Crush Your PMP, Scrum Master & Agile Coach Exams: Top Interview Questions, Exam Prep Tips, and Certification Secrets! (Part I)

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Interview And Test Prep For Agile, Scrum And PMP Roles: 

QUES: When multiple Scrum Teams work together on the same product, each team should maintain a separate Product backlog? True Or False?
ANS: FALSE

QUES: What is the project information radiator in Agile?
ANS: The project information radiator is often a physical display of tasks that are being done, and tasks that are in the pipeline. It can be tech-driven too in applications like Jira. But, this is a place where the team and other stakeholders can find out the team velociyt, the product backlog items, burndown chart and the latest test results, defects and results from the retrospectives.

QUES: What are the two kinds of planning in Agile life cycles?
ANS: There are two kinds, the release planning and the iteration planning.
In Iteration planning, there is backlog preparation that is focused upon. The backlog is the ordered list of all the work, presented in story form, for a team. The Developers, tester and the Product owner discuss, write, and then place enough stories into an iteration enough features for a first release.
In release planning, business representatives establish and prioritize the user stories for the release, in collaboration with the team, refining larger user stories into a collection of smaller stories.

QUES: In waterfall, the project team often gets early feedback from customers or markets about the product they are building, so they can act on this feedback on time. True Or False?
a) True
b) False
ANS: False

QUES: In the absence of the scrum master, how can we conduct daily stand-up meetings?
ANS: Developers are the only ones who are required to attend daily stand-up meetings. The Product Owner and the Scrum Master are optional.

QUES: What is BDD in Agile?
ANS: BDD stands for Behavior-driven development where a developer focuses on testing the code based on the expected behavior of the software. It is a method of writing user stories to support the outcome of the test. Given, When, Then is the way BDD is used, particularly when outlining user Story Cards for any iteration. It says, when Given a situation, When something happens, Then we want this to happen.

QUES: What is the difference between Iterative project approach and Predictive project approach?
ANS: A Predictive or Waterfall project management lifecycle focuses on fixed requirements performed once for the project for a single delivery. On the other hand, an Iterative approach is where we have dynamic requirements, repeated with feedback until they are correct, but delivered all at once.

QUES: What are the earned value management metrics in a Predictive project?
ANS: SPI and CPI – Schedule performance index and cost performance index are earned value management metrics from a predictive project methodology – the Waterfall method.

QUES: What is the Agile Team Charter?
ANS: The Agile team charter is the “Why” vision and the team way of work and collaboration. It contains team values, such as sustainable pace and core hours. It has ground rules, such as one person talking in meetings at a time. It has working agreements, such as what “ready” means so that team can take in work, and what “done” means so the team can judge completeness consistently.

QUES: What is the difference between Sprint reviews and Sprint retrospectives?
ANS: Sprint reviews are for product demonstrations while Sprint retrospectives are for lessons learned, where we ask, “What went well, what didn’t go well, and what we can do better?”

QUES: What is Sprint ZERO?
ANS: During sprint zero, the team comes up with a minimal number of user stories to turn into a workable product and, optionally, sets up the infrastructure for development. The sprint is usually kept lightweight and high-level.

QUES: Can multiple scrum teams work together on the same product maintaining one product backlog?
ANS: Yes, it is required that they work on the same product backlog especially if it is about a single project.

QUES: Upon what type of process control is scrum based?
ANS: Empirical process. Empiricism promotes frequent opportunities to make informed decisions thus reducing risk and uncertainty.

QUES: What is the single focus of the scrum team?
ANS: The scrum team must have their eyes on the Product goal.

QUES: What are the different domains of the PMP that are tested in the exam?
ANS: The PEOPLE aspect is tested 42%, the PROCESS is tested with around 50% of the questions and the remaining 8% is on BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT.

QUES: What are some examples of value based measurements for an Agile project?
ANS: Agile works with value delivered as its primary measurement. Some examples are:
Feature burndown chart (features delivered)
Customer satisfaction

QUES: What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?
ANS: They both are pull systems in their own ways, with Kanban having WIP (Work In Progress) limits AND Scrum works in Sprints. They both ensure that the items in the Product backlog reach to the Customer in the shortest possible time. Kanban limits the work that the team can do, it limits how much the team has to work on. The work is pulled across into the queue only when the team is ready to work on it.

In Scrum, everyone has redefined job roles whereas in Kanban, there are no predefined job roles. In Scrum, the whole batch is pulled for one iteration called a sprint. whereas in Kanban, every member can pull new tasks. In Scrum, changes during sprints are discouraged, whereas in Kanban changes are encouraged to allow continuous improvements. Scrum is best for teams with requirements are not going to change and Kanban is best for projects when the requirements keep changing a lot.

Scrum Vs. Kanban

QUES: What are some examples of predictive measurements of project management?
ANS: The traditional waterfall method of project management has many kinds of measurements. They are often referred to in the PMBOK Guide, like:
Earned value management
Schedule performance index
Variance analysis
Estimate to complete
Variance at Completion
Cost performance index

QUES: When does sprint conclude?
ANS: When the sprint retrospective is complete.

