SAFe-Agilist Exploring Lean Portfolio Management Practice Question
A SAFe portfolio is struggling with too many epics in progress, causing delays and reduced throughput. The LPM team wants to apply Lean Portfolio Management principles to improve flow. What should the LPM team do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is thinking that adding capacity or working harder will solve a flow problem, when the real issue is too much work in progress and the solution is to limit WIP and finish work.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement WIP limits on the Portfolio Kanban and prioritize finishing existing epics before starting new ones.
The first step is to implement WIP limits on the Portfolio Kanban and prioritize completing existing epics. This reduces multitasking, shortens cycle times, and improves throughput. Adding teams, canceling all epics, or working overtime do not address the root cause of too much work in progress and may introduce additional problems.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cancel all epics and start over with a new portfolio backlog.
Why it's wrong here
Canceling all epics is drastic and wasteful; it discards potentially valuable work and investments. LPM encourages evaluating epics and stopping those that no longer align with strategy, but not wholesale cancellation. The first step should be to limit WIP and improve flow, not to eliminate all ongoing work.
- ✓
Implement WIP limits on the Portfolio Kanban and prioritize finishing existing epics before starting new ones.
Why this is correct
Applying WIP limits to the Portfolio Kanban is a core Lean Portfolio Management practice to improve flow. By limiting the number of epics in progress and focusing on completing them, the portfolio reduces multitasking, shortens cycle times, and increases throughput. This directly addresses the problem of too many epics in progress.
- ✗
Increase the number of teams to handle the workload.
Why it's wrong here
Adding teams without addressing the root cause of too much work in progress (WIP) will not solve the problem and may increase coordination overhead. The issue is likely too many epics started simultaneously, not insufficient capacity. LPM emphasizes limiting WIP and finishing work before starting new work, so adding teams would not address the underlying flow problem.
- ✗
Ask teams to work overtime to clear the backlog faster.
Why it's wrong here
Overtime is not a sustainable solution and can lead to burnout, reduced quality, and increased technical debt. LPM promotes sustainable pace and flow efficiency, not crunch time. The problem is systemic—too much WIP—so working longer hours would not fix the root cause and could worsen the situation.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scaled Agile exam blueprint
This SAFe-Agilist practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scaled Agile certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SAFe-Agilist exam.