A team has eleven members spread over two locations across two time zones. One of the locations has six team members and the other team has five. Where should a Scrum Master be located?

Question

Options

• AAlternate the Scrum Master between both locations.
• BAppoint a local Scrum Master for both teams.
• CThe Scrum Master is located in one of the teams.

• A
  7% (3)
• B
  80% (33)
• C
  12% (5)

Explanation

Having a local Scrum Master at each location ensures both sub-teams receive proper facilitation, impediment removal, and coaching without the friction of time zone gaps or remote communication barriers. Option B is correct because distributed teams function best when each location has dedicated Scrum Master support - one person cannot effectively serve two locations across time zones simultaneously.

Why A is wrong: Alternating a single Scrum Master between locations creates gaps in coverage; whichever site the SM is absent from loses real-time support, and context-switching between teams reduces effectiveness.

Why C is wrong: A Scrum Master stationed at only one location will inevitably favor that team - the remote team suffers from delayed responses, missed dynamics, and weakened servant-leadership.

Memory tip: Think "one SM per location" - if your team is geographically split, your Scrum Master coverage should be too. Whenever you see a distributed team scenario on the exam, check whether each physical location has adequate facilitation before choosing a single-SM solution.

No community discussion yet for this question.