on the calendar and prepare for whatever ceremonies will come up next. I’ll also check if anyone needs anything. If they do, I'll attend to them. I’ll hold my stand ups, attend meetings or facilitate meetings that may come up. I’ll also check Jira to make sure everything is in order. Make sure that the backlog is good and all the user stories are in the right status. I’ll also check in with the Product Owner as well.
62
How did you improve a team?
One way I helped my team to improve was when I initially came in and I had a team that was less mature. They were doing their stand ups in a google doc and so I conducted a training on Jira so that the developers could see how they will be using Jira and I also put their stories in Jira and we began having our DSUs in Jira. This gave visibility to our work as we were able to better track all of the work that needs to be done.
63
How have you added value to your team/organization?
By recording the meetings so that it is accessible to the team. Some team members may not speak up or ask questions, so I record the meetings and store them in Confluence to make it accessible for the team.
64
A product owner made significant changes to a story, right before the sprint starts. How do you handle the situation?
I would try to understand the priority and why they did it, and see why it needs to be in the sprint. See if this is something that can be postponed and put in at the top of the backlog for the next sprint. If it's critical, we will have to quickly refine the story during the Sprint Planning, but this is a very high risk.
65
How do you push back on leadership if they are going in the wrong path?
I actually had a situation where something like this did happen..
For example, leadership wanted us to cut out the daily standups entirely to focus on the releases. I explained If we decide to not have stand-ups anymore, then we aren’t going to know collectively how teams are doing and we won't know if they are having any issues. And if we do remove this, then our teams would take longer to get their work done, there will be an increase in risks, and won't be working within Scrum.”
66
How do you help the team to increase their velocity?
It may vary between teams. Making sure they have an understanding of their work and what they need to do like writing clear user stories. Or if needed, having more people on the team to get more work done. Ive been able to help my teams to improve their velocity. They are able to get their work done because we write clearer user stories now.
67
Tell me about a time where you found yourself in a situation when you had to work in a new environment and had to get up to speed on something quickly? What are your tactics or ways that you position yourself to get up to speed quickly?
I ask questions and reach out to anyone who may have the resources that I can obtain to get up to speed. Really just putting myself out there and asking the proper questions.
68
How do you deal with unstable velocity?
I would have to figure out why it's unstable first. I would figure out if there are enough stories, or if there are enough team members. I've actually been able to help my teams to improve their velocity. They are able to get their work done because we write clearer user stories now.
69
How do you deal with story pointing?
What works best for me is the fibonacci sequence. If its pointed too high, i we break it down. If they all have the same answer, I try to pry and challenge them and by using planning poker.
70
Determining the maturity of a team?/ How do you assess that your team is becoming more mature?
The way that I assess that my team is becoming more mature is that they are talking/staying within the timebox in meetings, they are collaborating really well with each other, meeting our sprint goals, and having a good understanding of the stories and requirements.
71
How many roles are within a scrum team?
There are three roles in a scrum team, Product Owner, Scrum Master,and Developers. These roles are important as chaos can occur without them.
72
What have you done to make things easier in your organization?
Well, my team had a really hard time tracking bugs, so I created a dashboard that automatically gives them information on bugs and really bringing visibility to them.
73
What has been the most difficult task as a Scrum Master?
Being able to influence and work with different kinds of personalities. Sometimes I have to manage tense situations or reduce conflict in a situation. I’ve had a situation where there was tension between a Product Owner and Tech lead, and it’s my job as a Scrum Master to diffuse those types of situations.
74
When do you use Kanban and when do you use Scrum?
Kanban is better suited for non development teams or for teams that are used to producing the same product all the time (ex: the team pushes out wordpress sites for a living). Scrum is used for software development and the framework is used when you are working on something more complex and defined.
75
SCENARIO:Tell me a time where you had conflict on your team.
