SSM Supporting ART Events Practice Question
During the first day of PI Planning, the team realizes their drafted plan requires dependencies from another Agile Release Train (ART) that have not been committed. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to facilitate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often try to resolve the dependency immediately within the team, ignoring the SAFe requirement to escalate cross-ART issues to the management session for cross-train coordination.
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
✓
Escalate the uncommitted cross-ART dependencies to the Management Review and Problem-Solving session at the end of Day 1.
The Scrum Master must guide the team to surface these cross-ART dependencies immediately during the management review and problem-solving session at the end of Day 1. This ensures leadership from both trains can negotiate solutions, adjust scope, or reallocate capacity before finalizing the plan on Day 2, keeping the program increment aligned.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ignore the uncommitted dependencies and finalize the plan anyway to avoid delaying the PI Planning schedule.
Why it's wrong here
Finalising the plan with uncommitted dependencies conceals risk, so the dependency never reaches the programme board for resolution. Ignoring them is tempting to protect the schedule, but PI Planning explicitly surfaces and addresses cross-ART dependencies; the correct action is to raise them for commitment.
- ✗
Independently rewrite the other team's backlog items to ensure the required functionality is built locally.
Why it's wrong here
Rewriting another ART's backlog overrides their ownership and planning authority, and the Scrum Master has no mandate to alter another train's items. It is tempting as a way to force local delivery, but cross-ART dependencies are resolved through the programme board and ART sync, not unilateral edits.
- ✓
Escalate the uncommitted cross-ART dependencies to the Management Review and Problem-Solving session at the end of Day 1.
Why this is correct
The Management Review and Problem-Solving session exists precisely to resolve cross-team and cross-ART impediments surfaced during PI Planning. Escalating there lets the RTE and stakeholders address uncommitted dependencies before the plan is finalised, rather than leaving them unresolved.
- ✗
Cancel the PI Planning event immediately and postpone it until the other ART finishes their own planning cycle.
Why it's wrong here
Cancelling PI Planning removes the very event where cross-ART dependencies are surfaced and negotiated, and the other ART's cycle timing is not a blocker. Postponement is tempting when dependencies look unresolvable, but dependencies are handled during planning via the programme board, not by abandoning the event.
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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.