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Review and Retrospective

5 minutes 5 Questions

In Scrum, Review and Retrospective are vital events at the end of each Sprint for inspecting a Product Increment. The Sprint Review permits stakeholders to inspect the Increment developed during the Sprint, offer feedback, and update the Product Backlog to maximize value. The Sprint Retrospective, conversely, allows the Scrum Team to reflect on their ways of working and identify improvement opportunities for the next Sprint. Hence, through continuous inspection and adaptation, these events encourage quality improvement for future Product Increments.

Guide: Review and Retrospective in Scrum

What it is: The Review and Retrospective stages in the Scrum framework are crucial for inspecting and adapting the product and process improvement.
Why it is Important: The Product Review allows the Scrum Team and stakeholders to inspect the increment of work and accept or decline functionality. This is fundamental to adaptive and iterative product evolution. The Retrospective provides opportunity for the Scrum Team to reflect on the way of working, fostering continuous improvement.
How it Works: Reviews take place at the end of each Sprint and involve the Scrum Team and stakeholders. The Product Owner shows what has been accomplished during the Sprint and collects feedback. The Retrospective is a meeting for the Scrum Team only, where they discuss what went well, what could be improved, and how to implement improvements.
Exam Tips - Answering Questions on Review and Retrospective: Be precise, use Scrum terminology, and provide context if necessary. Show understanding of the purposes of both meetings, the participants and the common practices. Remember that these are not only about the product, but also about the people and the process. Refer to specific examples whenever possible. In calculations, remember to show all of your work. Note: The Review is about product increment and acceptance, the Retrospective is focused on the way of working and improvement.

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PSM I - Product Increment in Scrum Example Questions

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Question 1

During a Sprint Retrospective, the product owner expresses her concern about the decreasing product quality. As a Scrum Master, what should be your approach?

Correct Answer: Encourage the Product Owner and the Development Team to collaboratively review and adjust the Definition of Done to ensure it encompasses quality standards.

As a Scrum Master, the goal is to foster collaboration and empower the team to find solutions, rather than dictating actions or creating silos. Encouraging the Product Owner and Development Team to revisit the Definition of Done helps ensure that quality is built into the product increment. Assigning quality tasks to a single team member or setting arbitrary quality benchmarks does not promote collective ownership and may hinder self-organization. Overloading the process with mandatory code reviews could stifle productivity and innovation without necessarily addressing the root causes of quality issues.

Question 2

At the end of the Sprint Review, the Scrum Team realizes that they have consistently overestimated their capacity in the last three sprints. As a Scrum Master, how should you approach this issue?

Correct Answer: Implement a more conservative approach in the next Sprint Planning by allowing the team to select fewer backlog items based on past Sprint outcomes.

The correct approach involves helping the team to reflect on their past performance and adjust their future planning accordingly. Increasing the Sprint duration contradicts Scrum’s guidelines and does not solve the root cause of overestimation. Changing the primary focus of Sprint Planning to something other than the completion of backlog items misinterprets the purpose of Scrum artifacts and ceremonies. While training sessions on estimation techniques could be helpful, they do not directly address the issue of consistent overestimation as effectively as adjusting planning based on empirical evidence and team capacity.

Question 3

During a Sprint Retrospective, team members are blaming each other for the failure of the Sprint. As a Scrum Master, what is the most appropriate way to handle this situation?

Correct Answer: Guide the team to focus on processes and interactions that can be improved rather than assigning blame.

The correct approach in a Scrum context involves steering the team towards constructive reflection on processes and interactions to foster a collaborative environment for improvement. Implementing rigorous performance tracking or focusing on individual accountability goals contradicts the principle of collective ownership and responsibility. An anonymous voting system to highlight dissatisfaction may lead to a culture of secrecy and mistrust rather than open and constructive communication. The goal of the Scrum Master should be to facilitate a positive and productive environment where the team can learn from setbacks and collectively work towards improvement without attributing blame.

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