Top 100 Agile Scrum Master Interview Questions And Answers

Agile Scrum Master Interview Questions
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1. What is Scrum?

Answer

Scrum is a framework for Agile project management that emphasizes teamwork, accountability, and iterative progress.

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2. What are the Scrum Artifacts?

Answer

The Scrum artifacts are Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment.

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3. What is a Product Owner?

Answer

A Product Owner is responsible for managing the Product Backlog and maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.

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4. What is a Sprint?

Answer

A Sprint is a time-boxed iteration that lasts from two weeks to one month, during which the Scrum Team works to produce a potentially shippable product increment.

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5. What is a Sprint Retrospective?

Answer

The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.

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6. What is the role of a Scrum Master?

Answer

The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted by facilitating Scrum events, removing impediments, and coaching the Scrum Team.

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7. What is User Story Mapping?

Answer

User Story Mapping is a technique used for organizing user stories into a useful model to understand the system functionality, identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement.

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8. What is the Definition of Done?

Answer

The Definition of Done is a set of criteria that must be met for a product increment to be considered complete.

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9. What is a Spike in Scrum?

Answer

A Spike is a time-boxed period used to research a concept and gain knowledge necessary for a story or task.

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10. What is Velocity in Scrum?

Answer

Velocity is a metric that predicts the amount of work a Scrum Team can accomplish during a Sprint, based on past performance.

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11. What is Scrum of Scrums?

Answer

Scrum of Scrums is a meeting that coordinates multiple Scrum Teams working on a project.

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12. What is Timeboxing?

Answer

Timeboxing is the practice of ending work on a task at a specific time, whether it is complete or not, used to manage time and priorities.

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13. What is a Burndown Chart?

Answer

A Burndown Chart tracks the amount of work remaining in a Sprint, helping the team understand their progress.

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14. What is TDD?

Answer

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a software development technique where automated tests are written before the code to be tested.

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15. What is Continuous Integration?

Answer

Continuous Integration is the practice of merging all developer working copies to a shared repository multiple times a day.

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16. What are the responsibilities of the Scrum Team?

Answer

The Scrum Team is responsible for delivering a potentially releasable Increment of โ€œDoneโ€ product at the end of each Sprint.

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17. Explain the Daily Stand-Up.

Answer

The Daily Stand-Up is a 15-minute event for the Developers to synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.

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18. What is a Product Backlog?

Answer

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product.

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19. What is a Kanban board?

Answer

A Kanban board is a visual tool that enables you to optimize the flow of your work among different stages of a process.

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20. What is Sprint Zero?

Answer

Sprint Zero is a controversial term used to describe a period used for initial product backlog creation and other preparatory work.

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21. What is an Epic?

Answer

An Epic is a big chunk of work that has one common objective, often broken down into multiple user stories.

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22. Explain Pair Programming.

Answer

Pair Programming involves two developers working at one workstation to code, review, and design together.

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23. What is Refactoring?

Answer

Refactoring is the process of changing a software system in such a way that it does not alter the external behavior but improves the internal architecture.

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24. What is Technical Debt?

Answer

Technical Debt is the long-term cost of cutting corners in software development, making future changes more expensive or difficult.

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25. What is a Scrum Board?

Answer

A Scrum Board is a tool used to visualize all the work in a given Sprint, often divided into columns to represent different stages.

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26. What is Agile Coaching?

Answer

Agile Coaching is the practice of guiding individuals and teams in the principles and practices of Agile methodologies.

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27. What is INVEST in Agile?

Answer

INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable, which are criteria for well-formed user stories.

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28. What is Lean Software Development?

Answer

Lean Software Development is an iterative methodology that emphasizes the efficiency of the entire software development process.

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29. What is the Sprint Goal?

Answer

The Sprint Goal is an objective for the Sprint that can be met through the implementation of a Product Backlog.

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30. What is a Story Point?

Answer

A Story Point is a unit of measure for the size of a user story, feature, or other work on a project.

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31. What is a Burn-Up Chart?

Answer

A Burn-Up Chart shows the total scope of the project and tracks completion over time.

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32. What is the Cone of Uncertainty?

Answer

The Cone of Uncertainty describes the uncertainty and risk that diminish over time when you make decisions in a project.

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33. What is a Grooming Session?

Answer

A Grooming Session (or Backlog Refinement) is when the Scrum Team reviews items on the Product Backlog to ensure that the backlog contains the appropriate items.

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34. What is a Stand-up Meeting?

Answer

A Stand-up Meeting is a brief meeting, often taking place daily, that enables each team member to report to the rest of the team what they are working on.

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35. What is a Waterfall Model?

Answer

The Waterfall Model is a linear and sequential approach to software development that emphasizes distinct phases and discourages revisiting earlier stages.

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36. What is a MoSCoW Method?

