SSM Supporting ART Events Practice Question
Which TWO roles are primarily responsible for facilitating the Team Breakout sessions during PI Planning? (Choose TWO)
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often incorrectly include the Release Train Engineer or System Architect as the primary facilitators, ignoring the essential partnership between the SM and PO.
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
✓
Scrum Master
Team Breakouts are the heart of PI Planning where teams work locally to define their stories and objectives. The Scrum Master and Product Owner work as a leadership pair for the team during these sessions. They ensure the team stays focused, resolves internal conflicts, and aligns their technical tasks with the business priorities.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Scrum Master
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master facilitates the breakout by managing timeboxes, helping the team identify risks, and ensuring the environment is conducive to planning. They act as a coach, guiding the team through the creation of the draft plan and ensuring that all team members are actively participating in the process.
- ✓
Product Owner
Why this is correct
The Product Owner is essential during breakouts to provide clarity on user stories and prioritize the team's work. They collaborate with the team to ensure the technical implementation matches the business requirements and help the team define meaningful PI Objectives that provide value to the customers and stakeholders.
- ✗
Release Train Engineer
Why it's wrong here
The Release Train Engineer facilitates the overall PI Planning event at the ART level but does not lead individual team breakouts. Their role is to manage the Scrum of Scrums and ensure that the train as a whole is progressing, rather than focusing on the specific tasks of one team.
- ✗
System Architect
Why it's wrong here
The System Architect provides technical guidance across the ART and may visit various teams during breakouts to answer specific questions. However, they are not responsible for facilitating the breakout session itself, as their focus is on the architectural runway and ensuring technical alignment across all teams.
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Business Owner
Why it's wrong here
Business Owners attend PI Planning to set the mission and assign business value to the objectives during the second day. While they interact with teams, they do not facilitate the breakout sessions, as their role is more about providing high-level business context and final approval of the plans.
Visual reference
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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.