SAFe-Agilist Leading the Change Practice Question
Exhibit
PI Planning Readiness Checklist: 1. Vision established by Product Management 2. Backlog prioritized 3. Architectural Runway availability checked 4. Leadership commitment confirmed
Refer to the exhibit. An Agile Release Train (ART) is struggling to align leadership expectations with team output during PI Planning. Which action should the Release Train Engineer take to address this based on the 'Leading the Change' domain?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose answers focusing on tactical process changes or team-level ceremonies, failing to recognize that alignment issues in PI Planning require executive-level intervention to reinforce the vision and support.
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
✓
Engage executive leadership to reinforce the business vision and support the teams.
The exhibit highlights that leadership commitment and clear vision are essential prerequisites for success. If the ART is struggling with alignment, the RTE must ensure that leaders are actively participating in the planning process as servant leaders, rather than just observers. Aligning expectations requires continuous communication and ensuring that leaders understand their role in removing impediments and supporting the teams' execution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the number of attendees to speed up the planning session.
Why it's wrong here
Reducing attendance contradicts the purpose of PI Planning, which is to foster alignment and shared understanding across the entire ART. Limiting participants would exacerbate the lack of alignment, as key stakeholders would be absent during critical discussions, leading to disconnects between business strategy and actual team execution capabilities.
- ✗
Request that Product Management unilaterally finalize the backlog before planning.
Why it's wrong here
Unilateral decisions by Product Management ignore the collaboration required in PI Planning. Teams need to be involved in refining the backlog to ensure feasibility. A top-down approach to backlog management ignores the insights from the technical teams, leading to unrealistic commitments and significant misalignment between business goals and delivery.
- ✓
Engage executive leadership to reinforce the business vision and support the teams.
Why this is correct
Engaging leadership is crucial to ensuring they understand their role in the transformation. Leaders must reinforce the vision and provide the necessary support for teams to succeed. When leaders are visibly committed, it builds trust, clarifies priorities, and helps teams align their technical work with the overarching business objectives.
- ✗
Move the Architectural Runway review to after the PI Planning event.
Why it's wrong here
The Architectural Runway must be prepared prior to PI Planning to ensure that teams can realistically plan their work. Delaying this review would result in technical blockers during the PI, causing teams to miss commitments and deepening the gap between leadership expectations and the actual team velocity and capacity.
Visual reference
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JA
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.