This is an excellent exam-style case study because it packs multiple Agile/Scrum violations into a

small scenario. Let me first answer your specific questions, then provide additional complex
questions your exam might ask, with answers.

Part 1: How many conflicts are brewing?

I count at least 7 distinct conflicts:

# Conflict Type Why it's a problem

Process /
1 John is stalled (needs answer about API endpoint) Junior developer blocked for 8+ hours with no unblocking
Dependency

2 John found a bug in Alex's PR Quality / Technical Bug discovered but no process to address it

Jane is a chicken (COO) acting like a pig (committed). She shouldn't be direct
3 COO (Jane) is interfering – asking to pull a ticket forward Role violation
sprint work.

4 Sales Lead added new scope (Export to PDF) mid-sprint Scope creep Major Agile violation – no change to sprint after it starts without canceling the

PO is absent (48-hour response time, won't respond until PO is responsible for prioritization and decisions. A 10-day sprint with PO abse
5 Role failure
Day 5) for half of it is broken.

You are called "Project Manager" but in Scrum, this role

6 Role confusion Are you acting as ScrumMaster? Product Owner? Your authority is unclear.
doesn't exist

PM-102 (Database Optimization) has no update for 3

7 Visibility failure Task is "In Progress" but no communication. Is Alex stuck? Busy? Distracted?
days

Bonus conflict: Investor demo on Day 7 + John stalled + PO absent + new scope request =
complete breakdown of empirical process control.

Part 2: What will you do next? (in the next 2 hours)

As the Project Manager (even though that's not a Scrum role), here's your immediate 2-hour action
plan:

Order Action Why

Unblock John immediately – Answer his question yourself Stalled junior

if you know the answer, or find someone (Alex? developer is the
1
Documentation?) who can. If you can't answer, tell John to highest waste in the
make a reasonable assumption and proceed. system.

Clarify the bug in Alex's PR – Ask John to create a

Protects focus while
separate bug ticket (low priority) and keep it in the
2 acknowledging quality
backlog. Do not disrupt Alex's current work unless the bug
issue.
is critical.
Order Action Why

Respond to COO (Jane) – Acknowledge her request but

explain: *"We cannot pull PM-101 forward mid-sprint Respects authority but
3 without breaking our commitment to the sprint goal. Let me protects the sprint
check with the team on feasibility and get back to you boundary.
within 4 hours."*

Respond to Sales Lead – "I cannot add new scope mid-

sprint. Please bring this to the Product Owner for Protects the team from
4
prioritization in the next sprint. If it's truly a deal-breaker, scope creep.
the PO may cancel this sprint and start a new one."

Check on Alex (PM-102) – Send a direct message: "No

5 update on DB Optimization for 3 days. Are you blocked? Restores visibility.
Need help? Please update status within 1 hour."

Key principle: You are acting as ScrumMaster + Product Owner proxy because the PO is absent.
This is dangerous but necessary given the emergency.

Part 3: What will you do today? (remaining hours)

Order Action

Facilitate a 15-minute async "Daily Scrum" – Since the team is remote and
1 asynchronous, post a thread asking each person (Alex, John) to answer: What did you
complete? What will you do today? Any blockers?

Create a temporary "Emergency Decision Log" – Document every decision you make
2 in the PO's absence (e.g., answering John's API question, rejecting Sales Lead's
request).

Protect the sprint goal – Remind everyone (including COO and Sales) that the sprint
3
commitment is sacred. Changes require PO or sprint cancellation.

Help John and Alex coordinate on the bug – Schedule a 30-min async or sync meeting
4
for them to discuss the bug without derailing current work.

Send a summary to the PO – Even though PO won't respond until Day 5, notify them of
5
all decisions made in their absence and request urgent prioritization for Day 5.

Part 4: What will you do this week? (Days 4–10)

Day Action

Day 4 Escalate PO absence to COO (Jane) – explain that without PO, prioritization and scope
decisions are impossible. Request a PO proxy or daily PO check-ins for the remaining
Day Action

sprint.

When PO finally responds, force a 15-minute prioritization session to handle: (1)

Day 5 John's API question (if not already answered), (2) Export to PDF request, (3) Investor
demo scope.

Prepare for investor demo (Day 7) – work with team to identify the smallest
Day 6
demonstrable increment. Do NOT promise the full dashboard if it's not ready.

