impediment
A hindrance that stops the team from meeting its goals; commonly called a blocker.
Key Points
- Impediments obstruct progress toward sprint or project objectives.
- They are surfaced during the Daily Scrum and tracked until resolved.
- The Scrum Master facilitates removal or escalation of impediments.
- They can be internal (skills gaps, unclear requirements) or external (tool outages, organizational policies).
Example
The test environment is down, preventing QA from validating user stories. The Scrum Master logs the impediment, escalates to the infrastructure team, and negotiates a temporary workaround to unblock testing.
PMP Example Question
During the Daily Scrum, a developer reports they cannot complete a story because a required API license has expired. What is this situation best described as?
- Risk
- Assumption
- Impediment
- Change request
Correct Answer: C — impediment (a blocker)
Explanation: The expired license is a present-time obstacle that halts progress, which is an impediment, not a future uncertainty (risk) or a change request.
