The scrum master is a core member of the scrum team but still a very underrated one who may pose a challenge to the recruiting process. Whether this is your first Scrum Master interview, or you’re a seasoned pro, learning how to plan for an interview is often helpful. A lot of organizations are looking for skilled Scrum Masters. So, you’ll undoubtedly want to be able to tackle the types of questions that will be better used for Agile and Scrum enterprises. For that very reason, we have compiled the top 50 Scrum Master interview questions for your reference.
Now, let’s start the blog by discussing some of the basic questions.
1. What is Scrum?
Scrum is a framework, which is designed to help the team to work together in an incremental and iterative approach. The entire scrum process is organized into cycles called sprints. It enables to team to work on the problems to make improvements and learn from their experience.
2. What Are the Benefits of Implementing Scrum?
Here are the benefits of implementing the Scrum framework:
- Accelerate software delivery
- Enhance ability to manage changing priorities
- Increase productivity
- Improve business alignment
- Enhance software quality
- Reduce project risk and cost
- Better managing of distributed teams
- Increase software maintainability
- Enhanced project visibility and team morale
3. Who Is Scrum Master, and What Do They Do?
The Scrum Masters are responsible for promoting Scrum and facilitating it. They help their colleagues reach their expectations. They help handle project risks, and as a coach, they advise the Team. The Scrum Masters are also regarded as servant leaders, offering cohesion and inspiring their Squad to achieve the best they can.
4. What Are the Skills and Qualities of a Scrum Master?
Here is a comprehensive list of skills and qualities of being a Scrum Master:
- Be Influential
- Be collaborative
- Be observant
- Share experience
- Be a good listener
- Be disruptive
- Instill leadership skills
- Acquire knowledge
- Protect your team
5. Briefly Explain the Responsibilities of a Scrum Master.
The Scrum Master’s responsibilities include the following:
- They act as Servant leaders to the Scrum team
- They maximize the value created by the Scrum team
- They help everyone to understand the Scrum theory, rules, values, and practices
- They remove distractions hampering the progress of the project
6. How Does Scrum Master Serve the Organization?
Scrum Master serves the organization in the following ways:
- Scrum Master acts as an agile change agent and facilitates the change
- Helps to increase the productivity of the scrum team
- Plans scrum implementation within the organization
- Supports agile leadership principles and practices
- Helps the team and the stakeholders to understand scrum empirical theory
7. What Are the Scrum Artifacts?
Scrum Artifacts are mainly designed to maximize the transparency of key information so that every individual has some understanding of the artifact.
In Scrum, there are three primary artifacts:
- Product Backlog: The product backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in a project. It is created by the product owner with the development team
- Sprint Backlog: The sprint backlog is the set of product backlog items that the team commits to achieve in a given sprint
- Product Increment: It is the sum of all the product backlog items completed during a sprint session and the value of increments of the previous sprints. It is a step towards the project vision/goal
Let us now look at the next question in this Scrum Master interview questions article.
8. What Is the Agenda of the Daily Stand-up Session?
Standup is nothing but a daily discussion that usually takes place for about 15 minutes. The main agenda behind conducting daily standup meetings is to discuss:
- Completed tasks
- Pending tasks
- Obstacles faced by the team
If required discussions can take place even after the stand-up sessions as well.
9. Explain the Different Roles in Scrum?
The Scrum Team works together regularly, and closely to ensure a smooth flow of information and quick resolution of issues.
There are three different roles in Scrum:
- Scrum Master: They are responsible for assisting the team members to understand scrum values, rules, theory, practices, and values
- Product Owner: They are responsible for maximizing the product value resulting from teamwork
- Development team: They are self-organizing and cross-functional groups that do hands-on work of developing and testing the product. This group includes members from cross-disciplinary teams
10. Explain Scrumban.
Scrumban is defined as a combination of Scrum and Kanban methodology. This is mainly used to meet the team requirements and to implement a pull-based system. It includes the structure of Scrum methodology and visualization features of Scrum.
11. What is a User Story?
A user story is a tool used in the development of Agile software which captures a feature’s explanation from an end-user perspective. It explains the form of users and their motives and others. A user narrative provides a condensed explanation of what a customer wants.
12. What Is the Structure That Should Be Followed While Choosing a User Story? Explain with an Example.
A user story is created using the following aspects:
- Who is the user?
- What is the intention of creating?
- What value does the story bring to customers?
Example: Being a credit card holder, I would like to view the balance statement so that I can pay the balance due. Let us now look at the next question in this Scrum Master interview questions article.
