SSM Supporting Team Events Practice Question
A SAFe Scrum Master notices that during Iteration Review, the team demonstrates only completed user stories and avoids discussing any stories that failed acceptance criteria. The Product Owner is surprised later when several stories are not accepted. What should the Scrum Master do to improve the effectiveness of this event?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is treating the Iteration Review as a polished demo of only successful work rather than an honest inspect-and-adapt event.
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
✓
Coach the team to demonstrate all stories worked on during the Iteration, including those not meeting acceptance criteria, so stakeholders can give feedback and the team can inspect its actual progress.
The Iteration Review exists so the team and stakeholders inspect the actual Increment and adapt. Demonstrating all work, including stories that did not meet acceptance criteria, creates transparency and enables early feedback. Pre-screening demonstrations, replacing the event with a report, or marking failed stories complete all hide reality and undermine the Product Owner's ability to steer the backlog.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Move the Iteration Review to a written status report distributed before the event so the Product Owner can review acceptance status without a live demonstration.
Why it's wrong here
Replacing the live Iteration Review with a written report removes the valuable face-to-face inspection and feedback loop. SAFe emphasizes interactive review with stakeholders to validate the solution and adjust the backlog. A report may convey status but cannot replace the collaborative dialogue that reveals misalignment early.
- ✗
Instruct the team to mark any story not meeting acceptance criteria as complete in the team backlog and address the gaps in the next Iteration.
Why it's wrong here
Marking failed stories as complete falsifies the team's progress and violates the principle of transparency. It would mislead the Product Owner and distort velocity and metrics. The correct response is to surface the gap at the Iteration Review, not conceal it by manipulating backlog status.
- ✗
Ask the Product Owner to send acceptance criteria to the team before the Iteration Review so the team can pre-screen which stories are safe to demonstrate.
Why it's wrong here
Pre-screening stories to hide failures undermines the purpose of the Iteration Review. The event is meant to inspect the actual Increment and adapt, not to curate a polished demo. This approach would reduce transparency and delay learning, making the Product Owner's later surprise even more likely.
- ✓
Coach the team to demonstrate all stories worked on during the Iteration, including those not meeting acceptance criteria, so stakeholders can give feedback and the team can inspect its actual progress.
Why this is correct
The Iteration Review is an inspect-and-adapt event where the team shows what was actually built, not only what passed. Demonstrating incomplete or failed stories surfaces real progress and invites early feedback, preventing late surprises for the Product Owner. This aligns with SAFe's emphasis on transparency and frequent stakeholder collaboration.
About these practice questions
This SSM question is part of Courseiva's 385-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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 SSM 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 SSM exam.