QUES: Who is responsible for managing the progress of the scrum team?
ANS: The scrum master

QUES: What is AUP in Agile?
ANS: Agile Unified Process (AUP) is an auxiliary Agile method that focuses on performing more iterative cycles across 7 key disciplines, and incorporating the relevant feedback before the formal delivery of the product.
They are: (Below notes copyright Wiki)
Model: Understand the business of the organization, the problem domain being addressed by the project, and identify a viable solution to address the problem domain.
Implementation: Transform model(s) into executable code and perform a basic level of testing, in particular unit testing.
Test: Perform an objective evaluation to ensure quality. This includes finding defects, verifying that the system works as designed, and validating that the requirements are met.
Deployment: Plan for the delivery of the system and to execute the plan to make the system available to end users.
Configuration Management: Manage access to project artifacts. This includes not only tracking artifact versions over time but also controlling and managing changes to them.
Project Management: Direct the activities that take place within the project. This includes managing risks, directing people (assigning tasks, tracking progress, etc.), and coordinating with people and systems outside the scope of the project to be sure that it is delivered on time and within budget.
Environment: Support the rest of the effort by ensuring that the proper process, guidance (standards and guidelines), and tools (hardware, software, etc.) are available for the team as needed.

QUES: The CEO of the company asks a developer at the water cooler that a very important item has to be added to the sprint in progress. What should the developer do next?
ANS: Inform the PO of this request from the CEO.

QUES: What is the relative sizing estimation (Fibonacci estimation) to predict how much time tasks take in each sprint?
ANS: After refinement sessions and feedbacks on particular tasks, usually they might not end up taking the exact amount of time that we estimate. So we go for relative sizing. Relative sizing also shows us that we are open to change, and uncertainty.
Each user story is given a specific story point size. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13
No complexity: 1 story points
Very complex one: 13 story points
If the effort is there but not too much uncertainty: 5 story points

QUES: Why is the daily scrum held at same place and same time?
ANS: The consistency reduces the complexity, this is why we ensure that daily scrum happens at same place same time everytime.

QUES: On what basis is the product backlog ordered?
ANS: Value, Risk, Priority And Necessity

QUES: Who assigns tasks to the Developers in a Scrum team?
ANS: The Developers themselves

QUES: Which two things should the scrum team do during first sprint?
ANS: To atleast,
a. deliver an increment of useful and valuable product
b. develop and deliver at least one piece of functionality

QUES: What are the three pillars of scrum?
ANS: Transparency, Inspection and Adoption; They can also be: People, Events and Artifacts

QUES: What is a Sprint?
ANS: Sprint is a Short, time-boxed iteration during an Agile Project.

QUES: What are the two ways a scrum master serves to enable effective scrum teams?
ANS: one by facilitating developer decision making
two by removing impediments that hinder the scrum team

QUES: Which of the following are examples of a Scrum Team practicing Scrum poorly or not exhibiting traits Of a self-managing Scrum Team?
(choose the best three answers)
A. The Developers are working within the boundaries of their organizations functional description and nicely handing Off work from analyst to developer to tester to integration.
B. The Developers nave all the skills they need to create a valuable, useful Increment.
C. The Developers create their own Sprint Backlog, reflecting all work that is required to meet the Definition of Done.
D. The Developers are collaboratively selecting their own work during the Sprint.
E. The Developers invite external stakeholders to the Sprint Planning to ask them how to turn a Product Backlog item into an Increment via a complete and detailed Sprint Backlog.
F. Stakeholders attend the Daily Scrum to check on the Scrum Team’s progress.
ANS: A, E, F

QUES: Why does the agile manifesto de-emphasize extensive documentation early in the project?
ANS: Rapidly changing requirements would make the documentation outdated.

QUES: What are the Scrum Metrics that a new Scrum master must understand before inheriting a new team?
ANS: There are three metrics. 1. Velocity 2. Capacity and 3. Burn down charts

1. Velocity: Velocity is number of story points (user stories) completed in each sprint. Once a team has calculated the average velocity it can use the number of story points to plan future sprints. It typically takes 6 sprints to make it stable for the Scrum team.

Velocity Of The Scrum Team

2. Capacity: Estimated total amount of Scrum team time available for the sprint.

3. Burn down charts: See next question for answer

QUES: What is a burn down chart?
ANS: A burn down chart shows the amount of work that has been completed in an epic or sprint and the total work remaining based on the days remaining. In the product burn-down chart, the sprints are shown on the x-axis. In the sprint burn-down chart, the days of the sprint are shown on the x-axis. You can create one on Microsoft Excel. In simple words, it shows work left vs. time left.

The team refers to this as their sprint burndown and typically utilizes it to gauge progress toward the sprint commitment. The progress line at the top of the graph will move downward as work is finished to indicate the decreasing quantity of committed work that has to be finished. The graph uses the number of hours of work left to measure progress on the Y axis. Using a burndown that includes hours is unpopular with many teams. The Y axis of this chart, where points are represented, is preferred by most teams since they estimate in points rather than effort. This, in their opinion, more accurately reflects their development.

