All 44 Agile & Scrum quiz questions below come with a short explanation, visible right on the page — no sign-in needed. They're grouped by beginner and intermediate levels and 9 subtopics, so you can revise one part at a time. Choose Try Agile & Scrum quiz above to take a scored run and review the questions you got wrong.
What the Agile & Scrum quiz covers
Scrum Events9
Product Backlog & User Story6
Artifact & Commitment5
Agile Foundations5
Scrum in Practice5
Estimation & Velocity5
Roles & Accountabilities5
Kanban & Flow2
Scaling & Other Frameworks2
Beginner level — 14 Agile & Scrum questions
Question 1·Agile Foundations
The Agile Manifesto states four values as "A over B". How should the B side be read?
A.The B side still has value; the A side is simply valued more
B.The B side is what an Agile team must eliminate
C.The B side applies once the project has left development
D.The B side is only for waterfall projects
Answer: A
The four values are a comparison of priority, not exclusion. The manifesto's closing line states the right side still has value, it's just that the left side has more — documentation, contracts, and plans are still needed, they just shouldn't be placed above people and working software.
Per the 2020 Scrum Guide, which accountabilities make up a Scrum Team?
A.Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers
B.Product Manager, Scrum Master, QA, Developers
C.Project Manager, Tech Lead, Developers
D.Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team, Stakeholder
Answer: A
Three accountabilities: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers. The 2020 version drops the "Development Team" (team-within-team) concept entirely and calls everyone who produces the Increment Developers, including testers, designers, and DevOps.
How long is the Daily Scrum timeboxed to, and who is it for?
A.30 minutes, for the team and the stakeholders
B.15 minutes, for the Developers
C.No limit, as long as it happens daily
D.15 minutes, for the Scrum Master to report progress
Answer: B
At most 15 minutes, and it's an event for the Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog. The PO and SM only join if they are actively working on the Sprint Backlog.
The order within a Sprint: Sprint Planning → Daily Scrum (each day) → Sprint Review → Sprint Retrospective. The Retrospective is the last event, after which the next Sprint starts immediately, with no gap between Sprints.
B.As a <role>, I need <screen> containing <fields>
C.As a <role>, I want <goal>, so that <value>
D.For <module>, do <task>, by <deadline>
Answer: C
Connextra template: As a \<role\>, I want \<goal\>, so that \<value\>. The "so that" clause is the most important and most often omitted — it states why the work is worth doing, and is the basis for cutting scope when needed.
What is the Product Owner primarily accountable for?
A.Making sure the Developers finish the number of items committed
B.Maximizing the product's value and managing the Product Backlog
C.Coordinating the meeting schedule and removing impediments
D.Deciding the technical architecture for each item
Answer: B
Maximizing the value of the product the Scrum Team produces, through managing the Product Backlog: setting the Product Goal, creating and ordering items, and ensuring the backlog is transparent and understood the same way by everyone.
Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, Courage. These are the least-mentioned part but they determine whether Scrum actually works or is just going through the motions.
The entire Scrum Team — Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. The Retrospective examines both the way of working and the interactions among the three accountabilities, so without the PO you lose half the picture.
D.A summary document of what the team did in the Sprint
Answer: C
A concrete, usable step forward toward the Product Goal that has met the Definition of Done. The Increment must be usable, but whether it gets released is the Product Owner's decision.
For a one-month Sprint, what is the maximum timebox for Sprint Planning?
A.2 hours
B.4 hours
C.8 hours
D.3 hours
Answer: C
A maximum of 8 hours for a one-month Sprint. Remember the trio: Planning 8 hours, Review 4 hours, Retrospective 3 hours — and all scale down proportionally for shorter Sprints.
In Scrum, who is accountable for the quality of the Increment?
A.A separate QA team, after the Developers hand over
B.The Product Owner, since they accept the items
C.The Developers, through adhering to the Definition of Done
D.The Scrum Master, since they safeguard the process
Answer: C
Developers — the Scrum Guide says they bake quality into the product by adhering to the Definition of Done. There is no handoff to a separate QA team, because testers are part of the Developers.
Per the twelve Agile principles, what is the primary measure of progress?