13. What Are the Features of a Good User Story?
A good user-story includes:
- Description
- Acceptance criteria defined
- Can be delivered in a single sprint
- Has all the UI deliverables available
- Have all the dependencies identified
- Has tracking and performance criteria defined, and
- Is estimated by the scrum team.
14. What Are the Different Events That Take Place During the Scrum Process?
Scrum defines four events (which are also called Scrum ceremonies) during each sprint process.
- Sprint planning: The entire scrum team collaborates and plans the work to be performed during the sprint process and defines sprint goals as well
- Daily Scrum: It is held every day for about 15 minutes, which is also a time-boxed event for all the team to progress towards the sprint goal
- Sprint review: The sprint review process is held at the end of the sprint process where the scrum team and the stakeholders inspect the entire process and adapt the product backlog if required
- Sprint Retrospective: Here the scrum team reflects on how things went during the previous sprint and areas of improvement
15. What Should Be the Ideal Size of a Scrum Team?
The ideal size of a scrum team should be somewhere between 3-9 people excluding the Product Owner and the Scrum Master.
16. How to Track Sprint Progress?
Using burndown charts, Scrum Masters can track the sprint progress. The vertical axis in the burndown chart represents the remaining work whereas the horizontal axis represents the total number of sprints. Let us now look at the next question in this Scrum Master interview questions article.
17. Is It Possible to Cancel a Sprint Process? And Who Can Cancel the Process?
Yes, it is possible to cancel a sprint process before the timebox limit ends. Only a product owner has the right to cancel the sprint.
18. Can You Name Some of the Tools Used in the Scrum Project?
Some of the most widely used scrum tools are:
- Jira
- Trello
- ClickUp
- Yodiz
- Vivify
- ScrumDo
- Scrumwise
- Nutcache
- Axosoft
- ZohoSprints
- Versionone
19. How Is Scrum Master Beneficial to the Product Owner?
The product owner seeks the assistance of the Scrum Master in the following ways:
- Make sure that everyone on the Scrum Team knows priorities, reach & product context as much as possible
- Assisting the Scrum squad to understand the need to be clear and concise on the product backlog
- Seeking strategies for efficient inventory backlog management; e.g., multiple prioritization strategies, such as Moscow & Requirement Split and Market Value Distribution techniques.
- Assisting to know how to plan a substance in an analytical situation;
- Ensure that the Product Owner knows how to set up the Inventory Backlog to optimize quality and market profit
- Comprise and exercise agility
- Supporting Scrum activities as needed or necessary.
20. What Are Some of the Metrics Used by the Scrum Team to Gauge/Measure the Work Done?
Metrics used by the scrum team to measure the work done include:
- Sprint goal success
- Escaped defects and defect density
- Team velocity
- Sprint burn-down
- Time-to-market
- Capital redeployment
- Customer satisfaction
- ROI
21. What Is the Burnup and Burndown Chart?
Burnup Chart:
A burnup chart is mainly used to track the work completed and also represent the total amount of pending work to be completed.
Burndown Chart:
The Burndown chart represents outstanding work in the sprint in terms of task hours and is mainly useful for predicting the completed work.
22. Explain the Difference Between Tasks, Epics, and User Story.
User Story:
The user story involves explaining to the team the business requirements from the user’s perspective.
Epics:
Epics are nothing but large and complex user stories.
Tasks:
Tasks are the smallest part of Scrum which is used to track work. They are also used to break down the user stories for further use. Usually people of two work on a task.
23. Explain Velocity?
Velocity is a metric used to measure the completed amount of work by the team during the sprint session. It also indicates the number of user stories completed during each sprint. It also acts as a guideline for the team to understand the user stories that could be completed during the sprint.
24. Define Product Backlog in Scrum
Before starting the scrum sprint, the product owner checks the list of all fresh functions, modification demands, updates, and error reports, and decides which ones are of high priority. If the project is fresh, it requires additional functionality to be introduced by the current framework; this item list is stated as the Product Backlog. The stuff that’s held on sprint is called the Sprint Backlog.
Let us now look at the next question in this Scrum Master interview questions article.
25. Define a Product Owner’s Role.
The Product Owner insists on the business’s success, thereby maintaining its market worth. Identifying and optimizing the Commodity Backlog products is their primary responsibility. The Product Owner is the client’s voice to the team and also represents the consumer. PO keeps inventory backlog up-to-date and directs the Staff when to produce what portion of the backlog of items.
26. Explain the Responsibilities of a Product Owner?
- Product owners are responsible for defining the project vision.
- They evaluate the progress of the project.
