SSM Introducing Scrum in SAFe Practice Question
Which TWO of the following are primary responsibilities of a Scrum Master within a SAFe context when acting as a servant leader?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates commonly select management-style tasks like assigning work items or approving budgets, confusing the servant-leader responsibilities of a Scrum Master with traditional project management roles.
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
✓
Removing impediments to the team's progress.
Scrum Masters in SAFe are servant leaders who support the team's self-organization and remove impediments that hinder flow. By facilitating team events and coaching them on SAFe practices, the Scrum Master ensures the team maintains its rhythm and delivers value effectively. These responsibilities are vital because they enable the team to focus on building high-quality solutions while adhering to the broader ART's operational model.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Making all technical decisions for the team to ensure standard compliance.
Why it's wrong here
Scrum Masters do not dictate technical decisions; they facilitate the environment where the team makes their own decisions. Centralizing decision-making hinders team empowerment and slows down the development process, which goes against the principles of self-organization required for teams to operate at scale within SAFe.
- ✓
Removing impediments to the team's progress.
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master is responsible for identifying and clearing obstacles that block the team's ability to complete their committed work. By proactively addressing systemic issues, the Scrum Master ensures the team maintains a steady flow, which is essential for meeting iteration goals and supporting the ART's overall cadence.
- ✓
Facilitating team events and ceremonies.
Why this is correct
Facilitation is a core competency that ensures Scrum events are productive, focused, and respectful of time. By managing the flow of these meetings, the Scrum Master helps the team reach consensus, improve their processes, and align with the ART's cadence and synchronization patterns defined in the SAFe framework.
- ✗
Writing all user stories for the team to save time during the iteration.
Why it's wrong here
User stories should be collaboratively defined by the team and the Product Owner to ensure shared understanding and ownership. If the Scrum Master writes all the stories, they diminish the team's understanding of the requirements, which leads to poor quality, misunderstandings, and decreased motivation during the iteration.
- ✗
Acting as the primary manager of the team members' personal careers.
Why it's wrong here
While Scrum Masters support professional development, they are not the HR managers of team members. Their focus is on team performance, process optimization, and value delivery, not the administrative or career-ladder tasks typically handled by functional managers within the organization's structure, which is separate from the team's delivery.
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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.