Which does a self-organizing Scrum Team choose? (Choose the best answer)

A self-organizing (or self-managing) Scrum Team has the autonomy and authority to determine the best way to accomplish its work. This core principle of Scrum empowers the Developers to select the tasks, techniques, and approaches needed to turn Product Backlog items into a "Done" Increment. They manage their own work within the Sprint to achieve the Sprint Goal, without direction from outside the team. This internal decision-making process on how the work is performed is the essence of self-organization.

B. Product Backlog ordering: This is the explicit accountability of the Product Owner, who is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the team's work.
C. Stakeholders for the Sprint Review: The Product Owner is responsible for identifying and inviting key stakeholders to the Sprint Review to gather feedback and foster collaboration.
D. Sprint length: While the entire Scrum Team agrees on the Sprint length, the choice of how to work is a more fundamental, ongoing activity that defines self-organization within each Sprint.
E. When to release, based on its progress: The decision of when to release a product Increment is a strategic business decision owned by the Product Owner, based on market needs and value.

1. Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The 2020 Scrum Guide. Scrum.org.

Page 5, "Scrum Team" section: "They are also self-managing, meaning they internally decide who does what, when, and how." (This directly supports answer A).

Page 6, "Product Owner" section: "The Product Owner is also accountable for effective Product Backlog management, which includes: ... Ordering Product Backlog items". (This refutes answer B).

Page 10, "Sprint Review" section: The description of the Sprint Review implies the Product Owner's role in managing stakeholder engagement, a common interpretation formalized in most Scrum training.

2. Stray, V., & Moe, N. B. (2020). Understanding coordination in global software engineering: A mixed-methods study on the use of meetings and Slack. Journal of Systems and Software, 170, 110717. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.110717

Section 2.1, "Agile software development and Scrum": This academic paper reinforces the concept, stating, "The development team is self-organizing, meaning that the team itself decides how to carry out the work..." (This supports the reasoning for answer A).

3. Hohl, P., et al. (2018). Agility with Scrum. In: The Agile Project Manager. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68588-92

Section 2.3.2, "The Development Team": "The Development Team is self-organizing. No one (not even the Scrum Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog Items into Increments of potentially releasable functionality." (This further validates answer A).