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PSM I · Domain 3

Managing Products with Agility practice questions

Managing Products with Agility is worth 31% of the PSM I exam — the 2nd-heaviest of the 3 domains. Maximizing product value with stakeholders and customers, managing the Product Backlog, and forecasting and release planning. Weight approximates the share of the focus area competencies. 6 fully worked examples are further down this page, answers included.

Exam weight
31%
the 2nd-heaviest of the 3 domains
Questions
138
across 3 topics
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5/day
a free account allows 10 a day
Explanations
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6 sample Managing Products with Agility questions, fully explained

Questions from the PSM I bank mapped to domain 3, with the answer key and the reasoning behind every option. None of them repeat the examples on the main PSM I practice page.

Question 1Managing Products with Agility

A Product Owner wants evidence that recent releases are actually creating value. Which measure gives the most direct evidence?

Choose one.

  • a
    How many story points the Developers complete each Sprint

    Story points completed describe output and are a team planning aid, not evidence that anything delivered value.

  • b
    How many Product Backlog items were Done this quarter

    Counting Done items measures output. Many Done items can still add little value if nobody uses them.

  • c
    How closely the Developers followed the original release plan

    Plan conformance shows predictability against a plan, not whether the result is valuable to customers.

  • d
    How customers use the product and what results they get Correct

    Value shows up in outcomes for customers and users: what they do with the product and what it achieves for them.

The concept

Value is evidenced by outcomes for customers and users, not by output.

Why that’s the answer

The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product. Scrum.org's Product Value competency and Evidence-Based Management both measure value through outcomes such as usage, customer satisfaction and the results customers achieve. Story points, Done-item counts and plan conformance all measure output or activity; a team can score well on them while building things nobody needs.

How to reason it out
  1. Separate output measures (points, items, plan conformance) from outcome measures.
  2. Ask which measure shows what customers gained.
  3. Pick the outcome measure.

Exam tip: Measure value by customer outcomes, not by how much was built.

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 2Managing Products with Agility

A manager proposes rewarding Scrum Teams that increase their velocity each Sprint, as proof that they deliver more value. What is the best response from the Scrum Master?

Choose one.

  • a
    Explain that value shows in customer outcomes, not in velocity Correct

    Velocity is a planning aid that describes output. Value is shown by outcomes for customers, so rewarding velocity growth measures the wrong thing.

  • b
    Agree, but normalize velocity across teams before comparing

    Normalizing velocity still treats output as value, and comparing teams by velocity invites inflated estimates.

  • c
    Agree, and ask the Product Owner to set a velocity target

    A velocity target is still an output target. The Product Owner's accountability is value, not throughput.

  • d
    Suggest counting Done Product Backlog items instead of points

    Counting Done items swaps one output measure for another; it still says nothing about the value delivered.

The concept

Velocity and item counts measure output; value is measured through outcomes.

Why that’s the answer

The Scrum Guide does not mention velocity at all; teams may use it to forecast their own capacity. Treating it as a measure of value confuses output with outcomes, and rewarding increases tends to inflate estimates rather than improve the product. The near-twin distractors (normalized velocity, Done-item counts) keep the same output focus. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it understand empirical, value-focused measurement.

How to reason it out
  1. Identify what the manager is measuring: output (velocity).
  2. Recall that value is judged by outcomes for customers.
  3. Reject options that only swap one output measure for another.

Exam tip: Rewarding more output does not reward more value.

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 3Managing Products with Agility

A Product Owner wants to track outcomes for customers rather than output. Which two measures are outcome measures? (Select TWO.)

Choose TWO.

  • a
    The number of story points the Developers complete in each Sprint

    Story points completed describe how much work was done, which is output.

  • b
    The share of users who complete their task with the new feature Correct

    Task completion by users shows whether the feature helps them, which is an outcome.

  • c
    Customer satisfaction ratings collected after each release Correct

    Satisfaction reflects how customers experience the product, which is an outcome measure.

  • d
    The number of Product Backlog items refined during this month

    Refined items are preparation work, an activity count rather than a result for customers.

  • e
    The total hours the Developers logged against each backlog item

    Logged hours measure effort spent, not anything the customer gained.

The concept

Outcome measures describe what customers and users gain; output measures describe how much the team produced.

Why that’s the answer

Usage-based results (task completion) and customer satisfaction show whether the product changed anything for the people it serves. Points, refinement counts and logged hours describe work done by the team; they can rise while value stays flat.

