SSM Practice Test 17 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A newly formed Scrum team inside an Agile Release Train has finished its first two iterations. The Scrum Master observes that the team keeps accepting work beyond its capacity and never finishes the Iteration Goals. Which action best reflects the Scrum Master's role when introducing Scrum in SAFe?

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

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to use its historical velocity and capacity when selecting stories during Iteration Planning, and inspect the result in the Retrospective.. The Scrum Master serves the team by coaching self-management and continuous improvement. Guiding the team to forecast from velocity and capacity during Iteration Planning, then inspecting the outcome in the Retrospective, directly builds the Scrum discipline being introduced. Escalation, personnel changes, or asking the Product Owner to shrink the backlog all avoid the team's own accountability for planning and improvement.

Answer

Reassign the lowest-performing team member to another team so the remaining members can meet the Iteration Goals.

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Escalate the team's velocity shortfall to the Release Train Engineer so the ART can re-plan the Program Increment.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to reduce the number of stories in the Team Backlog so the team can finish everything planned.

Question 2

During the Scrum of Scrums (SoS) meeting, a representative from Team Alpha reports that they are blocked by a database schema change that Team Bravo must make. The SoS facilitator asks the Scrum Master of Team Alpha to take action. What is the most appropriate next step for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Escalate the dependency to the Release Train Engineer (RTE) and ensure it is tracked on the ART board.. The Scrum of Scrums is a daily or frequent event for coordinating cross-team dependencies. When a dependency cannot be resolved within the SoS, the Scrum Master should escalate it to the Release Train Engineer and ensure it is tracked on the ART board. This makes the impediment visible and allows the RTE to facilitate a timely resolution, keeping the ART aligned.

Answer

Ask Team Bravo's Product Owner to reprioritize the schema change to the top of their backlog immediately.

Answer

Wait until the next PI Planning to raise the dependency as a risk.

Answer

Instruct Team Alpha to work around the dependency by building a temporary database schema of their own.

Question 3

A Scrum Master is helping Team Charlie prepare for the upcoming Scrum of Scrums. Which two activities should the Scrum Master ensure the team performs before attending the Scrum of Scrums? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Identify dependencies on other teams and note any that are at risk of affecting delivery this iteration.. The Scrum of Scrums is a coordination event where team representatives synchronize work, surface cross-team dependencies, and raise impediments that need help beyond the team. Preparing by reviewing progress against iteration goals and identifying at-risk dependencies ensures the team contributes useful information and that issues are addressed before they threaten delivery.

Answer

Re-estimate all remaining backlog items to ensure the team's velocity forecast is accurate.

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Prepare a demonstration of the team's latest feature for stakeholders attending the Scrum of Scrums.

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Complete a full root-cause analysis of every defect found during the iteration.

Question 4

During the System Demo, a Product Owner for Team Delta notices that a feature demonstrated by another team directly overlaps with a capability her team planned to deliver next Iteration, creating a potential integration conflict. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Capture the overlap as an impediment and help facilitate a follow-up conversation between the two teams after the System Demo concludes.. The System Demo exists so the ART can inspect the integrated solution together and surface issues like overlapping work. The Scrum Master's role is to help the team and ART act on what is discovered. Facilitating a focused follow-up between the affected teams after the demo keeps the event intact while ensuring the conflict is addressed collaboratively before it disrupts the next Iteration.

Answer

Escalate directly to the Release Train Engineer and ask that the other team's feature be dropped from the next PI.

Answer

Instruct the demonstrating team to stop the demo immediately so the conflict can be resolved before continuing.

Answer

Log the overlap in the team's backlog as a new story and assign it to the next Iteration without discussing it with the other team.

Question 5

As the Scrum Master for Team Echo, you are facilitating the team's participation in the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop. The team has identified several problems from the last PI. Which TWO activities are part of the problem-solving workshop during I&A? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Conducting a root cause analysis using a fishbone diagram or the Five Whys technique.. The problem-solving workshop in Inspect and Adapt involves structured root cause analysis and the definition of corrective actions with owners and due dates. These activities ensure the ART identifies systemic issues and commits to improvements. Reprioritizing backlogs, conducting System Demos, and updating PI Objectives belong to other events or processes, not the I&A workshop.

Answer

Updating the team's PI Objectives and committing to new stretch goals.

Answer

Conducting a System Demo of the integrated solution to stakeholders.

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Reviewing the team's backlog and reprioritizing user stories for the next Iteration.

