Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II)

The Professional Scrum MasterTM level II (PSM II) assessment is available to anyone who wishes to demonstrate his or her ability to apply the Scrum framework to solving advanced, complex problems in the real world. Those that pass the assessment will receive the industry recognized PSM II Certification as an indication of their advanced knowledge and abilities pertaining to Scrum and the role of the Scrum Master.

Anyone attempting the PSM II should have advanced Scrum knowledge, in-depth Scrum experience and/or have taken the Professional Scrum Master course prior to taking this assessment. However, attending a course is neither necessary nor sufficient for certification. The PSM II assessment is very difficult, and consists of multiple-choice questions based on your knowledge of Scrum and how you would handle real-world situations.

Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II)

Prepare for the Assessment

The assessment is exhaustive and rigorous. Many questions ask you to think about or interpret the meaning from the Scrum Guide, apply content from the PSM II subject areas, as well as application of your own experience.

Reading the Scrum Guide and taking the Open Assessments alone isn't enough preparation and we recommend reviewing the content below:

◉ The assessment covers topics from multiple Focus Areas defined by the Professional Scrum Competencies and detailed on the PSM II Suggested Reading page.  Questions will be selected at random from the Focus Areas listed.

◉ Many questions ask you to think about or interpret the meaning from the Scrum Guide and how you would apply Scrum within a Scrum Team.

◉ The Scrum Master learning path contains many additional resources to help you prepare to take the PSM II Assessment.

◉ Since this is an advanced Scrum Master certification, reading content from the Product Owner, Agile Leader, and Development Team Member learning paths may also be helpful.

◉ Attending the 2-day Professional Scrum Master II course is highly recommended. Find additional information to help you prepare for the PSM Assessment and ways to learn about Scrum.

Scrum.org PSM II Exam Summary:

Exam Name	Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master II
Exam Code	PSM II
Exam Fee	USD $250
Exam Duration	90 Minutes
Number of Questions	30
Passing Score	85%
Format	Multiple Choice Questions
Books / Trainings	Professional Scrum Master Professional Scrum Master II
Sample Questions	Scrum.org PSM 2 Exam Sample Questions and Answers
Practice Exam	Scrum.org Certified Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II) Practice Test

Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master Syllabus Topics:

