Learn sprint health metric vocabulary: velocity trend, happiness metric, Spotify health check, team NPS, psychological safety indicators, and DORA metrics in Scrum contexts.
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Over the last 6 sprints, a team's story points completed were: 34, 36, 32, 28, 25, 22. The Scrum Master presents this data at the retrospective. What metric is being discussed and what does the pattern indicate?
Velocity trend tracks how many story points (or items) a team completes per sprint over time. A downward trend (34→22 over 6 sprints) is a health warning — potential causes include team member attrition, increasing technical debt, unmanaged scope creep, or declining morale. Velocity should be used as a planning tool and health indicator, not a performance target (Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure).
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At the end of each sprint, team members answer: 'How happy are you with the team as a working environment? (1–5)' The Scrum Master tracks this over time. What is this metric called?
The happiness metric (or happiness index) was popularised by Henrik Kniberg at Spotify. It is a simple, frequent pulse check on team morale and satisfaction. Unlike annual engagement surveys, sprint-cadence tracking catches drops quickly, allowing the Scrum Master to investigate before problems become serious. A sustained drop in happiness often precedes a velocity drop by 1–2 sprints.
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A Scrum Master runs a quarterly workshop where the team rates 11 dimensions (e.g., 'Easy to release', 'Fun', 'Health of codebase') as green, yellow, or red, and discusses trends. What framework is this based on?
The Spotify Squad Health Check (created by Henrik Kniberg and Kristian Lindwall) evaluates teams across 11 dimensions using a RAG (Red-Amber-Green) status and trend indicator (improving/stable/declining). It is a qualitative team self-assessment, not a management audit. The key dimensions include: Easy to Release, Suitable Process, Tech Quality, Value, Speed, Mission, Fun, Learning, Support, Pawns or Players, and Teamwork.
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Which four metrics — known as the DORA Four Keys — are used to measure software delivery performance in engineering teams using Scrum or other agile methods?
The DORA Four Keys (from the DevOps Research and Assessment programme by Dr. Nicole Forsgren et al., published in 'Accelerate') measure elite vs. low-performing teams: 1) Deployment Frequency (how often you deploy to production), 2) Lead Time for Changes (commit to production), 3) Change Failure Rate (% of deployments causing incidents), 4) Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) — how quickly you recover from failures. Elite teams deploy daily+, with MTTR under 1 hour.
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A Scrum Master notices team members rarely challenge decisions in retrospectives, agree with whoever speaks last, and avoid raising concerns with the tech lead. This may indicate low ___________.
Psychological safety (Amy Edmondson, Harvard) is the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Google's Project Aristotle found it to be the single most important factor in high-performing teams. Behavioural indicators of LOW safety: silence in retros, no disagreement visible, ideas only shared privately, blame-avoidance language, deference to authority. Scrum Masters can measure it with safety checks and short anonymous surveys.
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Sarah, the team's DevOps Engineer, is reviewing a pull request and sees this comment from the developer: 'The build time increased by 20% in sprint 7. We need to investigate.' Which metric is Sarah primarily referencing when discussing this issue?
Cycle time measures the time it takes for a task to move from start to finish. An increase in build time directly impacts cycle time and is a key indicator of potential bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Velocity focuses on story points completed, throughput on the number of tasks completed, and lead time encompasses the entire process from request to delivery.
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Mark, a Product Owner, is preparing a Slack message to update the team on sprint health. He writes: 'Sprint 8's velocity was lower than expected – only 15 story points completed. We need to discuss potential roadblocks.' Which metric does this statement most directly relate to?
Velocity is a measure of the amount of work completed within a sprint. A lower-than-expected velocity signals that the team isn't achieving its planned goals and requires investigation to identify the cause – often linked to roadblocks or decreased productivity. Team Morale, Burnout Rate, and Code Coverage are all related but not directly defined by story points completed in a sprint.
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During a standup meeting, David, a developer, states: 'We delivered 3 features this sprint and the average bug count was 2.' Which two metrics are David implicitly reporting on?
Velocity is represented by the number of features delivered. Defect density (bug count) measures the quality of the code produced during the sprint. Reporting these two metrics provides a holistic view of the team's progress and potential issues.
