Developing People and Teams practice questions

A self-managing team decides internally who does what; the Sprint Backlog belongs to the Developers.

The Scrum Guide says the team decides internally who does what, when and how, and calls the Sprint Backlog a plan by and for the Developers. Allocation by the Scrum Master, the Product Owner or a senior Developer would put a person above the team's collective decision, which conflicts with self-management and with the rule that a Scrum Team has no hierarchies.

1. Identify the decision: who works on which Sprint Backlog item.
2. Recall that this is one of the "who, when, how" decisions made inside the team.
3. Reject options that give the decision to one person, whatever their accountability or seniority.

Exam tip: Nobody assigns Sprint work to the Developers; they decide it together.

Self-managing teams decide who does what, and the Guide expects them to share or acquire skills as needed.

The Scrum Guide describes Scrum as engaging people who together have the skills to do the work and who share or acquire skills as needed, and it says the team decides internally who does what. So the Developers plan how to cover the gap themselves. The tempting options all sound responsible, but each hands the allocation to someone outside the team's collective decision: the Scrum Master, the Product Owner or a line manager.

1. Identify the decision being made: who will do the database work.
2. Recall that "who does what" is decided inside the team.
3. Recall that the Guide expects skills to be shared or acquired as needed.
4. Reject options where one person outside that collective decision allocates the work.

Exam tip: A skills gap is solved by the team deciding together, not by someone assigning the work.

The Scrum Master serves the team by coaching its members in self-management, not by directing their work.

Among the ways the Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team, the Scrum Guide lists coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality. A team used to being given tasks needs to learn to plan and coordinate its own work. Each distractor keeps someone in a directing position: the Scrum Master, the Product Owner, or a new lead inside the team.

1. Notice the habit: someone outside the Developers' collective decision allocates their work.
2. Recall the Scrum Master's service of coaching self-management.
3. Reject options that only replace one director with another.

Exam tip: The Scrum Master builds self-management by coaching it, not by doing the team's planning for it.

Coaching team members in self-management and cross-functionality is one of the Scrum Master's services to the Scrum Team.

The Scrum Master section of the Scrum Guide lists how the Scrum Master serves the Scrum Team, starting with coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality. The Product Owner's accountability is product value and the Product Backlog, the Developers' is the Sprint plan, quality and adapting toward the Sprint Goal, and a line manager is not a Scrum accountability at all.

1. Recall the three accountabilities in the Scrum Guide.
2. Recall which one lists services to the Scrum Team.
3. Match coaching in self-management to the Scrum Master.

Exam tip: Scrum Master: coaches the team in self-management and cross-functionality.

Decisions about how to do the work stay with the Developers; others may advise or facilitate.

The Scrum Guide says the Developers alone decide how to turn Product Backlog items into Increments, and that the team decides internally how work is done. A stalled discussion is a reason for the Scrum Master to help the Developers reach a decision, not to take it over. The Product Owner and outside groups can be consulted, but neither owns the technical choice.

1. Classify the decision: it is about how to do the work.
2. Recall that "how" belongs to the Developers.
3. Separate helping the decision happen (facilitation) from making it.

Exam tip: The Developers own "how"; the Scrum Master helps them decide, never decides for them.

Developers hold each other accountable as professionals and adapt their plan toward the Sprint Goal.

Two of the Developers' accountabilities in the Scrum Guide apply here: holding each other accountable as professionals, and adapting their plan each day toward the Sprint Goal. So the first step is for the team to address it among themselves straight away. Waiting for the Retrospective is the tempting answer because interactions are inspected there, but it lets the Sprint Goal slip in the meantime. Reassignment or escalation by others takes the problem out of the team's hands.

1. Identify whose accountability covers a teammate's behaviour: the Developers' own.
2. Note the time pressure: the Sprint Goal is at risk during this Sprint.
3. Prefer the response the team can act on now, inside the team.

Exam tip: Self-managing Developers deal with each other's conduct directly; they do not wait to be managed.