SAFe-Agilist Multiple Select — 40 Questions

Question 1

A SAFe Agile Release Train (ART) is struggling with long lead times and frequent delays due to large batches of work moving through the system. The RTE wants to apply the SAFe principle 'Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue lengths.' Which two actions should the RTE take to address this? (Choose two.)

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Implement a Kanban board to visualize the flow of work and set explicit WIP limits for each column.. To apply the principle of visualizing and limiting WIP, reducing batch sizes, and managing queue lengths, the RTE should implement a Kanban board with WIP limits and break large features into smaller stories. These actions directly reduce work in process and batch sizes, improving flow and reducing lead times. The other options either increase WIP or do not address the root cause.

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Encourage teams to work on as many features as possible in parallel to increase throughput.

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Increase the number of features in the program backlog to ensure teams always have work.

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Schedule a weekly status meeting to track progress on all in-progress features.

Question 2

Which TWO practices are essential for an Agile Team practicing Built-in Quality in a SAFe environment? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Implementing Test-Driven Development to design and verify code behavior before implementation.. Built-in Quality requires technical practices that ensure quality is embedded into every increment rather than inspected at the end. Test-Driven Development provides immediate feedback and drives clean architecture, while automated regression suites guarantee that new functionality does not break existing features across the system.

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Performing manual integration testing in a dedicated hardening iteration prior to release.

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Submitting all completed code to an independent quality assurance department for final verification.

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Deferring refactoring tasks to dedicated technical debt sprints scheduled every six months.

Question 3

Which TWO of the following are essential elements of the 'Leading the Change' step in the SAFe Implementation Roadmap?

Accepted Answer

Identifying and training Lean-Agile change agents.. The 'Leading the Change' phase focuses on preparing the organization for transformation. It involves identifying change agents and ensuring leadership is aligned. By establishing a guiding coalition and educating leaders, the organization creates a robust foundation. This phase is critical because transformation is not just a process change but a fundamental shift in behavior, mindset, and organizational culture that requires committed and knowledgeable executive sponsorship.

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Training all developers on Scrum methodology.

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Appointing a single Chief Transformation Officer to dictate all process changes.

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Replacing all existing middle management with Agile coaches.

Question 4

An Agile Team is preparing for its first Program Increment and wants to build the Team and Technical Agility competency. The Scrum Master is facilitating a working session on which attributes the team must develop. Which two attributes are core to this competency? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

The team organizes around the flow of value and applies cross-functional skills so it can deliver end-to-end without handoffs.. Team and Technical Agility rests on cross-functional teams organized around value flow and on a shared Definition of Done that embeds Built-in Quality practices. These two attributes let teams deliver working, tested Increments without handoffs and keep quality designed into the product. Long roadmaps, individual velocity metrics, and externalized quality assurance all work against the competency's intent.

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The team tracks individual velocity and uses it as the primary input for performance reviews and compensation decisions.

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The team delegates all testing and quality decisions to a separate quality assurance department to preserve developer focus.

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The team maintains a detailed three-year technology roadmap that the System Architect approves before each Iteration.

Question 5

A SAFe Agilist is guiding a large enterprise that is transitioning to SAFe. The leadership team wants to foster a culture that can adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing market. Which two actions should the Agilist recommend to best support this cultural shift? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Establish a continuous learning culture by creating communities of practice and encouraging knowledge sharing.. To foster a culture that adapts and thrives, SAFe emphasizes lean-agile leadership and continuous learning. Leaders who embrace a growth mindset and servant leadership empower teams and promote psychological safety. Communities of practice and knowledge sharing institutionalize learning and improvement. Together, these actions create an environment where change is embraced and the organization can respond effectively to market shifts.

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Implement strict command-and-control governance to ensure teams adhere to standardized processes.

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Focus exclusively on individual team performance metrics to drive accountability.

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Mandate that all teams use the same tools and processes without exception to ensure consistency.

Question 6

A SAFe transformation is underway, and the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) is planning how to sustain momentum. Which TWO actions are most critical for sustaining the change according to SAFe? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Continue to communicate the vision and celebrate short-term wins.. Sustaining change requires embedding new behaviors into the culture and performance systems, and continuously communicating the vision while celebrating wins. These actions keep the transformation alive and reinforce the desired state. Reducing PI Planning, centralizing decisions, or focusing only on tools would undermine the progress and are not aligned with SAFe's guidance for long-term success.

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Focus exclusively on tooling and automation to improve efficiency.

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Reduce the frequency of PI Planning to give teams more time for development.

