Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)Scrum Master StancesHard
A Development Team is consistently overlooking the importance of technical debt, preferring to develop new features rather than refactor or improve existing code quality. This leads to increasing delivery times and more defects over time. The Scrum Master identifies this pattern. Which Scrum Master stance is MOST suitable to address this long-term behavioral issue?
- AFacilitator, by organizing a workshop on code quality metrics.
- BCoach, by asking powerful questions to help the team discover the consequences of their choices.
- CImpediment Remover, by directly scheduling refactoring tasks into the Sprint Backlog.
- DTeacher, by educating the team on the long-term impacts of technical debt and the value of sustainable engineering practices.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Coach, by asking powerful questions to help the team discover the consequences of their choices.
While teaching and facilitating are valuable, coaching involves helping the team discover their own insights and solutions. By asking powerful questions, the Scrum Master can guide the team to recognize the negative impacts of technical debt and motivate them to take ownership of improving code quality, leading to a more sustainable change in behavior.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Facilitating a workshop is a helpful tool, but coaching goes deeper by challenging perspectives and fostering self-awareness about the team's current practices and their consequences.
- C. Directly scheduling tasks removes the team's autonomy and doesn't address the underlying behavioral pattern or understanding.
- D. Teaching is a good initial step, but for a deep-seated behavioral pattern, coaching helps the team internalize the knowledge and take ownership of the change, which is more impactful for long-term shifts.
Coach for Technical Debt
As a Coach, the Scrum Master uses powerful questions and observation to help the Development Team recognize the impact of technical debt and empower them to integrate sustainable engineering practices into their work.
- Focuses on self-discovery and internal motivation.
- Challenges assumptions and perspectives.
- Aims for lasting behavioral change and ownership.
Memory trick: Coaches Ask, Teams Discover.