Notes From a Project Manager: PSM I & PSPO I Exam Prep

When I was getting prepared for PSM I & PSPO I certification exams, I found many resources but I couldn’t find a document that includes the most important topics for the exam in one place.

So I decided to create one and share it with the people who might need it :)

Here are the notes I took while I was getting prepared for my PSM I & PSPO I certification exams.

Below is information I sourced during my preparations and all the sources are listed at the bottom!

I wish it helps you as a source on your journey.

SCRUM

• Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory or empiricism.
• Scrum can be used for sustaining complex products.
• Scrum has rules.
• Using timeboxes limits work in progress.
• Scrum is “considered” as a framework, not a methodology, process, techniques. It can be used to develop new products or maintain/sustain existing ones.
• There are no baselines in Scrum.

The timeboxed duration of events is as follows:

• Sprint — Maximum 1 month
• Daily Scrum — 15 minutes
• Sprint Planning — 8 hours in one month Sprint, normally shorter in shorter Sprints
• Sprint Review — 4 hours in one month Sprint, normally shorter in shorter Sprints
• Sprint Retrospective — 3 hours in one month Sprint, normally shorter in shorter Sprints

• Scrum values are commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. (F-O-R-C-C)
• Scrum artifacts are Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment. (P-S-I)
• Scrum pillars are transparency, inspection, and adaptation. (T-A-I)
• Velocity is the average amount of work done per Sprint.
• Scrum allows additional meetings if they facilitate achieving the Sprint Goal.
• When multiple teams are working on the same product, one person can be a member of more than one Development Team.
• The performance of the project is measured at least once per Sprint (by the Product Owner), and the Sprint performance is measured daily (by the Development Team).
• All teams should be cross-functional in scaled Scrum.
• The essence of Scrum is a small team of people.
• The individual team is highly flexible and adaptive. These strengths continue operating in single, several, many, and networks of teams that develop, release, operate and sustain the work and work products of thousands of people. They collaborate and interoperate through sophisticated development architectures and target release environments.
• Only members of the Development Team create the Increment.

“Formal opportunities for inspecting and adapting”: (“Feedback Loops”)

• Sprint Planning,
• Daily Scrum,
• Sprint Review,
• Sprint Retrospective.

There are 2 meetings in which people outside the Scrum Team are allowed to participate.

• The Sprint Review,
• The Sprint Planning.

The team model in Scrum is designed to optimize: ( F — C — P )

• Flexibility,
• Creativity,
• Productivity.

Which of the following best describes transparency?

Significant aspects of the process must be visible to those responsible for the outcome.

Who are the typical Key Stakeholders?

• The Users — The human people who actually use the product under development
• The External Customers — The people responsible for paying to use the product
• The Internal Customers — The people responsible for making the funding decisions for the product development effort

• The Development Team is free to change their engineering practices whenever they want.
• Budgeting done in Scrum ideally revised each Sprint to ensure value is being delivered.
• Measuring the performance of the Sprint and using Sprint Backlogs are required/mandatory.
• All increments must be potentially releasable to enable usable feedback.
• Scrum doesn’t have a project manager role. The project management activities are distributed among the three Scrum roles.
• Working at a sustainable pace is one of the Agile principles. This helps increase productivity and quality.
• All Scrum roles, events, and artifacts are necessary and should not be ignored for any reason.
• Development Team(Developers) creates the increment
• The Key Stakeholders are allowed to participate only in the Sprint Review meeting.

DEFINITION OF DONE

• Definition of Done shouldn’t change in the middle of the Sprint.
• Definition of Done can change during the project. (can be improved during the project. However, it shouldn’t change in the middle of the Sprint.)
• Definition of Done is changed by the Development Team, not the Product Owner.
• Definition of Done may be composed by the organization but inside the project, only the developers may change or define it.
• Definition of Done is adjusted by the Development Team, not the Product Owner.
• Definition of Ready is not accepted in Scrum.org.
• Everyone must understand what Done means.
• Multiple Scrum Teams working on the same project, there can be multiple definitions, as long as they are capable of creating a potentially releasable Increment.

Definition of Done:

• Helps the Development Team have a reliable forecast of the number of items they can select in the Sprint Planning.
• Defines what it takes for a Product Backlog item to be ready for release.
• Creates transparency for the Increments that will be inspected at the Sprint Review
• Increases transparency of the Increments.
• Can be improved during the project.
• Used by the developers to forecast how many items they can pick for the Sprint.

What should be taken into account for the Definition of “Done”?

