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Scrum basics
What is Scrum?
Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organisations generate value through adaptive solutions to complex problems, according to the Scrum Guide (November 2020). Work happens in Sprints, each a fixed-length event of one month or less, by a Scrum Team of one Scrum Master, one Product Owner and Developers. Say it is a framework, not a methodology of fixed steps.
Why it is asked: it checks you can define the basics from the source. For the wider picture, read Scrum and agile for project managers.
What is the difference between Agile and Scrum?
Agile is a set of values and principles; Scrum is one framework that applies them. The Agile Manifesto (2001) states four values, for example responding to change over following a plan, and twelve principles. Scrum adds specific roles, events and artifacts. A team can be agile without Scrum, and a team can run Scrum events without being agile in spirit.
Why it is asked: it separates vocabulary from understanding. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?
Scrum plans work in fixed-length Sprints with defined roles and events. Kanban is a strategy for optimising the flow of value through a process, with three practices: defining and visualising a workflow, actively managing items in it, including controlling work in progress, and improving it (Kanban Guide, May 2025). Kanban has no required roles or events and no fixed iterations.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you can choose a method for the situation. Read the rule in the Kanban Guide (May 2025).
What are the Scrum values?
Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect and Courage, as listed in the Scrum Guide. The Guide says the team must live these values for the Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection and adaptation to build trust. Give one concrete example, such as Openness: at the Sprint Review the team says plainly that an item missed the Definition of Done and has gone back to the Product Backlog, rather than presenting it as finished.
Why it is asked: values questions lead to behavioural follow-ups. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
The Scrum Master role
What does a scrum master do?
The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum and for the Scrum Team's effectiveness, and the Guide calls Scrum Masters true leaders who serve the team and the larger organisation. In practice that means coaching the team, making sure impediments get removed, and keeping events productive and within their timeboxes. An impediment is anything that blocks the team from finishing work, such as a missing decision or access.
Why it is asked: it checks your picture of the job matches theirs. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
Is a scrum master a project manager?
No. The Scrum Guide gives the Scrum Master no authority to assign work or approve plans; accountability for the product's value sits with the Product Owner, and Developers organise their own work. A scrum master serves and coaches. Many organisations still blend the roles, so say how you would handle an employer that expects a project manager.
Why it is asked: it reveals whether you understand the role's limits. For the project manager side, see project manager interview questions. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
Whom does the scrum master serve?
Three groups, per the Guide. The Scrum Team: coaching self-management, helping build high-value Increments, removing impediments and keeping events productive. The Product Owner: helping with the Product Goal and backlog management. The organisation: leading Scrum adoption, advising on implementations and removing barriers between stakeholders and teams.
Why it is asked: it tests whether you look beyond the team room. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
How do you coach a team towards self-management?
Ask questions instead of assigning tasks, let the team make and own its decisions, and step back when they can run an event without you. Make problems visible, for instance with retrospective actions that the team picks. Measure success by how rarely they need you, not how often they ask. This is practice rather than a rule of the Guide.
Why it is asked: it separates facilitators from managers.
Knowing it is half the job. Saying it is the other half.
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What are the Scrum events, and how long are they?
Five events: the Sprint (one month or less), Sprint Planning (a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint), the Daily Scrum (15 minutes), the Sprint Review (maximum four hours) and the Sprint Retrospective (maximum three hours). If every event used its maximum, a one-month Sprint would spend 20 hours, about 12.5% of 160 working hours, on events.1
Why it is asked: it is a recall check on the source. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
Text description of the diagram
- Sprint Planning is at most eight hours for a one-month Sprint.
- The Daily Scrum is 15 minutes.
- The Sprint Review has a maximum of four hours and the Sprint Retrospective a maximum of three hours.
What is the Daily Scrum, and who runs it?
The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team, held every working day at the same time and place to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan. The Developers run it. The Scrum Master makes sure it happens and stays within 15 minutes but need not attend unless they are also working on the items.
Why it is asked: many teams let the Scrum Master run it as a status report. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
How do you stop the Daily Scrum becoming a status meeting?
Point the conversation at the Sprint Goal: ask what moves the team toward it, not what each person did. Let Developers speak to each other, not to you, and move long discussions to straight after the event. If reporting to a manager persists, address it with the manager. This is practice; the Guide leaves the format to the Developers.
Why it is asked: it tests facilitation judgment.
What makes a good Sprint Retrospective?
It plans ways to increase quality and effectiveness: the team inspects how the last Sprint went with regard to individuals, interactions, processes, tools and its Definition of Done, and picks improvements, ideally added to the next Sprint. It is timeboxed to three hours for a one-month Sprint. A good one ends with one or two actions, owned and scheduled.
Why it is asked: it shows how you drive improvement. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What is a Sprint Goal?