Topic	Details
Understanding and Applying the Scrum Framework	Empiricism ◉ A cornerstone to Scrum and Agile. A practitioner will be able to apply the concepts of the empirical process to the problems they encounter. That means they can describe problems in terms of learning, break problems down into the smallest increments that will generate valuable evidence, and execute in an empirical way. By learning and practicing the skills in this Focus Area, a practitioner will become an expert in the application of scientific methods to complex problems, understanding why and how to apply an empirical process. Scrum Values ◉ For agility to thrive, the culture of the organization must support the fundamental concepts of agility. A practitioner will understand both the Scrum Values - Focus, Respect, Openness, Commitment, and Courage - and demonstrate that they can apply them in the reality of organizations whose values do not match those of Scrum. By living the Scrum Values and helping others to apply them, learners will create an environment where empirical process, self- organization, and continual improvement will be more successful. Scrum Team ◉ The Scrum Team consists of one Product Owner, one Scrum Master, and Developers. The skilled practitioner will understand how accountability is shared amongst team members and how they take on work in the context of their Product Goal. Events ◉ The Scrum framework describes 5 events: The Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective. All events are time-boxed and enable progress through adaptation and transparency. The practitioner will understand the events and be able to practice each event, but more importantly be able to apply these events in complex situations and at scale. The events are used to uphold empirical process control, through the three pillars of Scrum: transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Artifacts ◉ The Scrum framework describes 3 artifacts. The Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment. These artifacts provide the team with a minimal set of materials to plan, execute, and review the Sprint. The Practitioner will understand these artifacts and how to implement them in complex, real-world situations. They will also understand the relationship of these artifacts relative to other practices and techniques and how to integrate them into an organization's own process. Done ◉ The objective of each Sprint is to deliver an Increment. The Definition of Done (DoD) provides a way for the team to make what done means transparent. In this Focus Area, the practitioner will be able to describe what a DoD is, apply it to their particular context, and understand how the DoD enables the benefits of agile. They will also be able to describe the implications of the necessary trade-offs and compromises required to deliver Increments within their organization. Scaling ◉ Scrum is designed to work at the team, product, and organization level. The practitioner will be able to apply Scrum in increasing levels of complexity and scale. They will be able to demonstrate when to scale and when not to scale and appreciate scaling practices and complementary frameworks that help organizations scale Scrum. The ultimate level of proficiency within this Focus Area is the ability to know what, and what not, to compromise in pursuit of a scaling approach by understanding the trade-offs and benefits of particular concepts and practices. Ultimately, the practitioner will demonstrate that they can scale Scrum and still keep its essential qualities of empiricism, self-organization, and continuous improvement. The practitioner should also be able to demonstrate the results of good scaling practices from both an organization and business perspective.
Developing People and Teams	Self-Managing Teams ◉ A fundamental foundational element to Scrum; cross-functional, self-managing and empowered teams are the engine to delivering value. Practitioners need to understand what self-management is and how to apply it to their context. They should also understand how to incrementally introduce self-management, the practices that can help it thrive, and the measures that help one determine if a team is able to be empowered to self-manage. Facilitation ◉ Making decisions, sharing ideas, and being transparent is easy to agree to, but in reality, it is hard to do. Facilitation is a set of practices that help support the collaboration, communication, and creativity of teams and individuals. The practitioner should understand the value of facilitation, and have a collection of techniques they can apply. They should also have experience applying them in different situations with varying levels of complexity. Leadership Styles ◉ There are many different leadership styles ranging from traditional ‘command and control’ to more collaborative or even Machiavellian. Understanding the right style to use at a given time and how different styles can influence - in a positive or negative way - the agile agenda of empiricism, empowerment, and improvement is a key Focus Area. Practitioners should understand the concepts of leadership styles and be able to apply a particular style when the situation calls for it. They should also be able to demonstrate their ability to decide on the right style and understand its impact on the organization. Coaching and Mentoring ◉ A key aspect of servant leadership is the ability to coach and mentor the organization, the team, and the business. The objective of coaching and mentoring is to help people get better at their work, deliver more value, or resolve a conflict or problem. The practitioner should be able to coach as well as mentor. They should understand different formal techniques and be able to apply those techniques in different complex situations. Teaching ◉ The ability to inspire others to learn and share information in an effective, repeatable, and efficient manner is a key aspect to any agile practitioners' skills. The practitioner should understand the value of teaching and appreciate the means of measuring the success of their teaching. They should understand different learning approaches and understand when to apply different techniques in different contexts.
