CSM case studies
CSM · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) is an entry-level credential from Scrum Alliance for people who want to serve as a scrum master, work effectively as any member of a scrum team, or simply build agility into how their team delivers. It is an introductory course covering the scrum framework - team accountabilities, events, and artifacts - along with the agile principles and values the framework rests on. The CSM case studies are 5 cases and about 4,400 words.
1The Quarterly Hardening Sprint
A six-person Scrum Team builds a payments module on four-week Sprints. Every fourth Sprint is a 'hardening Sprint': no new Product Backlog items, only regression testing and defect fixing.
800 words, about 4 min2Two Product Owners and a Team Lead
A 14-person group is called a Scrum Team: one Product Owner, one Scrum Master, twelve Developers. In practice: a business analyst writes all Product Backlog items and the Product Owner appears only at the Sprint Review to accept or reject work.
883 words, about 4 min3The Review That Became a Demo
Four-week Sprints, eight Developers, one Product Owner. Sprint Review: 30 minutes, the Product Owner demos finished features to four stakeholders, then closes the meeting; the Product Backlog is never shown and no one discusses what to do next.
902 words, about 5 min4Three Hundred and Forty Items, No Goal
A team's Definition of Done has seven checks: code written, peer reviewed, merged to main, unit tests pass, no Severity-1 defects, release notes drafted, Product Owner demo done. Missing: deployed to a staging environment, integration tests, security review - the last is performed by a separate team during the release Sprint.
890 words, about 4 min5Day Six, Two Constraints
Two-week Sprint, five Developers. Sprint Goal: 'Customers can reset their password without raising a support ticket.' It is day 6 of 10.
925 words, about 5 min