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Question 1

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An agile leader is transitioning from a traditional command-and-control style. What is the MOST important shift in mindset they need to make?

From decision-maker to status-tracker

From directing work to creating an environment where self-managing teams can succeed

From senior leader to peer-level contributor

From strategic planning to tactical execution

to track

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: PAL I Exam

85%

Passing Score

Scrum.org

60 Qs

Exam Questions

60 minutes

$200

Exam Fee

Per attempt

Lifetime

Validity

No renewal needed

4 KVAs

EBM Key Value Areas

CV, UV, T2M, A2I

PAL I is a 60-minute, 60-question online exam from Scrum.org requiring 85% (51 correct) to pass at $200 per attempt. No prerequisites or mandatory training. It targets managers, executives, and change agents leading agile transformation. Core areas include servant leadership and growing autonomy, building cross-functional self-managing teams, organizational design (Conway's Law, breaking silos, product over project funding), leading change (Kotter, ADKAR), and Evidence-Based Management — Current Value (CV), Unrealized Value (UV), Time-to-Market (T2M), and Ability to Innovate (A2I). Lifetime certification with no renewal.

Sample PAL I Practice Questions

Try these sample questions to test your PAL I exam readiness. Each question includes a detailed explanation. Start the interactive quiz above for the full 100+ question experience with AI tutoring.

1An agile leader is transitioning from a traditional command-and-control style. What is the MOST important shift in mindset they need to make?

A.From decision-maker to status-tracker

B.From directing work to creating an environment where self-managing teams can succeed

C.From senior leader to peer-level contributor

D.From strategic planning to tactical execution

Explanation: Agile leadership replaces directing with enabling. The leader's job becomes shaping the environment — clear purpose, psychological safety, removing impediments — so self-managing teams can decide how best to deliver value. This is the core mindset shift PAL I tests repeatedly: leaders move from giving answers to asking questions and growing capability.

2Which Evidence-Based Management Key Value Area (KVA) measures the value a product currently delivers to customers and stakeholders?

A.Unrealized Value (UV)

B.Time-to-Market (T2M)

C.Current Value (CV)

D.Ability to Innovate (A2I)

Explanation: Current Value (CV) measures the value the product delivers today — examples include revenue per employee, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement. CV reveals whether the organization is currently meeting the needs of customers and the business. It does not say anything about future potential — that is UV.

3Which EBM KVA captures the gap between the value a product delivers today and the value it could potentially deliver?

A.Current Value (CV)

B.Unrealized Value (UV)

C.Time-to-Market (T2M)

D.Ability to Innovate (A2I)

Explanation: Unrealized Value (UV) represents the additional value a product could deliver if it perfectly met the needs of all potential customers. Examples include market share gap, customer satisfaction gap, and unmet needs. Comparing CV with UV reveals whether to invest in growth (high UV) or operational efficiency (low UV).

4An organization wants to measure how quickly it can deliver new value to customers. Which EBM KVA should it focus on, and which metric is a good fit?

A.Current Value — revenue per employee

B.Unrealized Value — market share gap

C.Time-to-Market — release frequency and lead time

D.Ability to Innovate — innovation rate

Explanation: Time-to-Market (T2M) measures the organization's ability to deliver new capability quickly. Typical T2M metrics include release frequency, lead time, cycle time, and Mean Time to Recover (MTTR). Improving T2M shortens feedback loops and increases responsiveness to market change.

5A product team has high technical debt and a stale codebase, making each new feature increasingly costly to deliver. Which EBM KVA is most directly affected?

A.Current Value (CV)

B.Unrealized Value (UV)

C.Time-to-Market (T2M)

D.Ability to Innovate (A2I)

Explanation: Ability to Innovate (A2I) measures the effectiveness with which the team can deliver new capabilities. Technical debt, defect trends, and version lag directly degrade A2I — the team's capacity to do anything new. Left unaddressed, A2I problems eventually corrode T2M and CV as well.

6Which of the following is the BEST description of servant leadership in an agile context?

A.The leader does whatever the team asks

B.The leader prioritizes their own goals through the team

C.The leader's primary aim is to serve — focusing on the growth, autonomy, and well-being of people and teams

D.The leader rotates each Sprint so everyone gets a turn

Explanation: Servant leadership, popularized by Robert Greenleaf, flips traditional hierarchy: the leader exists to serve the team's growth and effectiveness rather than to be served. In agile, servant leaders create the conditions — clarity, safety, capability, removed impediments — for self-managing teams to deliver value.

7A senior manager insists that an agile team report individual task progress every day so they can identify under-performers. What is the BEST way for the agile leader to respond?

A.Comply — transparency means showing everything, including individual task progress

B.Refuse to share any information about the team's work

C.Coach the manager on how individual surveillance undermines self-management and offer alternative outcome-based measures

D.Replace the manager with someone more agile-friendly

Explanation: Daily individual task surveillance corrodes psychological safety, undermines team self-management, and shifts focus from outcome to activity. The agile leader's job is to coach stakeholders toward outcome-based, team-level measures (e.g., delivered value, KVAs, Sprint Goal achievement) and explain why individual policing damages agility.

8What does Conway's Law state?

A.Adding more developers to a late project makes it later

B.Organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structures

C.Work expands to fill the time available

D.The first 90% of work takes 90% of the time; the last 10% takes another 90%

Explanation: Conway's Law (Melvin Conway, 1968) states that any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose structure mirrors the organization's communication structure. Functional silos produce siloed architectures; cross-functional teams produce more integrated systems. The 'inverse Conway maneuver' deliberately restructures teams to produce a desired architecture.

9An organization wants its product architecture to evolve toward loosely coupled microservices, but its teams are organized by technology layer (UI, backend, database). What technique addresses this?

