Professional Scrum Master I flashcards
PSM I · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Three pillars of empiricism
- Transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Together they enable decisions based on observed evidence; if any pillar is weak, artifacts and progress become unreliable.
- Definition of Scrum values
- Commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage. These five values guide the Scrum Team's behavior and support trust, which underpins empirical process control.
- Empiricism definition
- A theory asserting that knowledge comes from experience and decisions are made on observed evidence. Scrum applies it through short cycles of inspect and adapt.
- Purpose of transparency
- A shared, common understanding of the work and its state. Without it, inspection is misleading and adaptation produces decisions that reduce value and raise risk.
- Lean thinking in Scrum
- A foundation alongside empiricism that reduces waste and focuses on essentials. It keeps the framework minimal and directs effort toward value delivery.
- Iterative and incremental delivery
- Scrum delivers a usable Increment each Sprint, repeatedly refining the product. This maximizes early feedback and reduces risk from long development cycles.
- Why Scrum is incomplete
- Scrum defines only the minimum needed to make its processes effective. Teams add practices, templates, and tools as needed rather than following prescribed methods.
- Inspection constraint
- Inspection must be frequent enough to detect undesirable variance but not so frequent that it disrupts the work. Scrum events are the defined inspection points.
- Adaptation trigger
- If inspection reveals that a process aspect or product deviates beyond acceptable limits, the process or product must be adjusted as soon as possible.
- Three Scrum accountabilities
- Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers. Together they form one Scrum Team; Scrum defines no other formal roles or sub-teams.
- Scrum Team size
- Ten or fewer people, self-managing as one unit. Smaller teams communicate better; larger groups need more coordination and are split into multiple teams.
- Product Owner accountability
- Maximizing product value by effectively managing and ordering the Product Backlog. The Product Owner is one person, may delegate work, but stays accountable.
- Scrum Master accountability
- Establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide and improving team effectiveness. The role is a servant-leader and coach, not a project or people manager.
- Developer accountability
- Creating a usable Increment each Sprint, instilling quality, and self-managing their own work. Developers own the Sprint Backlog and adapt their plan daily.
- Product Owner and Product Goal
- The Product Owner owns and communicates the Product Goal, the long-term objective for the product that guides backlog ordering and Sprint Goals.
- Organization and Product Owner
- The wider organization must respect the Product Owner's decisions. The Product Owner may delegate tasks but remains the single accountable person.
- No sub-teams rule
- The Scrum Team contains no sub-teams or hierarchies. Accountability for outcomes and value delivery is shared across the whole team.
- Self-managing Scrum Team
- The team decides internally who does what, when, and how. This replaces external direction with the team's own planning and adaptation.
- Sprint container event
- The Sprint is a fixed period of one month or less that contains all other events. A new Sprint begins immediately after the previous one ends.
- Five Scrum events
- Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. Each has a maximum timebox, a purpose, and participants defined by the framework.
- Sprint Planning purpose
- It answers why, what, and how for the Sprint and produces the Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog. Timebox is a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint.
- Daily Scrum purpose
- A 15-minute event for Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. It is a planning event, not a status report.
- Sprint Review purpose
- A working session, maximum four hours for a one-month Sprint, where the Increment is inspected and the Product Backlog is adapted with stakeholders.
- Sprint Retrospective purpose
- A maximum three-hour event for a one-month Sprint that plans ways to increase quality and effectiveness. Top improvements may enter the next Sprint Backlog.
- Three Scrum artifacts
- Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment. Each represents work or value and is designed to maximize transparency of key information.
- Artifact commitments
- Product Goal commits to the Product Backlog, Sprint Goal to the Sprint Backlog, and Definition of Done to the Increment. Commitments reinforce focus and measure progress.
- Definition of Done
- A formal description of the Increment's quality state. Work not meeting it is not Done and returns to the Product Backlog for future rework.
- Sprint Goal function
- A single objective for the Sprint that provides focus and flexibility. It guides Developer planning and is the subject of Daily Scrum inspection.
- Scrum Master service to team
- Coaching self-management, helping the team focus on valuable Increments, facilitating impediment removal, and ensuring Scrum events are positive and productive.
- Scrum Master service to organization
- Leading and training Scrum adoption, planning implementation, removing barriers between stakeholders and teams, and helping employees and stakeholders understand empiricism.
- Scrum Master service to Product Owner
- Helping find techniques for effective Product Backlog management and facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed, without taking over product decisions.
- Professional Scrum emphasis
- Professional Scrum stresses empiricism, self-management, and continuous improvement. It values judgment and evidence over rigid prescribed processes or certificates.