Are you Ready for Your Scrum Master Interview?
Below I have tried to show you some questions commonly encountered in Scrum Master interviews, including both definitional and behavioral questions. Plus, find resources to help you brush up on Scrum principles.
Note:
You need to read and understand the Agile Manifesto and the ScrumGuide.
You need to understand “What Agile is and is not”
Agile is Not Scrum and Scrum is Not Agile
Agile is more important than any Framework/Methodology
A Scrum master interview is a job interview like any other with Scrum-specific questions. Here are the kinds of interview questions you’ll probably run into:
Universal interview questions: These include questions you might encounter in many types of interviews, like “Tell me about yourself,” or “What are your greatest strengths?”.
Definitional questions: If an organization is hiring a Scrum master, they likely want somebody who knows the ins and outs of Scrum. Many of the questions you encounter in an interview are likely to assess your actual knowledge of Scrum, along with related concepts like Agile. Answer these with a succinct explanation of the term, and describe why it’s important.
Behavioral questions: Behavioral questions show how you would handle various situations as a Scrum master. Come prepared with several stories from your experience that you can pull from during the interview.
INTERVIEW STRUCTURE:
Before your interview, be sure to read about the company and read the job description.
Tell me about yourself
Education
Certifications
Number of years in IT
Experience with Agile Project tools
Team Structure
Tell me about your previous project
Brief detail about the project
What did you do as a Scrum Master?
(3 strong points)
SCENARIO
Interactions/pain points/mitigation approaches
Every answer should follow with an example, and make it a conversation rather than a definition.
CONCLUSION
Ask the interview a question(s)
Have at least one question for the interview
Scrum master definitional interview questions
Hiring managers commonly use definitional questions to gauge your knowledge of Scrum. But it’s likely that the interviewer is looking for something more than a dictionary definition. Take the opportunity to highlight why that particular term matters to the job, team, or Scrum process.
What is Scrum?
An interviewer might use this question to get the conversation started. In answering this question, offer a quick definition, and talk about why Scrum matters. How does Scrum bring value to a team and a business? What are the benefits of adopting Scrum practices, especially compared to other project management styles?
Even if you’re familiar with Scrum, basic definitions can be tough to come up with on the spot. Have a solid definition at the ready, along with some comments on the value it can provide to an organization.
Other forms this question might take:
Describe Scrum to somebody who doesn’t know what it is.
What are the advantages of Scrum?
What does Scrum mean to you?
What are Scrum artifacts?
There are three Scrum artifacts: the product backlog, the sprint backlog, and the product increment.
The product backlog is an ordered list of tasks and items needed in a product. It’s typically maintained by the product owner.
The sprint backlog is a list of tasks that need to be accomplished in a sprint.
The product increment is the deliverable completed in a sprint.
Other forms this question might take:
What is a product backlog?
What is a product increment?
What would you say is the most important Scrum artifact?
What are the Scrum values?
The five Scrum values
Commitment,
Focus,
Openness,
Respect, and
Courage
are what drive Scrum’s success. The values make Scrum more than just a series of processes and are a large part of what sets it apart from more traditional project management approaches like Waterfall.
In your response, consider talking about why those values are important in a Scrum team. You might mention how they’re different from other types of project management. It’ll also be worthwhile to connect the values to the performance of a Scrum team. Have a story about how getting a team member to be courageous about sharing honest feedback saved a project from trouble? This could be a good time to share.
Other forms this question might take:
What do the Scrum values mean to you?
What are the three pillars of Scrum?
What is a product owner?
As a Scrum Master, you’ll be expected to know what roles other team members will play. The product owner is a staple of most any Scrum team. An interviewer can be trying to understand how you think of the role, and how you’ll integrate the role into the team.
Product owners are in charge of making sure the team is aligned with the product goals. They do this by clearly communicating product goals and managing the product backlog. If you have previous experience managing or working with product owners, this would be a good chance to share it.
Other forms this question might take:
What are the three roles in a Scrum team?
What qualities are important in a product owner
What are the limitations of Scrum?
The benefits of Scrum are well-touted, but it isn’t for every organization or team. A Scrum Master should know the limits of Scrum, and when best to leave a project to other types of project management.
Scrum is generally recommended for teams or industries that expect to face change. Because they are designed to adapt quickly and operate in short cycles, Scrum teams are generally small, making it hard for pure Scrum to work for projects with large teams without some modifications.
Scrum also might not be the best choice if you’re working with very strict constraints, like a budget or timeline. If you’re familiar with other project management methods, talk about how those might replace or supplement Scrum in a project.
Other forms this question might take:
When would you use Waterfall instead of Scrum?
Have you used modified versions of Scrum before?
How did you adapt when a Scrum process wasn’t working for a project?
Scrum master situational interview questions
Situational questions play double duty they gauge your experience and assess your behavioral skills.
How would you scale Scrum?
Some project managers are hired explicitly to scale Scrum at organizations. Check the job description to see if you’re expected to do this kind of work.
There are several methods you might use to scale Scrum across a large team or organization. These include the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Nexus, and Scrum@Scale. Be honest about what’s familiar to you, and what processes have worked or not worked.