A.The completion percentage against the original plan
B.The number of design documents approved
C.Working software
D.The number of story points completed
Answer: C
Working software. Every intermediate measure — points, percent complete, number of documents — can go up while the product still can't run a single end-to-end flow.
Who decides the order of items in the Product Backlog?
A.Whichever stakeholder is most urgent
B.The Developers, since they understand the technical cost
C.The Product Owner
D.The Scrum Master, based on the team's capacity
Answer: C
The Product Owner. Others can suggest and influence, but anyone who wants to change the order has to convince the PO — the Scrum Guide says the Product Backlog is the single source of work for the Scrum Team.
Developers. The Sprint Backlog is the plan they themselves made to reach the Sprint Goal, and they update it throughout the Sprint as understanding changes. No one outside may add work to it.
The 2020 Scrum Guide pairs each artifact with a commitment. Which pairing is correct?
A.Sprint Backlog — Definition of Ready
B.Product Backlog — Sprint Goal
C.Increment — Definition of Done
D.Increment — Release Plan
Answer: C
Three pairs: Product Backlog → Product Goal, Sprint Backlog → Sprint Goal, Increment → Definition of Done. The commitment is the measure for checking that artifact's progress, added in the 2020 version to counter artifacts existing without anyone knowing what they're aiming at.
Sprint Planning addresses three topics. What does the "Why" topic produce?
A.The list of items pulled into the Sprint
B.The Product Goal for the coming quarter
C.The plan for breaking each item into tasks
D.The Sprint Goal
Answer: D
Why → the Sprint Goal; What → the selected Product Backlog items; How → the plan to turn them into an Increment. Together these three topics form the Sprint Backlog.
Mid-Sprint, a manager asks the Developers to drop current work for a new request. Per Scrum, who decides on changing Sprint scope?
A.Nobody — the Sprint Backlog is frozen until the Sprint ends
B.The senior manager, because they carry the business responsibility
C.Product Owner and Developers, without changing the Sprint Goal
D.The Scrum Master, because they own the process
Answer: C
Scope can be negotiated between the Product Owner and Developers as understanding grows, but the Sprint Goal does not change during the Sprint. The Sprint Backlog is not a frozen contract; it's the Developers' plan and they update it daily.
D.The relative size of the work compared with the other items
Answer: D
Relative size — combining effort, complexity, and uncertainty, compared to other items of the same team. Because it is relative, team A's points cannot be compared with team B's, and converting "1 point = 4 hours" destroys the entire meaning of this estimation approach.
An item is coded but does not meet the Definition of Done when the Sprint ends. What is the correct handling?
A.Extend the Sprint by a few days to finish
B.Return the item to the Product Backlog to be reordered
C.Count it as done but note what is still missing
D.Move it straight to the next Sprint and keep the points already counted
Answer: B
The item returns to the Product Backlog for the Product Owner to reorder — it is not presented at the Sprint Review and is not considered done. A Sprint is never extended to wait for an item.
Transparency – Inspection – Adaptation. These three pillars explain why Scrum has exactly five events: each event is an opportunity to inspect and adapt, and they only work when information is transparent enough.
A.A working session with stakeholders to inspect the Increment and adjust the Product Backlog
B.An internal Scrum Team meeting to draw lessons
C.An acceptance meeting where the customer signs off each item
D.A progress presentation delivered by the Scrum Master
Answer: A
It's a working session between the Scrum Team and stakeholders: inspect the Increment, discuss changes in the business environment, and then adjust the Product Backlog right there. The Scrum Guide stresses that this is not a progress presentation.
Per the 2020 Scrum Guide, what is Product Backlog refinement?
A.Scrum's sixth event, held mid-Sprint
B.The Product Owner's own task, done before Sprint Planning
C.A mandatory meeting taking at most 10% of the Sprint's capacity
D.An ongoing activity rather than a Scrum event
Answer: D
It's an ongoing activity to break down and clarify items, done jointly by the Product Owner and the Developers. It is not a Scrum event, has no required timebox, and the "max 10% of capacity" limit has been removed from the Scrum Guide.
A.Distributing tickets evenly among the team members
B.Shortening how long each item takes to complete
C.Making sure everyone always has work to do
D.Fixing how many items are pulled into each Sprint
Answer: B
Limit the amount of work in progress to shorten cycle time. Per Little's Law, average completion time is proportional to the amount of WIP — doing many things at once doesn't make you finish faster, it just makes everything finish later.
