At the end of Sprint Planning the Developers have pulled nine Product Backlog items into the Sprint Backlog. The delivery manager writes the nine down, calls them "the team's commitment for the Sprint" and says the team will be judged on delivering all nine. How should the Scrum Master describe what the Developers have actually produced?
Professional Scrum Master I, objective 3. Managing products with agility medium
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The options
Not correct The nine items are a commitment, because the Developers chose them freely and Commitment is one of the five Scrum Values
Wrong, and it is the most tempting reading because the word Commitment really is a Scrum Value. The value describes how people apply themselves to the Sprint Goal; it does not turn a forecast of scope into a contract for nine items.
Correct The nine items are a forecast of what the Developers believe can be Done; the commitment they made is the Sprint Goal
Correct. Each artefact carries one commitment, and for the Sprint Backlog that commitment is the Sprint Goal — a single objective that leaves the exact work needed to reach it deliberately flexible.
Not correct The nine items are a commitment once the Product Owner has accepted them at the end of Sprint Planning
Wrong. There is no acceptance step in Scrum that converts selected scope into a fixed obligation, and the Product Owner does not sign off the Developers' plan for how much they can do.
Not correct The nine items become a commitment only if the Developers have used a velocity figure from the last three Sprints
Wrong. Historical data makes a forecast better informed, not binding. No measurement changes what a forecast is in a complex environment where what will happen is unknown.
Why
Scrum attaches exactly one commitment to each artefact, and for the Sprint Backlog it is the Sprint Goal, not the list of items. That split is what lets a team learn during the Sprint: scope can move without the Sprint failing, because the objective is what was promised. Carry this into the exam room — when a question sets the word forecast against the word commitment, the selected items are the forecast and the Sprint Goal is the commitment.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- Scrum Guide section Commitment: Sprint Goal
- What it says
- Although the Sprint Goal is a commitment by the Developers, it provides flexibility in terms of the exact work needed to achieve it.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 3 and space the ones you get wrong.
Practise Professional Scrum Master I
More questions on this objective
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