Managing Products with Agility	Forecasting and Release Planning ◉ Complex problems and the application of an empirical process requires a specific way of planning, estimating, and forecasting. Practitioners should be able to apply agile forecasting and release planning techniques, and understand the value of different approaches. They should understand which approaches work better in different situations. They should also understand how releases should be planned while dealing with complexity, dependencies, and value creation. Product Vision ◉ The product vision defines the purpose that the product aspires to fulfill. It is defined by the value that the product strives to deliver. Practitioners should be able to describe what a product vision is and what techniques should be employed to both build a vision and make it transparent. They should also understand how to use a product vision to drive strategy and execution, and how to build a vision that motivates, communicates, and provides constraints for delivery. Product Value ◉ The ultimate goal is to deliver value to the customer and stakeholders. But value is complex, made up of long-term and short-term impact, internal and external value, and indirect and direct value. The practitioner should be able to understand how to define value for context, and apply it to the work they and the team do. They should be able to manage others' understanding of value and apply different techniques and practices for defining, communicating and measuring value. They should understand the connection between value and empirical process, and how value should be the driving factor of the Product Goal. Product Backlog Management ◉ The Product Backlog is a key artifact within Scrum. It is an ordered list that describes what is needed in the product. The Product Backlog provides transparency into what is happening to the product for the team, organization, and stakeholders. The practitioner should be able to describe what a Product Backlog is and apply a variety of techniques for managing the backlog. They should also understand how to make the Product Backlog transparent and how to manage stakeholder expectations associated with the backlog. Business Strategy ◉ A product lives within the context of a business strategy. That strategy describes how the Product Vision will be executed in a broader context. A practitioner will understand techniques for exposing business strategy and show how it drives the product. They will understand approaches, such as Lean Startup and Design Thinking, and how those affect the flow of ideas from strategy to execution. They will understand how an empirical process affects the execution and feedback of a strategy. Stakeholders and Customers ◉ Effectively working with stakeholders and customers is a key skill for everyone on the Scrum Team. Scrum changes the nature of the interactions, encouraging more frequent collaboration and more open dialogue. The practitioner will understand the implication moving to an Agile approach will have to their stakeholders and customers and also become familiar with practices and stances that will help them work and collaborate in a more agile way.
Developing and Delivering Products Professionally	Emergent Software Development ◉ In solving complex problems, the idea of a detailed up-front design has been replaced with an approach that encourages design to emerge and change within the boundaries of an architecture. In this Focus Area, practitioners will be able to describe what emergent architecture is and how it translates into incremental development and delivery. They will be able to describe practices that “realize” the architecture incrementally into a working, agile system. Practitioners will understand the trade-offs between value, flexibility, and quality, and will also be able to apply techniques that make the emergent approach transparent to the team, organization, and stakeholders. Managing Technical Risk ◉ All products have an inherent set of risks to manage. These risks range from the ability to deliver to technical risks associated with performance and security. This Focus Area describes how technical risks are managed within an Agile approach. Practitioners should understand what technical risks are and how to effectively manage them in an empirical process. They should also understand how to apply practices to make risks transparent. Continuous Quality ◉ Working in an agile way does not change the importance of product quality. It does, however, change when and where quality is addressed. This Focus Area describes what quality is and how the ideas of Agility and Scrum change a product's quality approach. The practitioner will understand what continuous quality is, how to apply it, and the appropriate practices for delivering quality in a continuous way. They will understand important concepts like technical debt, Test Left, and the ideas of user-driven testing. Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Delivery (CD) ◉ Frequent learning is a fundamental concept for Scrum. Continuous Delivery and Continuous Integration are a key collection of practices that enable frequent observation of working features. This Focus Area describes the value of the core idea that code should always be deployable and an understanding of the techniques that can be employed for delivering software that solves complex problems. The practitioner will understand what CI and CD are, how to apply these ideas, and what it means for an empirical process and the Scrum framework. Optimizing Flow ◉ The Sprint is a time-box with clear flows within it. For large, complex work, the Sprint is just a small part of a broader flow for the product, business, or even market. This Focus Area concentrates on making flow transparent and ensuring that waste is reduced or removed. Automation and measurement are key elements to ensuring flow efficiency, coupled with a series of rules that have evolved in response to improving flow. The practitioner will be able to look to flow approaches such as Kanban and integrate these ideas with Scrum, frequently delivering valuable products and learning.
Evolving the Agile Organization	Organizational Design and Culture ◉ Traditional organizations are often structured around Taylorism and mass production concepts in response to simple problems. Complex problems require a different way of organizing. This Focus Area describes the fundamental differences of an agile organization; namely its structure, culture, and design. A practitioner will understand what an agile enterprise looks like and approaches for implementing the agile enterprise in a traditional organization. They will understand how to balance the needs for agility with the existing reality of traditional organizational structures. Portfolio Planning ◉ For many large organizations, work is being undertaken in the context of a broader portfolio. That portfolio could be a product, system, value stream, supply chain, or even a program. This Focus Area describes what agile portfolio planning looks like; its characteristics, principles, and associated practices. The Practitioner will understand why agile portfolio planning must be different than traditional portfolio planning in order to deal with complex products and systems. They will also understand how to apply these ideas to their portfolio. Practitioners will understand the challenges of managing complex dependencies and the choices that need to be made, while ensuring that team agility is not broken, to serve the needs of the larger organization. Evidence-Based Management ◉ A fundamental element of Scrum is empirical process; the idea that complex problems require real experience to effectively plan and deliver value. Evidence-Based Management (EBM) is a set of ideas and practices that describe broad measurement areas used to provide an effective, empirical, and value-based approach to any product. This Focus Area describes what EBM is and how to apply it to any product. The practitioner will understand what EBM is, as well as the practices that comprise it, and how to use EBM to enable a business-driven, value-based empirical process.