PMI CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) Examination Content OutlineAgile Frameworks/MethodologiesMedium
A Scrum Master observes that the Development Team is consistently struggling to complete all committed work within a Sprint, despite having sufficient capacity. Upon investigation, it's found that team members frequently pick up new tasks or help others on unrelated items, even when their primary Sprint Backlog items are not yet 'Done'. What agile principle is being violated, and what should the Scrum Master coach the team on?
- AFocus; coach them to prioritize completing their own committed work before starting new items or helping others.
- BSustainable pace; coach them to work longer hours.
- CSelf-organization; coach them to wait for the Product Owner to assign tasks.
- DTransparency; coach them to document all their work in detail.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Focus; coach them to prioritize completing their own committed work before starting new items or helping others.
The team's behavior of consistently not finishing committed work due to context switching and picking up unrelated tasks violates the Agile principle of Focus. The Scrum Master should coach the team to prioritize completing their own committed Sprint Backlog items first to achieve the Sprint Goal.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Coaching them to work longer hours goes against sustainable pace and does not address the root cause of scattered focus.
- C. Coaching them to wait for the Product Owner to assign tasks goes against self-organization, where the Development Team manages its own work.
- D. While transparency is important, the issue is about completing work, not primarily documentation of it. More documentation wouldn't solve the focus problem.
Agile Principle: Focus
Agile teams focus their collective efforts on a limited number of items at a time to maximize throughput and achieve the Sprint Goal. This means avoiding context switching and prioritizing completion.
- Concentrate on limited items.
- Avoid context switching.
- Prioritize completion over starting new work.
- Essential for achieving Sprint Goal.
Memory trick: To hit the Sprint Goal, the team must focus its sight, not scatter its efforts left and right.