How do I handle bigger teams in Scrum or Agile?
There are multiple approaches to it. Scrum has given SoS (Scrum of Scrums Model) which is very simplistic or there are quite a few situation specific and proven models like
SAFe ( Scaled Agile Framework )
Nexus
And many more
We can use anything suitable or even customize one for ours based on need and taking learning’s from above.
What is Agile Methodology and its core values?
Agile Methodology refers to the software development process with an idea of iterative development between the self organised cross-functional team. The agile method emphasizes on breaking the whole process into different stages so as to keep track of every activity with constant collaboration resulting in improved and quality results at every stage of the workflow process. Keep reading scrum master interview questions.
With the concepts of Agile Methodology, teams are able to self organised themselves with the constant collaborative approach between the cross-functional team. Once the process of work begins, the teams need to go through different stages of planning, execution, evaluation and delivery.
The fundamentals of Agile Methodology relies on four core values:
1) Individual Interaction as well as Team Interaction over processes and tools.
2) Working Software over comprehensive documentation.
3) Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
4) Responding to change over following a plan.
How should a Scrum Master communicate with a Product Owner?
Communicating honestly and openly is the best way for a Scrum Master to get the cooperation of a Product Owner. Both must serve as servant leaders without being authoritative, and each depends upon the other working reciprocally for a Scrum Team’s success (e.g. accomplishing a Sprint’s Goal). They are allies with respect to coaching the organization to become, and remain, agile.
A Product Owner is responsible for providing prompt feedback on product matters, clarifying goals, and for ensuring that the entire product delivery team understands the product vision.
A Scrum Master, in return, supports the Product Owner in building a high-value, actionable Product Backlog, and to this end must facilitate effective collaboration between the Product Owner and the Scrum Team.
You’ve already provided your product’s stakeholders with training in Scrum. After the initial phase of trying to apply the concepts, when the very first obstacles are encountered, some of these stakeholders begin to resist continued adoption. What is your strategy for and experience in handling these situations?
This question is meant to encourage an exchange of ideas about, and lessons learned when overcoming resistance to Scrum within an organization. Familiarity with agile failure patterns that are common to many organizations will demonstrate your candidate’s experience. (We have published a list of several agile failure patterns.)
Your candidate should also be familiar with the particular challenge middle managers face in any transition to agile practices. Moving from a command-and-control style (i.e. managing people and telling them what to do) to a servant-leadership style — thus abandoning Taylor’s principles — is not for everyone.
Should the Scrum Team become involved in the product discovery process and, if so, how?
There are two principal reasons why a Scrum Team should be involved in the product discovery process as early as possible:
The sooner engineers participate in the product discovery process, the lesser the chances solutions will be pursued that are technically not viable or would not result in a return on investment.
Involving a Scrum Team early on ensures that the team and its Product Owner develop a shared understanding and ownership of what will be built.
This helps significantly with allocating resources to the right issues, maximizing value for the customer, and mitigating investment risk by maximizing the amount of low-value work not done.
Involving the Development Team members early in the process ensures their buy-in, and the team’s willingness to participate in all phases of a product’s development. This motivates the team to participate when making changes necessary to accomplish the Sprint Goals defined for each Sprint or product release.
What does the acronym INVEST mean?
The INVEST acronym was coined by Bill Wake and describes the characteristics of a good user story:
Independent. The user story should be self-contained, in a way that there is no inherent dependency on another user story.
Negotiable. Until becoming part of an iteration, user stories can always be changed and rewritten.
Valuable. A user story must deliver value to the end-user.
Estimable. You must always be able to estimate the size of a user story.
Small. User stories should not be so big as to become impossible to plan, task, and prioritize with some certainty.
Testable. The user story (or its related description) must provide the necessary information to make test development possible.
What is a “user story” in Scrum?
A user story is a tool used in Agile software development that captures the description of a feature from an end-user perspective. It describes, among others, the type of users and their motivations. A user story creates a simplified description of a user’s requirements.