SSM Supporting ART Events Practice Question
You are the Scrum Master for a team on a 120-person ART that has just completed PI Planning and is entering the first Iteration of the PI. Midway through the iteration, a developer tells you the team committed to a Feature that depends on an API another team has not started. The other team's Scrum Master says the dependency was never recorded during the Draft Plan Review and is not in the program board. What is the most appropriate action for you to take to support the ART event system?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that a dependency missed during PI Planning can only be handled at the next PI Planning or Inspect and Adapt, when the Scrum of Scrums is the designed venue for resolving it mid-PI.
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
✓
Log the dependency as a program risk, then raise it at the next Scrum of Scrums so the ART can re-plan the sequencing of the two teams' work.
Cross-team dependencies that surface during execution must be made visible and coordinated through the ART's own mechanisms. Recording the dependency and raising it at the Scrum of Scrums lets the affected teams, with RTE support, adjust sequencing before the dependency becomes a PI-level failure. Deferring to the I&A, escalating over the other team's head, or silently dropping committed work all break the transparency and coordination the ART depends on.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Tell the team to drop the Feature from the iteration and pick up an unrelated backlog item that requires no external coordination.
Why it's wrong here
Unilaterally dropping a committed Feature bypasses the team's own planning and the ART's dependency management process. It also hides the real problem rather than exposing it. The Scrum Master should facilitate transparency and coordination, not shield the ART from a dependency that other teams may also be affected by.
- ✗
Wait until the Inspect and Adapt at the end of the PI to raise the dependency so the ART can address it systematically in the problem-solving workshop.
Why it's wrong here
Waiting until the Inspect and Adapt leaves the dependency unresolved for the entire PI, risking a missed Feature and cascading delays for other teams. The I&A is for retrospective problem-solving, not for deferring an active execution blocker that the Scrum of Scrums can address within days.
- ✓
Log the dependency as a program risk, then raise it at the next Scrum of Scrums so the ART can re-plan the sequencing of the two teams' work.
Why this is correct
The program board and Scrum of Scrums exist precisely to surface cross-team dependencies that emerge or were missed during PI Planning. Registering the dependency and escalating it at the Scrum of Scrums lets the affected teams and the RTE re-sequence work before the dependency becomes a PI-level impediment, which is the Scrum Master's role in supporting ART execution.
- ✗
Escalate directly to the Release Train Engineer and ask them to reassign the API work to your team so the Feature can proceed without waiting.
Why it's wrong here
Reassigning work across teams is a program-level capacity decision, not a Scrum Master action, and it undermines the other team's ownership of their PI objectives. Going straight to the RTE also skips the Scrum of Scrums, which is the designed venue for cross-team dependency resolution during execution.
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.