Skip to content
RED SAGSkills

Scrum interview questions and answers

Scrum questions test the roles, events and artifacts, and how to handle real problems inside a sprint.

Below are 30 Scrum questions with the correct answer and a short explanation, grouped from fresher to experienced level. Try each one before you open the answer.

Take the Scrum MCQ testPractise 60+ Scrum questions for points

What Scrum interviews usually check

  • ✓Scrum roles
  • ✓Sprint planning, daily scrum, review and retrospective
  • ✓Product and sprint backlogs
  • ✓Definition of done
  • ✓Scope changes mid-sprint

Scrum interview questions for freshers easy

1. The Scrum Master role

In Scrum, what is the Scrum Master mainly responsible for?

  1. A.Deciding the product roadmap
  2. B.Helping the team work effectively with Scrum, removing blockers and improving the process
  3. C.Writing all the code
  4. D.Approving every design
Show answer

Answer: B. Helping the team work effectively with Scrum, removing blockers and improving the process

The Product Owner, often the PM, owns the backlog and what to build. The Scrum Master coaches the team and organisation on the process and helps remove impediments. The developers own how the work is built.

2. Who orders the backlog

In Scrum, who is accountable for ordering the Product Backlog?

  1. A.The Scrum Master
  2. B.The Product Owner
  3. C.The Developers
  4. D.Stakeholders, by voting
Show answer

Answer: B. The Product Owner

The Product Owner is accountable for maximising value, which includes ordering the Product Backlog. Others can influence the order, but one person is accountable. The Scrum Master coaches but does not own the backlog.

3. What velocity measures

In Scrum, what is velocity?

  1. A.The amount of work, often in story points, a team completes per sprint, used for its own forecasting
  2. B.A score used to compare productivity between teams
  3. C.The hours each developer works in a sprint
  4. D.The number of bugs fixed in a sprint
Show answer

Answer: A. The amount of work, often in story points, a team completes per sprint, used for its own forecasting

Velocity helps one team forecast how much it can deliver in future sprints. Because story points are relative to each team, comparing velocity across teams is misleading. It is a planning aid, not a performance target.

4. Which is a Scrum value

Which of these is one of the five Scrum values?

  1. A.Efficiency
  2. B.Accountability
  3. C.Predictability
  4. D.Openness
Show answer

Answer: D. Openness

The five Scrum values are commitment, focus, openness, respect and courage. Living these values builds the trust needed for transparency, inspection and adaptation.

5. Size of a Scrum Team

What size does the 2020 Scrum Guide suggest for a Scrum Team?

  1. A.Exactly 7 people, plus or minus 2
  2. B.At least 12 people for coverage
  3. C.Any size, as long as there is one Scrum Master
  4. D.Typically 10 or fewer people
Show answer

Answer: D. Typically 10 or fewer people

The 2020 Scrum Guide says a Scrum Team is typically 10 or fewer people. Small teams communicate better and are more productive; a large group should reorganise into several cohesive Scrum Teams sharing one Product Goal and Product Backlog.

6. A self-managing team

The Scrum Guide calls Scrum Teams self-managing. What does this mean?

  1. A.The team has no Product Owner or Scrum Master
  2. B.The team sets its own salaries and budget
  3. C.The team decides internally who does what, when and how
  4. D.The team can ignore the Product Backlog order
Show answer

Answer: C. The team decides internally who does what, when and how

Self-managing means the team organises its own work: who does it, when and how. The Product Owner still decides what is most valuable, and the organisation still sets boundaries such as budget.

7. The Release Train Engineer

In SAFe, which role acts as the chief Scrum Master for an Agile Release Train?

  1. A.Release Train Engineer
  2. B.Product Management
  3. C.System Architect
  4. D.Business Owner
Show answer

Answer: A. Release Train Engineer

The RTE is a servant leader who facilitates ART events such as PI Planning and Inspect and Adapt, manages risks and helps remove impediments across teams.

8. The 4Ls retrospective

In a "4Ls" retrospective, what are the four prompts?

  1. A.Late, Lost, Lacking, Leaving
  2. B.Lead, Lag, Load, Limit
  3. C.Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for
  4. D.Listen, Learn, Lead, Launch
Show answer

Answer: C. Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for

The 4Ls ask what the team liked, learned, lacked and longed for. Changing formats keeps retrospectives fresh and draws out different kinds of insight.

9. Showing stories in the sprint review

What happens to finished stories in the sprint review?