Answer

The MoSCoW method is a prioritization technique used to define the relative importance of different requirements by categorizing them as Must-have, Should-have, Could-have, or Wonโ€™t-have.

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37. What is Release Planning?

Answer

Release Planning is the process of planning the development cycles that will deliver a product increment or a complete product.

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38. What is Scrum Nexus?

Answer

Scrum Nexus is a framework designed to scale Scrum up to many teams, focusing on minimizing cross-team dependencies and integration issues.

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39. What is a Sprint Planning Meeting?

Answer

In the Sprint Planning Meeting, the Scrum Team decides what Product Backlog items they will work on during the Sprint and discusses the details and the plan for delivering them.

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40. What is Rolling Wave Planning?

Answer

Rolling Wave Planning is a form of progressive elaboration where planning is done in waves as the project progresses and more information becomes available.

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41. What is Swarming?

Answer

Swarming is an Agile technique where the team collaborates intensively to solve a high-priority task or problem.

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42. What is a Storyboard in Agile?

Answer

A Storyboard in Agile is a visual display, often using cards or sticky notes on a wall, that depicts various elements of a project like tasks, stages, and progress.

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43. What is a Feature in Agile?

Answer

A Feature is a chunk of functionality that is of value to the customer and can be delivered in a single Sprint.

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44. What is the Iron Triangle in project management?

Answer

The Iron Triangle in project management refers to the relationship between scope, time, and cost. Changing any one of these elements usually impacts the others.

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45. What is the Parking Lot method in Agile?

Answer

The Parking Lot is a visual management tool used to capture โ€˜off-topicโ€™ or โ€˜parkedโ€™ items during a meeting for discussion at a later time.

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46. What is Cross-Functional Team in Agile?

Answer

A Cross-Functional Team in Agile consists of members with diverse skill sets who are required to deliver a potentially shippable product increment.

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47. What is Big Bang Integration?

Answer

Big Bang Integration is an approach where components of a system are combined all at once, resulting in

a significant testing phase.

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48. What are Agile Anti-Patterns?

Answer

Agile Anti-Patterns are common practices that are detrimental to Agile principles and values.

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49. What is a Red-Green-Refactor cycle?

Answer

Red-Green-Refactor is a TDD (Test-Driven Development) cycle where you first write a failing test (Red), make it pass with minimum code (Green), and then refactor.

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50. What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)?

Answer

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is an Agile practice that promotes the collaboration between developers, QA, and non-technical participants in a software project.

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51. What is a Timebox?

Answer

A Timebox is a previously agreed period of time during which a person or team works steadily towards completion of some goal.

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52. What is Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)?

Answer

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a set of organization and workflow patterns intended to guide enterprises in scaling lean and agile practices.

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53. What is a Burndown Chart?

Answer

A Burndown Chart is a graphical representation of work left to do versus time.

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54. What is a Burn-up Chart?

Answer

A Burn-up Chart is a graphical representation of work done versus time.

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55. What is a Spike in Agile?

Answer

A Spike is a user story for which the time and effort cannot be estimated until a development team runs a time-boxed investigation.

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56. What is a Product Owner?

Answer

The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product by maintaining the product backlog and setting the product direction.

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57. What is an Epic in Agile?

Answer

An Epic is a large user story that is eventually broken down into smaller stories or tasks.

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58. What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

Answer

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the process where actual software users test the software to make sure it can handle the required tasks in real-world scenarios.

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59. What is the Daily Scrum?

Answer

The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Development Team to inspect work, synchronize activities, and create a plan for the next 24 hours.

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60. What is Kanban in Agile?

Answer

Kanban is an agile methodology used to manage and visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize flow.

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61. What is Lean Software Development?

Answer

Lean Software Development adapts the principles and practices of Lean manufacturing to the domain of software development, focusing on delivering value to the customer.

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62. What is the Definition of Ready?

Answer

The Definition of Ready is a checklist that must be satisfied before a product backlog item can be considered ready to work on.

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63. What is the Definition of Done?

Answer

The Definition of Done is a set of criteria that must be met for a product increment to be considered complete.

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64. What are the Agile Principles?

Answer

The Agile Principles are a set of guiding concepts for agile software development, such as customer collaboration, responding to change, and delivering working software.

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65. What is a RACI Matrix?

Answer

The RACI matrix is a responsibility assignment matrix, used to describe the roles and responsibilities of various team members in completing tasks or deliverables.

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66. What is the role of a Scrum Master in conflict resolution?

Answer

The Scrum Master serves as a facilitator and mediator during conflicts. They help the team reach a consensus by providing a safe space for open communication and problem-solving.

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67. What is a Product Backlog?

Answer

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product and is the single source of requirements.

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68. What are Story Points?

Answer

Story points are a unit of measure for the complexity of a task. They allow for more accurate estimations.

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69. What is Velocity in Agile?