Question 6

A SAFe Scrum Master is facilitating the team's first Iteration Retrospective after a challenging iteration. The team is quiet and hesitant to speak. Which TWO actions should the Scrum Master take to create a safe environment and encourage participation? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Use a structured activity like silent brainstorming or a round-robin to give everyone a turn to contribute without interruption.. To encourage participation in a hesitant team, the Scrum Master should model vulnerability and use structured facilitation techniques that give everyone a voice. Sharing a personal mistake builds trust and openness, while silent brainstorming or round-robin ensures balanced contribution. Delegating to the Product Owner for performance feedback, lecturing about principles, or mandating blame all undermine psychological safety and would likely increase silence.

Answer

Read the team the SAFe principle of 'Assume variability; preserve options' and explain why they should not be hesitant.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to lead the retrospective and provide feedback on each team member's performance.

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Set a rule that each team member must identify at least one failing of a colleague to ensure accountability.

Question 7

During the management review and problem-solving session at the end of PI Planning, a business owner asks the Scrum Master of Team Delta why the team's plan includes a stretch objective that depends on an unproven technology. What is the most appropriate response for the Scrum Master?

Accepted Answer

Explain that the objective is a stretch goal, not committed scope, and that the team has identified the technology risk on the program board.. Stretch objectives are optional goals pursued only after committed objectives are achieved, and they are a legitimate way to explore new technology and reduce future risk. The Scrum Master should clarify that the objective is not committed scope and confirm that the associated technology risk is captured on the program board or in the team's risk list.

Answer

Explain that the stretch objective reflects the team's committed scope and will be delivered regardless of the technology risk.

Answer

State that stretch objectives are decided by the Release Train Engineer and that the business owner should raise the concern with them.

Answer

Agree to remove the stretch objective immediately so the team's plan contains no uncertainty for the ART.

Question 8

A newly formed Scrum team on an Agile Release Train has just held its first Sprint Planning. The Product Owner presented a Sprint Goal and a set of prioritized stories, but the developers spent most of the session waiting for the Product Owner to assign each task. The Scrum Master wants to coach the team toward self-management in future Sprints. Which action best supports this goal?

Accepted Answer

Ask the developers to self-select the stories they will work on and collaboratively define the tasks needed to meet the Sprint Goal.. Self-management means the developers decide how to turn selected Product Backlog items into value. Inviting them to pull stories and define tasks shifts ownership from the Product Owner to the team and builds the capability the Scrum Master is chartered to grow.

Answer

Have the Scrum Master create the task breakdown and distribute it to the team after Sprint Planning.

Answer

Instruct the Product Owner to assign tasks during Sprint Planning so the team can start work immediately.

Answer

Wait until the Retrospective and then tell the team they must be more self-managing in the next Sprint.

Question 9

A Scrum Master is preparing a team for its first ART sync after PI Planning. The team has several stories that depend on another team's API changes and one architectural concern that may affect the whole train. What should the Scrum Master ensure the team brings to the ART sync?

Accepted Answer

The dependency on the other team's API work, the architectural concern, and any blockers or risks that require ART-level coordination.. The ART sync is a coordination event where teams align on dependencies, integration points, risks, and ART-level impediments. For this team, the cross-team API dependency and the architectural concern are precisely the items that require train-wide visibility so they can be tracked and resolved. Status percentages, backlog detail, and demonstrations belong to other events and would dilute the sync's purpose.

Answer

A complete backlog review with estimates for all upcoming stories so other teams can plan their own capacity around the team's workload.

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A demonstration of the team's completed stories so other teams can confirm the interfaces they depend on are stable.

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A status report listing every story the team has started and the percentage of completion for each.

Question 10

During the ART Sync, the Scrum Master for Team Delta observes that their team has completed all committed stories for the current iteration, but the team's Features are not yet integrated with the other teams' work. The Release Train Engineer asks how Team Delta plans to support the Iteration Review and System Demo. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?

Accepted Answer

Advise the team to focus on integrating their completed work with other teams and prepare for the System Demo.. The System Demo requires integrated work from all teams to provide a comprehensive view of the ART's progress. Team Delta should proactively integrate their completed Features with other teams' work and prepare to demonstrate a working solution. This supports the ART's cadence and the SAFe principle of frequent integration, enabling effective inspect and adapt at the ART level.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to reprioritize the team's backlog to include only integration tasks for the next PI.

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Escalate to the Release Train Engineer to assign another team to complete the integration work on Team Delta's behalf.

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Instruct the team to stop working on new stories and wait until the System Demo to see if integration is needed.