Support the demo – ensure the team shows only done, tested work. No "almost
Day 7
working" demos.

Sprint Review preparation – even though PO is weak, hold the review. Invite COO and
Day 8
Sales Lead as chickens (observers, not decision-makers).

Sprint Retrospective – facilitate a blameless retro. Topics to raise: PO availability, mid-

Day 9 sprint interference, remote async communication breakdown, definition of "In
Progress".

Sprint end – ensure the Increment is truly Done (tested, integrated, documented). Then
Day 10 immediately start next sprint with clear rules: PO must be available daily, no mid-sprint
scope changes without sprint cancellation.

Part 5: Additional Exam Questions (More Complex) with Answers

Your professor said questions could be more complex. Here are 10 likely exam questions based on
this case study.

Q1: Who are the pigs and who are the chickens in this scenario? Justify each.

Answer:

Pig or
Role Why
Chicken?

You are accountable for the project's success, even though

You (Project
Pig "Project Manager" isn't a Scrum role. In this context, you're
Manager)
acting as ScrumMaster/leader.

Alex (Senior
Pig Committed to delivering the sprint work.
Dev)

John (Junior
Pig Committed to delivering the sprint work.
Dev)
 Pig or
Role Why
Chicken?

Accountable for backlog prioritization and ROI. However, they

Product Owner Pig
are failing their duties by being absent.

She is interested but not accountable for sprint delivery. Her

COO (Jane) Chicken
request to "pull PM-101 forward" is inappropriate interference.

Involved but not committed. Asking to add scope mid-sprint is a

Sales Lead Chicken
classic chicken violation.

Exam tip: The COO and Sales Lead are classic "chickens trying to act like pigs."

Q2: What Scrum rule has been violated by the COO's request to "pull the
Dashboard forward 3 days early"?

Answer:
The Sprint Goal and no changes mid-sprint rule.

Once a Sprint starts, its scope is frozen except for negotiation between the Product Owner and
Team. No external stakeholder (including a COO) can unilaterally change what the Team is working
on. If the request is urgent enough, the PO can cancel the Sprint and start a new one—but that is a
drastic measure with consequences.

Q3: The Product Owner has a 48-hour response time. Is this acceptable for a
10-day sprint? Why or why not?

Answer:
No, it is completely unacceptable.

In Scrum, the Product Owner must be available daily to:

Answer questions about requirements (like John's API question)

Reprioritize the backlog if critical changes emerge

Accept or reject work at the Sprint Review

A PO who responds every 48 hours in a 10-day sprint is effectively absent for 40% of the sprint (4
days). This violates the visibility and inspection legs of empirical process control.

Remedies:

Appoint a PO proxy who can make decisions in the PO's absence

Reduce sprint length to 5 days (so PO absence is only 2 days)

Replace the PO
Q4: John found a bug in Alex's PR from last week. What is the correct Scrum
process for handling this?

Answer:

1. Do not stop current work – Alex is working on PM-102 (Database Optimization). Do not interrupt
him unless the bug is critical.

2. Create a new Product Backlog Item – Write up the bug as a separate ticket (e.g., "Bug: PR from
Week X causes Y").

3. Assign priority – The PO (or proxy) decides if it's High/Medium/Low.

4. Sprint planning – The bug will be pulled into a future sprint based on priority.

5. If critical – If the bug breaks existing functionality, the PO may cancel the current sprint and start
a new one with the bug as the top priority.

What NOT to do: Force Alex to drop his current work and fix the bug immediately without going
through the backlog.

Q5: The Sales Lead says "Export to PDF is just a small button." How do you
respond as the Project Manager?

Answer:

A professional but firm response:

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. However, we cannot add any work to the current
sprint without canceling the sprint and re-planning, which would delay all existing commitments.
Please submit this request to the Product Owner for prioritization in the next sprint. If this is truly
a deal-breaker for BigCorp, the PO may choose to cancel the current sprint and start a new one
with this as the top priority. I will notify the PO immediately of your request."

Key principles:

Never say "it's just a small button" – that's a classic fallacy in software development.

Protect the sprint boundary.

Empower the PO to make trade-offs.

Q6: You are called "Project Manager" but Scrum has no such role. What
should your actual title be in this context, and what are your responsibilities?

