SSM Defining the Scrum Master / Team Coach Role Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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?

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

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 2

An Agile Team's Scrum Master/Team Coach notices that the team relies on them to assign tasks, resolve every technical disagreement, and decide when a Story is done. The team meets its Iteration Goals, but members rarely challenge each other or improve their process. What should the coach do to develop a more self-managing team?

Accepted Answer

Gradually shift decision-making to the team by using coaching questions, reinforcing their Definition of Done, and letting them resolve technical disagreements themselves.. A team that depends on the coach for task assignment, conflict resolution, and completion decisions is not self-managing, even if it hits goals. The coach should deliberately transfer ownership through questioning, a clear Definition of Done, and space for the team to resolve technical debates. This grows capability and reduces the coach as a bottleneck.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to attend team events and take over facilitation so the team learns from an external authority.

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Introduce a formal RACI matrix that defines exactly who decides each type of task, then enforce it during Daily Stand-up.

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Continue assigning tasks and resolving disagreements because the team is meeting its Iteration Goals and the current approach is working.

Question 3

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 4

An Agile Team's Scrum Master / Team Coach is asked by a new team member, "Who is responsible for ensuring the team adheres to Scrum and SAFe practices?" Which answer is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

The Scrum Master / Team Coach coaches the team on Scrum and SAFe practices and helps them self-correct when they deviate.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach is accountable for coaching the team on Scrum and SAFe practices and helping them self-correct. This is a teaching and facilitation responsibility, not enforcement. Neither the Release Train Engineer, the Product Owner, nor functional managers are responsible for policing a team's Scrum adherence. Teams are expected to own their process and improve through inspection and adaptation.

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The Product Owner ensures the team follows Scrum because they own the Team Backlog and Iteration outcomes.

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The team's functional manager enforces Scrum practices during performance reviews.

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The Release Train Engineer enforces Scrum compliance for all teams on the Agile Release Train.

Question 5

A Scrum Master / Team Coach is helping an Agile Team improve their collaboration with the Product Owner. Which TWO actions best support this goal? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the Product Owner on effective backlog refinement techniques to ensure stories are ready for Iteration Planning.. Coaching the Product Owner on backlog refinement and facilitating regular refinement sessions both strengthen collaboration by ensuring shared understanding and readiness of stories. These actions are core to the Scrum Master / Team Coach role in SAFe, as they enable the team and Product Owner to work together effectively without overstepping boundaries.

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Require the Product Owner to submit all changes to the team backlog through the Scrum Master for approval.

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Take over the Product Owner's responsibility for ordering the team backlog to ensure the team works on the right items.

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Instruct the Product Owner to attend all Daily Stand-ups to provide updates on priority changes.

Question 6

A SAFe Scrum Master / Team Coach is coaching a newly formed Agile Team that is struggling to self-manage during Iteration execution. The team frequently waits for the Scrum Master to assign tasks and resolve blockers. Which TWO actions best fulfill the Scrum Master's role in building team self-management? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to resolve its own impediments by asking guiding questions and escalating only when the team cannot remove a blocker within the Iteration.. Building self-management requires the Scrum Master / Team Coach to shift ownership of coordination and problem-solving to the team. Teaching the team to pull work from the Iteration Backlog and coaching them to resolve their own impediments are both servant-leader actions that develop capability. The other options create dependency on the Scrum Master, which is the opposite of the role's intent.

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Attend every Daily Stand-up and provide a summary of each member's progress to the Product Owner to keep stakeholders informed.

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Assign each Story to a specific team member during Iteration Planning to ensure clear accountability and reduce confusion about who is doing what.

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Take ownership of the team board and update Story status daily so the team can focus on development work without administrative overhead.

Question 7

A SAFe Scrum Master/Team Coach notices that during Iteration Retrospectives, the team consistently identifies the same improvement action but never implements it. The team agrees the action is valuable but claims they lack time during the Iteration. What should the Scrum Master do first?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a root-cause discussion to understand why the improvement is not being implemented and help the team adjust their Iteration plan or working agreements.. The Scrum Master/Team Coach should first facilitate a root-cause discussion to uncover why the improvement is not being implemented, then help the team adjust their plan or working agreements. This keeps ownership with the team, builds their problem-solving capability, and addresses the real obstacle. Imposing a solution or escalating prematurely would not create sustainable change.

