SSM Defining the Scrum Master / Team Coach Role Practice Question
During PI Planning, the Scrum Master / Team Coach for an Agile Team notices that the Product Owner is answering most of the team's questions about backlog priority, while developers remain silent and disengaged. The team is at risk of missing its Iteration Goals because they are not surfacing technical risks or dependencies. Which action should the Scrum Master / Team Coach take to improve the team's planning effectiveness?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is thinking the Scrum Master should step in and make planning decisions, when the role is to facilitate the team's own decisions and surface risks.
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 the conversation so developers voice technical risks and dependencies, then help the team adjust its plan and objectives accordingly.
During PI Planning the Scrum Master / Team Coach facilitates so the whole team contributes, not just the Product Owner. Drawing out developers' technical risks and dependencies produces a more realistic plan and stronger Iteration Goals. Taking over prioritization, excluding the Product Owner, or escalating readiness all fail to improve the team's engagement and planning quality.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Facilitate the conversation so developers voice technical risks and dependencies, then help the team adjust its plan and objectives accordingly.
Why this is correct
Facilitating balanced participation draws out the technical risks and dependencies that only the developers can identify. By helping the team incorporate that input into its plan and Iteration Goals, the Scrum Master / Team Coach improves the realism of the PI plan and strengthens the team's ownership of its commitments.
- ✗
Ask the Product Owner to leave the session so the developers can plan freely without influence.
Why it's wrong here
Removing the Product Owner during PI Planning is counterproductive because priority and trade-off decisions require the Product Owner's input. The problem is not the Product Owner's presence but the imbalance of participation. The coach should facilitate inclusion, not exclusion, to keep planning aligned with business value.
- ✗
Take over the discussion and reorder the team's Stories to ensure the most valuable work is planned first.
Why it's wrong here
Reordering Stories is the Product Owner's responsibility, not the Scrum Master / Team Coach's. Doing so would bypass the Product Owner's authority over backlog priority and further silence the team. The goal is to increase team engagement and surface risks, not to seize prioritization decisions.
- ✗
Escalate to the Release Train Engineer that the team is not ready to commit to PI Objectives this quarter.
Why it's wrong here
Escalating readiness during PI Planning does not address the underlying facilitation issue and may damage the team's credibility with the ART. The Scrum Master / Team Coach should first intervene in the session to improve engagement. Escalation is reserved for systemic impediments the team cannot resolve itself.
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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.