What is the maximum Sprint length per the Scrum Guide?
A.One month
B.Two weeks
C.Six weeks
D.It depends on the team, with no limit
Answer: A
At most one month, and the length stays fixed to keep the inspect-and-adapt rhythm stable. The longer the Sprint, the more likely the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete, the more risk piles up, and the more expensive it is to head in the wrong direction.
A.Forecasting how much work the team can take on next Sprint
B.Comparing productivity between two teams on one project
C.Assessing each developer's individual performance
D.Setting a quarterly point-growth KPI for the team
Answer: A
Only to forecast for that same team. Velocity is a relative scale measured in units the team defines itself — so using it to compare teams, set KPIs or rate individual performance all leads to the same result: inflated points.
What does the 2020 Scrum Guide mandate about burndown charts?
A.Only mandatory for teams larger than eight people
B.Mandatory for the Sprint Backlog and optional for the Product Backlog
C.It must be updated daily during the Daily Scrum
D.Nothing — it is an optional practice
Answer: D
The Scrum Guide does not mention burndown charts. The only obligation is to make progress toward the Sprint Goal transparent — the team picks the means, whether that's a burndown, burnup, cumulative flow or just a task board.
Multiple Scrum Teams work on one product. What structure does the Scrum Guide require?
A.One Product Owner, one Product Backlog, one Product Goal
B.One Product Owner but a separate Product Goal per team
C.One Product Owner and one backlog per team
D.One shared backlog with each team ordering its own part
Answer: A
They share one Product Owner, one Product Backlog, one Product Goal. Each team still has its own Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog, but the source of priorities must be single so two teams don't optimize in opposite directions.
The organisation already has a Definition of Done standard. What must the Scrum Team do?
A.Apply only the parts suiting the team's technology
B.Build their own and ignore the organization's standard
C.Have the Product Owner approve each item before applying it
D.Follow that standard as the minimum
Answer: D
The organisation's standard is a mandatory floor; the team may add stricter conditions but must not relax them. If the organisation has no standard yet, the Scrum Team creates its own Definition of Done.
Every Retrospective produces action items and none get done. What is the most effective fix?
A.Make the Scrum Master responsible for completing every action item
B.Drop the Retrospective since it clearly creates no value
C.Put one improvement into the next Sprint Backlog
D.Keep a separate tracking board and review it weekly
Answer: C
Pick one improvement and put it straight into the Sprint Backlog of the next Sprint. As long as the improvement sits on a separate list, it always loses to feature work — because only work in the Sprint Backlog counts as real work.
What is the most fundamental difference between Scrum and Kanban?
A.Kanban needs no meetings while Scrum has five
B.Scrum is for new development while Kanban is for maintenance
C.Scrum requires estimation while Kanban forbids it
D.Scrum works to a fixed Sprint cadence while Kanban works as continuous flow
Answer: D
Scrum organizes work in fixed Sprint cadences with a Sprint Goal; Kanban optimizes continuous flow, pulling new work when capacity frees up within WIP limits. Every other difference follows from this one.
How do acceptance criteria differ from the Definition of Done?
A.Acceptance criteria are used when testing and the DoD when releasing
B.They are the same thing under two names
C.Acceptance criteria are written by QA and the DoD by developers
D.Acceptance criteria are per item while the DoD applies to every item
Answer: D
Acceptance criteria answer "what does working correctly mean for this item" — specific to each item. Definition of Done answers "what quality bar must every item meet" — shared across the whole product. An item must satisfy both.
A.The highest-priority item, allowed to bypass the process
B.A sudden surge in bugs after a release
C.A timeboxed research item to reduce uncertainty
D.A short Sprint inserted between two main Sprints
Answer: C
A timeboxed research item — prototyping, reading documentation, measuring performance — to reduce uncertainty enough that the real work can be estimated. The output of a spike is knowledge and decisions, not a feature.
A.Put it in the Product Backlog and tighten the Definition of Done
B.Only deal with it once it causes a production incident
C.Let developers squeeze it in outside working hours
D.Reserve a hardening Sprint each quarter to pay it down
Answer: A
Make it visible: put it in the Product Backlog to compete for priority like any other item, and tighten the Definition of Done so it doesn't grow again. Scrum has no hardening Sprint.