Product Owner was telling the team what to do in regards to their work since he a technical background. So I facilitated a conversation privately with the Product Owner, really emphasized that we must empower the team to speak up and allow them to be self managing and I coached the Product Owner to help them understand the importance of everyone’s role on the team. In result, the dev team felt more comfortable assigning work to themselves and more confidence with pointing their stories.
76
How to improve the team's deliverables?
I really try to have really productive retrospectives so that we can always take away an action item to improve quality and that is something that we are always striving for. Getting feedback is how we practice on inspection
77
How would you coach a team that is resistant to scrum?
I would figure out why they are resistant, observe what they are doing, what isn’t working for them, and what is working. I would slowly integrate scrum. Coach them on the methodolgoy, show them the value of scrum as it applies to their work. For example, some teams may not have the daily stand ups, so I would coach them on the importance of stand ups, as it lets us know how we are doing as a team collectively.
78
If you have worked with a distributed team in multiple teams, how do you manage that?
Right now my team is all on one timezone, but what I’ve learned to best accomplish this is to come up with a working agreement so that we can figure what time would be best for everyone to meet. Once this agreement is signed, this ensures that the team is syncing together and on the same page
79
How do you ensure your team remains self-organizing?
I would motivate them, encourage collaboration, have lunch and learn sessions, and encourage knowledge transfer.
80
How do you help teams define their Definition of Done?
I help my teams define their DOD is, I make sure that as a team we speak about the acceptance criteria and read out the value statement and that it's clear. And our Product Owner approves of how we are planning out the work and everyone is in agreement.
81
How do you help teams stay aligned and on track to deliver a successful Sprint?
I help teams stay aligned by asking questions, reviewing the burndown chart and keeping track of the metrics.
82
What do you do personally to continue to learn about either Agile or the Scrum space?
One thing I do to stay up to date is follow blogs, join agile community spaces and continuously read articles in regards to the agile and scrum space. I also listen to podcasts daily and apply scrum to my everyday life as well and read books. The current book I’m reading is Scrum: the art of doing twice the work in half the time. Those are the things that help me stay in the agile mindset.
83
How have you experienced lack of trust on a team? How did you help build it?(won’t be typically asked)
I haven’t experienced this before, but if I did, I would reach out to every team member, connect with them on a personal level, show that I respect them, and hold team building activities. I would slowly integrate myself in and build relationships.
84
What do you think is the most important thing a Scrum Master can do for the team?
Being a Servant leader, really being able to serve, protect and coach my team
85
How would you coach a team member that is missing their DSUs?
I would have the whole team hold the person missing accountable. I would say “It looks like [x] is missing, who wants to ping them?” I would reach out, have a 1 on 1, encourage them to attend and emphasize how valuable they are to the team and bring up the working agreement.
86
How do you feel about a 30 minute retrospective?
Having a full hour the team gets the most value because there's more room for discussion and It’s a good opportunity for the team to work on improving.
87
Would you allow a team member to miss a retrospective because of an upcoming release?
I actually had a situation where the team was focused on the release as it was really urgent. But retro is important because that's where we work on improving. I would see what works best, if they can reschedule for the next week and see what time works for everyone and set it up then. Can put retro in the next sprint planning(do it right before). Figure out ways to make it work for the team and constantly looking ahead
88
What would you accomplish in the first 30 days?
Observe the teams process, culture and tools and see the best way I can help them. Then over time, I can build a roadmap for them. I would get an understanding of the project, get familiar with the goals of the team. I would study how the team works with the org, how they work with each other, who are they dependant on, building relationships with the team members, setting up one on ones, finding out the stakeholders are, build a relationship with the PO, see who the other scrum masters are, who are the other teams.
89
How do you prepare for Sprint Planning?
I review the backlog with the Product Owner and the team during the Pre Planning meeting. I would do this on a biweekly basis and would be held for about 1-2 hrs long max. I really make sure all the developers ask all of their questions and they have an idea of how they are going to get the work done. I’ll also determine the capacity of the team members as well.
90
Is the team that you work with now, are they a new Scrum Team or an existing Scrum Team when you became their Scrum Master?
