SAFe-Agilist Product Development Flow Practice Question
During a PI Planning session, an ART finds that a feature has a 'Cost of Delay' that is extremely high. How should this affect the prioritization of this feature?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often overthink the technical complexity or resource availability, forgetting that WSJF explicitly dictates that higher Cost of Delay requires higher prioritization to maximize economic value.
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
✓
It should be prioritized higher to maximize value delivery.
In SAFe, WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First) uses the Cost of Delay as a primary component for prioritizing features. When the cost of delay is high, it signifies that the economic impact of not having that feature is significant. Therefore, such features should generally be prioritized higher to ensure they are delivered sooner, thereby maximizing the economic return for the organization and capturing value early.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
It should be deprioritized until all dependencies are cleared.
Why it's wrong here
Delaying a high-value, high-cost-of-delay feature due to dependencies is often the wrong approach. If the cost of delay is high, the organization should focus resources on removing those dependencies immediately to enable the delivery of the feature, rather than letting the value remain unrealized.
- ✓
It should be prioritized higher to maximize value delivery.
Why this is correct
High cost of delay indicates that the feature provides significant economic benefit. By prioritizing it higher, the ART ensures that this value is delivered as quickly as possible, which is the core logic behind the WSJF model used for scheduling work and optimizing economic outcomes.
- ✗
It should be split into smaller, low-cost features.
Why it's wrong here
Splitting a feature might be a good technical practice, but doing so specifically because it has a high cost of delay is a misunderstanding of the concept. The economic value is the priority, and the feature's size should be managed to facilitate flow, not to lower its importance.
- ✗
It should be ignored until the next PI.
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring a high-value item during PI planning defeats the purpose of economic prioritization. If the cost of delay is high, postponing the feature represents a direct loss of potential revenue or competitive advantage, which goes against the goal of maximizing product development flow and value delivery.
About these practice questions
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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.