In planning poker, why does everyone reveal at the same time?
A.To avoid anchoring on the first number spoken
B.To force everyone to give the same number
C.To make the estimation session faster
D.So the Scrum Master can record who estimates most accurately
Answer: A
So everyone estimates independently, avoiding anchoring bias. If the most senior person speaks first, the rest drift toward that number and the group loses the most valuable information: where people's understanding differs.
A brand new team has no velocity data. What is a reasonable way to forecast the first Sprints?
A.Borrow the velocity of another team of similar size
B.Wait three Sprints before committing to anything
C.Take on less work, measure real throughput, and adjust
D.Convert the total available person-hours into points
Answer: C
Take a modest amount of work for the first Sprint, measure with real data (items completed, cycle time), then recalibrate after each Sprint. Only after about three to five Sprints is there enough data for a meaningful forecast.
What does the Agile principle of sustainable pace state?
A.No overtime is allowed under any circumstances
B.The team sets its own hours without agreeing them with anyone
C.Everyone involved should be able to sustain that pace indefinitely
D.Each Sprint must take on exactly as much work as the last
Answer: C
Sponsors, developers, and users must be able to sustain that pace indefinitely. The test is simple: if next month and next quarter you can keep this same pace without burning out, it's a sustainable pace.
A.The list of features planned for release this quarter
B.The revenue target the product must hit this year
C.The long-term objective the Scrum Team works toward
D.A summary of the Sprint Goals from past Sprints
Answer: C
The Scrum Team's long-term objective, a commitment tied to the Product Backlog. The team pursues only one Product Goal at a time; it must achieve or abandon it before setting the next one.
A.Slice it horizontally by layer: one backend part and one frontend part
B.Slice it by person: one part per developer
C.Slice it by Sprint: whatever does not fit moves to the next one
D.Slice it vertically: each part works from the UI down to the data
Answer: D
Cut vertically: each slice goes all the way from the UI down to the data and is usable on its own. Cutting horizontally by layer means no slice can be delivered until all of them are done, which throws away the value of splitting.
How should a bug found during the Sprint be handled?
A.Hand them all over to a maintenance team
B.Fix it immediately if it blocks the Sprint Goal; otherwise put it in the Product Backlog
C.Always defer it to the next Sprint so the commitment is unaffected
D.Always fix it immediately regardless of impact
Answer: B
Triage by impact: a bug that blocks the Sprint Goal or makes an item fail the Definition of Done gets fixed in the Sprint; a bug in something already released earlier goes into the Product Backlog for the PO to order.
Does a self-managing team mean the organisation no longer needs managers?
A.No — self-management is about how the work is done within the Sprint
B.Yes — Scrum replaces the management role entirely
C.Yes — the Scrum Master takes over everything a manager did
D.No — managers still assign the work to individuals within the Sprint
Answer: A
No. Self-managing means the team decides who does what, when, and how within the Sprint. Things like hiring, career paths, budgets, and organisational structure still belong to management.
What does MVP (Minimum Viable Product) actually mean?
A.A demo used to present to investors
B.The first version, at lower quality than usual
C.Every feature planned for the first release
D.The smallest version sufficient to validate one assumption
Answer: D
The smallest version sufficient to validate an assumption about users or the market. "Minimum" refers to scope, not quality — an MVP still has to run and be reliable, otherwise the data collected is meaningless.
Sprint Review — the Scrum Team invites key stakeholders to inspect the Increment together and discuss the next steps. The other events are the team's internal working space.
A contract fixes both scope and delivery date. What is the most reasonable way to apply Agile?
A.Refuse to use Agile because the contract fixes the scope
B.Deliver in descending order of value and surface the trade-offs early
C.Drop the Sprint Review since the customer only accepts once
D.Divide the scope evenly across the Sprints and follow the plan
Answer: B
Keep delivering in order of value and decreasing risk: do the most important and uncertain parts first, present early and often. Scope may be locked in the contract, but the order of work isn't.
D.No goal is needed if the backlog is already clear
Answer: A
Exactly one. The Sprint Goal is the Sprint's single objective — it creates cohesion and lets the team negotiate scope when obstacles arise. Three parallel goals effectively means no goal at all.
