HKSM

A blocker is a specific impediment that halts or severely delays work, preventing a team or individual from moving forward until it is removed. It should be surfaced quickly, made visible, and escalated for resolution. See Impediment.

Key Points

• Stops progress immediately until resolved; not just a minor slowdown.
• Raised promptly (e.g., in the Daily Scrum) and tracked on an impediment log or board.
• Common sources include access issues, broken environments, missing decisions, or external dependencies.
• The Scrum Master or Agile leader facilitates removal, while the team may swarm to restore flow.

Example

A developer cannot deploy because production credentials have not been granted. Work on the release is paused until access is approved. The team records this as a blocker and the Scrum Master escalates it to the security team.

PMP Example Question

During the Daily Scrum, the team reports that the test environment is down, preventing all testing from proceeding. How should this be classified?

1. A risk to be analyzed later
2. A blocker requiring immediate removal
3. An assumption to document
4. A retrospective action item

Correct Answer: B — A blocker (an impediment that stops progress)

Explanation: The test environment outage prevents work from continuing now, which is the definition of a blocker; it needs swift escalation and resolution.