SSM Practice Test 12 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An Agile Team consistently delivers working software each Iteration, but the Scrum Master / Team Coach notices that the team rarely collaborates with other teams on the Agile Release Train. The team completes their own work but does not participate in ART Sync or share progress during the PI. What should the Scrum Master do to improve this situation?

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

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to attend ART Sync and actively share dependencies, risks, and progress to foster transparency across the ART.. ART Sync exists to help teams coordinate, surface dependencies, and maintain transparency across the Agile Release Train. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should coach the team to participate actively rather than escalate or isolate. Encouraging direct engagement helps the team share progress and risks, which improves integration and flow. This approach builds collaboration without resorting to mandates or removing the team's voice.

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Ask the Product Owner to represent the team at ART Sync and report on their behalf to save the team time.

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Suggest the team skip ART Sync since they are delivering successfully and instead focus on their own Iteration goals.

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Escalate to the Release Train Engineer that the team is not participating in ART Sync so the RTE can mandate attendance.

Question 2

A newly formed Agile Team in a SAFe ART is struggling with self-organization. Team members constantly look to the Scrum Master / Team Coach to assign tasks and make decisions. Which action best fulfills the Scrum Master / Team Coach role in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team on self-management by asking powerful questions and facilitating team decision-making rather than providing direct answers.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should coach the team to become self-organizing. Asking powerful questions and facilitating decision-making helps the team learn to solve problems independently. This approach aligns with the servant leader role and builds sustainable capability, rather than creating reliance on the Scrum Master for direction.

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Recommend that the team adopt a strict task board with predefined columns and require daily updates to enforce accountability.

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Escalate the team's lack of self-organization to the Release Train Engineer so they can provide additional guidance.

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Assign tasks to team members based on their skills and track progress to ensure the Iteration Goal is met.

Question 3

You are the Scrum Master / Team Coach for a newly formed Agile Team on an Agile Release Train. During the first Iteration Retrospective, the team debates whether the Scrum Master is a management role that assigns tasks and approves time off. Which statement best describes the Scrum Master / Team Coach role in SAFe?

Accepted Answer

The Scrum Master / Team Coach is a servant leader and coach who helps the team improve its flow, facilitates events, and removes impediments.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach in SAFe is fundamentally a servant leader and coach. The role facilitates team events, coaches the team on Lean-Agile practices, helps build a high-performing team, and removes impediments. It does not assign tasks, act as proxy Product Owner, or serve primarily as a status reporter. Understanding this distinction is essential when clarifying role expectations with a new team.

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The Scrum Master / Team Coach reports team status to the Release Train Engineer and escalates all delivery risks on the team's behalf.

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The Scrum Master / Team Coach acts as the team's proxy Product Owner when the Product Owner is unavailable, prioritizing the Team Backlog.

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The Scrum Master / Team Coach owns the team's work assignments and ensures each developer is fully utilized by allocating tasks daily.

Question 4

A Scrum Master / Team Coach is working with a new Agile Team that is struggling to self-organize. The team frequently waits for the Scrum Master to assign tasks and make decisions. Which TWO actions best support the team in developing self-management? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Teach the team to use the Iteration Retrospective to identify their own improvements and commit to actions.. Self-management grows when the team owns its process and decisions. Using the Iteration Retrospective to drive improvements and establishing team agreements on decision-making and conflict resolution both transfer ownership to the team. Assigning tasks, making decisions for the team, or imposing a strict process all keep the Scrum Master at the center, which prevents the team from learning to self-organize.

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Assign clear tasks to each team member at the start of each Iteration to ensure work is distributed evenly.

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Make key decisions for the team during Iteration Planning to keep the event on schedule.

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Direct the team to follow a strict task assignment process defined by the Scrum Master until they improve.

Question 5

During a Sprint Review, a stakeholder harshly criticizes the team's work, saying it does not meet their expectations. The Product Owner becomes defensive, and the team looks demoralized. As the Scrum Master / Team Coach, what is the most appropriate action?

Accepted Answer

Intervene to facilitate a constructive conversation, ensuring the stakeholder's feedback is heard while protecting the team's psychological safety.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should facilitate the Sprint Review to ensure feedback is exchanged constructively while protecting the team's psychological safety. Intervening to structure the conversation helps turn criticism into actionable insights and keeps the event focused on product inspection and adaptation.

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End the Sprint Review early to prevent further damage and reschedule it for a later date without the stakeholder.

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After the review, privately tell the Product Owner to manage stakeholder expectations better in the future.

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Defend the team by explaining why the stakeholder's expectations were unrealistic and not part of the agreed scope.