• Definition of “Done” of other Scrum Teams working on the same Product.
• Conventions, standards, and guidelines of the organization.

PRODUCT OWNER

Product Owner must be 1 person.

• There can be a committee for product ownership, but only their representative will be called the Product Owner. So, there’s only one Product Owner, even when there are multiple teams. This person can be full-time or part-time. One person can have more than one role in Scrum (e.g. both the Product Owner and the Scrum Master). While it’s not forbidden, it’s not recommended either.
• There can be one Product Owner for each product.

• Product Backlog’s order and composition, project performance measurement, and release planning are the Product Owner’s responsibilities.
• Product Owner is responsible for managing Product Backlog (Ordering items, achieve goals and missions).
• Creating new Product Backlog items, ordering them (prioritization), and making sure everyone has a clear understanding of them is the responsibility of the Product Owner.
• Product Owner is responsible for the monitoring of the remaining work towards the Project Goal.
• The product Owner is responsible for engaging stakeholders, understanding them, communicating with them, and so on.
• Product Owner ensures the Development Team understands items in the Product Backlog.
• Product Owner can delegate her/his responsibilities to the Development Team.
• Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint, no one else has this authority.
• Product Owner decides when to release the product.
• Measuring the performance of the release or project performance is the responsibility of the Product Owner while measuring the Sprint performance is done by the Development Team.
• Product Owner’s main responsibility is maximizing the value of the product.
• Product Owner creates and orders the Product Backlog items and makes sure that everyone understands them.
• Product Owner may not order the Development Team to do things; the Development Team is self-organized. (self-managed)
• The Product Owner can also be a member of the Development Team (It’s not recommended but also possible).
• Estimating the size or amount of work required for each item is done by the Development Team, but estimating value, which is different from size is done by the Product Owner.

What’s the role of a Product Owner in composing the Sprint Goal?

• They bring business objectives to the Sprint Planning meeting, and they work with the rest of the team to craft the Sprint Goal.

What does Product Owner do during the Sprint?

• Works with stakeholders,
• Answers questions from the development team(developers) about items in Sprint backlog.

What’s the role of a Product Owner during Sprint Retrospectives?

• Participating as a Scrum Team member.

When there are n teams in a project, there are:

• 1 Product Backlog
• n Sprint Backlogs each Sprint
• One or more Definitions of Done, as long as they are compatible with each other
• 1 integrated Increment each Sprint
• 1 Product Owner
• n Scrum Master roles which can be occupied by 1 or more Scrum Masters

Note 1: one project is about one product.

Note 2: The way Scrum Guide explains it, it sounds like there should be one Definition of Done for scaled Scrum, but Scrum.org believes that there can be multiple definitions, as long as they are compatible with each other and capable of creating integrated Increments, and that’s what you have to answer in your exam.

Which KVA (Key Value Area) categories should the Product Owner consider to measure and track the creation and delivery of value to the market place?

• Current Value,
• Time-to-Market,
• Ability to Innovate.

In executing Value Driven Development, the Product Owner must consider the focus areas of:

• Product Value Maximizer,
• Product Visionary,
• Product Marketplace Expert,
• Product Release Decision Maker,
• Lead Facilitator of Key Stakeholder Involvement,
• Other Product Owner role Considerations.

What are the three most applicable characteristics of the Product Owner?

• Product Value Maximizer,
• Lead Facilitator of Key Stakeholder Involvement,
• Product Marketplace Expert.

What factors should be considered by the Product Owner in the release decision?

• The risk that the product’s value can get out of line with the marketplace
• Can customers actually absorb the new release?
• Does the Increment meet the Definition of “Done”?
• The customers that will be constrained by the new release

SCRUM MASTER

• Scrum Master is responsible for coping with incomplete artifact transparency. This work usually involves learning, convincing, and change.
• Scrum Master can also be the Product Owner.
• Scrum Master role is a management role, but they manage the process, not the people.
• Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum.
• One Scrum Master can manage multiple Scrum teams.
• Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted.
• Scrum Master facilitates Scrum events (if requested).
• Scrum Master removes impediments for the Development Team’s (Developers’ ) progress
• Scrum Master helps the Product Owner to find techniques for arranging the Product Backlog effectively.
• Scrum Master leads the team for Scrum adoption.
• Scrum Master’s job is to increase the transparency of artifacts with learning, convincing, and chance.

Scrum Master serves the Product Owner in several ways, including:

• Ensuring that goals, scope, and product domain are understood by everyone on the Scrum Team as well as possible.
• Finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management.
• Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items.
• Understanding product planning in an empirical environment.
• Ensuring the Product Owner knows how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value.
• Understanding and practicing agility.
• Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed.