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Escalate the issue to the Product Owner and ask them to reduce the team's Iteration commitment so they have time for improvements.

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Add the improvement action as a mandatory backlog item for the next Iteration and track it like a Story.

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Decide that the improvement is not a priority and remove it from the retrospective action list to avoid frustration.

Question 8

An Agile Team's Iteration Retrospective has become a complaint session where the same issues are raised repeatedly without action. The team members are engaged but no improvements are implemented. As the Scrum Master / Team Coach, what should you do to improve the effectiveness of the retrospective?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team to select a small number of high-impact improvements and track them as action items with owners and due dates.. The retrospective's purpose is to inspect and adapt. When the team repeatedly raises issues without action, the Scrum Master / Team Coach should coach the team to focus on a few high-impact improvements, assign owners, and track them. This creates accountability and demonstrates that the retrospective leads to tangible change, reinforcing the team's commitment to continuous improvement.

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Shorten the retrospective to 30 minutes to force the team to focus only on quick wins.

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Replace the retrospective with a problem-solving workshop led by you to ensure actions are defined.

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Invite the Release Train Engineer to attend and prioritize the improvements for the team.

Question 9

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 10

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 11

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 12

A SAFe Scrum Master / Team Coach notices that during Iteration Planning, the Product Owner dominates the conversation, and the developers rarely speak up. The team consistently commits to more work than they can finish. Which coaching approach best addresses both the imbalance and the overcommitment?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate the planning session to ensure all voices are heard and coach the team on using velocity and capacity to guide commitment.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should facilitate effective Iteration Planning by ensuring all team members contribute and by coaching the team to use velocity and capacity to make realistic commitments. This addresses both the dominance of the Product Owner and the tendency to overcommit. It also builds the team's capability to self-manage and make data-informed decisions.

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Allow the team to overcommit for one more iteration and then discuss the results in the retrospective.

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Ask the Product Owner to leave the room during planning so the team can estimate freely.

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Tell the Product Owner to reduce the number of stories in the Iteration to match the team's capacity.

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 SAFe PI Planning event, an Agile Team's Scrum Master / Team Coach observes that the team is hesitant to commit to Iteration Goals for the upcoming PI because they fear being blamed if they miss them. The team has a history of missed commitments. What should the Scrum Master do to support the team in making realistic commitments?

Accepted Answer

Facilitate a discussion about the team's past PI Objectives and help them identify the causes of missed commitments, then use that insight to set achievable objectives.. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should help the team learn from past PI Objectives and set achievable ones through facilitated reflection. This builds psychological safety and improves forecasting. Encouraging under-commitment, repeating objectives, or outsourcing commitment to the RTE all fail to address the team's fear and undermine ownership of PI Objectives.

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Ask the Release Train Engineer to set the team's PI Objectives based on program priorities so the team is not placed in a position of having to commit.

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Remind the team that PI Objectives are commitments and that missing them will be visible to management, so they should under-commit to be safe.

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Commit to the same objectives as the previous PI to demonstrate consistency, and tell the team that the Scrum Master will take responsibility for any misses.

Question 15

A newly formed Agile Team in a SAFe ART has a Scrum Master / Team Coach who notices that during the first two Iterations the team members look to the Scrum Master for direction on every technical decision and wait for permission before pulling work. The Scrum Master wants to establish the appropriate servant-leadership stance. Which action best demonstrates the Scrum Master / Team Coach role in this situation?

Accepted Answer

Coach the team on self-organization by asking questions that help them decide how to pull and manage work themselves.. A SAFe Scrum Master / Team Coach is a servant leader who builds the team's ability to self-organize. When members wait for direction, the coach uses questions and teaching rather than commands. Assigning work, escalating readiness, or permanently owning facilitation all reinforce dependency instead of developing the team's own decision-making capability.

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Take over facilitation of all team ceremonies and personally assign the Iteration Goals until the team matures.

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Escalate to the Release Train Engineer that the team is not yet ready to participate in the ART.

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Assign each developer a specific task every morning and verify completion before the next stand-up.