SSM Practice Test 5 — 10 Questions

Question 1

During the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event, the ART's metrics show that the Program Predictability Measure for the last PI was 60%. The RTE facilitates a problem-solving workshop where teams identify 'unclear acceptance criteria' as a root cause. As the Scrum Master for one of the teams, what is your most appropriate next step to support the ART's improvement?

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

Accepted Answer

Work with the RTE and other Scrum Masters to create an improvement story for the ART's backlog that addresses acceptance criteria clarity across teams.. The Inspect and Adapt event culminates in the problem-solving workshop, where root causes are identified and improvement items are added to the ART backlog. When a root cause is systemic, the Scrum Master should collaborate with the RTE and other Scrum Masters to create an ART-level improvement story, ensuring a coordinated and tracked solution rather than isolated team fixes.

Answer

Schedule a separate meeting with your team's Product Owner to rewrite all user stories with clearer acceptance criteria for the next PI.

Answer

Update the team's Definition of Done to include a mandatory review of acceptance criteria by the Product Owner before sprint planning.

Answer

Escalate the issue to the Business Owners and request additional funding for a dedicated business analyst to write acceptance criteria.

Question 2

During a Daily Stand-up, a team member states that they are blocked by a missing test environment. Which action should the Scrum Master take first?

Accepted Answer

Ask the team member to raise a ticket and continue the stand-up, then follow up after the event to help resolve the impediment.. The Daily Stand-up is a timeboxed coordination event, so impediments should be noted and addressed afterward. The Scrum Master's first action is to ensure the blocker is captured and then actively help remove it, preserving the stand-up's focus. This balances respect for the timebox with the Scrum Master's accountability for impediment removal.

Answer

Instruct the team member to work on a different backlog item until the environment is available.

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Escalate the blocker to the Release Train Engineer during the stand-up and wait for instructions.

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Extend the stand-up to brainstorm solutions with the entire team until the environment issue is resolved.

Question 3

During the Inspect and Adapt event for the first Agile Release Train PI, a newly formed Scrum Team expresses frustration that their velocity dropped significantly in the second iteration due to technical debt and unexpected defect rework. How should the Scrum Master guide the team in utilizing this feedback?

Accepted Answer

Guide the team to analyze the root causes of rework and create specific improvement backlog items to address technical debt during upcoming iterations.. The Inspect and Adapt event provides a structured mechanism for teams to evaluate their performance, identify systemic impediments, and generate actionable improvement backlog items. By framing the velocity drop as a learning opportunity rather than a failure, the Scrum Master helps the team prioritize technical debt remediation. This ensures continuous improvement is systematically integrated into future iteration planning sessions.

Answer

Recommend that the team abandon formal Definition of Done criteria temporarily to restore high story point delivery velocity in the next iteration.

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Advise the Product Owner to remove all complex stories from the team backlog until the team achieves a stable baseline velocity of thirty points.

Answer

Report the velocity drop as an underperformance issue to executive management so they can reassign lower-performing developers to other teams.

Question 4

During the Iteration Review, a stakeholder heavily criticizes a feature. How should the Scrum Master intervene?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the stakeholder to provide specific, actionable feedback that the team can consider.. The Scrum Master must maintain the psychological safety of the team while allowing constructive feedback. By redirecting the conversation toward the specific, actionable aspects of the feedback, the Scrum Master ensures the session remains productive. This professional handling of conflict models the behavior expected in a collaborative environment and prevents the review from devolving into a personal attack on developers.

Answer

Defend the team immediately to prevent the stakeholder from being rude.

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Ask the stakeholder to leave the review if they cannot be respectful to the team.

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Apologize to the stakeholder for the feature and promise to redo it immediately.

Question 5

A team is struggling to implement 'Built-in Quality' and frequently has a high number of defects at the end of an Iteration. How can the Scrum Master best help?