Other forms this question might take:
What scaling methods have you used?
What’s your experience with scaling Scrum?
Someone on your team hasn’t taken a liking to Scrum, which is negatively affecting the project. What would you do?
Scrum is a new process for many people. Some people might not take to it easily, especially in companies where processes have been entrenched for many years.
There are several ways you might tackle this issue. Some Scrum masters might refer back to the Scrum values and encourage teams at the outset to think differently than they’re used to. Others might work to instill a sense of ownership of the product in the team member so that they’re invested in the process. Still, others might bring in a certified trainer for formal training.
Other forms this question might take:
How do you break old habits within an organization?
How would you prepare people to accept the Scrum process?
How did you handle a mistake that was made?
Any project team will make mistakes details might be overlooked, communication might go awry, or things simply might not go according to plan. Interviewers will expect or even prefer to see that you’ve dealt with mistakes in the past. Part of being a project manager or Scrum master is knowing how to deal with them and still complete a project successfully when they happen.
What sorts of tools or systems do you use to make sure communication goes smoothly? What preventative measures do you take to minimize errors?
Other forms this question might take:
Describe a time when a project fell behind schedule.
Have you managed a project that didn’t meet its initial objectives?
What’s one change you’ve had to make in the middle of a project?
What would you do if a team member is unable to complete a task for a sprint?
It’ll be your task as a Scrum master to keep an eye on the needs of your team. As a Scrum Master, you might have a one-on-one conversation to find out why a team member is falling behind perhaps they’re overworked, don’t know how to use a tool, or are having personal issues. Then you can administer an appropriate fix, like spreading out the workload, or bringing in a subject matter expert to teach a tool or complete a portion of the task.
This might also involve creating an environment where team members feel empowered to speak up when they run into issues.
Other forms this question might take:
How would you motivate team members?
What would you do if the project is running behind schedule?
How would you handle conflict within the team?
Conflict can happen due to clashing personalities or disagreements on how to approach a task.
There are a few ways you can handle conflict, including:
Have one-on-one meetings with interested parties to understand the issue
Organize the Scrum team to brainstorm solutions
Escalate if the decision-making capacity is out of your power
Allow team members to sort out differences themselves, and intervene only when it is actively hampering project performance
You might also talk about preventative measures to prevent conflict as much as possible. This can include setting up effective communication plans or fostering teamwork by having icebreaker sessions.
Other forms this question might take:
What would you do if you disagreed with a team member on how best to approach a task?
Are you capable of managing a team?
How would you deal with a difficult stakeholder?
Dealing with difficult stakeholders is another key project management skill. Dealing with them gracefully will probably take a combination of people skills and having processes in place to minimize unexpected changes and set expectations for communication.
Other forms this question might take:
How frequently do you think you should communicate with stakeholders?
How would you balance stakeholder needs with the needs of your team?
Hello, World!
What is your favorite scrum event?
This question can be used to test your knowledge of Scrum events and reveal your work style as a Scrum master.
Brush up on Scrum concepts? Here are a few resources to help you get on track.
The Scrum Guide
The Agile manifesto
What are the advantages of doing Scrum?
The advantage of doing scrum is that while performing the test
It minimizes the risk in response to changes made to the system
It increases ROI ( Return of Investment)
It improves the process continuously
It repeatedly and rapidly looks into actual working software
Anyone can see real working software and continue to enhance it for another iteration
What is a User Story and Team Backlog in Scrum?
The Team Backlog is everything. If a piece of work is in the backlog, it might get done. If it isn’t, there is no chance that it will be done.
User Stories and Enabler Stories may be estimated, but estimates do not imply committed delivery
What are the artifacts of the Scrum process?
Scrum process artifacts include
Sprint backlog
Product backlog
Velocity chart
Burn-down chart
What is an Iteration?
Definition: Iterations are a single development cycle where each Agile Team defines, builds, integrates, and tests the Stories from their Iteration Backlog.
Duration: Each Iteration is the same length, running back to back. SAFe advises two-week Iterations.
Goal: The goal is to deliver working software/hardware at the end of each Iteration.
What is the ideal duration for a Sprint?
According to the Scrum Guide, the duration should be 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks max. My team uses 2 weeks sprint because we found out its enough time for us to design, build, test and deploy. The SAFe framework also recommends two weeks sprints.
What should a scrum burndown chart consist of?
A scrum burndown chart should consist of
X-axis that displays working days
Y-axis that displays remaining effort
Ideal effort as a guideline
Real progress of the effort
What is a scrum of scrum?
Scrum of Scrum (SoS) is focused more on risks, dependencies, progress, and impediments of the teams and the program.
Since the last meeting, what is the progress of the team?
What your team is expected to do or should accomplish, before the next meeting?
What are the obstacles your team faced while completing the task?
Were you going to allow any of your work to the following team?
The SoS is a meeting for Scrum Masters and the Release Train Engineer to gain visibility into team progress and program impediments
It is typically held weekly (more frequently if needed)
It is timeboxed but is followed by a meet-after for problem-solving
What is poker planning?