  1. A.They are shown working to stakeholders to get feedback
  2. B.They are estimated again for the next sprint
  3. C.They are moved back to the backlog
  4. D.They are reviewed only through slide decks
Show answer

Answer: A. They are shown working to stakeholders to get feedback

The sprint review inspects the increment. The team demonstrates done stories in a working product, and stakeholders give feedback that may create new backlog items. It is a working session, not just a status report.

10. Who orders the backlog

Two stakeholders each want their story at the top of the backlog. Who makes the final call in Scrum?

  1. A.The stakeholder with the larger budget
  2. B.The Scrum Master
  3. C.The developers, by vote
  4. D.The product owner
Show answer

Answer: D. The product owner

The product owner is accountable for ordering the backlog to maximise value. They listen to stakeholders and use data, cost of delay and dependencies, but the final order is their decision. This avoids the team being pulled in two directions.

Scrum intermediate interview questions medium

11. A flat burndown chart

Halfway through a sprint, the burndown chart has been flat for four days. What is the most likely meaning?

  1. A.The team is ahead of plan
  2. B.Work is not being finished, or remaining work is not being updated, so the team should look at blockers now
  3. C.Scope was removed from the sprint
  4. D.The sprint has already ended
Show answer

Answer: B. Work is not being finished, or remaining work is not being updated, so the team should look at blockers now

A flat line means remaining work is not going down. Causes include blockers, items that are too large, or a team that has stopped updating the board. Raise it at the Daily Scrum instead of waiting for the retrospective.

12. An item bigger than expected

Mid-sprint, the Developers find one item is much larger than estimated. The Sprint Goal is still reachable without part of the work. What should happen?

  1. A.The Scrum Master cancels the sprint
  2. B.The sprint is extended by a week to fit everything
  3. C.The team works overtime to finish every item as planned
  4. D.The Developers and Product Owner renegotiate the sprint scope while keeping the Sprint Goal
Show answer

Answer: D. The Developers and Product Owner renegotiate the sprint scope while keeping the Sprint Goal

The Scrum Guide allows scope to be clarified and renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned. The Sprint Goal stays fixed, but the selected items can change. Extending sprints or relying on overtime hides the real problem.

13. Cancelling a sprint

Midway through a sprint, the company drops the market the Sprint Goal was aimed at. Who has the authority to cancel the sprint?

  1. A.The Scrum Master
  2. B.The Developers, by majority vote
  3. C.The Product Owner
  4. D.The most senior stakeholder
Show answer

Answer: C. The Product Owner

Only the Product Owner can cancel a sprint, and it makes sense only when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. Stakeholders can influence that decision, but the authority sits with the Product Owner.

14. Keeping retrospective actions alive

Every retrospective lists the same improvements, but nothing changes. What does the 2020 Scrum Guide suggest?

  1. A.Email the action list to the line manager
  2. B.Hold a second retrospective mid-sprint
  3. C.Let the Scrum Master complete all actions personally
  4. D.Add the most impactful improvements to the next Sprint Backlog
Show answer

Answer: D. Add the most impactful improvements to the next Sprint Backlog

The Scrum Guide says the most impactful improvements are addressed as soon as possible and may be added to the Sprint Backlog for the next sprint. Making them visible work with an owner is what turns talk into change.

15. A stand-up for the manager

In the daily scrum, each developer faces the delivery manager and reports what they did yesterday. What is the main problem?

  1. A.It becomes a status report, not the Developers planning together
  2. B.It takes less than 15 minutes, which is much too short
  3. C.The Product Owner is not the one asking the questions
  4. D.Developers should report progress weekly, not daily
Show answer

Answer: A. It becomes a status report, not the Developers planning together

The daily scrum is for the Developers to inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan. When it turns into reporting upward, people stop talking to each other and problems surface later.

16. Silence in the retrospective

In retrospectives, team members say "all good" while you see blockers and friction during the sprint. What is the best first step?

  1. A.Ask the line manager to attend and push for honesty
  2. B.Cancel the retrospectives since the team seems happy
  3. C.Build safety, e.g. anonymous input and the Prime Directive
  4. D.Publish each person's issues in the sprint report
Show answer

Answer: C. Build safety, e.g. anonymous input and the Prime Directive

Silence often means people do not feel safe to speak. Anonymous input and stating Norm Kerth's Prime Directive (everyone did the best job they could) lower the risk of speaking up; bringing in managers usually does the opposite.

17. Empirical vs predictive planning

Why does Scrum use short sprints with frequent inspection instead of one detailed plan up front?