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John, the Engineering Manager, is reviewing a pull request for a new feature. The developer included this message: 'Sprint velocity was 85 story points – significantly higher than our average of 60 over the last three sprints. We should investigate if we're consistently underestimating tasks.' Which metric is John primarily concerned about?
Velocity is a core metric in Scrum that represents the amount of work completed by a team during a sprint. John's concern isn't about overall productivity but specifically whether the team's output (as measured by velocity) is sustainable or indicative of unrealistic planning. The other options represent different, related concepts but aren't directly what's being discussed here.
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Maria, a Product Owner, is drafting a Slack message to the development team. She writes: 'Sprint 3's cycle time was unusually high – averaging 72 hours per story. We need to identify bottlenecks in our CI/CD pipeline.' Which metric is Maria discussing?
Cycle time focuses on the *duration* of work within the development workflow. It's a key indicator of efficiency and potential bottlenecks. While lead time is related, it encompasses a broader timeframe. Throughput measures quantity, and defects are a separate quality metric.
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During a sprint retrospective, the team discusses that their average lead time for resolving bugs has increased from 12 hours to 48 hours over the last three sprints. The Scrum Master notes this trend and asks the team to identify potential causes. Which metric is MOST directly related to this observation?
Lead time measures the total time it takes for a task to move from start to finish, including processing and waiting. While cycle time (the time spent actively working on a task) is related, lead time encompasses the entire flow, making it the most relevant metric in this scenario. The team needs to investigate whether bottlenecks or delays are impacting the overall process.
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Liam, a developer, is writing a pull request description for a new feature. He includes the following statement: 'We achieved a velocity of 78 story points this sprint, which is roughly 10% higher than our typical velocity.' What does 'velocity' primarily represent in this context?
Velocity in Scrum refers to the amount of work (typically measured in story points) that a team delivers within a sprint. It's a measure of productivity and is often compared across sprints to track performance trends. Misinterpreting velocity as simply 'work completed' misses its core purpose as a rate-based metric.
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Chloe, the team's Agile Coach, is facilitating a retrospective. She asks the team to estimate the 'health' of their codebase on a scale of 1 to 5 – 1 being 'critical' and 5 being 'excellent'. What type of metric is Chloe primarily assessing?
This represents a measure of code quality – specifically, a subjective assessment of how well-maintained and stable the codebase is. While 'health' can be interpreted broadly, in this context, it's being used to gauge the technical health of the system based on team perception.
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During a daily standup, Ben states: 'We completed 25 story points this sprint and our cycle time was 36 hours.' Which two metrics is Ben reporting on?
Ben is directly reporting on both cycle time (the time it takes to complete a task) and velocity (the total story points completed). These are core metrics frequently tracked during standups to assess team performance and identify potential roadblocks.
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A developer, David, is receiving a code review comment: 'Sprint 9's throughput was significantly lower than previous sprints – only 18 story points delivered. Investigate potential dependencies.' What is the primary focus of this comment?
Throughput measures the rate at which work is completed – in this case, story points delivered per sprint. The comment highlights a concerning decrease in throughput and prompts the developer to investigate potential causes like dependencies or bottlenecks impacting their workflow.
What will I learn from the "Sprint Health Metrics Vocabulary" exercise?
Learn sprint health metric vocabulary: velocity trend, happiness metric, Spotify health check, team NPS, psychological safety indicators, and DORA metrics in Scrum contexts.
Is this exercise free to use?
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How many questions are in this exercise?
This set contains 15 multiple-choice questions, each with a detailed explanation shown after you answer.
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Who is this Scrum Master Facilitation exercise for?
This exercise is built for IT professionals and non-native English speakers who need to read, write, and discuss scrum master facilitation topics confidently at work.
What happens if I answer a question incorrectly?
You will see the correct answer highlighted along with a detailed explanation of why it is correct -- so every wrong answer becomes a learning moment, not just a lost point.
Can I retry this exercise?
Yes -- click "Try again" on the results screen at any time to reset your score and go through all the questions again.
How long does this exercise take to complete?
Most learners finish all 15 questions in under 10 minutes, since each question is answered by clicking a single option.
Where can I find more Scrum Master Facilitation exercises?
See the full Scrum Master Facilitation exercises hub for more vocabulary drills on this topic.
Is this exercise mobile-friendly?
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