SSM Introducing Scrum in SAFe Practice Question
During the first PI Planning on an Agile Release Train, a team's Scrum Master notices that the team has committed to a set of Iteration goals that exceeds their known velocity, and several stories depend on another team that has not yet planned its capacity. The Scrum Master wants to help the team produce a realistic PI plan without taking over. What should the Scrum Master do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is believing the Scrum Master should correct or escalate an overcommitted plan rather than facilitate the team to see and fix it themselves.
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 conversation where the team compares its planned load to historical velocity and identifies the cross-team dependencies to raise in the draft plan review.
The Scrum Master serves the team by facilitating awareness, not by making planning decisions. Helping the team compare planned work to velocity and exposing dependencies leads to a plan the team owns and can defend during the draft plan review and program board review.
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 a conversation where the team compares its planned load to historical velocity and identifies the cross-team dependencies to raise in the draft plan review.
Why this is correct
This keeps ownership with the team while surfacing two real risks: overcommitment and unmanaged dependencies. Facilitation is the Scrum Master's primary tool in PI Planning. The team can then adjust its own plan before the draft plan review, where dependencies are formally negotiated.
- ✗
Advise the Product Owner to remove stories until the plan fits within the team's capacity.
Why it's wrong here
This shifts a team planning problem to the Product Owner and may remove valuable scope without team input. The Product Owner prioritizes the backlog but does not unilaterally decide the team's PI commitment. The team must own the trade-off.
- ✗
Reduce the team's committed stories directly in the planning tool so the plan matches velocity.
Why it's wrong here
Editing the plan removes the team's ownership and hides the learning opportunity. The Scrum Master does not own the team's commitments. This action may also mask dependencies that should be visible to the ART during the draft plan review.
- ✗
Escalate to the Release Train Engineer that the team is overcommitted and ask the RTE to fix the plan.
Why it's wrong here
Escalation before the team has attempted to self-correct is premature and disempowering. The RTE facilitates the ART, not the team's internal commitment decisions. The Scrum Master should first help the team see and resolve the issue itself.
About these practice questions
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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.