MickyMarvels Classroom

The duration of a Scrum Sprint depends on the project size and team (3–9 members). In general a Sprint takes 3–4 weeks. The average is 4 weeks (1 month). This is a very common SM interview question — know it cold.

Velocity is the rate at which the team progresses sprint by sprint. One important feature: velocity cannot be compared between two different Scrum teams. It belongs to the team and is used for forecasting only — never as a performance target.

Impediments are obstacles that slow the Scrum team's speed of work. Examples include:

• Resource missing or sick team member
• Technical, operational, or organizational problems
• Lack of management support
• Business problems
• External issues (weather, regulatory changes)
• Lack of skill or knowledge

You may also be asked how to remove any of these impediments.

Difference: Agile is a broad methodology for project management. Scrum is a specific form of Agile that describes the process and its steps more concisely. Agile is a practice; Scrum is a framework for pursuing it.

Similarity: Both are iterative and incremental. Agile involves completing projects in steps; Scrum implements this same approach through Sprints.

An Increment is the total of all Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint. Each Increment is cumulative — it includes all previous sprint increment values. It must be usable and available in the subsequent release as a step toward the Product Goal.

A build-breaker is a situation where a bug in the software causes a build to fail. The compilation process stops, execution fails, or a warning is generated. The tester's responsibility is to restore the software to normal working order by removing the bug.

The Daily Stand-Up is a 15-minute meeting (preferably morning) where the whole team answers three questions:

• What was done yesterday?
• What is your plan for today?
• Is there any impediment blocking you?

It is an effective way to motivate the team and set a daily goal. Problems raised are taken OFFLINE.

Scrumban is a Scrum and Kanban-based model for software development. It is specifically used for projects that require continuous maintenance, have multiple programming errors, or undergo sudden changes. It promotes completing a project in the minimum time possible.

• Iteration
• Refactoring
• Dynamic code analysis
• Short feedback cycles
• Reviews and inspection
• Standards and guidelines
• Milestone reviews

The Agile Manifesto has 4 values and 12 principles. Key values:

• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Individuals & interactions over processes and tools
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

Key principles: demonstrate working software regularly, welcome change at any point, encourage self-organization and customer collaboration.

Yes. Common Agile drawbacks include:

• Hard to predict effort required in large projects
• Design and documentation can suffer
• Misunderstood requirements lead to customer dissatisfaction
• Inexperienced members are often not involved in key decisions

Interviewers sometimes ask about drawbacks — be honest and balanced in your answer.

Burn-up chart: illustrates the amount of completed work in a project — shows progress made.

Burn-down chart: depicts the amount of work REMAINING to complete the project — helps the SM spot risk early.

Both are used to track a project's progress. Know the difference cold.

Zero Sprint: The preparation step before the first Sprint. Activities that must be completed before actually starting the project — setting up the environment, preparing the backlog, etc.

Spike: A type of story taken between sprints for activities related to design or technical issues such as research, design, prototyping, and exploration. Two types: functional and technical.

The Scrum Master is the leader and coach of the Scrum team. They:

• Serve and protect the team from distractions
• Motivate the team to achieve the Sprint Goal
• Build a self-organized, motivated team
• Ensure Agile and Scrum principles are understood
• Monitor that committed tasks are executed properly
• Increase team efficiency and productivity

A Story Point is the unit for estimating the total effort required to perform or complete a particular task. It accounts for complexity, risk, and uncertainty — not raw hours. Teams use the Fibonacci scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21…).

Sashimi is a Scrum technique used to verify the completion of all functions developed by developers. Using this technique, all requirements — analysis, designing, coding, testing, and documentation — are checked, and only after that the product is displayed to stakeholders.

Product Owner: The stakeholder of the project. Represents requirements before the team, develops a clear vision of what to build, and is the starting point of an Agile Scrum project.

Scrum Team: Works together to accomplish the project. Bound to deliver the requested product on time.

