Free Scrum SAFe-SASM Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

The program predictability measure is the primary metric used during the quantitative measurement part of the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event in SAFe. This measure assesses how reliably the Agile Release Train (ART) can deliver business value within the Program Increment (PI) timebox. It helps to:

Evaluate the team's ability to meet their commitments.

Identify areas where predictability can be improved.

Ensure that the business value planned for the PI is actually delivered.

By focusing on the predictability of business value, organizations can better align their planning and execution efforts, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and achieving strategic goals more effectively.

SAFe Scrum Master References

SAFe Inspect and Adapt events

SAFe 5.0 framework: using program predictability as a key metric to assess and improve ART performance.

Completed by a Single Agile Release Train within one PI:

Definition:A Feature in SAFe is a service or functionality that meets the needs of a customer and can be delivered within a single Program Increment (PI) by an ART.

Explanation:Features are planned and delivered within the timeframe of a PI, ensuring that they provide tangible value and align with the ART's objectives.

Prioritized using Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF):

Definition:WSJF is a prioritization method used in SAFe to sequence work for maximum economic benefit.

Explanation:Features are prioritized based on their cost of delay and the effort required to implement them. This ensures that the most valuable and impactful features are delivered first.

SAFe Scrum Master References:

SAFe framework details the concept of Features, emphasizing their completion within a PI and their prioritization using WSJF to maximize value delivery.

Team Performance Measurement:In SAFe, one of the key metrics for measuring team performance is the ratio of Story points completed to Story points planned in the Program Increment (PI).

Story Points:Represent the effort required to complete user stories. By comparing planned and completed Story points, teams can gauge their ability to deliver on commitments.

Purpose:This metric helps in assessing how well the team is performing relative to their planned objectives, identifying areas for improvement, and making adjustments for future PIs.

SAFe Scrum Master References:

SAFe provides guidance on using Story points and other metrics to measure team performance and drive continuous improvement.

Release Train Engineer (RTE):

Role:The RTE is a servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART). They facilitate ART events and processes, assist teams in delivering value, and help manage risks and dependencies.

Interaction with Scrum Master:

Scrum Masters frequently collaborate with the RTE to coordinate cross-team activities and dependencies.

They work together during events like PI Planning, Scrum of Scrums, and Inspect & Adapt (I&A) workshops to ensure alignment and continuous improvement.

The RTE provides support and guidance to Scrum Masters, helping them resolve impediments that affect the ART.

Product Owner (PO):

Role:The Product Owner is responsible for defining and prioritizing the team backlog, ensuring that the team is working on the most valuable tasks.

Interaction with Scrum Master:

Scrum Masters work closely with Product Owners to facilitate effective backlog refinement sessions, ensuring that the backlog items are well-understood and ready for iteration planning.

They support the Product Owner in maintaining a clear and prioritized backlog, helping to communicate the vision and goals to the team.

During iteration planning and reviews, Scrum Masters assist Product Owners in engaging with the team and stakeholders, ensuring that feedback is collected and incorporated.

SAFe Scrum Master References:

Release Train Engineer:

SAFe materials outline the critical role of the RTE in coordinating the ART and supporting Scrum Masters in their efforts to remove impediments and ensure smooth execution of plans.

Scrum Open: Discusses the collaborative relationship between Scrum Masters and RTEs in facilitating ART events and managing dependencies​​.

Product Owner:

The SAFe framework emphasizes the importance of the Scrum Master-Product Owner partnership in driving the delivery of value and maintaining a healthy backlog.

Product Owner Open: Provides insights into how Scrum Masters and Product Owners work together to align on priorities and ensure the team is focused on the right tasks​​.

An effective Agile Team focuses on delivering value by reliably deploying features that meet customer needs.

Value Delivery:The primary measure of success for an Agile team is the continuous delivery of valuable, working software.

Customer Focus:Teams work collaboratively to understand and deliver what is most valuable to customers.

Incremental Progress:Regularly delivering increments of the product that are potentially shippable ensures continuous feedback and improvement.

This characteristic emphasizes the Agile principle of delivering working software frequently, with a focus on customer value.

SAFe Scrum Master References:

SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Training Material, Chapter on Agile Teams​​.

Organizing teams around Features can significantly reduce dependencies between teams. When teams are aligned to deliver specific features, they have more autonomy and can work more independently, without needing to wait for other teams to complete their parts. This alignment minimizes coordination and dependency management overhead, enabling faster and more efficient delivery. It also allows teams to focus on delivering end-to-end functionality, which enhances the quality and coherence of the product.

SAFe Scrum Master References

SAFe 5.0 framework: principles of organizing teams around features to reduce dependencies

SAFe Agile Teams: benefits of feature-based team organization

If a team consistently receives defect reports from production despite thorough testing of each story, the first step to address this issue is to ensure that development and testing environments are equivalent to production. Differences between environments can lead to undetected issues that only surface in the production environment. By aligning these environments, teams can ensure that tests accurately reflect real-world conditions, reducing the likelihood of defects slipping through.

SAFe Scrum Master References

SAFe Principles: ensuring quality by maintaining equivalent environments

SAFe 5.0 framework: best practices for aligning development, testing, and production environments

To resolve the issue of the team being unclear on the scope of new stories during Iteration planning, the Scrum Master should ensure that both the Product Owner and the team come to the planning session well-prepared. Proper preparation involves:

The Product Owner refining and prioritizing the backlog items before the planning session, ensuring that stories are well-defined and understood.

The team reviewing the backlog items ahead of the planning session, allowing them to ask questions and clarify any uncertainties.

Conducting pre-planning sessions or backlog refinement meetings to discuss and break down stories, ensuring they are ready for planning.

This preparation helps ensure that the planning session is productive and that the team can commit to well-understood and scoped stories.

SAFe Scrum Master References

SAFe Iteration Planning guidelines

SAFe 5.0 framework: ensuring effective preparation for planning sessions

Waterfalling the Iteration:The term "waterfalling" in an Agile context refers to the anti-pattern where teams delay integration, testing, and other critical activities until the end of the iteration, mimicking the Waterfall model of sequential phases.

Agile Practice:In Agile, the goal is to continuously integrate and test stories throughout the iteration. This practice ensures that issues are identified and addressed early, and the product increment is always in a potentially shippable state.

Anti-pattern Explanation:Integrating and testing stories only on the last day of the iteration means the team is not practicing continuous integration. This can lead to hidden defects, reduced quality, and last-minute rushes that jeopardize the team's ability to meet commitments effectively.

SAFe Scrum Master References:

SAFe emphasizes continuous integration and regular testing as key practices to maintain quality and agility. Delaying these activities to the end of the iteration undermines these principles and can lead to significant issues.

Utilization refers to the percentage of a team's capacity that is being used. When team members are highly utilized (i.e., their capacity is nearly fully booked), it often leads to longer lead times. This is because:

High utilization reduces the team's flexibility to handle new or unexpected work.

It can cause bottlenecks as individuals or teams become overburdened with tasks.

There is less room for managing variability, leading to delays and increased cycle times.

In contrast, lower utilization rates typically allow for more flexibility and quicker response times, reducing lead times. Therefore, higher utilization generally results in longer lead times due to increased bottlenecks and reduced capacity to handle new tasks efficiently.

SAFe Scrum Master References

SAFe Advanced Scrum Master learning materials

Principles of Lean-Agile development: optimizing flow by managing queue lengths and reducing batch sizes to improve lead times and throughput.