- They anticipate the customer requirements and create user stories accordingly.
27. What Is Timeboxing in Scrum?
Timeboxing implies the distribution of a set time unit for operation. But the time is done regardless of the outcome. This promotes consistency, and predictability, and provides a condition for examination and adaptation. Any Scrum case is time-packed and doesn’t have to be stretched like Sprint, Regular Scrum, etc.
Let us now look at the next question in this Scrum Master interview questions article.
28. What Is Discussed During the Sprint Planning Meeting?
During the sprint planning process, the entire scrum teamwork in collaboration and discussion about the work to be performed in the Sprint.
29. What Is the Role of Scrum Master in Sprint Retrospective?
During the sprint retrospective process, the team focuses on how things went during the previous sprints and identifies the areas of improvement that could be made going forward. They act as a peer team member in sprint retrospective events.
30. What Happens During a Sprint Review Process?
- A Sprint review process is held at the end of the sprint process to inspect the product increment and update the product backlog if needed
- The Scrum Team and the stakeholders work in collaboration about work done in the previous sprint process and research on the marketplace, estimate the timeline, budget, and potential capabilities
- The sprint review process doesn’t have a fixed timeframe, it lasts for about 4 hours
31. What Is the Definition of “Ready”?
The term” Ready” defines what has to be included in the user story before the team can provide an estimation for it. It’s the responsibility of the team or the product owner to ensure that user stories are ready prior to the beginning of the sprint phase.
32. How Is the Estimation in a Scrum Project Done? What Are the Techniques Used for Analysis?
The estimation is done using comparative Agile estimation methods in a Scrum project:
- The T-shirt Estimation Technique
- The Planning Poker Estimation Technique
- The Estimation by Analogy Technique
- The Disaggregation Estimation Technique
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33. What Is the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Scrum?
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Scrum is defined as a product with minimum required features displayed to the stakeholders that is eligible for the production process.
34. Explain the Storyboard in Scrum?
A storyboard in scrum ensures transparency in the entire process. It is a visual representation of the progress of a software project, which mainly has four columns such as “To-do”, “In-progress”, “Test”, and “Done”.
35. What Are the Disadvantages of Practicing Scrum?
Obviously, every framework or methodology has both disadvantages and advantages. The Scrum methodology is no exception.
- First of all, adopting the Scrum framework in large teams is challenging
- The framework can be successful only with experienced team members
- It can be difficult to scale an Agile/Scrum approach to large, complex projects
- Often, daily meetings sometimes frustrate team members
- If any team member leaves in the middle of a project, it can have a huge negative impact on the project
- Most of the time there is uncertainty regarding the product
- Frequent changes and frequent product delivery remains during the scrum cycle
- There are no deadlines for delivering products, this often leads to long discussions between the Product Owner/Scrum Master and the Project Manager as PMs keep demanding new functionality
36. Define DOD and How Could It Be Achieved.
Definition of Done describes the completed tasks defining the work quality. This is mainly used to indicate whether the sprint backlog activity is completed.
37. What Is Scope Creep? How Do Overcome It?
During a project, if the requirements are not properly defined and additional features are added to an existing product, scope creep occurs.
There are points to consider to prevent scope creep:
- Project requirements must be clearly defined
- Monitoring of project’s progress must be regularly monitored
- The sprint backlog must be thoroughly checked
38. What Are Common Issues Faced in a Scrum Project?
- Timeline issues
- Budget issues
- Scope Creep
39. What is Scrum of Scrums?
The term “Scrum of Scrum” is a Scaled Agile methodology, mainly used when required to coordinate with various teams to collaborate on complex assignments. This ensures transparency, adaption, adoption, and collaboration are established and products are timely delivered.
40. Explain the Difference between Scrum and Agile?
The table below summarizes the key differences between Scrum and Agile.
| Scrum | Agile |
| Scrum framework involves quite a bit of innovative and experimental approach | Agile involves simple design and execution |
| The team involved in the process can react to the changes | Changes can’t be handled regularly |
| Scrum is suitable for teams that handle regular changing requirements | Agile is suitable for smaller teams |
| Any issues at any phase of the project are handled by the scrum master and the team | The project head is responsible for the entire project process |
| Scrum framework is an implementation of the Agile methodology | The agile methodology involves an incremental and iterative approach to the process |
| A daily stand-up meeting is held in the scrum | Agile involves face-to-face interactions between various teams |
41. What Are the Four Values of Agile Software Development as Stated in the Agile Manifesto?
- Individuals and interactions Over Processes and tools
- Working software over Comprehensive documentation
- Customer Collaboration Over Contract negotiation
- Responding to change by following a plan
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42. What Are the Key Principles of Agile Software Development?
