SSM Introducing Scrum in SAFe Practice Question
A Scrum Master notices that a team is consistently failing to complete their User Stories during the iteration. What is the most effective first step for the Scrum Master to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently select options that mandate immediate punitive actions, arbitrary capacity reductions, or unilateral management intervention instead of encouraging team transparency and root-cause analysis.
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
✓
Facilitate a team discussion to analyze the root cause of the incomplete work.
The Scrum Master must first facilitate a discussion within the team to identify the root cause of the failure to meet the Definition of Done. Rather than blaming the team, the Scrum Master encourages transparency and empirical observation. By understanding whether the issue is related to technical debt, scope creep, or poor estimation, the team can implement targeted process improvements that directly address the specific challenges causing the delays.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Report the team to the Release Train Engineer for poor performance.
Why it's wrong here
Reporting the team for performance issues is punitive and destroys trust. The Scrum Master's role is to support and coach the team through difficulties. Instead of escalating, the Scrum Master should help the team identify the root cause of their struggles and facilitate a collaborative process to improve performance.
- ✓
Facilitate a team discussion to analyze the root cause of the incomplete work.
Why this is correct
Analyzing the root cause is the foundational step for improvement. By looking at the data from the iteration, the team can determine if their estimation is off, if stories are too large, or if they have too many external dependencies. This allows for data-driven changes to their process.
- ✗
Assign the incomplete work to the next iteration automatically.
Why it's wrong here
Simply pushing work to the next iteration ignores the underlying problem. It perpetuates a cycle of carrying over work, which leads to a backlog of unfinished items and frustration. The team must stop to understand why they couldn't finish and adjust their planning strategy to be more realistic.
- ✗
Require the team to work longer hours to finish the current stories.
Why it's wrong here
Forcing overtime is a short-term fix that ignores the systemic issues and causes burnout. It does not teach the team to improve their planning or flow. The Scrum Master must protect the team's sustainability and help them find better ways to work within their capacity constraints.
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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 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.