  1. A.Complex work is uncertain, so decisions follow what is learned
  2. B.Short sprints remove the need for any long-term planning
  3. C.Detailed plans are banned in agile organisations
  4. D.Inspection is needed only to report progress to sponsors
Show answer

Answer: A. Complex work is uncertain, so decisions follow what is learned

Scrum is built for complex work where more is unknown than known. Short cycles create frequent points to inspect real results and adapt, which limits the cost of a wrong guess. Longer-term goals still exist.

18. What Scrumban means

A support-heavy team keeps sprints and retrospectives but adds WIP limits and pulls work continuously. What is this mix often called?

  1. A.SAFe Essential
  2. B.Water-Scrum-Fall
  3. C.Scrumban
  4. D.Nexus
Show answer

Answer: C. Scrumban

Scrumban combines Scrum's events and roles with Kanban's flow practices like WIP limits and continuous pull. It suits teams with a lot of unplanned work.

19. Choosing sprint length

A team is choosing between one-week and four-week sprints in a fast-changing market. What is the main trade-off?

  1. A.Longer sprints always deliver more value per week
  2. B.Shorter sprints give faster feedback but more event overhead
  3. C.Shorter sprints remove the need for refinement
  4. D.Longer sprints make velocity impossible to measure
Show answer

Answer: B. Shorter sprints give faster feedback but more event overhead

Short sprints mean more frequent inspection, lower risk per sprint and quicker response to change, at the cost of proportionally more time in events. Long sprints raise the risk that the goal becomes outdated.

20. A team blocked by another department

A Scrum team has waited a week for the security team to approve firewall changes. What should the Scrum Master do?

  1. A.Tell the developers to bypass the firewall rules
  2. B.Wait until the next retrospective to mention it
  3. C.Work with security to unblock it and improve the process
  4. D.Cancel the sprint at once
Show answer

Answer: C. Work with security to unblock it and improve the process

Removing impediments the team cannot solve alone is a core Scrum Master job. That means talking to the other team, finding a quick fix and improving the hand-off, without going around legitimate controls.

Scrum interview questions for experienced candidates hard

21. Comparing team velocity

Leadership wants to rank five Scrum teams by velocity and reward the highest. What is the best response?

  1. A.Push back: story points are relative to each team, so ranking invites point inflation; use outcomes and flow measures instead
  2. B.Agree, and standardise one point as eight hours across teams
  3. C.Agree, but only reward teams whose velocity is rising
  4. D.Agree, because velocity is the best productivity measure
Show answer

Answer: A. Push back: story points are relative to each team, so ranking invites point inflation; use outcomes and flow measures instead

Each team sizes points differently, so a velocity of 40 in one team is not more than 30 in another. When velocity becomes a target, teams inflate estimates and the metric stops helping forecasting. Outcomes, cycle time, throughput and quality are better ways to discuss performance.

22. Commitments for each artifact

In the 2020 Scrum Guide, each artifact has a commitment. Which pairing is correct?

  1. A.Product Backlog: Product Goal; Sprint Backlog: Sprint Goal; Increment: Definition of Done
  2. B.Product Backlog: Definition of Done; Sprint Backlog: Product Goal; Increment: Sprint Goal
  3. C.Product Backlog: Sprint Goal; Sprint Backlog: Definition of Done; Increment: Product Goal
  4. D.Product Backlog: Roadmap; Sprint Backlog: Velocity; Increment: Release plan
Show answer

Answer: A. Product Backlog: Product Goal; Sprint Backlog: Sprint Goal; Increment: Definition of Done

The Product Goal gives the Product Backlog direction, the Sprint Goal is the single objective of the Sprint Backlog, and the Definition of Done says when work becomes part of the Increment. These commitments add focus and transparency to each artifact.

23. A severe bug mid-sprint

In the middle of a sprint, a bug stops customers in the UAE from paying with cards. The team is the only one who can fix it. What is the best approach?

  1. A.Add it to the Product Backlog for the next Sprint Planning
  2. B.Cancel the sprint and start a new one just for the bug
  3. C.Fix it only after the Sprint Goal has been fully met
  4. D.Fix it now and agree with the PO what sprint scope to drop
Show answer

Answer: D. Fix it now and agree with the PO what sprint scope to drop

A critical production issue usually outranks planned work. The Scrum Guide allows scope to be renegotiated with the Product Owner as more is learned, so the team fixes the bug and agrees what to drop, keeping the Sprint Goal if possible.

