Agile Scrum Master Interview Questions & Answers

Question 1. How Does Agile Testing (development) Methodology Differ From Other Testing (development) Methodologies?

Answer :

The testers (developers) ensure that the whole process of testing (development) is broken into small steps as possible, and just a small unit of code is tested (developed) in each of these steps. The team of testers (developers) consistently communicates the results of their work, and changes the short term strategy and even the development plan on the go, based on the results of agile testing. Agile methodology encourages flexible and rapid response to change, which should lead to better end results.

Question 2. What Do Daily Stand Up Meetings Entail?

Answer :

Each day, at same time and same place (in front of the task board), the team meets to give updates about their tasks and tickets resolved for the day. This meeting addresses SCRUM’s three questions listed below.

1. What have you completed since the last meeting?
2. What do you plan to complete by the next meeting?
3. What is getting in your way?

Question 3. What Is A Release Candidate?

Answer :

A Release candidate is a build or version of software that can be released to production. Further, testing such as UAT may be performed on this version of the product.

Question 4. What Are The Most Important Components Of Agile?

Answer :

The key feature of agile are:

• Daily stand-up meetings.
• CRC (Class Responsibilities and Collaborators) cards
• timeboxed task boards.
• TDD (Test Driven Development), Continuous Integration, regular code reviews, pair programming, automated builds, continuous deployment and delivery, etc.
• You have iteration planning meetings and carry out iterative development.

Question 5. What Project Management Tools Are Used In Agile?

Answer :

Agile has a new breed of PM tools including Rally Software, Version One and Xplanner ,Easybacklog, Icescrum, Agilefant, Agilo.These tools bear no resemblance to the waterfall PM tools like MS-Project or Clarity.

Question 6. How Study Board Can Be Defined In Agile?

Answer :

A Story Board is a visual representation of a software project’s progress. There are generally four columns ‘To do’, In Progress’, ‘Test’, and ‘Done’. Different colored post, its notes are placed in each column indicating the progress of individual development items. A story board is typically used in agile development.

Question 7. How Much Time Should A Person Expect To Spend On Scrummaster Activities?

Answer :

A ScrumMaster should make this role their top priority to focus on benefits of the overall team. Their load will vary from sprint to sprint depending on what impediments and issues the team is dealing with. Newly formed teams typically take more ScrumMaster time; 50%-100%, while experienced ScrumMasters with established well functioning teams might spend 50% or less time on the ScrumMaster role.

Question 8. What Qualities Should A Good Agile Tester Have?

Answer :

• Agile tester should be able to understand the requirements quickly.
• They should know Agile concepts and principals.
• As requirements keep changing, testers should understand the risk involved in it.
• Agile tester should be able to prioritize the work based on the requirements.
• Communication is must for an agile tester as it requires constant communication with developers and business associates.

Question 9. What Is Difference Between Epic, User Stories & Tasks?

Answer :

Epic is a group of related user stories.

User Stories define the actual business requirement. Generally created by the business owner.

Task: To accomplish the business requirements, development team create tasks.

Question 10. How The Velocity Of Sprint Is Measured?

Answer :

If capacity is measured as a percentage of 40 hours weeks then completed

= story points * team capacity

If capacity is measured in man hours then completed story points / team capacity.

Question 11. Explain What Is A Product Backlog In Scrum?

Answer :

Before the scrum sprint initiates, product owner reviews the list of all new features, change requests, enhancements and bug reports and determines the priority. If the project is new, it includes new features that the new system must provide- this list of item is referred as Product Backlog. The items that are kept on sprint are referred as Sprint Backlog.

Question 12. Explain Velocity In Agile?

Answer :

Velocity is a metric that is calculated by addition of all efforts estimates associated with user stories completed in one iteration. It predicts how much work Agile can complete in a sprint and how much time will it require to complete a project.

Question 13. How Tracer Bullet Can Be Used?