They were already existing scrum teams, they were already pretty familiar with the Scrum framework however there were some things like the DSU running too long so I helped with getting them to remain within the timebox but overall they are familiar with the agile methodology and the scrum framework.
91
What is the role of Scrum Master in Sprint Planning?
The role of the SM is to set up the meeting by reserving the space for the meeting, making sure the time works for everyone’s calendar (especially the Product Owners), and making sure everyone gets an invite to the meeting. It is also up to the SM to timebox the Spring Planning meeting. Finally, the SM facilitates the meeting and helps the team understand the work they are committing to and ensure that the team is not taking on too much work based on their historic velocity.
92
How do you facilitate a Sprint Review meeting as a SM?
As a SM, I organize the Sprint Review by first ensuring that the team, the Product Owner(s), and the key stakeholders are present at the meeting. In the Sprint Review, I will have the team take the lead to demonstrate the work that was done throughout the Sprint, while I will sit and take notes on how the team presents their work, how the stakeholders reacted, and any questions that were asked. At the end, I’ll open it up for questions and wrap up by showcasing at a high level the work that the team has lined up the following sprint.
93
How do you write effective user stories and acceptance criteria? Give us an example and explain why you write user stories in the first place.
A user story must identify the user and determine its functionalities, written from an end user’s point of view. Therefore, it would be written in a form of “As a (who/user), I want a (what/goal) so that (why).” So as an example, a user story for an airline company might be “As an airline passenger, I want to be able to check flight status on my mobile app so I can make my flight.” User stories are written as a lightweight description that leads to a conversation between the team members and the Product Owners.
94
Can you share with us about an anti-pattern you experienced with Scrum and how you would go about resolving it?
An anti pattern that I have experienced is the Daily Scrum treated as a status update meeting to the Scrum Master instead of team members sharing their updates and impediments with each other. One way I have gone about resolving this is purposely walking in late to a Daily Scrum to see if the team was able to self-organize and begin without me. Seeing them execute the Scrum session without me lets me know that they understand what Scrum is all about.
95
What are some challenges you have had on the Agile transformation at your previous company?
One challenge I had coming into my current role was management wanting to be very hands on at all the Scrum ceremonies to ensure that work was being done. I am fine if management wants to be present at the Daily Scrum meetings, however that is a time for the team to discuss their work and impediments amongst themselves and not the time for management to pitch in. Therefore, I did have a crucial conversation with two managers at my current company explaining the value that comes from giving that time for the team to figure things out. I did assure them that they were welcome to join the standups and could provide their insights to the Product Owner or to myself afterwards, instead of interjecting at the Daily Scrum.
96
Agile vs Scrum (Difference)
Agile is the broader umbrella which Scrum falls under. Agile has four main values and twelve principles. Scrum has its own set of values and principles and provides a lightweight “framework” to help teams become Agile.
97
What do you use Jira for?
We use Jira to manage the full lifecycle of a release. As a team, Jira allows us to keep track of our work and progress, updating user stories, and maintaining the backlog.
98
How do you protect the team from outside interruptions and distractions?
A way that I would help prevent interruptions is coaching the PO on the value of not interrupting the sprint and bringing new work into the Sprint plan. Another way that I like to reduce distractions is focusing on a sprint goal and making sure that the work we are doing is aligning to that goal. Also making sure the scrum ceremonies are for the core team, making sure the devs and PO are in attendance and sending out updates needed to outside and stakeholders.
99
What happens when a Scrum Team doesn’t have a Sprint Goal?
Sprint Goal provides a sense of purpose for the team. If they don't have a Sprint Goal they wouldn't be as motivated or aligned.
100
How do you ensure there's a good relationship between the team, product owner and others outside the team?
I like to build relationships with my team by having frequent one on ones, getting to know their likes and dislikes. And really make sure that there is a psychologically safe environment. Allow for transparency and that everyone feels safe bringing up any questions or concerns that they may have.
