HKSM
Impediment
A tangible or intangible issue that blocks the team from progressing toward its goals; commonly called a blocker.
Key Points
- It is a present obstacle that slows or stops the team's work toward agreed objectives.
- Team members surface impediments quickly (often in the daily scrum), and a designated owner works to remove them.
- Track impediments in a visible log or board and prioritize by impact on the sprint or release goals.
- Different from risks (potential future events) and dependencies (relationships); an impediment is a current blocker.
Example
Mid-sprint, the team cannot run automated tests because the shared test environment is down. The Scrum Master coordinates with IT operations to restore the environment and escalates to management to prevent recurrence. Until resolved, the team reorders work that does not require that environment.
PMP Example Question
During the daily scrum, a developer reports they cannot access the test environment due to expired credentials, halting verification of a critical story. How should this be classified?
- An impediment (blocker) stopping progress
- A retrospective action item for future improvement
- A risk that may affect the release later
- A change request to add testing tasks to the backlog
Correct Answer: A — an impediment (a blocker that stops the team from progressing)
Explanation: The credential issue is a current obstacle preventing work from moving forward, so it is an impediment.