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Centralize decision-making to ensure consistency across all Agile Release Trains.

Question 7

Which THREE actions demonstrate 'Relentless Improvement' in a SAFe organization?

Accepted Answer

Conducting regular Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events.. Relentless Improvement is a pillar of the House of Lean, focusing on constant reflection and adjustment. It implies that the current way of working is never good enough and that there is always room to optimize. Organizations that embrace this pillar foster a culture where teams feel safe to experiment, learn from failure, and systematically apply changes to enhance their performance, quality, and speed of delivery over time.

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Rewarding teams for maintaining the status quo.

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Focusing exclusively on technical debt removal.

Question 8

Which THREE factors are critical for calculating WSJF? (Choose three)

Accepted Answer

User-Business Value. WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) is a prioritization model used to optimize economic outcomes. It calculates the value of a job by dividing the Cost of Delay by the job size. The 'Cost of Delay' is further broken down into three components: User-Business Value, Time Criticality, and Risk Reduction or Opportunity Enablement. Understanding these ensures the team prioritizes the highest economic impact work first.

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Team Velocity

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Total number of stakeholders

Question 9

A Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) team is defining the portfolio's approach to funding. They want to ensure that funding decisions are aligned with strategic themes and that value streams have the autonomy to make local decisions. Which TWO of the following are key characteristics of Lean Portfolio Management funding? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Budgets are adjusted frequently based on value delivery and changing strategic priorities.. Lean Portfolio Management funding is characterized by allocating fixed budgets to value streams for a defined period, guided by Lean Budget Guardrails, and adjusting those budgets frequently based on value delivery and strategic priorities. This approach provides autonomy and stability while ensuring alignment with strategy. Central approval of every epic, project-based funding with temporary teams, and approval of user stories are antithetical to Lean principles.

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Funding is tied to individual projects with defined start and end dates, and teams are disbanded after each project.

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The LPM team approves every team's individual user stories to ensure alignment with strategy.

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Funding decisions are made centrally by the LPM team for every epic, regardless of size.

Question 10

Which TWO of these are core pillars of the SAFe House of Lean?

Accepted Answer

Innovation. The House of Lean has four pillars: Respect for People and Culture, Flow, Innovation, and Relentless Improvement. Value is the roof, and Leadership is the foundation. These pillars provide the framework for Lean-Agile organizations to achieve optimal business outcomes. Understanding these pillars is essential for any SAFe professional to guide their organization toward a culture of continuous delivery and high-quality product development while ensuring the workforce remains engaged and empowered.

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Technical Excellence

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Customer Centricity

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Management by Objectives

Question 11

When leading organizational change using SAFe, which TWO actions are critical for creating an environment of psychological safety within agile teams? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Encourage transparent retrospectives where failures are analyzed for systemic root causes rather than individual blame.. Psychological safety is fundamental for high-performing teams, allowing members to voice concerns, experiment, and admit mistakes without fear of negative consequences. Leaders cultivate this environment by encouraging transparent failure analysis and protecting team members from punitive management reactions during complex problem-solving.

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Tie individual compensation directly to velocity metrics to motivate teams to increase their output.

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Enforce strict adherence to standardized work templates to ensure maximum uniformity across all departments.

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Mandate overtime during every Program Increment to demonstrate high commitment to executive stakeholders.

Question 12

Which TWO factors are most critical when defining 'Strategic Themes' for a Lean Portfolio?

Accepted Answer

They must be clearly linked to the enterprise's mission and business strategy.. Strategic Themes are high-level business objectives that connect the portfolio to the enterprise's broader strategy. They must be actionable and influence the portfolio's investment decisions. By clearly defining these themes, the organization ensures that its resources are directed toward the most important areas, providing a clear filter for which epics should be pursued and how the budget should be allocated.

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They should be written as highly detailed technical requirements for developers.

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They should be updated on a daily basis to reflect current market trends.

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They should focus exclusively on cost-cutting and headcount reduction.

Question 13

Which THREE of the following are examples of Lean Portfolio Management guardrails?

Accepted Answer

Applying investment horizon distributions to ensure portfolio balance.. Guardrails are policies and practices that provide the necessary constraints for decentralized decision-making in a SAFe portfolio. By using guardrails, LPM can ensure that investments are balanced across horizons, that technical debt is managed, and that spend remains within agreed-upon limits. These controls allow teams to act with autonomy while ensuring they remain within the financial and technical boundaries established for the healthy operation of the portfolio.

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Mandating that every team uses the same Jira workflow template.