It’s a technique to estimate the relative size of development goals in software development. A way to determine sprint item durations
Agile Teams often use estimating poker, which combines expert opinion, analogy, and disaggregation to create quick but reliable estimates. Disaggregation refers to splitting a story or features into smaller, easier-to-estimate pieces. Note that there are a number of other methods used as well.
Steps
Each estimator gets a deck of cards
Read a job
Estimators privately select cards
Cards are turned over
Discuss differences
Re-estimate
What do the burndown charts show?
The Burndown charts are used to track sprint status, it is an early warning indicator that can be useful in highlighting the “lack of progress” during Daily standup.
What is the objective behind holding a Sprint retrospective meeting?
A retrospective meeting is to let team members know how things went during the sprint and discuss possible ways for further improvements for future sprints. It brings the idea of improvement everywhere and continuous learning.
What is the velocity in scrum? How it is measured?
Velocity in a scrum is a measurement of how much the team can get done in an iteration or sprint. It is measured by
V= Number of total story points completed sprint,s/number of Sprintor iteration
While teams will tend to increase their velocity over time and that’s a good thing in reality, the number tends to remain stable. A team’s velocity is far more affected by changing team size and technical context than by productivity variations. If necessary, financial planners can adjust the cost per story point a bit. Experience shows that this is a minor concern, versus the wildly differing velocities that teams of comparable size may have if they don’t set a common starting baseline. That simply doesn’t work at an enterprise scale, making it difficult to make economic decisions.
When Scrum cannot be useful?
Ideally, scrum is more effective with not more than 11 team members for successfully leading the dev, test, and deploy within a sprint, but not well with large teams having more responsibilities. For a larger team, scrum can be applied by splitting the team into small groups and practicing Scrum. Scrum is also good for projects where all the requirements are not readily visible or present.
What are your responsibilities as a scrum master?
My role is similar to the project manager in a few cases, but the responsibilities are:
Schedule and Facilitate
Sprint planning
Daily Scrum meeting
Sprint Review
Retrospective
Backlog Refinement
Any Adhoc Meetings
Management of responsibilities of the Scrum process
Assisting development teams to follow Scrum practices
Work to remove barriers to allow the team to focus on work
Assist the PO with the Product Backlog
Generate resort for Sr Leaders
Work with the organization on agile ways of working
A Comparison of the Main Forms of Innovative Approaches
SCRUM
Empower creative, cross-functional teams
Creative cultures with high levels of trust and collaboration, or
Radical innovation teams that want to change their working environment
Initiative owners responsible for rank ordering team priorities and delivering value to customers and the business
Process facilitators who guide the work process
Small, cross-functional, innovation teams
Five events:
Sprint planning to prepare for the next round of work
Fixed time sprints of consistent duration (1–4 weeks) to create a potentially releasable product increment
Daily stand-ups of 15 minutes to review progress and surface impediments
Sprint reviews that inspect the new working increment
Sprint retrospectives for the team to inspect and improve itself
Three deliverables (or “artifacts”):
Portfolio backlog, a fluid and rank-ordered list of potential innovation features
Sprint backlog, the subset of portfolio backlog items selected for completion in the next sprint
Releasable working increments
Quickly adopt minimally prescribed practices, even if they differ substantially from those in the rest of the organization
Master prescribed practices and then adapt them through experimentation
Facilitates radical breakthroughs while (unlike skunkworks) retaining the benefits of operating as part of the parent organization
Delivers the most valuable innovations earliest
Rapidly increases team happiness
Builds general management skills
Leaders may struggle to prioritize initiatives and relinquish control to self-managing teams
New matrix-management skills are required to coordinate dozens or hundreds of multi-disciplinary teams
Fixed iteration times may not be suitable for some problems (especially those that arise on a daily basis)
Some team members may be underutilized in certain sprint cycles
KANBAN
Visualize workflows and limit work in the process
Process-oriented cultures that prefer evolutionary improvements with few prescribed practices
Start with what you do now
Visualize workflows and stages
Limit the work in process at each development stage
Measure and improve cycle times
Respect current structures and processes
Increase visibility into workflows
Encourage gradual, collaborative changes
Avoids clashes with the parent organization’s culture
Maximizes the contributions of team members through flexible team structures and work cycles
Facilitates rapid responses to urgent issues through flexible work cycles
Practitioners must figure out how best to apply most agile values and principles
Wide variation in practices can complicate the prioritization of initiatives and coordination among teams
When initiatives don’t succeed, it can be hard to determine whether teams selected the wrong tools or used the right tools in the wrong ways
LEAN DEVELOPMENT
Eliminate waste from the system as a whole
Process-oriented cultures that prefer evolutionary improvements with overarching values but no prescribed practices
Respect current structures and processes
Stress agile values throughout the organization while minimizing organizational resistance
Optimizes the system as a whole and engages the entire organization
Provides the ultimate flexibility in customizing work practices
Novices trying to change behaviors may find the lack of prescriptive methodologies frustrating
Evolutionary improvements can make radical breakthroughs less likely and major improvements less rapid
Leaders need to make the grind of continuously eliminating waste feel inspirational and fun