Answer

Velocity is a measure of the amount of work a team can handle during a single Sprint.

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70. What is Pair Programming?

Answer

Pair Programming is a technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation.

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71. What is Continuous Integration?

Answer

Continuous Integration (CI) is a development practice that requires developers to integrate code into a shared repository several times a day.

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72. What is Test-Driven Development (TDD)?

Answer

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a software development approach in which tests are written before the code to be tested.

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73. What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)?

Answer

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) extends TDD by writing test cases in a natural language that non-programmers can read.

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74. What is the Agile Manifesto?

Answer

The Agile Manifesto is a set of guiding values and principles for Agile software development.

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75. What is the Scrum of Scrums?

Answer

The Scrum of Scrums is a technique used to scale Scrum up to large groups, involving multiple Scrum teams.

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76. What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

Answer

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early adopters.

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77. What is the Parking Lot technique?

Answer

The Parking Lot is a visual management tool used to capture โ€˜off-topicโ€™ issues during a meeting for future discussion.

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78. What is Technical Debt?

Answer

Technical Debt is the implied cost of reworking code caused by choosing an easy, yet less than optimal solution.

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79. What is a Retrospective?

Answer

A Retrospective is a meeting held by a Scrum team at the end of a Sprint to discuss what was successful, what could be improved, and how to incorporate the improvements and keep the good work going.

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80. What is the purpose of a Grooming session?

Answer

The main purpose of a Grooming session, also known as Backlog Refinement, is to ensure that the Product Backlog items are prepared for the upcoming Sprint Planning Meeting.

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81. What is Kanban in Agile?

Answer

Kanban is a visual framework used to implement Agile that helps you visualize your work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency.

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82. What is a Burn-down Chart?

Answer

A Burn-down Chart shows the amount of work remaining in a Sprint or project over time, helping teams to manage their progress.

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83. What is a Spike in Agile?

Answer

A Spike is a user story that cannot be estimated until a development team runs a time-boxed investigation.

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84. What are Agile Metrics?

Answer

Agile Metrics such as velocity, cycle time, and lead time help teams measure their productivity, work quality, and effectiveness.

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85. What is Acceptance Criteria?

Answer

Acceptance Criteria are conditions or requirements that must be met for a user story to be accepted by the Product Owner, customer, or other stakeholders.

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86. What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

Answer

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the last phase of the software testing process where actual users test the software to validate that it functions according to their requirements.

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87. What is Lean Software Development?

Answer

Lean Software Development is an adaptation of lean manufacturing principles to the domain of software development, aiming to eliminate waste and optimize the development lifecycle.

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88. What is INVEST in Agile?

Answer

INVEST is an acronym representing key attributes of good user stories: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable.

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89. What is a Daily Stand-up?

Answer

The Daily Stand-up is a 15-minute time-boxed meeting for the Development Team to synchronize activities and plan for the next 24 hours.

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90. What is MoSCoW in Agile?

Answer

MoSCoW is a prioritization technique used in Agile and other project management methodologies, where items are categorized into Must-haves, Should-haves, Could-haves, and Wonโ€™t-haves.

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91. What is Feature Creep?

Answer

Feature Creep refers to the uncontrolled addition of features or requirements in a project, causing delays or cost overruns.

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92. What is a User Journey Map?

Answer

A User Journey Map is a visualization of the steps a user goes through to achieve a specific goal within your product or service.

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93. What is a Timebox?

Answer

A Timebox is a fixed period designed to encourage productivity by limiting the time allocated to an activity.

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94. What are the Core Agile Principles?

Answer

The 12 Agile Principles are fundamental concepts outlined in the Agile Manifesto to guide Agile projects. They focus on customer collaboration, adaptability, and delivering value.

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95. What is a Burndown Rate?

Answer

The Burndown Rate is the rate at which a Scrum team is completing Product Backlog Items (user stories, tasks, etc.), used to predict the likelihood of completing the Sprint or project on time.

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96. What is Pair Programming?

Answer

Pair Programming is an Agile software development technique where two programmers work together at one workstation, often rotating roles between โ€œdriverโ€ and โ€œobserver.

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97. What is Scrum of Scrums?

Answer

Scrum of Scrums is a meeting where multiple Scrum teams synchronize their work and dependencies, usually facilitated by a โ€œchiefโ€ Scrum Master.

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98. What are Story Points?

Answer

Story Points are a unit of measure used to estimate the complexity of a user story. They are abstract and relative, allowing for more flexible and accurate planning.

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99. What is a Retrospective?

Answer

A Retrospective is a meeting held at the end of each Sprint where the Scrum team discusses what went well, what didnโ€™t, and how they can improve.

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100. What is the Agile Manifesto?

Answer

The Agile Manifesto is a set of four key values and twelve principles that serve as the foundation for Agile software development. It emphasizes individuals and interactions, working solutions, customer collaboration, and responding to change.

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