Scrum Master can detect incomplete transparency:

• Inspecting the artifacts,
• Sensing patterns,
• Listening closely to what is being said,
• Detecting differences between expected and real results.

DEVELOPMENT TEAM

• Development Team’s size should be min 3 — max 9.
• Development Team delivers potentially useful and releasable products at every end of the Sprint.
• The role within a Scrum Team is accountable for managing, organizing, and doing all development work required to create a releasable increment of product every Sprint.
• The technical approach is completely up to the Development Team.
• Self-Organizing: No one tells how they should work.
• Cross-Functional: Have all the skills to make them no need from outside of the team.
• Development Team estimates the effort to complete a Product Backlog item after clarifying the requirement.
• There are no titles in the Development Team (Developers)
• Measuring Sprint performance is the Development Team’s responsibility.
• Developers themselves will decide on how to form the teams when multiple teams are composed for a single project.
• Development team members can change during the Sprint, with the concern of creating a short time reduction in productivity.
• Developers deal with non-functional features incorporating them into every increment.

Development team is responsible for;

• Managing the Sprint Backlog,
• All estimates,
• Do all the work required for Product Backlog items.

What does Development Team do during the Sprint?

• Runs the Daily Scrums,
• Measuring the Sprint Backlog,
• Ensures the tasks are Done based on the “Definition of Done”,
• Decides on the way of the work and on the technical approach (Self-Organizing).

SCRUM TEAM

• Scrum Team roles are Product Owner, Development Team (Developers), and Scrum Master.
• Scrum Team delivers potentially useful and releasable products.
• Scrum Team is responsible for tool selection and configuration.
• Scrum Team is responsible for setting the timeboxed duration of Sprints.

There are only three roles in Scrum:

• Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team (Developers).
• It’s not allowed to define new roles and the Development Team members (Developers) should not have any titles; they are all just “developers”. It is so, because we want all of them to be accountable for everything and to collaborate with each other.
• Each person has his/her own area of expertise, such as testing, and that person will be more focused on testing tasks, but it doesn’t mean that we can call the person “tester”; they are just developers who are experts in testing.

Scrum Team is self-organized and cross-functional.

• Self-organized: Choose how to best to accomplish their work.
• Cross-functional: Team has all competencies, skills to accomplish their work.

Scrum Team is designed to optimize:

• Flexibility,
• Creativity,
• Productivity.

The Scrum Team consists of:

• The Scrum Master,
• The Product Owner,
• The Development Team.

SCRUM EVENTS

Sprint

• Once a Sprint begins, its duration is fixed and cannot be shortened or lengthened.
• Duration is maximum one month.
• An increment of potentially releasable product functionality must be created
• There are no Sprint Zero, Hardening Sprints, Release Sprints, Integration Sprints in Scrum.

During the Sprint;

• If work’s different than expected, the scope can be re-negotiated between the Product Owner and the Development Team.
• Sprint Goal can’t be changed.
• New Sprint tasks can be added as soon as possible after they are identified unless reflecting a scope change in the Sprint Goals.

When a Sprint is canceled;

• For any part of work that is potentially releasable, the Product Owner typically accepts it.
• Incomplete Product Backlog items re-estimated and moved into Product Backlog.

• The total work remaining to reach a goal can be summed any time, the Product Owner tracks it.
• Only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint.
• Sprint Goals are set during Sprint Planning meetings.
• Sprint Goal helps you focus on the outcome that is expected from the Sprint.
• Sprint Goal is created by the whole Scrum Team not only Development Team.
• The whole Scrum Team is responsible for setting the time-boxed duration of Sprints.
• All the Scrum Teams working on the same product should have the same Sprint length. → FALSE
• The purpose of each Sprint is to create a potentially releasable piece of software. It doesn’t have to be released
• Each Sprint starts immediately after the previous one; there’s no space between the two.
• This is important for Scrum.org that you know this because many people add gaps between Sprints to do different things such as refinement, which is not productive.
• After the Sprint Retrospective of the previous Sprint, which means there’s no prerequisite for Sprint Planning.

Sprint Planning

• Sprint Planning is time-boxed for 8 hours or shorter.
• Development Team works to forecast the functionality that will be developed (Product Backlog items)
• Scrum Team crafts a Sprint Goal after the Development Team forecasts Product Backlog items it will deliver.
• Sprint Planning one of the opportunities for inspection and adaptation.