Answer :

• Tracer bullet can be used as spike with the current architecture or the current set of best practices. The purpose of a tracer bullet is to examine how an end-to-end process will work and examine feasibility.
• Tracer ammunition, which is a part of bullet built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base
• It is a fictional detective, alter ego of Calvin in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes
• It is used in Scrum (software development)to describe a proof-of-concept deliverable
• Pathfinder (library science) – a term for those pathfinders produced by the Library of Congress.

Question 14. How Qa Can Add Value To An Agile Team?

Answer :

• QA can provide value addition by thinking differently about the various scenarios to test a story. They can provide quick feedback to the developers whether new functionality is working fine or not.
• QA is not a separate silo but is part of a cross-functional project team. It is included in the project from the beginning, and the whole team works together on user stories using the same tracking tools. The Director of the QA team works closely with the executive management team to identify technology and staffing needs in relation to project pipelines.
• Quality Assurance is empowered to support projects and add value in whatever way the situation requires. Examples include: design reviews, requirements assessments, browser and device support, process, tools, risk assessments, and helping to determine “Definition of Ready” and “Definition of Done.”
• QA sits with the project team whenever possible, allowing for increased conversation and problem solving in real time. The QA team attends and contributes to all relevant planning meetings and sprint ceremonies and also work directly with clients on quality and testing processes.
• Members of QA teams always learn as individuals, as project team members, and as representatives of a skilled discipline within the organization. Our process and approach to testing evolves to keep up with advances in technology and the changing needs of clients. What works for one client or project might differ radically from another. Flexibility is the key.

Question 15. What Does A Scrum Burn Down Chart Comprise?

Answer :

A scrum burn down chart should consist of:

• X-axis that displays working days
• Y-axis that displays remaining effort
• Ideal effort as guideline
• Real progress of effort

Question 16. What Is Scrum Sprint?

Answer :

A Scrum Sprint is a regular, repeated work cycle in scrum methodology during which work is completed and made ready for review. Scrum sprints are basic units of development in the scrum methodology. Generally, scrum sprints are less than 30 days long.

Sprints contain and consist of the Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, the development work, the Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

During the Sprint:

• No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal
• Quality goals do not decrease, and
• Scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Development Team as more is learned.

Question 17. What Are The Artifacts Of Scrum Process?

Answer :

Scrum process artifacts include:

• Sprint backlog – The Sprint Backlog is the set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint, plus a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog is a forecast by the Development Team about what functionality will be in the next Increment and the work needed to deliver that functionality into a “Done” Increment.
• Product backlog – The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product and is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product. The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog, including its content, availability, and ordering.
• Velocity chart- A velocity chart shows the sum of estimates of the work delivered across all iterations. Typically, velocity will stabilize through the life of a project unless the project team make-up varies widely or the length of the iteration changes. 
• Burn-down chart – It is a chart that shows how quickly you and your team are burning through your customer’s user stories. It shows the total effort against the amount of work we deliver on each iteration.

Question 18. Does Maximum Velocity Mean Maximum Productivity?

Answer :

No, in an attempt to maximize velocity, a team may in fact achieve the opposite. If asked to maximize velocity, a team may skimp on unit or acceptance testing, reduce customer collaboration, skip fixing bugs, minimize re-factoring. While potentially offering short-term improvement (if you can call it that), there will be a negative long-term impact. The goal is not to maximize velocity instead the optimal velocity over time, which takes into account many factors including quality of the end product.

Question 19. How To Measure Velocity If Our Iteration Lengths Change?

Answer :

You can’t measure it easily. Velocity’s value comes from its inherent consistency. A fixed iteration length helps drive the reliable rhythm of a project. Without this rhythm, you are constantly revising, re-estimating, and reconciling, and the ability to predict out in the future is minimized due to inconsistent results.

If, on the other hand, almost everyone is going to be out a week for the holidays or a couple days for company-wide meetings then by all means adapt iteration dates or velocity accordingly. Like most agile practices, these are guidelines, not strict rules.