Question 6

A Scrum Master / Team Coach notices that during Iteration Planning the team's discussions are dominated by two senior developers, while newer members stay silent. The team's estimates and commitments are often unrealistic, and the Retrospective reveals that quieter members feel their concerns are ignored. What should the Scrum Master / Team Coach do first to improve team performance?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team on facilitation techniques and psychological safety, such as round-robin input, silent brainstorming, and explicit invitation of dissenting views.. When a few voices dominate and others feel ignored, the Scrum Master / Team Coach should first improve facilitation and psychological safety. Inclusive techniques such as round-robin, silent brainstorming, and explicit invitation of dissent surface diverse perspectives, leading to more realistic estimates and stronger commitment. Staffing changes or shortened meetings treat symptoms and leave the underlying team dynamic unresolved.

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Recommend that the Product Owner assign stories only to the two senior developers until the newer members gain more experience.

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Escalate to the Release Train Engineer that the team lacks the skills to plan realistically and request additional senior engineers.

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Shorten Iteration Planning by limiting discussion to the two senior developers so the team can start working sooner.

Question 7

An Agile Team is consistently unable to complete all their stories within the Iteration because they frequently get pulled into unplanned production support work. As the Scrum Master / Team Coach, what is the most effective action to help the team meet their Iteration Goals?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team discussion to quantify the production support effort and work with the Product Owner to allocate a percentage of Iteration capacity for unplanned work.. The most effective action is to make unplanned work visible and plan for it by allocating capacity. This helps the team meet Iteration Goals more predictably. The Scrum Master / Team Coach facilitates collaboration between the team and Product Owner to adjust planning, which is a core part of the role in SAFe.

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Instruct the team to ignore production support requests during the Iteration and focus solely on planned stories to meet the Iteration Goal.

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Recommend that the team extend their Iteration by a few days to complete the unplanned work, and adjust the next Iteration accordingly.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to assign a separate team to handle all production support so the team can focus on planned work.

Question 8

A SAFe Scrum Master / Team Coach is new to an Agile Team that has been operating without a dedicated coach for several months. The team's Product Owner is also new and the team has no established working agreements. Which action best reflects the Scrum Master / Team Coach role as a servant leader in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a team session to co-create working agreements and model the behaviors that support them.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach is a servant leader who helps the team become self-managing. Facilitating the team to co-create its own working agreements and modeling the expected behaviors builds ownership and accountability. Prescribing or escalating agreements would undermine the team's autonomy and fail to develop the team's capability to manage its own work.

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Ask the Product Owner to define the working agreements since they own the team's backlog and priorities.

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Escalate to the Release Train Engineer to assign a standard set of working agreements for all teams on the train.

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Direct the team to adopt a specific set of working agreements that you have used successfully on other teams.

Question 9

During a SAFe Scrum Master's facilitation of the Iteration Retrospective, one developer proposes a process change that would eliminate the team's daily synchronization. Another developer objects strongly, and the discussion becomes heated. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Pause the discussion, acknowledge both perspectives, and ask the team to explore the underlying need before deciding on any change to their synchronization approach.. The Scrum Master facilitates the Retrospective to keep it safe and productive while preserving the team's ownership of its process. Pausing a heated debate, acknowledging both viewpoints, and guiding the team to the underlying need lets the team decide thoughtfully. Mandating the Daily Stand-up, letting conflict escalate, or escalating to the RTE all fail to serve the team's self-management.

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Escalate the disagreement to the Release Train Engineer so that the RTE can decide whether the team may change its synchronization practice.

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Allow the debate to continue until the team reaches consensus, then capture the decision as an action item in the Retrospective output.

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Remind the team that the Daily Stand-up is mandatory in SAFe and that process changes cannot be made at the Retrospective.

Question 10

A Scrum Master/Team Coach is asked by a manager to provide a weekly status report listing each developer's individual productivity and hours worked. The team delivers value together and tracks progress at the team level. What should the coach do?

Accepted Answer

Educate the manager on why team-level flow metrics better reflect delivery and offer a report based on Iteration progress and impediments.. The coach should protect the team from individual productivity tracking and educate the manager about team-level flow and Iteration progress. Offering a suitable alternative meets the real need for visibility without undermining collaboration. This is a core part of the Scrum Master/Team Coach's role in fostering a healthy, team-oriented system.

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Provide the individual productivity and hours data as requested to maintain a good relationship with the manager.

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Refuse the request outright and tell the manager that such reports are prohibited in SAFe.

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Ask the Product Owner to compile the individual report because they already interact with stakeholders and own team communication.