Accepted Answer

Encourage the team to adopt Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Pair Programming.. Built-in Quality is a core SAFe principle. The Scrum Master supports this by coaching the team on technical practices like Test-First, Continuous Integration, and Pair Work. By facilitating the adoption of these practices, the Scrum Master helps the team reduce rework and ensure that quality is considered throughout the development process, not just at the end.

Answer

Suggest the team adds a 'Quality Assurance' phase at the end of each Iteration to catch bugs.

Answer

Ask the Product Owner to lower the acceptance criteria so that more Stories can pass testing.

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Hire a dedicated tester for the team to take over all the validation and verification work.

Question 6

A team finds that they consistently fail to finish their committed stories. During the retrospective, the Scrum Master notices the team is spending significant time on unplanned support tickets. What should the Scrum Master recommend?

Accepted Answer

Work with the Product Owner to allocate capacity for support work in future iterations.. The Scrum Master must help the team visualize the impact of unplanned work on their capacity. By working with the Product Owner to allocate specific capacity for support or using a buffer, the team can make their commitments more predictable. This systemic approach addresses the root cause of the delivery failure rather than blaming the team for missing targets.

Answer

Ignore the support tickets and focus only on the committed user stories.

Answer

Ask the developers to work overtime to finish both stories and tickets.

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Assign a dedicated support team member to handle all tickets alone.

Question 7

During the Inspect and Adapt event, a team's quantitative measurement shows a sharp increase in escaped defects over the last three iterations. The Scrum Master wants the team to move from the metrics review into meaningful root-cause analysis. What is the most appropriate next step?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate the team through a structured problem-solving workshop to identify the root cause, then define and own corrective actions.. The Inspect and Adapt event is structured to move from the quantitative measurement of a significant problem into a Problem-Solving Workshop where the team performs root-cause analysis and defines corrective actions it owns. Facilitating that workshop addresses the defect trend at its source, while estimating cost, adding a PI objective, or delegating to an architect all skip the diagnosis the event requires.

Answer

Have the team estimate the cost of each escaped defect and report the total to the Release Train Engineer for prioritization.

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Add a defect-reduction objective to the team's next Program Increment planning so the issue is tracked at the ART level.

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Ask the system architect to review the team's code and assign the necessary refactoring work to specific developers.

Question 8

Which of the following best describes the goal of the 'Inspect and Adapt' event in SAFe?

Accepted Answer

To identify process improvements for the ART using a structured workshop.. The Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event is the cornerstone of continuous improvement in SAFe. It allows the ART to reflect on the completed PI, review the system demo, and use quantitative metrics to identify process improvements. This event is essential because it fosters a culture of relentless improvement, ensuring that the train evolves its practices, increases productivity, and improves quality through structured, actionable problem-solving workshops.

Answer

To re-plan the upcoming PI and adjust team membership.

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To demonstrate the system to stakeholders and collect feedback.

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To review the team's individual velocity and performance metrics.

Question 9

During Team Breakout #1 in PI Planning, the team finds that their capacity is exceeded by the features assigned to them. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a conversation between the team and the PO to prioritize the work.. The Scrum Master's role is to ensure the team creates a realistic plan. When capacity is exceeded, the first step is to seek clarification and prioritization from the Product Owner. This prevents the team from committing to an unachievable amount of work and ensures they focus on the highest value items.

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Ask the team to work overtime to ensure all features are included.

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Move the excess features to the 'Uncommitted' list without consultation.

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Wait for the Draft Plan Review to see if management notices the gap.

Question 10

The Product Owner returns from a PO Sync and informs the team that a new high-priority Feature must be started in the current PI. How does the Scrum Master help the team?

Accepted Answer

Help the PO assess the impact on current PI Objectives and communicate tradeoffs.. While SAFe encourages a stable plan during the PI, it also recognizes that business needs can change. The Scrum Master's role is to protect the team's sustainable pace while helping them adapt to these changes. This involves facilitating a process where the impact of new work is transparently evaluated against the existing commitments.

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Refuse the change to protect the team's original PI plan and commitment.

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Add the feature to the current iteration and ask the team to work overtime.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to decide if the team should take the work.