A Sprint Goal is the single objective for the Sprint, set in Sprint Planning and the commitment attached to the Sprint Backlog. It is a commitment by the Developers that leaves flexibility in exactly which work achieves it. The Sprint keeps its fixed length even if the goal is met early; if the goal becomes obsolete, only the Product Owner can cancel the Sprint.
Why it is asked: it separates goal-driven from task-driven teams. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
Artifacts and metrics
What are the Scrum artifacts?
There are three, per the Scrum Guide. The Product Backlog, an ordered list of what the product needs, carries the Product Goal (the long-term objective). The Sprint Backlog carries the Sprint Goal. The Increment, a usable stepping stone toward the Product Goal that adds to all earlier Increments, carries the Definition of Done. Several Increments can be made in one Sprint.
Why it is asked: it checks you know what each commitment belongs to. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What is the difference between the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog?
The Product Backlog is an ordered list of what is needed to improve the product and is the single source of work for the team, and refinement (breaking items down and adding detail) keeps it ready; its commitment is the Product Goal. The Sprint Backlog holds the items chosen for the Sprint plus a plan to deliver them; its commitment is the Sprint Goal. The Product Owner orders the first; Developers own the second.
Why it is asked: it checks you know who owns what.
What is the Definition of Done?
The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product, and it is the commitment attached to the Increment. A Product Backlog item that does not meet it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review; it returns to the Product Backlog. If an organisation has no standard, the Scrum Team must create one.
Why it is asked: unfinished work hides here. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What is velocity, and does the Scrum Guide require it?
Velocity is the amount of work a team finishes per Sprint, often in story points (relative size scores a team gives each item), and teams use it to forecast. The Scrum Guide does not mention velocity or story points; it says the Developers size items, use their past performance and capacity to forecast what fits in a Sprint, and lists burn-downs, burn-ups and cumulative flows as forecasting practices. With illustrative velocities of 21, 25 and 23, the mean is 23 and the range 21 to 25, so forecast a range, not one number.1
Why it is asked: velocity is often misused as a productivity target.
Difficult situations
How do you handle a team that keeps missing the Sprint Goal?
Look for the cause in the Retrospective before blaming anyone. Typical causes are overcommitment, unclear items, outside interruptions or items too large to finish. Ask the team to shrink what they take on, refine items until they can be done in a Sprint, and make interruptions visible to the Product Owner. This is practice.
Why it is asked: it tests diagnosis over blame. Read the full explanation: the situation, task, action, result (STAR) method for behavioural answers.
What do you do when the Product Owner is never available?
Explain the cost in terms they feel: the Product Owner is accountable for maximising the value of the product, and an absent one leaves Developers guessing. Agree a fixed weekly slot, a delegate for small decisions and a written Product Goal. If it continues, raise it with the sponsor, since a missing Product Owner is an organisational impediment.
Why it is asked: it tests influence without authority. See also stakeholder management. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What if a stakeholder asks to add work in the middle of a Sprint?
Route the request to the Product Owner, who decides where it sits in the Product Backlog, usually the next Sprint. Inside the Sprint, scope is renegotiated between the Developers and the Product Owner only if the Sprint Goal is not endangered. If the request is urgent and truly changes the goal, the Product Owner can cancel the Sprint.
Why it is asked: it tests protecting the team without refusing the business. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
How do you resolve conflict inside the team?
Hear each side separately, then bring them to a shared fact, such as the working agreement or the Definition of Done. Keep it about the work, not the person. If it blocks delivery, raise it in the Retrospective with consent. A scrum master facilitates; they do not pick winners. This is practice; also prepare a real example.
Why it is asked: it leads straight to a behavioural follow-up. Prepare the example with the situation, task, action, result (STAR) method. Read the rule in the Scrum Guide (November 2020).
What questions should you ask the interviewer?
Ask how the team currently runs its Sprints, who the Product Owner is and how available they are, what blocked the last Sprint, and how success for the role is measured. These show you think about impediments and outcomes rather than ceremonies. For a longer list see questions to ask the interviewer.
Why it is asked: it shows what you care about. This is practice. Where this sits in the process: the interview loop.
- Quote the source: Scrum is a lightweight framework, the Scrum Master serves the team, the Product Owner and the organisation.
- Know the five events and their maximum lengths; they take about 20 hours of a one-month Sprint if every one runs to its limit.
- The Scrum Guide does not mention velocity or story points; treat them as a team's own forecasting tool.
- For situational questions, name the cause, the person who decides and the next step, and keep a real example ready.
Sources
- The Scrum Guide (November 2020) — Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, 1 Nov 2020
- Manifesto for Agile Software Development — Agile Manifesto authors, 13 Feb 2001
- Principles behind the Agile Manifesto — Agile Manifesto authors, 13 Feb 2001
- The Kanban Guide, version 2025.5 — Orderly Disruption Limited and Daniel S. Vacanti, Inc., 1 May 2025