- Customer satisfaction
- Welcome change requirements
- Continuous Feedback
- Collective teamwork
- Focus on Active Processes
- Face-to-face communication
- Motivate the people
- Sustainable development
- Technical excellence
- Be Simple
- Self-organized
- Adjust strategies
43. Mention Some of the Cases Where Scrum Is Not Suggested?
Certain situations where it is not suggested to use scrum:
- When people have bad experiences using Scrum previously
- When an organization is not ready to adopt agile values and practices
- When you look for a one-stop solution for all the problems
- When the requirements are not allowed to evolve
44. What Is Empirical Process Control? How Scrum Framework Is Based on That?
Empiricism means working based on facts, experience, and evidence. The empirical process control in Scrum includes the following:
- Transparency- We all know what is going on
- Adaptation- It is completely acceptable to change the tactic direction
- Inspection- Check your work thoroughly as you do it
45. Being a Scrum Master, How Will You Demonstrate the Concept of Servant Leadership?
A scrum is often referred to as a servant leader of the scrum team.
Being a servant leader, scrum master:
- Shouldn’t blindly follow the directions
- Be loyal to the team and try to earn the trust
- Protect the team from external impediments
- Lead the team through healthy debate and conflict
46. How Would You Handle a Scrum Transition of an Organization That Was Heavily Reliant on the Waterfall Model Before?
Here are a few ways how you can handle scrum transition from the Waterfall model:
- Make sure you have experienced people in the team having a thorough knowledge of scrum
- Upgrade the project management tools that you have been using currently
- Conduct a completely dedicated retrospective meeting
- Conduct scrum-related workshops, user stories, time and cost estimations, on-site practices, collaboration tools, and other tasks
Following the above-mentioned steps will ensure a smooth transition from waterfall to scrum.
47. What Are the Anti-patterns That a Scrum Master Might Fall During a Sprint Session?
The anti-patterns include the following:
- Defining technical solutions
- Lack of support
- Assigning sub-tasks to the developers
- Flow disruption
- Doesn’t educating stakeholders on the negative impact of disruptions
- Doesn’t object that the management invites engineers to random meetings
- Doesn’t oppose line managers assigning other tasks to the team members
48. As a Scrum Master, How Will You Identify Where You Need to Improve?
- Be open-minded
- Experiment with new suggestions
- Share your experiences
- Be susceptible to feedback
- Organize conferences and seminars to gain knowledge
- Organize a completely dedicated retrospective meeting
49. How Will You Know That Agile Practices Are Working Perfectly for Your Organization?
There is no standard definition for” Agile Success”. Every organization must develop its own criteria to evaluate whether the adoption of agile was a success or not. Here are a few things to consider:
- The products you deliver result in higher customer retention rates and customer acquisition
- When the team members are happy, there is an increase in the referral numbers from the team
- Increased software quality can be easily demonstrated by measurably less technical debt, less time on maintenance, and fewer bugs
- Stakeholders are increasingly participants in the event
- Reduction in the lead time
50. Are You Scrum Master Certified? If Yes, Why Did You Choose That Certification?
If you are a scrum master certified, let the interviewer know your reasons for choosing that certification. If you are not, then no need to panic.
51. As a Scrum Master, How Are You Going to Handle Daily Scrum Meetings with Remote Teams?
- They build relationships, grow a great team culture, resolve the issues
- The scrum meetings are just not for the information exchange, but it involves a discussion regarding complex aspects of the project
- Peer-to-peer status updates are relevant and interesting
52. Let’s Say You Have Received a Story on the Last Day of the Sprint and You Find That There Are Defects in the Story. Will You Mark It as “done”?
Usually, a user story is marked done when the following criteria are met:
- The development process is complete
- QA is complete
- Acceptance criteria are met
- When the product is eligible to ship into production
When a user story has defects, you can mark it partially done and move it to the next sprint.
Conclusion
These are the most frequently asked Scrum Master Interview Questions that you will come across. Several questions don’t have a correct or incorrect answer during an interview. It all depends on the experience of each company and the individual when it comes to addressing the problem. Therefore, one should be prepared for general inquiries.
All you’ll need to ace your interview is a broader understanding of the Scrum Master’s position, Agile practices, and principles represented by Scrum Structure. Individuals and enterprise teams getting trained in popular Agile Certification courses will give one a fair idea of Scrum Knowledge and how it needs to be implemented in an organization.