(Bring up how if PO or stakheholders have any feedback I will relay to the team instead)
101
Do you have any knowledge of SAFe?
I am familiar with the framework and I am interested in getting the certification
I know that Scaled Agile(SAFE) consists of what is called PI Planning that happens every quarter, its a really huge event. I would help the team plan that event. The preparation is the same as sprint planning but we plan for 6 sprints instead of 1 (like i do now)
102
What are your recommendations for how to improve velocity on a struggling team?
I would first determine what the issue is. For example, I've been able to help my teams to improve their velocity by making sure they have an understanding of their work and what they need to do like writing clear user stories. They are able to get their work done because we write clearer user stories now.
103
What are some challenges that you have/faced as a scrum master?
A challenge that I have faced as a Scrum Master is anti patterns. The previous scrum master had established anti-patterns with the team, and I have to identify them and work towards fixing them within the team.
104
Imagine you have two critical features scheduled for delivery in the same sprint, and both are equally essential for different stakeholders. How would you handle this situation considering the team's capacity and sprint deadlines?
I’ll immediately meet with the Product Owner so I can understand the urgency of these features, collaborate with the teams to identify the dependencies and risk, and communicate with stakeholders on what the team's capacity can deliver within the time. As the team has to discuss on a timeline that is realistic for them based on their capacity. I would also challenge the value of features as one may contribute more business value than the other.
105
How have you made an organizational impact/bring value to the organization?
Making sure that user stories are written clear, the acceptance criteria is clear, helping the team understand their requirements with good refinement sessions, helping the team stick to the sprint goal, and keeping open communication in MS Teams so that we are able to adapt to changes quickly due to the frequent communication.
106
How have you made an organization impact/bring value to the organization?
One of the heads were looking to see when a particular code was released. The team wasn't doing any release management, no release notes, just had user stories that were tied into releases. So what I did was to implement fixed versions(the release number). This created a better view of the updated releases.
107
How would you measure the success of a sprint?
The way that I measure the success of a sprint is by seeing if the team achieved their goal at the end of their sprint, see how well their collaborating with each other and how committed they are to the process.
108
Team is consistently facing impediments that are outside of their control and its affecting their sprint goal, how would you address this?
I would focus on creating an environment where we can foster team effectiveness. I would reach out to the department that would help resolve this. Escalating the issue to ensure that our team’s issue is being resolved as soon as possible.
109
What story point technique do you use for sizing?
I use the Fibonacci Sequence using an anchor story to determine which is the smallest story and estimating complexity from there
110
What are the key skills of a Scrum Master?
There are number of great skills a Scrum Master should have, but some that I would point out would be having a
1. strong understanding of Scrum and Agile concepts,
2. fine-tuned organizational skills, familiarity with the technology used by the team,
3. being able to coach and teach the team to follow Scrum practices,
4. having the ability to handle conflicts and resolve them quickly,
5. and being a servant leader
111
How do you stand up for your teams?
I stand up for my teams in a multitude of ways, one way is that we have a troubleshooting chat and I make sure that anyone who asks for help gets the support they need.
112
Have you ever had a team member who wasn't fully engaged or was underperforming? How did you handle this?
Find out their pain point. They could be burnt out, work life balance may not be good, or their skill levels may not match the work that they are taking on
113
How have you dealt with dependencies and how do you handle them?
Find the root cause, facilitate a session where I discuss with other teams, create an action plan and follow up. A dependency I experienced was a bug was detected on a story and couldn't be worked on as one of the senior devs that has the knowledge to fix it was out on a conference. Action plan: had put a blocker on the story, encouraged knowledge transfers, and knowledge based sessions so that it doesn't happen again.
If two teams are dependent on each other, I will typically work that out with my tech lead
114
How are you providing support to your teams even if you don’t have a technical background?
I am able to provide support beyond the ceremonies. I encourage teams to share their struggles and their successes. Encouraging being open, focused, committed, and respecting one another. As Scrum masters, we also point out times of strong collaboration and facilitate conversations around new ideas.
