PSPO-II Free Practice Test

You have been a Product Owner at a new company for a few weeks. It has become clear to you that many people, both inside and outside the Scrum Team, expect close involvement in the decisions that you, as a Product Owner, are accountable for.
As a result, you find that it takes too long to make decisions. Which of the following are reasonable options you could take? (choose the best three answers)

1. A. Start making all the decisions without consulting the others who have expressed interest.
2. B. Allow other members of the Scrum Team and stakeholders to continue making decisions they are not accountable for; documenting which decisions do not deliver the intended value.
3. C. Create and share a delegation board that displays your decision-making areas and work with your Scrum Team to clarify decision making accountability and responsibility.
4. D. Work with your Scrum Master to better understand what next steps you can take to move the company's understanding of product ownership up in the maturity curve towards Entrepreneur.
5. E. Demonstrate, with the help of data, how long it is taking you to make decisions and the impact that the long decision-making cycle has on delivering value to the customer.

Correct Answer: CDE
As a Product Owner, you are responsible for making decisions that maximize the value of the product and align with the product vision and strategy. However, you also need to collaborate with the Scrum Team and the stakeholders, and respect their input and feedback. Making decisions without consulting them or allowing them to make decisions they are not accountable for can lead to confusion, conflict, and waste. Therefore, options A and B are not reasonable.
Option C is a reasonable option because it helps you communicate your decision-making areas and delegate some decisions to the appropriate level of the organization. A delegation board is a tool that shows who has the authority to make which decisions, and how much involvement is expected from others. By creating and sharing a delegation board, you can clarify your role as a Product Owner, empower the Scrum Team and the stakeholders, and reduce the time and effort spent on decision making.
Option D is also a reasonable option because it helps you improve the company's culture and mindset towards product ownership. As a Product Owner, you need to act as an entrepreneur, who is able to innovate, experiment, and validate assumptions. However, not all organizations are ready to support this kind of product ownership, and some may have a more traditional or bureaucratic approach. Working with your Scrum Master, you can identify the gaps and barriers that prevent you from being an effective Product Owner, and take steps to overcome them. For example, you can educate and coach the organization on the benefits of agile product management, create a shared product vision and roadmap, and foster a culture of trust and transparency.
Option E is another reasonable option because it helps you demonstrate the value of your decisions and the cost of delay. As a Product Owner, you need to use data and evidence to support your decisions and measure their impact. By showing how long it is taking you to make decisions and how that affects the delivery of value to the customer, you can justify your choices and persuade others to support them. You can also use data to identify the most important and urgent decisions, and prioritize them accordingly. This way, you can avoid analysis paralysis and focus on delivering value faster and more frequently.

Product A is a big revenue producer; it has:
. High Current Value and Low Unrealized Value. Product B is a new product with a lot of potential; it has:
. Low Current Value and High Unrealized Value.
Using those two data points and taking a long-term view, which of the options below should you pursue?
(choose the best answer)

1. A. Weight your investment toward Product B; since it has more potential.
2. B. Weight your investment toward Product A; you do not want to risk losing customers.
3. C. Invest equally in both products.

Correct Answer: A
According to the Professional Scrum Product Owner™ II certification guide1, the Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. This means that the Product Owner should have a clear vision of the product, understand the needs and desires of the customers and stakeholders, and prioritize the Product Backlog items based on their value and urgency. The Product Owner should also use evidence-based management to measure the value delivered by the product and make informed decisions about the product strategy and direction.
In this question, Product A has a high current value, which means that it is generating a lot of revenue and satisfying the existing customers. However, it also has a low unrealized value, which means that it has little room for improvement or innovation, and may face competition or obsolescence in the future. Product B has a low current value, which means that it is not generating much revenue or satisfying many customers. However, it also has a high unrealized value, which means that it has a lot of potential for improvement or innovation, and may capture new markets or opportunities in the future.
Taking a long-term view, the Product Owner should weight the investment toward Product B, since it has more potential to deliver value in the future. This does not mean that the Product Owner should neglect Product A, but rather balance the investment between the two products based on the expected return on investment and the risk involved. Investing equally in both products may not be optimal, as it may result in underinvesting in Product B and overinvesting in Product A. Weighting the investment toward Product A may not be wise, as it may result in missing out on the opportunities offered by Product B and losing the competitive edge in the market.
References: 1: Professional Scrum Product Owner™ II Certification | Scrum.org

If a Scrum Team uses Product Backlog refinement, when should it occur? (choose the best two answers)

1. A. The Product Owner takes the time between the Sprints to do it.
2. B. Business Analysts in the organization should do this work for the Scrum Team 1- 2 Sprints ahead of the development Sprints.
3. C. The Product Owner and the Developers can refine the Product Backlog during any Sprint as needed, ideally in advance of the upcoming Sprint.
4. D. The Product Owner must do this as essential work in Sprint 0.
5. E. The Product Owner and the Developers do it in the current Sprint if they have been unable to do it in preceding Sprints.

Correct Answer: CE
Product Backlog refinement is an ongoing activity that can occur at any time during a Sprint, as needed. The Product Owner and Developers collaborate on this task, ideally in advance of the upcoming Sprint to ensure clarity and readiness of the work ©. If refinement has not been done in preceding Sprints, it should be done in the current Sprint to maintain the flow of valuable work (E). This approach is consistent with the Scrum principle of continuous improvement and the iterative, incremental nature of Scrum12.

You are a Product Owner for a product with a rapidly declining customer base.
Despite data that indicates the decline is due to a shrinking market, rather than a lack of new features, an influential stakeholder insists on adding more features to attract new customers. The influential stakeholder also says that if you do not add new features you risk losing your most profitable customer.
Which two of the following actions might you take? (choose the best two answers)

1. A. Collaborate with the stakeholder to run a small experiment to validate their opinion.
2. B. Collaborate with other stakeholders and use a voting system to decide which options should be considered.
3. C. Acknowledge the views of the influential stakeholder but decline to add more features to the product.
4. D. Agree with the stakeholder and add features to the Product Backlog as it might increase your customer base.

Correct Answer: AC

You work for a large financial institution. Your products have many interdependencies: you have mobile, web, and ATM product interfaces to financial products like savings, checking, spending, electronic payments, credit cards, and investments. When any of these financial products change, the changes ripple throughout the mobile, web, and ATM clients, and maintaining consistency is challenging. What should you do to reduce this problem?
(choose the best answer)

1. A. Form products that are as independent as possible and let each product determine their own release plans, but ensure coordination.
2. B. Create a centralized, coordinated cross-product Development Plan to ensure consistency.
3. C. Appoint a Project Lead to oversee all the products.
4. D. Ensure that the PMO manages the inter-product dependencies.
5. E. All of the above.

Correct Answer: A
A is correct because forming products that are as independent as possible reduces the complexity and dependency of the product development, and allows each product to deliver value faster and more frequently1. Coordination among the products is still necessary to ensure alignment and consistency, but it should not be centralized or imposed by a higher authority2. B is incorrect because creating a centralized, coordinated cross-product Development Plan goes against the principles of empiricism, self-organization, and agility that Scrum promotes3. C is incorrect because appointing a Project Lead to oversee all the products undermines the accountability and autonomy of the Product Owners and the Scrum Teams4. D is incorrect because ensuring that the PMO manages the inter-product dependencies creates a layer of bureaucracy and control that hinders the collaboration and innovation of the Scrum Teams5. E is incorrect because it includes all the wrong answers.