A.Adding a centralized architecture review board

B.The inverse Conway maneuver — restructuring teams to match the desired architecture

C.Hiring more architects

D.Outsourcing development to multiple vendors

Explanation: The inverse Conway maneuver applies Conway's Law deliberately: instead of letting team structure passively shape architecture, the organization restructures teams (e.g., into cross-functional product teams aligned to business capabilities) so the architecture evolves toward the desired shape. This is a core organizational design technique tested in PAL I.

10Which of the following is a hallmark of a 'learning organization' as described by Peter Senge?

A.Every employee completes mandatory annual training

B.There is a centralized training department

C.People continually expand their capacity, new patterns of thinking are nurtured, and the collective aspiration is set free

D.All learning is documented in a knowledge management system

Explanation: Senge defines a learning organization (in 'The Fifth Discipline') as one where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people continually learn how to learn together. The five disciplines are Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking.

About the PAL I Exam

The PAL I (Professional Agile Leadership I) from Scrum.org validates fundamental knowledge for leaders who guide an agile transformation. With an 85% passing threshold on 60 questions in 60 minutes, it tests the leadership mindset, organizational design, and Evidence-Based Management (EBM) concepts that enable self-managing teams and value-driven decisions. No mandatory training is required — you can self-study the official PAL Subject Areas and EBM Guide, then take the exam for $200. PAL I never expires.

Questions

60 scored questions

Time Limit

60 minutes

Passing Score

85%

Exam Fee

$200 (Scrum.org)

PAL I Exam Content Outline

~25%

Agile Leadership Mindset

Servant leadership, leading vs managing, growing autonomy and ownership, leadership stances, shifting from command-and-control

~20%

Building and Supporting Agile Teams

Cross-functional self-managing teams, T-shaped people, psychological safety, removing organizational impediments

~20%

Organizational Design and Culture

Conway's Law and inverse Conway maneuver, learning organization (Senge), product mindset over project mindset, breaking silos

~15%

Leading Change Toward Agility

Kotter's 8-step model, ADKAR, urgency and vision, sustaining change, organizational debt and adaptive funding

~20%

Evidence-Based Management (EBM)

Current Value (CV), Unrealized Value (UV), Time-to-Market (T2M), Ability to Innovate (A2I); using metrics to guide investment

How to Pass the PAL I Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: 85%
Exam length: 60 questions
Time limit: 60 minutes
Exam fee: $200

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

PAL I Study Tips from Top Performers

1Memorize the four EBM Key Value Areas (CV, UV, T2M, A2I) and which metrics map to each — this is heavily tested

2Always choose servant-leadership and team-empowering answers over command-and-control or status-reporting options

3Know Conway's Law and the inverse Conway maneuver — restructure teams to match the desired architecture

4Master Kotter's 8 steps and ADKAR for change scenarios — questions ask which step is missing or which lever to pull next

5Read the official PAL Subject Areas page on Scrum.org and the EBM Guide multiple times — exam wording mirrors them

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the PAL I passing score?

The PAL I exam requires 85% or higher to pass — that means at least 51 correct answers out of 60 questions in 60 minutes. The 85% threshold is the same as PSM I and PSPO I, making PAL I one of the more rigorous Scrum.org certifications even though the question count is smaller.

Do I need training to take the PAL I exam?

No. PAL I has no prerequisites or mandatory training. You can purchase the $200 exam password directly on Scrum.org and take it when ready. Most successful candidates study the official PAL Subject Areas, the Evidence-Based Management Guide, and key books such as Senge's 'The Fifth Discipline', Kotter's 'Leading Change', Pink's 'Drive', and Marquet's 'Turn the Ship Around!'

How long does PAL I certification last?

PAL I certification from Scrum.org is lifetime — it never expires and requires no renewal fees or continuing education. This is different from PMI-ACP, which expires every 3 years and requires 30 PDUs. You can progress to the PAL Evidence-Based Management (PAL-EBM) certification when ready.

What is the difference between PAL I and PSM I?

PSM I tests the Scrum framework itself — events, artifacts, accountabilities, and the Scrum Guide. PAL I tests the leadership context around agility — how managers and executives create the conditions for agile teams to thrive. PAL I is for those leading transformation; PSM I is for those running Scrum within a team. Both cost $200 and require 85% to pass.

What are the four Key Value Areas (KVAs) in Evidence-Based Management?

EBM defines four KVAs that leaders use to make value-driven investment decisions: Current Value (CV) measures the value the product currently delivers (revenue per employee, customer satisfaction, employee NPS). Unrealized Value (UV) is the gap between current and potential value (market share gap, customer satisfaction gap). Time-to-Market (T2M) measures how quickly the organization delivers (release frequency, lead time, cycle time, MTTR). Ability to Innovate (A2I) measures the team's capacity to deliver new capability (innovation rate, defect trends, technical debt). PAL I expects you to map specific metrics to the right KVA.

What types of questions are on the PAL I exam?

PAL I includes multiple choice, multiple answer, and true/false questions. Most questions are scenario-based, asking 'What should the leader do when...' or 'Which KVA is best measured by this metric?' The exam tests application of leadership principles to ambiguous organizational situations, not memorization of definitions. With 60 questions in 60 minutes, you average 1 minute per question.

What is the best way to prepare for PAL I?

Read the PAL Subject Areas on Scrum.org and the EBM Guide cover-to-cover. Study the four KVAs deeply and practice mapping metrics to CV, UV, T2M, or A2I. Understand Conway's Law, Kotter's 8-step change model, ADKAR, and Senge's five disciplines. Practice scenario-based questions where you choose enabling, servant-leader responses over command-and-control. Many candidates use the free Scrum.org Agile Leadership Open Assessment to gauge readiness.