Agile Scrum Master Mock Interview
Practice 37 Agile Scrum Master interview questions covering ceremonies, team dynamics, and impediment removal.
Question 12 of 37
How do you facilitate sprint retrospective meetings?
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Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
Interviewers ask this question for two main reasons. First, they want to ensure candidates understand the components of a sprint retrospective meeting. Secondly, they want to know if a candidate has the facilitation skills necessary to diffuse conflicts and ensure commitments are made by their team during these critical sessions that drive team improvement.
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
Avoid leaving the impression that you have the authority as a Scrum Master to decide upon the improvements your team will make in the future. Keep in mind that Scrum teams self-organize and Scrum Masters lead through influence.
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
I like to prep for retrospective meetings in advance by talking one-on-one with any team members that I felt were struggling throughout the sprint. I gather their feedback about what they think needs improvement. Additionally, I make lists of what went well and what needs to be improved before the meeting.
I begin the meeting by reminding our team of the basic facilitation tools we use, such as parking lots and action item lists. We also review the ground rules and the improvement commitment list we made during the previous retrospective. We then discuss what went well and what did not go as planned. I ensure everyone has an equal opportunity for input, and I prompt the team to consider any items that have not been raised. I direct team members back to the ground rules and diffuse conflicts as necessary.
Once the feedback process is complete, we review and prioritize the improvement opportunities. We develop a list of specific commitments to incorporate in the next sprint or release. I close the meeting and then circulate a copy of the minutes to ensure everyone has the commitment list available during the next sprint.
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Anonymous Answer
I like to prepare for my sprint retrospective by meeting in advance to talk to team members that were struggling during the sprint and get their feedback on what they think needs to be improved. Additionally, I make a list of what went well and what needs to be improved before the meeting.
I begin by reminding our team of the basic felicitation tools we use such as parking lot and action item list. We also discuss the ground rules and improvement list from our previous retrospective. We then discuss what went well and what did not go as planned. I ensure everyone has an equal opportunity for input, and I prompt the team to consider any items that have not been raised. I direct team members back to the ground rules and diffuse conflicts as necessary.
Once the feedback process is complete, we review and prioritize the action list. We develop a list of actions to incorporate in the next sprint. I close the meeting and then circulate a copy of the minutes to ensure everyone has the commitment list available during the next sprint.
Marcie's Feedback
This is an excellent answer. You come across as very knowledgeable and thorough. It's also great that you prepare for the meetings and encourage the team to share their opinions and thoughts. Consider mentioning how long you've led these kinds of meetings (i.e., quantify your experience) so the interviewer knows exactly how experienced you are. Good job!
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