How to reason it out
  1. For each measure, ask whether it describes the team's work or the customer's result.
  2. Keep the two that describe the customer's result.
  3. Reject effort, activity and output counts.

Exam tip: Outcomes are about customers; output is about the team's work.

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 4Managing Products with Agility

Scrum.org's Evidence-Based Management (EBM) has four key value areas. Two describe market value: Current Value and Unrealized Value. Which pair names the other two?

Choose one.

  • a
    Time to Market and Ability to Scale

    Time to Market is right, but Ability to Scale is not an EBM key value area; the fourth area is Ability to Innovate.

  • b
    Lead Time and Ability to Innovate

    Ability to Innovate is right, but lead time is a measure used within Time to Market, not a key value area of its own.

  • c
    Lead Time and Ability to Scale

    Neither is a key value area: lead time is a measure inside Time to Market, and Ability to Scale is not part of EBM.

  • d
    Time to Market and Ability to Innovate Correct

    These are the two EBM key value areas that describe the organization's capability to deliver value, alongside Current Value and Unrealized Value.

The concept

EBM's four key value areas: Current Value, Unrealized Value, Time to Market, Ability to Innovate.

Why that’s the answer

Scrum.org's EBM Guide organizes evidence of value into four key value areas: Current Value (value delivered today), Unrealized Value (potential value not yet captured), Time to Market (how quickly the organization can deliver and learn) and Ability to Innovate (how effectively it can deliver new capabilities). Lead time is a measure inside Time to Market rather than an area, and Ability to Scale is not an EBM term.

How to reason it out
  1. Recall the two market-value areas named in the stem: Current and Unrealized Value.
  2. Recall the two capability areas: Time to Market and Ability to Innovate.
  3. Reject pairs that use a measure (lead time) or an invented area name (Ability to Scale).

Exam tip: EBM: two areas for market value (Current, Unrealized), two for capability (Time to Market, Ability to Innovate).

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 5Managing Products with Agility

A product is popular with its current users, but research shows a large group of potential customers whose needs it does not yet meet. Which Evidence-Based Management key value area describes this gap?

Choose one.

  • a
    Current Value

    Current Value describes the value the product delivers today, which in this case is already good.

  • b
    Ability to Innovate

    Ability to Innovate is about how effectively the organization can deliver new capabilities, not the size of the unmet market.

  • c
    Time to Market

    Time to Market is about how quickly the organization can deliver and learn, not about unmet demand.

  • d
    Unrealized Value Correct

    Unrealized Value is the potential future value that could be captured by meeting the needs of all potential customers or users.

The concept

Unrealized Value is the gap between the value delivered now and the value possible for all potential customers.

Why that’s the answer

The EBM Guide defines Unrealized Value as the potential value that could be realized if the organization met the needs of all potential customers or users. The stem describes exactly that gap: present users are happy (Current Value is fine) but a large unmet group exists. Ability to Innovate and Time to Market describe the organization's capability to deliver, not the size of the opportunity.

How to reason it out
  1. Note what is good: present users are satisfied, so Current Value is not the issue.
  2. Note what is missing: needs of potential customers not yet met.
  3. Match that to the area describing potential future value.

Exam tip: Happy users today is Current Value; the unmet market is Unrealized Value.

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 6Managing Products with Agility

Over several releases, the Developers spend a growing share of each Sprint fixing defects and working around fragile code, so less effort goes into new capabilities. Which Evidence-Based Management key value area is most directly declining?

Choose one.

  • a
    Ability to Innovate Correct

    Ability to Innovate reflects how effectively the organization can deliver new capabilities; technical debt and defect work directly reduce it.

  • b
    Unrealized Value

    Unrealized Value is the potential value in unmet needs. It does not measure how effort is being spent.

  • c
    Current Value

    Current Value describes value customers get today; the stem says nothing about customers getting less from the product now.

  • d
    Customer Satisfaction

    Customer satisfaction is a measure often used within Current Value, not a key value area, and the stem describes internal capability.

The concept

Technical debt and defect load reduce an organization's Ability to Innovate.

Why that’s the answer

In the EBM Guide, Ability to Innovate is the effective ability to deliver new capabilities that might better meet customer needs; typical measures include technical debt, defect trends and the share of effort spent on new capabilities. The stem describes exactly that share shrinking. Current Value and Unrealized Value describe market value, not delivery capability, and customer satisfaction is a measure rather than a key value area.

