Agile is not a separate section of the PMP. It runs through all three domains, and many questions only make sense once you know who does what in an agile team. If you come from predictive projects, this is usually where you lose the most points.
For how to recognise whether a question is predictive, agile or hybrid in the first place, read predictive, agile and hybrid questions. This guide covers what to do once you know it is agile.
The three Scrum roles
| Role | Owns | Does not |
|---|---|---|
| Product owner | The product backlog and its priority; maximising value; talking to stakeholders about what to build | Tell the team how to build it |
| Scrum master | The process; coaching the team; removing impediments; facilitating events | Assign tasks or make product decisions |
| Developers | How the work gets done; estimates; the sprint backlog; quality | Change priorities on their own |
On the exam, the project manager in an agile setting usually behaves like a scrum master: a servant leader who supports the team rather than directing it.
The five events
| Event | Purpose | Key point |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint | A fixed timebox, usually 1 to 4 weeks | The sprint goal is protected; scope is not added mid-sprint |
| Sprint planning | Decide what to deliver and how | The team selects work it can complete |
| Daily scrum | 15-minute coordination for the developers | Not a status report to the manager |
| Sprint review | Show the increment to stakeholders and get feedback | Feedback goes into the backlog |
| Sprint retrospective | Improve how the team works | About the process, not the product |
The three artifacts
- Product backlog: the ordered list of everything the product might need. Owned by the product owner.
- Sprint backlog: the work selected for this sprint, plus the plan to deliver it. Owned by the developers.
- Increment: the usable result at the end of the sprint. It must meet the definition of done.
Two terms candidates confuse:
- Definition of done applies to every backlog item: tested, reviewed, documented, and so on.
- Acceptance criteria apply to one item: what that specific story must do.
What servant leadership looks like on the exam
A servant leader:
- removes impediments the team cannot solve alone,
- shields the team from interruptions during the sprint,
- coaches rather than commands,
- lets the team self-organise, including solving their own conflicts first,
- facilitates collaboration with the product owner and stakeholders.
When an answer has the project manager assigning tasks, deciding estimates, or changing priorities in an agile team, it is almost always wrong.
Four common traps
- A stakeholder asks the team for a new feature mid-sprint. Send it to the product owner to add to and prioritise in the backlog. The sprint goal stays protected.
- Velocity drops. Velocity is a planning tool for one team. Never use it to compare teams or to judge individuals. Explore the cause with the team, often in the retrospective.
- The daily scrum turns into a long problem-solving meeting. Keep it to 15 minutes and take detailed discussions offline afterwards.
- Two developers disagree on a technical approach. Let the team try to resolve it first. Step in to facilitate only if they cannot.
Kanban in one paragraph
Kanban has no fixed sprints. Work flows continuously across a visual board, and the team limits work in progress (WIP) in each column to expose bottlenecks. If an exam question mentions WIP limits, flow, or cycle time, think Kanban.
Try a question
An agile team is midway through a sprint. A senior stakeholder contacts one of the developers directly and asks for an urgent new report to be added to the current sprint. What should the project manager do?
A. Ask the developer to add the report, since the stakeholder is senior.
B. Add the report and remove a lower-value item to keep the sprint the same size.
C. Refer the stakeholder to the product owner so the request can be added to the product backlog and prioritised.
D. Escalate the request to the sponsor for a decision.
Answer: C. In agile, the product owner owns priorities, and the sprint goal is protected from mid-sprint changes. A and B bypass the product owner and disrupt the sprint. D escalates something the team's own process already handles.
Practice more
The free 30-question PMP quiz mixes agile, hybrid and predictive scenarios at real exam difficulty, with a full explanation for each answer.