Two days before the end of a two-week Sprint, the Product Owner asks the Developers to take on a small but urgent item that has nothing to do with the Sprint Goal. The Developers judge that it would put the Sprint Goal at risk. What does Scrum say?
Professional Scrum Master I, objective 1. Understanding and applying the Scrum framework hard
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The options
Correct No change may be made that would endanger the Sprint Goal, although scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned
Correct. The Sprint Goal is what a Sprint protects; everything else about the Sprint Backlog is negotiable. Both halves matter, and candidates who remember only the first half end up defending a frozen scope Scrum never asked for.
Not correct The Product Owner may add work at any time, since they are accountable for maximising value
Wrong. Accountability for value does not override the Sprint's protection of its Goal — and it does not need to, because the Product Owner already has the option of cancelling the Sprint if the Sprint Goal has genuinely become obsolete.
Not correct Nothing may change during a Sprint; the Sprint Backlog is fixed once Sprint Planning ends
Wrong, and it is the opposite error. The Sprint Backlog is updated throughout the Sprint as more is learned. What is protected is the Sprint Goal, not the list of items beneath it.
Not correct The Developers must accept it and drop an equivalent amount of work so that the total stays the same
Wrong. Scrum contains no equal-swap rule. Whether a change is acceptable is judged against the Sprint Goal, and a like-for-like trade can endanger the Sprint Goal just as easily as an addition can.
Why
Four things hold true inside every Sprint: no changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal, quality does not decrease, the Product Backlog is refined as needed, and scope may be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned. Read them together and the design is clear — Scrum protects one thing absolutely and leaves everything else open, which is what allows a team to learn during a Sprint without abandoning it.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- Scrum Guide section The Sprint
- What it says
- No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal
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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