115
Purpose of Estimating?
Estimating allows you to forecast the nature of the work. Gives the team the overview of how long it would take for them to complete a piece of work, and a realistic view of what they can commit to. It also allows the PO to plan accordingly as they are accountable for the timeline. And we cant just blindly develop as estimating it keeps us accountable.
116
How can you tell that Scrum is working for your team?
By looking through our process, looking at our metrics, how well we're collaborating with each other and how reliable we are
117
Could you tell me a bit more about the software your team uses?
We do use Jira and Confluence to track our work. I know that React.js is used for frontend development, Node.js for backend development. MongoDBS for storing customer feedback, user profiles, and other customer related information. Google Cloud Platform for the cloud infrastructure, I’ve seen Docker for streamlining the deployment process and GitLab for automated testing and employment.
118
How do you resolve a packed/disorganized backlog?
I would meet with the Product Owner to refine the backlog, make sure that the Product Backlog items are prioritized, and the stories are clear and well written. I would discuss which items we want to prioritize and meet with the tech lead to get technical insight and labeling the stories for the team. Also educating the team on keeping the backlog items well organized and having a working agreement on what the backlog should look like, DOD, Acceptance Criteria etc.
119
How do you incorporate stakeholder feedback into your team's process?
During the Sprint review, as this provides the stakeholders to see what the requirements were developed into and feedback is provided then.
120
Describe a time you experienced a scrum anti pattern and how did you handle it
Management noticed that team 1 was completing more story points than team 2 and wanted team 2 to take on more stories. I explained to management that the velocity of two teams cannot be compared due to the fact that each team has different goals, capacity levels, skill levels and roadblocks.
121
How have you been engaged with organizational transformation to an agile framework?
At my current role I joined the organization and helped them go through an agile transformation. I coached my teams on the scrum framework and implemented it by facilitating the Scrum ceremonies, coaching them on the scrum values and striving for continuous improvement.
122
How would you help a team member learn the importance of the Daily Scrum if he is not wanting to participate? / Tell me a time you worked with a difficult team member.
I’ve come across this situation personally where I had a team member that was routinely missing our Daily Scrum. After a few instances, I was able to meet with him 1:1 to see what was going on. When I brought it up, he initially said the timing didn’t work for him. When I proposed that the team shift to meeting in the afternoon, he uncovered his true objection by saying he didn’t find any value giving “status updates to me” every morning. After letting him know that I understand his concern and helping him realize that the DSU was not to provide me with any updates, but instead to discuss with the team any issues he might be running into, he began to open up more and started attending the DSU in the morning.
123
What are some ways that a Scrum Master helps keep a development team operating a high productivity level?
Ensuring to remove any blockages or impediments that may come up, actively solve any conflicts that may arise, helping the team understand their requirements with good refinement sessions, and helping the team stick to their sprint goal
124
The manager of the team is anxious about how the team is doing and asks you to invite him into your retrospective from now on so that he knows what problems there are. How do you respond?
I would run it by the team first see if they are okay with management being in the retro. I'd also talk with the manager see what exactly is making them anxious and I would offer to provide an exported file of our retro if it makes them feel better.
125
How do you improve your skills as a Scrum Master?
Being a part of a community of scrum masters. In my department we have a few scrum masters and an agile coach and we share resources and better practices. I also ask for constructive feedback from my managers and my team. That's how I hone my skills.
126
How do you handle team morale when there is a frequent time crunch?
I would take the time to acknowledge the teams hard work, even small wins within a Sprint. I'll celebrate every milestone and focus on progress. I would also see if there are unrealistic expectations and be the voice of change for the team, I'll facilitate discussions with the Product Owner and stakeholders to ensure expectations are aligned
127
How do you ensure you understand task requirements?
Facilitating backlog refinement sessions, asking clarifying questions and encouraging the right discussions, defining the DOD, and collaborating with the PO