How to reason it out
  1. Identify the symptom: effort is being diverted from new capabilities to defects and workarounds.
  2. Recall which key value area covers the capability to deliver new things.
  3. Reject market-value areas and measures that are not key value areas.

Exam tip: More time on defects and workarounds means less Ability to Innovate.

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with Customers — the lesson that teaches this.

What PSM I domain 3 tests, topic by topic

The official exam guide breaks Managing Products with Agility into 3 topics. The question bank follows the same split, so a weak topic shows up as a cluster of misses you can go back and read.

Published PSM I practice questions per topic in Managing Products with Agility
TopicWhat it coversQuestions
Product value, stakeholders and customersOfficial PSM I focus area (Professional Scrum Competencies): Product Value; Stakeholders & Customers. Scrum Guide 2020: Product Owner, Product Goal, Sprint Review.45
Product Backlog managementOfficial PSM I focus area (Professional Scrum Competencies): Product Backlog Management. Scrum Guide 2020: Product Backlog (refinement, ordering, sizing), Product Owner accountabilities.49
Forecasting and release planningOfficial PSM I focus area (Professional Scrum Competencies): Forecasting & Release Planning. Scrum Guide 2020: Scrum Theory (empirical forecasting), Product Backlog, Increment (releasing before the end of a Sprint).44
Total138

Revise Managing Products with Agility before you drill it

PSM I Product Value and Stakeholders: Maximizing Value with CustomersQuestions on this topic check whether you can tell evidence of value from evidence of activity, and who holds which decision when stakeholders are involved. Expect short recall items on the Scrum Guide's wording (whom the Product Owner represents, how the Product Backlog is changed, what happens at the Sprint Review, who may attend Sprint Planning, what the Sprint Goal communicates) and on the names and meaning of the four Evidence-Based Management key value areas. Scenario items put pressure on the Product Owner's decisions, show customers and users with different views, bring stakeholders into events, give Developers new information from users, and describe products whose value has not yet been tested with real users, then ask for the best response. Distractors are usually near-correct: an output measure dressed up as value, a measure named as a key value area, a stakeholder given approval power, or a sound idea applied at the wrong event. Some items are multiple response and ask for two answers.PSM I Product Backlog Management: Ordering, Refinement and SizingQuestions in this topic are mostly short scenarios about who decides what and where work belongs: a stakeholder or manager wants an item moved, a Developer receives a request directly, a Product Owner refines alone or keeps the real order elsewhere, technical debt or favours are handled outside the backlog, or the order changes mid-Sprint. Other items check exact Scrum Guide wording against older or folk Scrum, such as whether refinement is an event, the removed 10% guideline, who sizes items, what makes an item ready, and whether user stories, story points or a Definition of Ready are required. Harder items combine two facts, for example ordering by risk or dependency rather than value alone, splitting into usable slices rather than layers, or several teams sharing one Product Backlog. Multiple-response items ask for the two statements or actions that fit.PSM I Forecasting and Release Planning: Empirical Forecasts and Releasing ValueQuestions on forecasting and release planning are mostly short items grounded in the Scrum Guide 2020, many of them brief scenarios with a Product Owner, manager or stakeholder, and some multiple-answer items. They ask what may inform a forecast, how Sprints create predictability, what status forecasting charts and velocity have, what counts as progress, when an Increment may be released and who decides, and how to respond to a fixed date or several teams sharing a product. The difficulty comes from near-correct distractors: rules from the 2017 Guide, folk practices such as release Sprints, hardening Sprints, Sprint 0 and release planning meetings, Sprint Review sign-offs, velocity comparisons and targets, partial credit for undone work, and forecasts treated as commitments. Some items ask you to spot the weakness in a forecast built from history that no longer matches current conditions, or to turn a recent throughput range into a forecast range.

Other PSM I domains

Domain 1: Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework46% of the exam · 219 questionsDomain 2: Developing People and Teams23% of the exam · 88 questionsAll PSM I practice questionsMixed sessions across all 3 domains — the way the real exam interleaves them.

Managing Products with Agility: your questions

Managing Products with Agility is domain 3 of the PSM I exam guide and carries 31% of the scored content — the 2nd-heaviest of the 3 domains. On a 80-question paper that works out to roughly 25 questions, though Scrum.org does not publish an exact per-domain count and individual exam forms vary.

Source

The domain weight and topic list on this page come from the official PSM I exam guide.