Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)Scrum Master StancesEasy
A new Development Team member frequently struggles to estimate the effort for Product Backlog Items, leading to inaccurate Sprint forecasts. The Scrum Master observes this during Sprint Planning and Daily Scrums. How should the Scrum Master best act in this situation?
- AAs a Mentor, by sharing personal experiences and tips on how to improve estimation accuracy.
- BAs an Impediment Remover, by taking over the estimation tasks for the new team member until they gain experience.
- CAs a Facilitator, by arranging a dedicated session for the entire team to re-evaluate their estimation process.
- DAs a Teacher, by explaining various estimation techniques and their benefits to the new team member.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. As a Teacher, by explaining various estimation techniques and their benefits to the new team member.
The new team member lacks knowledge about estimation techniques. The Scrum Master, in the role of a Teacher, should educate them on available methods, allowing the team member to learn and apply them. This empowers the team member to improve their skills independently.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Mentoring is appropriate for sharing experience, but teaching foundational techniques is more direct when knowledge is the primary gap.
- B. Taking over tasks prevents the team member from learning and developing their own skills, which is counter to Scrum principles.
- C. While team-wide refinement might be beneficial, the immediate issue is a new member's lack of understanding, which teaching addresses directly.
Scrum Master as Teacher
The Scrum Master acts as a teacher by ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted, and by educating the organization on Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
- Explains Scrum principles and empiricism.
- Educates on techniques like estimation, refinement, etc.
- Helps the team and organization adopt Scrum effectively.
Memory trick: Teachers Explain Techniques for Team's Triumph.