Free PSM I practice questions

Scrum Theory (Scrum Guide 2020): Scrum is founded on empiricism, which holds that knowledge comes from experience and that decisions are made on what is observed.

Empiricism is about evidence. A Scrum Team does some work, looks at the actual result and decides what to do next on that basis. The distractors all place knowledge before the work (analysis, expert estimates, documented process), which is how predictive approaches operate.

1. Recall the Scrum Theory section of the Guide.
2. Ask where each option says knowledge comes from.
3. Keep the option that grounds decisions in observed results.

Exam tip: Empiricism: learn from experience, decide on what you observe.

Self-management in the Scrum Guide 2020 means the Scrum Team decides internally who does what, when, and how.

The Scrum Team section says Scrum Teams are cross-functional and self-managing, and defines self-managing as deciding internally who does what, when and how. Options that move part of that decision to a Scrum Master or a manager describe a directed team, not a self-managing one. Setting the Product Goal and a budget goes beyond the definition and ignores the Product Owner's accountability.

1. Recall the three things the Guide says a self-managing team decides: who, when and how.
2. Reject any option that hands one of them to someone outside the team's internal decision.
3. Reject options that stretch self-management into other accountabilities, such as the Product Goal.

Exam tip: Self-managing = the Scrum Team decides internally who does what, when, and how.

The Product Owner is accountable for ordering the Product Backlog; stakeholders influence it by persuading her.

The Scrum Guide's Product Owner section says the Product Owner may represent the needs of many stakeholders and that people who want the Product Backlog changed do so by trying to convince the Product Owner. Voting, going straight to the Developers or escalating to a manager all move the ordering decision away from the one person accountable for it.

1. Ask who is accountable for ordering the Product Backlog: the Product Owner.
2. Recall the Guide's route for change: persuade the Product Owner.
3. Reject options that give the decision to a vote, the Developers or a manager.

Exam tip: Stakeholders influence the Product Backlog by convincing the Product Owner, not by going around her.

Empiricism in practice: decisions follow evidence from real, usable Increments rather than conformance to an upfront plan.

The sponsor's request makes the plan the measure of success. Empiricism says knowledge comes from experience, so each Increment and the stakeholder feedback on it should decide what happens next, including how the plan changes. Fixing the plan, re-estimating it in detail or re-baselining it from velocity all keep the plan as the yardstick, with observation only used to protect it.

1. Spot the constraint: success measured by plan conformance.
2. Recall that empiricism decides on what is observed.
3. Pick the option where real results drive the plan.
4. Reject options that use data only to defend or refine the plan.

Exam tip: In Scrum, the plan serves the evidence; the evidence does not serve the plan.

The 2020 Scrum Guide moved from a self-organizing Development Team to a self-managing Scrum Team.

Earlier Guides called the Development Team self-organizing: it chose who did the work and how. The 2020 Guide removed the team-within-a-team and described the whole Scrum Team as self-managing, choosing who, how and what to work on. The tempting distractor is the 2017 description, which limits the idea to the Developers and leaves out "what".

1. Remember that the 2020 Guide has one Scrum Team, with no Development Team inside it.
2. Note what self-managing adds to self-organizing: the team also chooses what to work on.
3. Reject descriptions that limit the idea to the Developers or to individuals.

Exam tip: 2017: self-organizing Development Team (who, how). 2020: self-managing Scrum Team (who, how, what).