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Reviewing all individual code commits at the portfolio level.

Question 14

Which THREE items are typically included in an Epic Hypothesis Statement? (Select three)

Accepted Answer

The business outcome hypothesis.. The Epic Hypothesis Statement is a critical tool for ensuring that every investment is backed by a clear business outcome and a way to measure success. By defining the 'Leading Indicators' and 'Business Outcomes,' the portfolio team ensures that they are not just building features but actually solving customer problems. This structured approach helps prevent the waste of building unproven ideas and keeps the organization focused on delivering real value.

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The detailed technical design specification.

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The non-functional requirement list.

Question 15

Which TWO of the following are benefits of decentralized decision-making in Lean Portfolio Management?

Accepted Answer

Increased speed of decision-making by reducing wait times for approvals.. Decentralization is a core principle of SAFe that empowers those closest to the work to make rapid, informed decisions. This reduces the delay caused by waiting for leadership approval and increases team ownership and motivation. By pushing decision-making to the lowest possible level, the portfolio becomes more responsive to market changes, improves the speed of value delivery, and allows the organization to scale effectively without creating central bottlenecks that stall progress.

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Greater consistency in decision-making across the entire enterprise.

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Elimination of the need for any strategic alignment with the portfolio.

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Reduction in the need for cross-functional communication.

Question 16

Which TWO of the following are primary responsibilities of the Scrum Master in a SAFe context? (Select TWO)

Accepted Answer

Removing impediments to the team’s progress.. The Scrum Master acts as a servant-leader, focusing on removing impediments and fostering high-performing team dynamics. In SAFe, they also facilitate flow and coordinate with other teams. These roles are critical because the Scrum Master ensures that the team can execute effectively without distractions, which is essential for maintaining the cadences required for program-level alignment and value delivery.

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Prioritizing the Team Backlog.

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Defining the technical architecture for the team.

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Approving the final product release for the customer.

Question 17

Which THREE of the following are primary indicators that an organization is successfully adapting to the SAFe mindset? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Increased predictability in delivery through the use of velocity and flow metrics.. Success in SAFe is measured by the ability to deliver value predictably while maintaining a culture of improvement. Indicators like improved flow, empowered teams, and data-driven decision-making show that the organization has moved past the rigid structure of traditional hierarchies. These three indicators signify a shift where the organization is no longer just following rules, but is actively using SAFe practices to respond to business needs effectively.

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The implementation of a strict 'Command and Control' reporting structure.

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A focus on output (total features completed) over outcomes (value delivered).

Question 18

Which TWO of the following are essential mindset shifts for an organization transitioning to a culture of continuous learning and adaptation in SAFe? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Moving from individual performance metrics to team-based flow metrics.. Moving to SAFe requires a shift from project-based, command-and-control management to a product-centric, decentralized decision-making model. By focusing on psychological safety and building quality in, organizations create an environment where innovation thrives. These shifts enable teams to learn from failures quickly and adapt their processes, ensuring the organization remains competitive in a rapidly changing business landscape through constant feedback loops and iterative improvement cycles.

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Strict adherence to standardized processes to reduce variability.

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Centralizing decision-making to ensure total management control.

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Prioritizing the completion of all planned scope over customer feedback.

Question 19

Which THREE items are key components of the Portfolio Vision? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Strategic Themes.. The Portfolio Vision articulates the future state of the portfolio. It encompasses the strategic themes, the target value streams, and the key business outcomes the enterprise intends to achieve. These elements provide a clear direction for all stakeholders, helping to align investment decisions and ensure that everyone is working toward a common goal. This vision is vital for maintaining coherence across disparate initiatives and ensuring long-term success.

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Individual team member performance goals.

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Specific Jira ticket IDs.

Question 20

An organization is transitioning to Lean Portfolio Management. Which TWO of the following outcomes should the organization expect from establishing a Lean Budgeting process?

Accepted Answer

Faster decision-making through decentralized funding.. Lean Budgeting shifts focus from project-based funding to value-stream funding, which reduces the overhead of frequent re-budgeting. By funding value streams instead of individual projects, organizations empower teams to pivot quickly without seeking new budget approvals. This aligns with the SAFe principle of decentralized decision-making, allowing for faster response to market changes and better alignment with long-term strategic goals, thus improving the overall economic health of the enterprise.

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Increased administrative overhead due to granular project-level tracking.

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More frequent re-budgeting cycles to ensure strict compliance.

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Reduced focus on the Portfolio Kanban to simplify operations.