Question 11

A Scrum Master notices that the team's representatives arrive at the Scrum of Scrums unprepared, giving vague status and failing to raise dependencies that later surface as blockers. What is the most effective action to improve this ART event?

Accepted Answer

Work with the team to prepare its representative before the event by reviewing progress, dependencies, and impediments in advance.. The Scrum of Scrums works when representatives come prepared with accurate progress, dependencies, and impediments. Helping the team prepare its representative addresses that root cause and keeps the event a peer coordination forum. Replacing the attendee, converting the event into a status meeting, or having the Scrum Master attend instead all remove the team's ownership and fail to build the preparation habit.

Answer

Have the Scrum Master attend in place of the team representative and relay information back to the team afterward.

Answer

Ask the Release Train Engineer to convert the Scrum of Scrums into a status meeting with a fixed template that each team must submit.

Answer

Replace the representatives with the Product Owner so that priorities and dependencies are communicated more authoritatively.

Question 12

A newly formed Scrum team inside an Agile Release Train has finished its first two iterations. The Scrum Master observes that the team keeps accepting work beyond its capacity and never finishes the Iteration Goals. Which action best reflects the Scrum Master's role when introducing Scrum in SAFe?

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

Accepted Answer

The Team Backlog. The Team Backlog is the team's own ordered list of user stories and enablers, created from the Program Backlog and continuously refined by the team. Populating it first gives the team something concrete to estimate, sequence, and pull into iterations, which is the prerequisite for all other team-level Scrum events.

Answer

The Program Board

Answer

The Solution Intent

Answer

The ART Kanban

Question 13

During the Inspect and Adapt, the ART's quantitative measurement shows program predictability dropped sharply in the last PI. Several teams blame an unplanned production incident that consumed capacity. As the Scrum Master facilitating the problem-solving workshop, what should you do first?

Accepted Answer

Guide the group through root-cause analysis to understand why the incident had such an outsized effect, then agree on corrective actions the ART can carry into the next PI.. The problem-solving workshop applies structured root-cause analysis to a significant ART problem and produces corrective actions for the next PI. Treating the production incident as the root cause stops at a symptom; facilitating the group to understand why the incident was so disruptive surfaces the systemic conditions the ART can actually change. The output then feeds the next PI's planning.

Answer

Recommend that the ART defer the analysis until the next PI Planning, when all stakeholders are present and capacity can be reallocated more easily.

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Record the production incident as the root cause and assign the infrastructure team to create a preventive runbook before the next PI.

Answer

Poll the teams to determine which one lost the most capacity and prioritize that team's improvement items in the next PI.

Question 14

During the Inspect and Adapt event, the ART's metrics show that the predictability measure has dropped for three consecutive PIs. The Scrum Master of one team believes the drop is caused by unplanned work entering mid-PI. Which action best supports the ART in addressing this?

Accepted Answer

Help the ART use the problem-solving workshop to analyze the unplanned work trend and identify root causes before agreeing on improvement items.. A sustained drop in predictability is a systemic signal that belongs in the Inspect and Adapt event's problem-solving workshop. There, the ART analyzes data, identifies root causes such as unplanned work, and agrees on improvement items with owners. The Scrum Master supports this by facilitating the analysis and helping the ART turn findings into concrete improvements rather than masking or gaming the metric.

Answer

Advise the Release Train Engineer to exclude any team with unplanned work from the next PI Planning session.

Answer

Suggest the team simply commit to fewer objectives next PI so the percentage improves regardless of unplanned work.

Answer

Recommend that the ART stop tracking the predictability measure since it is causing unnecessary pressure on teams.

Question 15

A Scrum team new to SAFe is preparing for its first Iteration Review. The Product Owner plans to present a slide deck summarizing the team's work and take questions. What should the Scrum Master recommend to align with Scrum in SAFe?

Accepted Answer

Demonstrate the working increment to stakeholders and use their feedback to adapt the Team Backlog.. The Iteration Review is a working-session event where the team demonstrates the increment to stakeholders and uses their feedback to adapt the Team Backlog. Slides describing work are not the increment and cannot be inspected empirically. The Scrum Master should coach the Product Owner and team to show the actual product and invite stakeholder input.

Answer

Replace the Iteration Review with a written status report distributed to ART stakeholders.

Answer

Present the slide deck but limit questions to the Product Owner to keep the event timeboxed.

Answer

Postpone the review until the end of the PI so all four iterations can be demonstrated at once.