Three days into a two-week Sprint the Developers conclude that the Sprint Goal is very unlikely to be met. They agree among themselves to say nothing until the Sprint Review, in the hope that something turns in their favour. Which value are they failing, and what does the framework expect?
Professional Scrum Master I, objective 1. Understanding and applying the Scrum framework medium
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The options
Correct Openness — the Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about the work and the challenges, so the Product Owner should hear this now, while there is still time to act
Correct. Openness in Scrum is explicitly about the challenges as well as the work, and the whole point of raising it on day three is that eight days of Sprint remain in which scope can be renegotiated.
Not correct Focus — they have allowed themselves to be distracted from the Sprint Goal
Wrong. On the facts given they are focused on the Sprint Goal; that is why they know it is at risk. The failure is that what they know is not leaving the room.
Not correct Respect — they are not respecting the Product Owner's authority over the Sprint Backlog
Wrong on two counts. The Sprint Backlog is the Developers' plan, not the Product Owner's, and the value at stake here is about information moving rather than about authority.
Not correct No value is at stake: the Sprint is timeboxed, so the outcome becomes visible at the Sprint Review either way
Wrong, and it is the trap the scenario is built around. Transparency that arrives at the last event of the Sprint arrives after every opportunity to adapt within the Sprint has passed.
Why
Bad news has a shelf life. Scrum is arranged so that a Sprint Goal at risk is a thing the Scrum Team can still act on — the Developers adapt the Sprint Backlog, and scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned. Withholding it until the Review converts a solvable problem into a report.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- Scrum Guide section Scrum Values
- What it says
- The Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about the work and the challenges.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 1 and space the ones you get wrong.
Practise Professional Scrum Master I
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