Impediment Removal

Correct Answer: Facilitate a conversation with the individual and the team to understand and address the reasons for non-collaboration.

As a Scrum Master, their job is to ensure smooth operations and productive teamwork. Facilitating a conversation with the individual and the team helps to understand and address the reasons for non-collaboration. This approach tackles the problem at its root and finds a potential solution while fostering open communication in the team. The answer suggesting to 'Ask the non-collaborative team member to leave' is not a beneficial longer term solution. This could also generate a hostile environment and does not help to solve any underlying issue. 'Ignoring the situation' is not proactive, and as a Scrum Master, one should address detected issues as soon as possible to prevent them from escalating. 'Forming a separate team for this person' is not a plausible solution either as the problem may persist and this does not promote teamwork and collaboration.

Correct Answer: Arrange a meeting with relevant parties (tool vendors, IT department) to address and rectify the problem.

The most efficient way to handle the situation, when a critical tool used by the team fails frequently, as a Scrum Master is 'Arrange a meeting with relevant parties (tool vendors, IT department) to address and rectify the problem'. Scrum master's role primarily focuses on making sure that the team is able to do its best work, removing impediments that may slow down the team. Pestering with a faulty tool will not only reduce the productivity but also affect the overall efficiency of the team. Regarding the other options, asking the team to continue with the faulty tool they can manage at best does not tackle the root cause of the problem. Additionally, buying a new tool without understanding the issue with the existing one can lead to draining resources unnecessarily which is also not a strategic choice to make. Lastly, ignoring the issue and keep using the problematic tool is the worst-case scenario as it will push the team into a vicious cycle of recurring issues, thereby dwindling the result of each cycle.

Correct Answer: Escalate the issue to the Product Owner and stakeholders, explaining its impact on the team's ability to deliver.

In Scrum, the Scrum Master's role is to help the team remove obstacles and foster communication with stakeholders. When a problem, like a slow testing environment, affects the team's ability to meet their commitments, it is the Scrum Master's responsibility to ensure the issue is addressed. Thus, escalating the issue to the Product Owner and stakeholders, explaining its impact on the team's ability to deliver, would be the appropriate next step. The Scrum Master should help stakeholders understand the challenges the team is facing and seek their support in resolving the issue. Demanding the technology department to fix the issue immediately is not an effective approach. While the Scrum Master should ensure the problem is addressed, they should work collaboratively and respectfully with other departments, rather than making demandsIgnoring the problem because it is out of the Scrum team's control is not in line with the Scrum mindset. Scrum encourages teams to take ownership of problems and work together to find solutions, rather than disregarding challenges they faceSuggesting that the team works overtime until the issue is fixed is not a sustainable or healthy solution. While there may be times when additional effort is needed, implicitly promoting overtime as a solution does not address the real problem – the slow testing environment – and could lead to worker burnout.