Burn Down Chart

Release BurnDown Chart

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QUES: Why Scrum instead of traditional waterfall management style?
ANS: In a very volatile world and ever changing landscape of the software development world, Scrum is the answer to address uncertainty. Scrum is a new way of addressing age old project management problems. Scrum is a framework for creating complex products in complex environments. It increases the opportunity to control risk and optimizes the predictability of progress. Short iterations called sprints help us ensure project progress while releasing small increments of product deliverables.

QUES: What are process groups in Project Management?
ANS: Typically projects require five process groups – initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. These are known as the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) process groups.

QUES: How will you prioritize the tasks in your project?
ANS: There are many ways to decide on what tasks are more urgent than others to create product value to the customer.
1. Pareto principle
2. Priority matrix
3. Relative prioritization
4. MITs (Most important tasks)

QUES: What are the kind of questions you must ask your interviewer?
ANS: When given a chance, please do not say that you don’t have any questions. It is important to show you care about the company and the role. Here are few sample questions that you can ask your interviewer.
1. How does change look like in your company?
2. Are you comfortable with telling me why you like your position in this company?
3. Am I inheriting a team or am I joining a newly formed team?
4. What is the career path for project managers in your organization?

QUES: What is the most difficult part about being a scrum master?
ANS: Changing the mindset of the team to adopt scrum or Agile.

QUES: What are the responsibilities of a PMP (Project Management Professional)?
ANS: Their responsibilities span across three areas:
PEOPLE – emphasizing the skills and activities associated with effectively leading a project team
PROCESS – reinforcing the technical aspects of managing a project
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT – highlighting the connection between projects and organization strategy

QUES: What are the different events / ceremonies of a Sprint?
ANS: Backlog grooming meetings, when everyone attends to review new or modified items in the backlog, are key activity for all Scrum teams. meetings for sprint planning where everyone gathers to talk about the work commitments for a next sprint. Every team member reports on what they accomplished the day before, what they will do today, and asks for assistance when they run into problems at the daily scrum or standup meeting. The development team, the PO, and the scrum master convene for a sprint review meeting to demonstrate what has been completed during the previous sprint.

During the sprint retrospective meeting, the team evaluates its own Scrum methods for effectiveness and efficiency. They also make decisions about what should and should not be changed to serve the group as a whole. The same physical papers are produced by all Scrum teams and are used to direct the team as they work on the project.

These are the Sprint backlog, which is a subset of the product backlog and, whenever possible, reflects the highest value items first, and the Product backlog, which is a defined set of the work items needed to be done to produce the whole, valued product. A product increment, which can be issued independently to give clients more value, is a subset of the complete product in development.

QUES: What are the Empiricism AND Lean Thinking principles.
ANS: This is as described in the theory of Scrum. Scrum is a combination of Empiricism and lean principles. Empiricism is that knowledge comes from actual real experience, and making decisions based on what is observed. -> It stands for transparency, inspection and adaptation. Lean thinking reduces waste and focuses on the Essentials.

QUES: What is the typical size for Scrum team?
ANS: 10 or fewer

QUES: Who creates the product backlog?
ANS: Product Owner

QUES: Who writes user stories?
ANS: Think of this acronym when thinking of how to write good user stories:
INVEST:
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
And think the 3C’s:
Engage your team in:
Card, Conversation and Confirmation

QUES: How to write good user stories?
ANS: Product Owner

QUES: What does the Product Vision Board have?
ANS: The Product vision board by Roman Pichler is very popular, it has:
Target group
Needs of the customer
Product description
Business goals

QUES: What is Project portfolio management?
ANS: The management and selection of projects that support an organization’s vision and mission. It is the balance of project priority, risk, reward, and return on investment. This is a senior management process of prioritization, selection and controlling of an organization’s programs and projects. It is to maintain and establish proper change management protocols so there’s no effect on the business and there’s a constant return on investment as well.

QUES: What are the different kinds of Agile Framework Flavors?
ANS: Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming, Crystal

QUES: What are the five values of scrum?
ANS: Known by the Acronym FROCC: Focus, respect, openness, courage and commitment.

QUES: Describe the roles in a scrum team?
ANS: Product owner: Maximizes the value delivered in sprints
Scrum master: Manages team processes and facilitates the methodology
Dev. Team: Members working toward achieving the project’s goal

QUES: Who has the final say on order of product backlog?
ANS: Product Owner

QUES: What is time box for daily scrum meeting?
ANS: Maximum 15 minutes

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Finding The Velocity Before Project Starts:

Here’s a way to find the team Velocity before the Project starts.
Check it out.

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Find Part II HERE.

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Free Assessments, Interview Prep and Exam Certification Study Guides:

Find the FREE resource HERE.

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NOTE: This is a living document, and I will keep adding questions and answers occasionally, so please keep checking this space.

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