Pre-conditions for Scrum Planning to begin - Question
Hello All!
There is a question in Product Owner Open Assessment about what pre-conditions must be fulfilled to allow Scrum Planning event to begin.
And the possible answers include:
1) Fully refined Product Backlog
(which is obviously incorrect)
2) Formal budget approval
(also incorrect)
3) Clear, non-negotiable Sprint goal
(also very incorrect for very obvious reasons)
4) Enough "Ready" Product Backlog to fill the Sprint
(which is the incorrect answer, but I really don't understand why??)
5) There are no pre-conditions.
So, the correct answer is (5), but, according to a Scrum Guide on Scrum Planning:
"The input to this meeting is the Product Backlog"
Then, from guide "After the Development Team forecasts the Product Backlog items it will deliver in the Sprint, the Scrum Team crafts a Sprint Goal." - how Dev Team can select items from backlog which is not READY enough? :)
So, logically thinking, the Product Backlog, HAS to be READY enough to use it as an input for Scrum Planning....
Why then the option (4) is incorrect?
thank you!!
A team could start a Sprint with an empty Product Backlog, and create enough "ready" items at the start of Sprint Planning to allow the rest of the planning session to be facilitated.
The essential underlying principle is that sprinting and the empirical delivery of value should not be put in delay.
To suffice Ian's answer, the trick is also in the language of the question. Read the words " pre-conditions must be fulfilled" with great caution. Now try to find the text in scrum guide wherein it mandates such condition. The excerpts that you've put forth state the inputs to the sprint planning but nowhere does it mention about these inputs being absolute. Hence 5 is the correct answer!
Scrum guide clearly uses the sentence: " there is no exception to this rule" when it wants to give absolute rules. Try to look for these tricky wordings as this is what'll push you above 85% score.