PSM I Artifacts, Commitments, and Done Transparency

Scrum artifacts make work visible, while commitments give those artifacts direction and meaning. PSM I often tests whether you can connect artifact clarity to better decisions instead of treating artifacts as administrative containers.

Artifact and commitment pairs

What stronger answers protect

• A Product Backlog should be transparent enough to support ordering decisions.
• A Sprint Backlog may change during the Sprint, but the Sprint Goal still provides coherence.
• An Increment is not partial progress that still needs hidden work before it can be considered usable.

Example

A team reports that most Sprint work is “done except for integration and testing.” The stronger PSM I reading is that transparency is weak. If the Definition of Done is not met, the Increment is not done.

Common pitfalls

• Treating Product Goal and Sprint Goal as interchangeable.
• Calling unfinished work part of the usable Increment.
• Hiding quality gaps outside the Definition of Done.
• Assuming the Sprint Backlog may not change once Sprint Planning ends.

Sample Exam Question

Why is the Definition of Done important in Scrum?

A. It creates shared transparency about when work is genuinely usable
B. It allows the Product Owner to approve each task individually
C. It prevents Developers from revising the Sprint Backlog
D. It replaces the need for product inspection in the Sprint Review

Best answer: A

Why: The Definition of Done supports transparency by making quality expectations explicit and consistent.

Why the others are weaker: B, C, and D all add authority or remove learning in ways Scrum does not support.