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Scrum Poker

5 minutes 5 Questions

Scrum Poker is a consensus-based estimating approach that was devised for estimating the effort required to accomplish a given task in Scrum. The team members pick a card that shows the magnitude of their estimate. As a result of playing Scrum Poker, team members can speak about the feature and adj…

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PSM I - Scrum Poker Example Questions

Test your knowledge of Scrum Poker

Question 1

During Planning Poker, a junior team member is continuously guessing lower story points than the rest of the team. What is the best course of action?

Correct Answer: Encourage the team to review the definition of story points and ensure a common understanding.

In Scrum, it is crucial that all team members share a common understanding of what story points represent, enabling better estimations and cohesive team dynamics. The correct approach involves clarifying the concept of story points and ensuring everyone is aligned. Assigning story points by the Scrum Master undermines team autonomy. Excluding non-technical team members or splitting estimation sessions contradicts the collaborative nature of Scrum, potentially leading to disengagement or misunderstandings about project complexities.

Question 2

After a few sprints, your team is resistant to using Planning Poker for estimation because they feel it takes too long and the sprint backlog items are often similar in complexity. What should you do as a Scrum Master?

Correct Answer: Introduce a discussion on alternative estimation techniques that could be more suitable or efficient for the team.

As a Scrum Master, it's crucial to facilitate conversations and encourage team consensus on processes that work best for them, including estimation techniques. While maintaining the agility principles, it's important to explore alternatives that the team feels comfortable with, rather than enforcing a particular method, ignoring the team's preferences, or mandating extensive training on a technique that hasn't resonated with them. This approach ensures that the team remains engaged and the Scrum values of openness, courage, and respect are upheld.

Question 3

After a Planning Poker session, an experienced team member argues that the process is a waste of time and insists on skipping it in the future. How should the Scrum Master approach this?

Correct Answer: Educate the team on the importance of estimating work as a group to leverage diverse perspectives and reach a consensus.

The correct answer aims to address the concern by emphasizing the collective wisdom and benefits of engaging in a group estimation process like Planning Poker. It focuses on educating and guiding the team towards understanding the value of diverse inputs in making more accurate estimations. The wrong answers either bypass addressing the core issue (suggesting an alternative without discussion), partially engage the concerned team member in a way that could lead to skewed estimations, or overly centralize decision-making in a way that is contrary to the collaborative nature of Scrum. The detailed strategy outlined in one of the wrong answers diverges from Scrum's principles of self-organization and empowerment of the team to make decisions related to the work process.

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