Question 11

A Scrum Master / Team Coach is supporting an Agile Team that has been consistently meeting their Iteration goals but is now facing a complex technical decision that could impact other teams on the Agile Release Train. The team wants to make the decision independently and quickly. What should the Scrum Master do to balance team autonomy with ART alignment?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to make the decision, but facilitate a quick check with affected teams and the System Architect to understand broader impacts.. Balancing autonomy and alignment means the team owns the decision but consults those affected. Facilitating a quick check with impacted teams and the System Architect surfaces dependencies and architectural guidance without removing ownership. Halting for RTE approval, skipping consultation, or handing the decision to the Product Owner all fail to achieve this balance and can create delays or integration problems.

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Allow the team to decide independently without consultation since they have a strong track record of meeting goals.

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Ask the Product Owner to make the technical decision to ensure it aligns with the program backlog priorities.

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Instruct the team to halt the decision until the Release Train Engineer can review and approve it to ensure ART alignment.

Question 12

The Scrum Master / Team Coach for an Agile Team notices that the team consistently treats the Iteration Retrospective as a complaint session, with no actions carried forward. The team is frustrated but no improvements stick. Which action best fulfills the Scrum Master / Team Coach role?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to identify a small number of actionable improvements, assign owners, and review progress at the next Retrospective.. A Retrospective that produces no actions is a facilitation and follow-through problem. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should coach the team to select a small number of improvements, assign owners, and review them at the next Retrospective. This creates a cadence of inspect-and-adapt, builds ownership, and turns frustration into tangible progress without removing the team's accountability for its own process.

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Document every complaint in a risk register and track them as program-level risks until they are resolved.

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Take the team's complaints to the Release Train Engineer and ask the RTE to define improvement actions for the team.

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Replace the Retrospective with a status meeting so the team can focus on delivery instead of discussing problems.

Question 13

A SAFe Scrum Master / Team Coach has been assigned to a newly formed Agile Team. During the first Iteration Retrospective, team members express confusion about the difference between their daily coordination and the broader alignment across the Agile Release Train (ART). Which action best fulfills the Scrum Master's role in helping the team understand their place within the ART?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion that maps the team's Iteration Goals to the ART's PI Objectives and clarifies how team events (like Iteration Planning and System Demos) feed into ART-level cadence.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach helps the team see how their work connects to the ART's goals. Mapping Iteration Goals to PI Objectives and clarifying how team events feed into ART cadence builds that understanding. This action respects the team's autonomy while reinforcing SAFe's synchronization. The other options either isolate the team, ignore team-level events, or inappropriately alter backlog priorities.

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Instruct the team to stop holding their own daily stand-up and instead attend the ART's Scrum of Scrums to ensure alignment.

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Schedule a separate meeting with the Product Owner to redefine the team's backlog so that it only contains items that do not require ART coordination.

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Explain that the team's daily work is independent and that ART alignment is solely the Release Train Engineer's responsibility.

Question 14

During a PI Planning event, the Scrum Master / Team Coach notices that the team is not raising risks or dependencies during the draft plan review. The team seems hesitant to speak up in front of the larger ART. What should the Scrum Master do to improve the team's ability to surface risks and dependencies?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team before the next review to prepare and practice raising risks, and create a safe environment for them to speak.. Surfacing risks and dependencies requires psychological safety and skill. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should prepare the team and create a safe space for them to speak during draft plan review. Speaking for the team, mandating contributions, or skipping the review all fail to develop the team's ability to communicate in the ART forum, which is essential for effective PI Planning and dependency management.

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Raise the risks and dependencies on behalf of the team during the review to ensure they are captured.

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Tell the team that they must raise at least one risk each to comply with PI Planning requirements.

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Skip the draft plan review for this team and instead have them share risks privately with the Release Train Engineer.

Question 15

A SAFe Scrum Master notices that during Iteration Review, the team demonstrates only completed user stories and avoids discussing any stories that failed acceptance criteria. The Product Owner is surprised later when several stories are not accepted. What should the Scrum Master do to improve the effectiveness of this event?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to demonstrate all stories worked on during the Iteration, including those not meeting acceptance criteria, so stakeholders can give feedback and the team can inspect its actual progress.. The Iteration Review exists so the team and stakeholders inspect the actual Increment and adapt. Demonstrating all work, including stories that did not meet acceptance criteria, creates transparency and enables early feedback. Pre-screening demonstrations, replacing the event with a report, or marking failed stories complete all hide reality and undermine the Product Owner's ability to steer the backlog.

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Move the Iteration Review to a written status report distributed before the event so the Product Owner can review acceptance status without a live demonstration.

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Instruct the team to mark any story not meeting acceptance criteria as complete in the team backlog and address the gaps in the next Iteration.

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Ask the Product Owner to send acceptance criteria to the team before the Iteration Review so the team can pre-screen which stories are safe to demonstrate.