The Sprint

5 minutes 5 Questions

In Agile project management, a sprint is a set period of time during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review. Each sprint begins with a planning meeting where the team decides what to complete in the coming sprint. Once a sprint has been delivered, the product is tested an…

Guide: The Sprint in Agile Project Management

The Sprint is a crucial aspect of Agile project management. Why it is important: Sprints allow teams to break down a large project into manageable chunks, ensuring continuous delivery of value, offering opportunities for feedback, and allowing for adjustments as needed.

What it is: A Sprint is a set period during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review. Sprints are at the heart of Agile methodology, providing structure and rhythm to the project workflow.

How it works: In a sprint, the team selects items from the product backlog and commits to complete them by the end of the sprint. The team holds daily stand-ups to discuss progress and holds a review at the end to showcase their work and get feedback.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on The Sprint: Understand key concepts (like definition and purpose), but also focus on practical aspects: how Sprints work, roles involved, and the meetings that take place during a Sprint (daily stand-up, sprint planning, review, retro). Highlight the regular delivery of value and embrace change. Remember, it's not enough to merely define terms - you'll be expected to explain how they apply in a practical context.

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CAPM - The Sprint Example Questions

Test your knowledge of The Sprint

Question 1

You observe that the team has consistently been underestimating Task complexity during Sprint Planning, leading to incomplete Sprints. As the Scrum Master, how should you address this recurring issue?

Suggest the Product Owner adds fewer items to the Sprint Backlog to mitigate the risk of incomplete tasks at the end of the Sprint. This approach involves careful selection of backlog items that are deemed most essential and manageable within the Sprint timeframe. By prioritizing and limiting the scope of work, the team can focus on accomplishing the tasks more effectively, reducing the occurrence of incomplete items. However, this strategy must be balanced with maintaining progress towards the project goals and ensuring that key functionalities and features are being developed according to the stakeholders' expectations and needs. Introduce techniques for the team to break down tasks into smaller, more manageable parts to enhance estimation accuracy Advise the team to double their estimates for all tasks to ensure they always complete the Sprint backlog Implement a strict policy that penalizes the team for every task that is not completed within the Sprint

Correct Answer: Introduce techniques for the team to break down tasks into smaller, more manageable parts to enhance estimation accuracy

The correct approach for a Scrum Master dealing with a team that underestimates task complexity involves coaching the team on breaking down tasks and improving estimation accuracy, rather than resorting to punitive measures, artificially inflating estimates, or reducing the workload without regard to prioritization and value delivery. The proposed solution directly addresses the issue's root by enhancing the team's skills rather than altering external factors or applying pressure.

Question 2

A sprint is progressing smoothly but the team realizes a step was inadvertently missed in the task plan that could lead to a delay. What should the team do?

Hide the mistake and hope the product owner does not realize it. Inform the product owner, reassess the timeline, and add the task to the current or upcoming sprint as appropriate. Continue with the sprint as planned and deal with the missed step in the next sprint. Blame the individual responsible for the mistake.

Correct Answer: Inform the product owner, reassess the timeline, and add the task to the current or upcoming sprint as appropriate.

The best course of action when realizing a step was missed in the task plan is to communicate this to the product owner, reassess the timeline, and add the task to the current or upcoming sprint as appropriate (Answer id: 155614). This is in line with principles of transparency and collective responsibility that underpin agile methodologies like Scrum, which suggest that teams work together to solve problems, and actively communicate project status to the product owner. In contrast, hiding the mistake (Answer id: 155615) is neither ethical nor realistic as it risks more significant problems in the future. Similarly, blaming the individual for the mistake (Answer id: 155616) does not deal with the problem at hand and can impair the team's dynamics and morale. Finally, choosing to continue with the sprint and dealing with the missed step in the next sprint (Answer id: 155617) may not be a viable option either, since it can affect the product quality and potentially, the sprint's success.

Question 3

At the end of a sprint, the team has met the sprint goal, but there's still capacity to do more work. What should be done?

The Scrum Master should insist on adding more work immediately to fill the capacity. The team should start working on the items from the next sprint’s backlog. The Scrum team should use the remaining time for vacation. Work should not be added just to fill the capacity. The team should focus on improvement or preparing for the next Sprint.

Correct Answer: Work should not be added just to fill the capacity. The team should focus on improvement or preparing for the next Sprint.

In Scrum, the goal is not to maximize work but to achieve the Sprint goal. Thus, if the goal is met and there's still capacity, work should not be added just to fill the capacity. Instead, the team should focus on improvement or preparing for the next Sprint. This would allow the team to improve their efficiency and get ready for the next cycle. In contrast, insisting on adding more work immediately could risk overloading the team and does not align with the Scrum values. Starting work on the items from the next sprint’s backlog disrupts the sprint cadence and planning process, and using the remaining time for a vacation is not practical because it assumes the team won't use this time for valuable activities like refinement, review or improvement.

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