POPM Leadership for PI Planning Practice Question
A SAFe Product Owner is facilitating the team breakout during PI Planning. One team member suggests that they skip creating a draft plan and instead wait for the final plan review to see what other teams propose. What should the Product Owner do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is underestimating the draft plan as a mere formality, when it is actually the core mechanism for team-level planning and dependency identification.
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
✓
Explain that the draft plan is essential for identifying dependencies and risks, and the team must create it.
The draft plan is a critical output of team breakouts. It enables teams to visualize their work, identify dependencies, and surface risks. The Product Owner must ensure the team creates it, as it is the basis for the draft plan review and program board. Skipping it would leave the team unprepared and unable to contribute to the ART's overall plan.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ask the Release Train Engineer to create a draft plan on behalf of the team.
Why it's wrong here
The Release Train Engineer facilitates the overall event but does not create plans for teams. The team owns their plan, and the act of creating it builds shared understanding and commitment. Delegating this to the RTE would undermine team ownership, reduce accuracy, and prevent the team from internalizing their objectives and dependencies.
- ✓
Explain that the draft plan is essential for identifying dependencies and risks, and the team must create it.
Why this is correct
The draft plan is a foundational artifact of PI Planning. It forces the team to think through their work, identify dependencies on other teams, and surface risks. Without it, the team cannot contribute to the program board or receive meaningful feedback during the draft plan review. The Product Owner should coach the team on its importance and guide them through creating it.
- ✗
Allow the team to skip the draft plan but require them to attend the draft plan review of other teams.
Why it's wrong here
Attending other teams' reviews does not substitute for creating one's own draft plan. Each team must plan their own work to ensure alignment with the program vision and to surface their unique dependencies and risks. Without a draft plan, the team cannot contribute to cross-team coordination, and their absence from the program board would create blind spots.
- ✗
Agree, since the final plan review will consolidate all team plans anyway.
Why it's wrong here
The final plan review is not a consolidation of plans; it is a presentation of each team's draft plan for feedback and approval. Skipping the draft plan creation means the team has nothing to present and cannot receive early feedback. It also prevents the team from identifying dependencies and risks, which are critical inputs to the program board and management review.
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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 POPM 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 POPM exam.