FAQs

The description of scrum leads to a number of questions. All of these questions have been asked by our clients at one time or another. This book is based on discussing these questions. Here they are, along with the parts of the book that discuss them.

The Team

  • How big can/should a scrum team be?
  • What is a Stakeholder, and how does the team interact with them?
  • How do we handle a large organization – more than one scrum team can handle? (is this one out of scope, or not?)
  • How does the PO work with the Stakeholders? (reference Innovation Games, etc)
  • What does it mean for the PO to be accountable to the Stakeholders?
  • What is the dynamic between the PO and the rest of the Scrum Team?
  • Is the Scrum Master role one that gets self-organized by the team, or is actually a person?
  • What does it mean for the PO to be a member of the team?
  • What does self-organizing, self-managing mean? Is the team self-directing?
  • How does the team keep the PO from exercising undue influence over the team? Is this the Scrum Master’s problem, or what?
  • How does the Scrum Master enforce the process they have agreed to?

The Backlog

  • Is the Backlog actually a list? Or more complicated than that?
  • Does all the work the team does actually have to appear on the Backlog?
  • I’m confused about the difference between the Sprint Backlog and the Backlog.
  • How detailed should PBIs be?
  • Describe the different things we find on the Backlog. Epics. Stories, etc.
  • How do we increase the detail of the PBIs? In particular, how do we decompose Epics to Stories? (Here’s where we reference the Agile Analysis chapter)
  • Describe Backlog Grooming. When do we do it, and how?
  • How does the PO prioritize the Backlog?
  • What about stories that have no business value? (leads to 70/30 rule, etc)

The Release

  • Is Release Planning part of a sprint? Or something extra that just happens?
  • What is a Product Vision? What is a Product Roadmap?
  • How do we do Release Planning? (need reference to Release Planning chapter)
  • How many sprints in a release?
  • What is a Release Sprint? Do we need one?
  • Can’t we just release every Sprint?
  • What are Release Goals and a Release Strategy? (see the release planning chapter for explanation and examples)
  • What are the kinds of Release Planning? Three of them…
  • I heard that we should never be more than one sprint from release? What does that mean?

The Sprint

  • Why are sprints of fixed-length? Do they have to be? How long should they be?
  • I’ve heard of Commitment-Based Planning. What is it? Is it better than regular planning? Whazzup with this?
  • I’ve heard that things aren’t “done” until they’re potentially releasable. Could you discuss this?
  • What does it mean to “commit to work”?
  • What is this “done” agreement that you’re talking about?
  • Doesn’t scrum require the Stories be “tasked out” during planning?
  • What is the purpose of the Daily Meeting again? I don’t get it. What about the three questions, etc?
  • What is an impediment?
  • How does scrum master remove impediments?
  • Discuss Backlog Grooming some more.