Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)Scrum Theory & PrinciplesMedium

A Scrum Team consistently delivers 'Done' Increments, but the stakeholders frequently express surprise and dissatisfaction with the product's features during Sprint Reviews. This indicates a potential breakdown in which aspect of empiricism?

  1. AAdaptation
  2. BInspection
  3. CIteration
  4. DTransparency
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D. Transparency

If stakeholders are surprised and dissatisfied, it suggests they did not have a clear understanding or visibility into the work being done or the decisions being made. This lack of shared understanding and visibility is a failure of Transparency, one of the pillars of empiricism.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Adaptation would be the response to feedback, but the issue is that feedback is coming too late due to lack of visibility.
  • B. Inspection might be happening (delivering 'Done' increments implies some inspection), but the problem is the lack of shared understanding.
  • C. Iteration is a characteristic of Scrum, not one of the three pillars of empiricism.

Empiricism: Transparency

Significant aspects of the process must be visible to those responsible for the outcome. This requires a common standard so observers share a common understanding of what is being seen.

  • Visibility of work and process.
  • Shared common understanding.
  • Enables inspection and adaptation.

Memory trick: See it clearly (Transparency), Check it often (Inspection), Change it as needed (Adaptation).

More Scrum Theory & Principles questions