Answer:

In a proper Scrum implementation, you would be either:

Title Responsibilities

Facilitate Scrum events, remove impediments, coach the team, protect from
ScrumMaster
interference

Product
Own the backlog, prioritize, make scope decisions, represent stakeholders
Owner

Team Member Actually develop the software

Since the PO is absent and someone needs to make decisions, you are currently acting as a proxy
Product Owner while also trying to be ScrumMaster. This is a role conflict and should be
temporary.

Recommendation: Formally request that either:

1. The PO becomes available daily, or

2. You are appointed as PO and a separate ScrumMaster is brought in.

Q7: The team is fully remote and asynchronous. How does this affect the
Daily Scrum? What adjustments would you make?

Answer:

In an asynchronous remote team, the 15-minute Daily Scrum cannot be a live meeting for all
members.

Adjustments:

Traditional Daily Scrum Asynchronous Adaptation

All team members at same Use a threaded Slack channel where each person posts their 3 answers
time within a 4-hour window

Verbal, interactive Written, but tagged for visibility

Immediate blocker Blockers are flagged with @here and a follow-up sync call scheduled if
resolution needed

Rotate the "posting window" so no single time zone is always

One time zone
disadvantaged

Your specific action: Create a #daily-scrum channel and ask Alex and John to post by 10:00 AM
their local time:

1. What did I complete yesterday?

2. What will I do today?

3. What blockers do I have?

Then review the thread within 2 hours and resolve blockers.

Q8: The investor demo is on Day 7. The Dashboard (PM-101) won't be ready
by then. What do you tell the COO and the investors?

Answer:

To COO (private, before the demo):

"The Dashboard will not be ready for a live demo on Day 7. We can show a prototype or a partial
implementation, but we cannot claim it's 'live' or 'done' because it won't meet our Definition of
Done. I recommend we demo the working features we do have (e.g., UI refactor, bug fixes) and
explain that the Dashboard is in progress with a planned completion by Day 10. Overpromising to
investors will damage trust."

To investors (during the demo):

*"We are using Scrum to build high-quality, tested software incrementally. Today we will show
you the working features completed so far: [list what is actually Done]. The Dashboard is in
active development and will be ready by Day 10. We prefer to show you only finished, tested
work rather than prototypes that might break."*

Key principle: Never demo unfinished work. It creates false expectations and destroys trust.

Q9: On Day 8, the PO finally responds. They want to add the Export to PDF
feature to the current sprint (which ends on Day 10). What do you do?

Answer:

This is a textbook violation of Scrum. You respond:

"We cannot add work to the current sprint on Day 8 with only 2 days remaining. The sprint scope
is frozen. However, you have two options:

1. Add Export to PDF to the Product Backlog for prioritization in the next sprint.

2. *Cancel the current sprint today and start a new 2-day sprint containing only Export to PDF
(and any other work the team can complete in 2 days). Note that canceling a sprint wastes the
work already done on PM-101 and PM-102.*

I strongly recommend option 1."

Q10: After this sprint, you want to prevent these problems from recurring.
What three changes would you implement before the next sprint?

Answer:
Change Why

1. PO must be available daily or appoint a proxy with decision- Without daily PO access, the team
making authority. stalls on requirements questions.

2. Formal "Sprint Boundary" policy – No stakeholder (including

Protects the team from interference
COO or Sales) can add, remove, or reprioritize work mid-sprint
and preserves empirical control.
without PO and team agreement.

3. Definition of Done and "In Progress" rules – "In Progress" Restores visibility. PM-102 had no
must be updated daily. Any ticket with no update for 24 hours update for 3 days—that should
triggers a blocker check. never happen.

Bonus: Remove "Project Manager" title – Become either

Eliminates role confusion.
ScrumMaster or Product Owner, not both.

Part 6: Your "Cheat Sheet" for the Exam

Agile Principle How it applies to this case

Pigs vs. Chickens COO and Sales Lead are chickens – they cannot direct sprint work.

Sprint boundary is sacred No new scope mid-sprint without canceling the sprint.

PO must be available daily 48-hour response time in a 10-day sprint is unacceptable.

Visibility "In Progress" with no update for 3 days = failed visibility.

Inspection Daily Scrum (async) must happen.

Adaptation Blockers (John's API question) must be resolved within hours, not days.

Definition of Done Investor demo must show only Done, tested work.

Would you like me to create even more questions (e.g., about burndown charts, velocity, or scaling
Scrum for multiple teams) or help you practice answering these in an exam format?