Scrum Master: Leader and coach. Ensures the team executes committed tasks properly and increases team efficiency.

• Tracking and monitoring
• Understanding requirements properly
• Working to reach the project goal
• Process and quality checking
• Protecting the team from detachments
• Improving team performance
• Leading meetings and resolving issues
• Resolution of conflicts and impediments
• Communication and reporting

• Sprint Planning: Kicks off the Sprint. Team selects backlog items and defines the Sprint Goal.
• Daily Stand-Up: 15-min daily sync. Three questions. Developers only.
• Sprint Review: Demo the Increment. Stakeholder feedback. Adapt the backlog.
• Sprint Retrospective: Inspect HOW the team worked. At least one improvement committed.

Know the time-boxing for a standard 4-week Sprint cold — it is a very common interview question.

Agile Testing is a software testing practice fully based on Agile principles. It is an iterative methodology where requirements are the outcome of collaboration between the Product Owner and the team. Applied continuously throughout delivery — not just at the end.

• Customer satisfaction
• Face-to-face communication
• Sustainable development
• Quick response to changes
• Continuous feedback
• Successive improvement
• Self-organized teams
• Focus on essence
• Error-free clean code
• Collective work

• Familiar with Agile concepts and principles
• Excellent communication skills with team and clients
• Ability to set priority for tasks according to requirements
• Ability to understand requirements clearly
• Understanding of risks involved due to changing requirements

When multiple teams (e.g., 7 teams of 7) are all working on the same project, each team runs its own Scrum. A separate coordination meeting — the Scrum of Scrums — is then held to coordinate across all teams. One team leader from each team, called an ambassador, represents their team in this meeting.

• Feature Driven Development (FDD)
• Test Driven Development (TDD)
• Kanban
• Crystal Methodologies
• Lean Software Development
• Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)

Mention only frameworks you are familiar with or have actually followed — interviewers will dig deeper.

• Velocity: Average story points from last 3–4 sprints. Shows capacity and progress.
• Cumulative Flow Diagram: Inspects uniform workflow over time.
• Work Category Allocation: Shows where time is being invested.
• Time Coverage: % of code lines called by the test suite.
• Business Value Delivered: Team's operational efficiency scored numerically.
• Defect Removal Awareness: Tracking active defects for quality delivery.
• Defect Resolution Time: Document → Schedule → Fix → Report.
• Sprint Burndown: Graph of work completed/in-progress per sprint.

Yes. Use Waterfall when customer requirements are simple, well-defined, fully understood, predictable, and not subject to change until the completion of the project. In stable environments with no expected scope changes, Waterfall can be more efficient. Always be prepared to explain this — interviewers often ask it as a trick question.

Scrum encourages automated testing (performance or regression) to deliver the project as quickly and reliably as possible. Automated tests run with every code commit — enabling the team to maintain a potentially shippable Increment every Sprint. Mentioning tools you have used is a strong bonus in interviews.

Planning Poker (also called Scrum Poker) is a card-based Agile estimation technique. How it works:

• PO reads a user story aloud
• Each estimator privately selects a card (Fibonacci: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21…)
• All cards revealed simultaneously — prevents anchoring bias
• If estimates differ widely, highest and lowest discuss reasoning
• Team re-estimates until consensus is reached

Mention only methodologies you are actually familiar with. Common answers include:

• Crystal Methodologies
• Lean Software Development
• Dynamic Development (DSDM)
• Feature-Driven Development (FDD)

Be specific to your real experience — interviewers will probe further on anything you claim.

This is your moment. Explain your project details — the Scrum team you worked on, your role, and your responsibilities. Key tips:

• Show a self-organizing, self-motivated team in your story
• The interviewer will judge how in-depth you worked in the Agile environment
• Use the STAR method: Situation → Task → Action → Result
• Include measurable outcomes when possible (velocity improved by X%, impediment resolved in 24h)