SSM Supporting ART Events Practice Question
After the Final Plan Review, the ART conducts a confidence vote. If the average confidence is only 2 fingers out of 5, what is the next step for the Scrum Master?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume the Scrum Master should accept the low vote and proceed anyway, or escalate to management rather than facilitating further team planning.
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 further planning to address the concerns that led to the low vote.
A low confidence vote indicates that the ART does not believe the plan is achievable. This requires the ART to go back into a planning session to address the concerns. The Scrum Master supports this by helping the team identify the specific reasons for their low confidence and collaborating on plan adjustments.
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 team to reconsider their vote to ensure the event stays on schedule.
Why it's wrong here
Coercing the team to change their vote undermines the entire purpose of the confidence vote, which is to get an honest assessment of the plan. It creates a 'watermelon' project where everything looks green on the outside but is actually failing on the inside.
- ✓
Facilitate further planning to address the concerns that led to the low vote.
Why this is correct
The correct response to a low confidence vote is to restart the planning process for as long as necessary to resolve the issues. The Scrum Master facilitates this by helping the team articulate their fears and working with management to adjust scope or dependencies until confidence increases.
- ✗
Escalate the low confidence to the Business Owners for immediate approval.
Why it's wrong here
Business Owners cannot 'approve' away a lack of confidence. If the technical teams do not believe the plan is possible, approval is meaningless. The plan must be technically viable, and the confidence vote is the mechanism that ensures the people doing the work believe in the plan.
- ✗
Document the low confidence as a risk and start Iteration 1.1 immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Starting execution with a plan that has low confidence is a recipe for failure. The PI Planning event is not finished until a plan with reasonable confidence is established. Moving forward anyway ignores the feedback from the teams and sets the ART up for missed commitments.
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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 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.