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How to answer PSM III questions (format)

Last post 12:24 am December 12, 2019 by Chris Belknap
4 replies
01:45 pm December 11, 2019

Given the limited time to answer questions on the PSM III  (from what I've heard) and the need to be brief, to the point and present "just the facts", would a bullet list of items be acceptable as apposed to writing a paragraph? For me, rattling off a bullet list would be much faster than writing out a paragraph and I would assume as long as you provide the same important/key points, either form would be acceptable, but would love to hear from Scrum.org. Asking for a friend. LOL

For example, instead of:

The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Development Team. The Daily Scrum is held every day. At it, the Development Team plans the work for

the next 24 hours. The Daily Scrum is held at the same time and place each day to reduce complexity. This optimizes team collaboration and performance by inspecting the work since the last Daily Scrum and forecasting upcoming Sprint work. The Scrum Master ensures that the Development Team has the meeting, but the

Development Team is responsible for conducting the meeting.

provide the same info in a bullet list:

  • time boxed to 15 minutes
  • For the dev team
  • held every day at the same time and place
  • Dev teams inspects work since last daily scrum and adapts plan for next 24 hours
  • Scrum Master ensure dev team has the meeting
  • Dev team is responsible for conducting meeting

03:21 pm December 11, 2019

Although these bulletpoints are indeed correct, they miss the underlying "Why". So I'd recommend to expand on them a bit. The information is basically copy paste from the Scrum Guide. Which is not wrong, but for PSM III they're looking for a bit more information. How does it affect the Scrum Values? What about transparency, inspect and adapt? Personal experience? 


03:47 pm December 11, 2019

Agreed, I'm not trying to grade the bullets in my example, just understand if this format is acceptable as long as all the pertinent information is provided.. 


10:07 pm December 11, 2019

I wouldn't recommend this style, I think it makes you more inclined to sum up facts instead of explaining the fundamental reasoning for doing something.

If someone states bulletpoints about any subject, would you believe that person is an expert on that matter? Or would you rather value nuances and carefully chosen words.

This boils down to what sander said I guess.


12:24 am December 12, 2019

My 2 cents. I've never heard of anyone who takes the PSM III being graded on grammar, spelling, punctuation, the king's English etc. So bullets would work as a format, however Norbert and Sander raise some great points to consider. Typically each question has a question or more within it, so you will want to make sure you have an answer for each of the sub questions. You may not be able to tie the questions together with bullets.

What I did to prepare is to make a list of questions, and practice writing each of them in under 3 and 1/2 minutes on average, thinking like a servant leader to get to the "why" behind the question(s). Often the question will tie back to the DNA of Scrum, empiricism. You have to be fast and know the right answers, and not leave any questions unanswered.

It was also recommended to me to take the PSM I before sitting for the PSM III, even though I had passed PSM I and II. I was glad I did, and it was extremley valuable.


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