PSM study plan

Define empiricism, the three pillars (transparency, inspection, adaptation), and the five Scrum Values in your own words, then map each value to a concrete team behavior you have observed.

Explain how the Scrum Team, its events, artifacts, and rules interlock to create transparency, and identify one way each element can be weakened in practice.

Write a one-paragraph contrast between Scrum's empirical approach and a plan-driven predictive approach, naming the situations where each fits better.

Draft a personal glossary of the 20 core Scrum terms you are least confident about, with a one-line definition and one example for each.

Sequence the five events by purpose and timebox, and justify why each timebox exists rather than treating it as a rule to memorize.

Describe the accountabilities of Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers, and distinguish them from job titles or role hierarchies.

Analyze the Definition of Done as a commitment tied to the Increment, and rewrite a weak DoD into one that is verifiable and testable.

Diagnose three common anti-patterns (for example, Sprint Review as a demo-only or status meeting, Daily Scrum as a report to the Scrum Master, Retrospective without follow-through) and propose a correction for each.

Explain self-managing teams using the Scrum Guide's language, and separate self-managing from the common misconception of 'no management'.

Identify the specific behaviors a Scrum Master uses to grow self-management, and the behaviors that unintentionally create dependence.

Practice facilitating a 25-minute retrospective agenda for a hypothetical team, including how you would handle a dominant voice and a silent member.

Compare facilitation, coaching, teaching, and mentoring, and select the appropriate stance for three short scenario descriptions.

Apply a coaching model (for example, GROW or a question-first approach) to two realistic team conflicts, writing out the actual questions you would ask.

Explain how the Scrum Master serves the Product Owner, the team, and the organization, and give one concrete service action for each.

Describe how to forecast with velocity or throughput data, and state clearly why a forecast is not a commitment.

Practice Product Backlog refinement: split two oversized backlog items into smaller ones that could each be completed within a Sprint.

Explain how product value is measured and maximized, and distinguish output metrics from outcome metrics with two examples of each.

Describe how the Product Owner orders the Product Backlog, naming at least four ordering criteria beyond 'business value'.

Explain how the Sprint Goal and Product Goal provide focus and traceability from vision to daily work.

Identify the stakeholders for a sample product, classify them by influence and interest, and plan an engagement approach for each group.

Integrate all three domains by walking through one full Sprint end to end and naming the decision, artifact, or event that addresses each risk at each step.

Resolve ten tricky judgment calls (for example, a Sprint cancelled mid-way, a Definition of Done that cannot be met, a Product Owner unavailable during the Sprint) with a reasoned answer and the Scrum principle behind it.

Revisit your week-one glossary and correct or sharpen every entry you now understand differently.

Complete a timed 80-question practice set under exam conditions and log every miss by domain and by root cause (knowledge gap, misread, or reasoning error).

Review each missed item and write the corrected reasoning in your own words without copying any explanation.

Drill your two weakest sub-topics with focused re-study and a short self-quiz for each.

Retake a full timed practice set and compare domain-level accuracy against week seven to confirm improvement.

Rehearse explaining the ten most-missed concepts aloud in under two minutes each, as if teaching a new team member.

Finalize a one-page exam-day strategy covering time per question, flagging and review, and how to handle scenario questions with more than one plausible answer.