PSPO II practice questions: Evidence-Based Management

5 free questions from 16 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up

These 5 questions come from the Evidence-Based Management section of our PSPO II bank (16 questions on this area, which carries 15% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.

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1/5 · Evidence-Based Management · easy

A Product Owner wants a metric reflecting how quickly an idea can be turned into delivered customer value. Which Key Value Area does this metric belong to?

ACurrent Value

BAbility to Innovate

CUnrealized Value

DTime-to-Market

Answer: D. Time-to-Market is the EBM Key Value Area concerned with an organization's responsiveness — how fast it can convert an idea into working, released functionality. It is commonly tracked with cycle time, lead time, and release frequency measures. Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org's Product Owner Learning Path and the Evidence-Based Management Guide — Evidence-Based Management

2/5 · Evidence-Based Management

A team proudly reports it shipped 40 stories and 320 story points last quarter, but the Product Owner cannot show any change in customer retention, adoption, or revenue. Consistent with EBM's emphasis on outcomes over output, what should the Product Owner do next?

APresent the story and point totals to stakeholders as evidence the product's value is growing

BAsk the Scrum Master to enforce stricter velocity tracking so the team consistently hits its point targets each Sprint

CReplace story-count and velocity reporting with a small set of outcome-based measures tied to the Key Value Areas, and use the resulting evidence to re-order the Product Backlog

DIncrease the team's committed capacity so even more stories can be delivered next quarter

Answer: C. Delivering many stories or points says nothing about whether customers are better off. EBM's core premise is that organizations should measure and manage toward outcomes captured in the four Key Value Areas rather than output volume, adapting the Product Backlog based on that evidence. Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org's Product Owner Learning Path and the Evidence-Based Management Guide — Evidence-Based Management

3/5 · Evidence-Based Management

A stakeholder emails the Product Owner a list of ten feature requests. The Product Owner adds each item to the top of the Product Backlog in the order received, without discussion or analysis, and tells the Developers to start building them next Sprint. What anti-pattern does this best illustrate?

AAppropriate stakeholder collaboration, since the Product Owner is transparently incorporating all stakeholder input into the Product Backlog

BA valid Time-to-Market improvement, because the features move into development without delay

CCorrect application of the Ability to Innovate KVA, since new features are being added to the product quickly

DThe Product Owner acting as a 'backlog secretary,' ordering the Backlog by stakeholder request rather than evidence of value, and abdicating accountability for maximizing product value

Answer: D. The Scrum Guide (2020) makes the Product Owner solely accountable for maximizing the value of the product and for ordering the Product Backlog accordingly. Acting merely as a conduit for stakeholder requests, without evaluating them against evidence of value, is a well-known anti-pattern sometimes called being a 'backlog secretary.' Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org's Product Owner Learning Path and the Evidence-Based Management Guide — Evidence-Based Management

4/5 · Evidence-Based Management

Which statement best describes the primary purpose of Scrum.org's Evidence-Based Management (EBM) framework as applied by a Product Owner?

ATo provide Key Value Areas and complementary measures that help an organization make evidence-based decisions about product investment and continuously improve outcomes and organizational agility

BTo replace the Product Backlog with a fixed, prioritized project plan validated by stakeholders, so investment decisions are locked in up front and teams stop inspecting outcomes every Sprint

CTo guarantee a specific return on investment for every Product Backlog item before it is built, using financial measures that let leadership approve or reject each item and hold teams accountable for the promised outcome

DTo provide a compliance checklist that Scrum Teams must complete before each Sprint Review, scoring how closely they followed Scrum events and artifacts so that their organizational agility can be audited and certified

Answer: A. EBM provides four Key Value Areas and associated measures so organizations can make evidence-based decisions about where to invest, continuously inspect the outcomes of those investments, and adapt direction to improve value delivery and organizational agility over time. Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org's Product Owner Learning Path and the Evidence-Based Management Guide — Evidence-Based Management

5/5 · Evidence-Based Management · hard

Three months into a major UI redesign, output metrics show the team delivering more Product Backlog items per Sprint than ever, but Current Value measures (customer satisfaction score, product usage index) have both declined since the redesign began, while Time-to-Market has improved. What is the most appropriate EBM-aligned next step for the Product Owner?

AContinue the current plan unchanged because Time-to-Market has improved and the team's output of Product Backlog items per Sprint shows the redesign is succeeding, treating the dip in Current Value as a normal adjustment period that customers will soon get past once they adjust to the new UI

BTreat the declining Current Value as the more important signal, inspect the redesign changes with the Developers and customers to identify the cause, and adapt the Product Backlog, potentially rolling back or revising elements, rather than continuing solely because output and Time-to-Market look favorable

CReport only the Time-to-Market and output improvements to stakeholders at the next Sprint Review, since these are the most favorable metrics, and keep the declining Current Value data inside the Scrum Team until the redesign items in the Product Backlog are finished

DPause measurement of Current Value until the redesign is fully complete, since interim customer satisfaction data during a redesign is inherently unreliable, and in the meantime keep ordering the Product Backlog by output and Time-to-Market, which remain the most trustworthy signals of progress until launch

Answer: B. When evidence across Key Value Areas conflicts, EBM calls for prioritizing the signal most relevant to actual customer and business value, here declining Current Value, over favorable but less directly relevant metrics. The Product Owner should inspect the cause with the team and customers and adapt the Product Backlog accordingly, consistent with Scrum's empirical pillars. Source: the Scrum Guide (2020) + Scrum.org's Product Owner Learning Path and the Evidence-Based Management Guide — Evidence-Based Management

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Other PSPO II areas

The same kind of free sample for every other section of the PSPO II bank:

Product Vision and Business Strategy15 q Product Value and Backlog Management at Scale16 q Forecasting and Release Strategy16 q Stakeholder and Customer Engagement15 q Portfolio Planning14 q Organizational Design and Culture14 q

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