24. A strict Definition of Ready

A team adds a 20-point Definition of Ready and refuses any item that misses one point. Velocity falls and the Product Owner is frustrated. What is the main issue?

  1. A.The Definition of Ready should have been part of the Definition of Done
  2. B.The Scrum Guide requires exactly 10 points in a Definition of Ready
  3. C.The checklist became a gate that blocks collaboration, which Scrum does not require
  4. D.Items should be refined by the Scrum Master instead
Show answer

Answer: C. The checklist became a gate that blocks collaboration, which Scrum does not require

A Definition of Ready is not part of the Scrum Guide; the guide only says items are refined so they can be done in a sprint. A light checklist helps, but a rigid gate brings back hand-offs and turns the team against the Product Owner.

25. PO and Scrum Master as one person

To save cost, a startup asks one person to act as both Product Owner and Scrum Master. What is the strongest concern?

  1. A.The Scrum Guide forbids anyone from holding two accountabilities
  2. B.The team would then also need a separate project manager
  3. C.It mixes deciding what to build with protecting how the team works
  4. D.Velocity can no longer be measured with a combined role
Show answer

Answer: C. It mixes deciding what to build with protecting how the team works

The Product Owner pushes for value and scope, while the Scrum Master protects the process and team health, including from scope pressure. One person doing both often loses the balance; it is a risk to manage, not a rule broken.

26. Water-Scrum-Fall

A company does six months of requirements, then Scrum sprints for build, then three months of UAT and release. What is the main weakness?

  1. A.Sprints are far too short for real development work
  2. B.User feedback still comes only at the end, so risk remains
  3. C.The team will end up with too many Scrum Masters
  4. D.Requirements will change too often for sprints to work
Show answer

Answer: B. User feedback still comes only at the end, so risk remains

Sprints in the middle improve team flow, but releasing and learning from users still happens only after months. Agile's main risk reduction comes from frequent, usable releases and feedback.

27. Sprint Zero

A new team plans a "Sprint Zero" of four weeks to set up tools and architecture with no working product at the end. What is the key concern?

  1. A.Scrum expects a usable Increment every sprint
  2. B.Sprint Zero must be exactly two weeks long
  3. C.Architecture work is not allowed in Scrum at all
  4. D.The Product Owner cannot attend a Sprint Zero
Show answer

Answer: A. Scrum expects a usable Increment every sprint

Sprint Zero is not part of Scrum; every sprint should produce a usable Increment, however small. Teams can set up tools while delivering a thin slice of real functionality, which also tests the setup.

28. Definition of Done across teams

Three Scrum Teams work on one product. Team A's Definition of Done includes performance tests; team B's does not. What does Scrum require?

  1. A.All teams must share one common Definition of Done
  2. B.Each team may keep its own unrelated Definition of Done
  3. C.The weakest Definition of Done is applied to all teams
  4. D.Only the team that releases the product needs one
Show answer

Answer: A. All teams must share one common Definition of Done

When several teams work on one product, they must mutually define and follow the same Definition of Done. A team can add stricter criteria, but cannot go below the shared standard.

29. Scaling a struggling team

One Scrum Team is missing goals due to weak testing and unclear stories. Leadership wants to adopt SAFe across five new teams to speed up. What is the soundest advice?

  1. A.Fix the current team's practices first; scaling multiplies problems
  2. B.Adopt SAFe now, as the framework will fix the team's issues
  3. C.Split the current team into five smaller new teams
  4. D.Move all of the testing work to a separate QA team
Show answer

Answer: A. Fix the current team's practices first; scaling multiplies problems

A scaling framework adds coordination but cannot fix weak engineering or poor backlog management. Scaling teams that cannot deliver a done Increment just spreads the same problems wider and makes them harder to see.

30. Shown in review but criteria not met

In the sprint review the PO finds one of five acceptance criteria not met. The team says it is 90% done and asks to count the points. What should happen?

  1. A.Count 90% of the story's points this sprint
  2. B.Count the points and fix it next sprint
  3. C.Not done: no points, and the work goes back to the backlog
  4. D.Delete the failed criterion so the story passes
Show answer

Answer: C. Not done: no points, and the work goes back to the backlog

In Scrum a story is done or not done. Counting partial points inflates velocity and hides work left. The unmet criterion stays, and the PO re-ranks the remaining work, which may be quick to finish next sprint.

Ready to test yourself?

Take a 15-question Scrum MCQ test with a score at the end, or practise the full Scrum question bank and earn points on the leaderboard.

Start the Scrum testTake a mock interview