The input to the Sprint Planning is:

1. The Product Backlog
2. The latest product Increment
3. The projected capacity of the Development Team during the Sprint
4. Past performance of the Development Team

Daily Scrum

• Daily Scrum is time-boxed for 15 minutes every day. (At the same time and place).
• Development Team (Developers) is responsible for conducting the Daily Scrum.
• Development Team (Developers) use Daily Scrum to inspect progress, work together as a self-organizing team, and key to adapt.
• Development Team (Developers) tracks the total work remaining to manage its progress.
• Daily Scrum is an opportunity for inspection and adaptation.
• Daily Scrum is for the developers; only they “participate” (=talk). Others can “attend” (=watch).

Sprint Review

• Sprint Review is time-boxed for 4 hours or shorter.
• Scrum Team and stakeholders collaborate about what was done and undone in the Sprint.
• Development Team (Developers) demonstrates the work that it has Done.
• Sprint Review is an opportunity for inspection and adaptation
• Sprint Review is an informal meeting with the customer.
• Sprint Review meeting is an inspection of the Increment to collect feedback and see what to do in the next Sprint.

The Sprint Review contains much more activities to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog.

For example:

• The Product Owner also explains what has not been “Done”.
• The entire group collaborates on what to do next so that the Sprint Review provides valuable input to subsequent Sprint Planning.
• Review of the timeline, budget, potential capabilities, and marketplace for the next anticipated releases of functionality.

Sprint Retrospective

• Sprint Retrospective is time-boxed for 3 hours or shorter.
• Sprint Retrospective inspects itself and creates a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.
• Inspect the last Sprint relationships, process, and tools.
• Create a plan for implementing improvements to the way of Scrum.
• Chance to improve Scrum process to make it more effective and enjoyable for next Sprint.
• An opportunity for inspection and adaptation.

SCRUM ARTIFACTS

PRODUCT BACKLOG

• The Product Owner owns the Product Backlog.
• Product Backlog describes everything that is needed in the product.
• Product Backlog has just enough details, not all the details.
• Product Backlog is the source of everything that might be needed in the product.
• Product Backlog is never complete, it's dynamic.
• Product Backlog grows with feedbacks and becomes a larger and more exhaustive list.
• Multiple Scrum Teams work together on the same project should use one Product Backlog.
• More precise; important, clearer, and more detailed items at the top, least items at the bottom
• Items at the bottom of the Product Backlog are usually larger than the top.
• Large items on the top of the Product Backlog are broken down into smaller ones to become clearer.
• Development Team(Developers) doesn’t spend more than 10% of their time on Product Backlog refinement.
• It provides just enough information to enable the team to develop the product.
• Burn-down chart measures work remaining across time.
• The ownership of items is shared, therefore, there’s no need to record it in the item.
• Product Backlog items have the attributes of a description, order, estimate, and value. Product Backlog items often include test descriptions that will prove their completeness when “Done” and Dependencies.

What does a trend line through a release burn-down chart indicate?

• When the remaining work will likely be completed if nothing changes in the Product Backlog or the Development Team.

There are 3 pieces of information in each Product Backlog item:

• Description (in the form of a User Story or otherwise),
• Value,
• Estimate.

Product Backlog Refinement is

• Is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to Product Backlog items.
• Is an ongoing process.
• Usually takes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team.

Sprint Backlog

• Sprint Backlog has just enough details, not all the details.
• Sprint Backlog is owned by The Development Team. Not the whole Scrum Team.
• Sprint Backlog is managed by The Development Team. Not the whole Scrum Team.
• Sprint Backlog is selected Product Backlog items + Plan for delivering them.
• Sprint Backlog can be changed or modified in the Daily Scrum and throughout the Sprint (Only Development Team — Developers)
• When the element of the plan is deemed unnecessary, they are removed.

NOTES

• In both exams, you should be careful about the time usage. You will have only 60 minutes to answer 80 questions.
• You can mark the question and answer it later, try not to waste time if you’re not sure what the answer is.
• You must be careful about the patterns of the questions. (Such as ‘select 2 answers, select 3 answers, all applicable answers’..)
• I also share the sources I’ve used while I have been preparing for the exam. I think they are helpful too.

PSM I Exam Simulator :: Management Plaza

PSPO I Exam Simulator :: Management Plaza

PSM I™ Preparation Quiz — Learning Mode

PSM I™ Preparation Quiz - Real Mode

PSPO I™ Preparation Quiz - Learning Mode

PSPO I™ Preparation Quiz - Real Mode

Scrum Guru - Apps on Google Play