SSM Questions and Answers

Respect is one of the five Scrum values that can help Agile Teams create transparency. Respect means that team members value each other’s opinions, skills, and contributions, and treat each other with dignity and professionalism. Respect also means that team members are honest and open with each other, and share information and feedback without hiding or withholding anything. By respecting each other, Agile Teams can foster a culture of trust and collaboration, where everyone feels comfortable to express their ideas, concerns, and issues, and work together to solve them. Transparency is essential for Agile Teams to inspect and adapt their work, and to align their actions with the vision and goals of the organization.

SAFe® defines seven core competencies that enable business agility. One of these is Agile Product Delivery, which focuses on building a customer-centric approach to defining, developing, and releasing valuable solutions.

This competency emphasizes Design Thinking, DevOps, continuous delivery, and release on demand to ensure fast, high-quality value delivery aligned with customer needs. While Built-in Quality is a foundational SAFe principle, it is not categorized as a core competency.

From SAFe guidance:

“Agile Product Delivery is a customer-centric approach to defining, building, and releasing a continuous flow of valuable products and services to customers and users.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Agile Product Delivery, as it is one of SAFe’s official seven core competencies.

The Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration is designed to give teams space for innovation, exploration, learning, and improvement, not for continuing regular feature work. When a team misuses the IP Iteration to “catch up” on delivery, it misses the opportunity to experiment, innovate, and explore new ways to deliver solutions more effectively.

This reduces the long-term adaptability and creativity of the team, limiting their ability to introduce process or technical improvements that could increase efficiency in future PIs. The IP Iteration is also a time for the Inspect and Adapt event and PI Planning, both of which are critical to continuous improvement.

From SAFe guidance:

“The IP Iteration provides dedicated time for innovation and planning. Using it for normal work diminishes opportunities to innovate, learn, and explore new approaches.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. They could lose an opportunity to consider new approaches to Solution delivery.

One benefit of holding regular system demos is that execution can be measured across the whole ART. A system demo is a significant event that provides an integrated view of new Features for the most recent Iteration delivered by all the teams in the Agile Release Train (ART). Each demo gives ART stakeholders an objective measure of progress during a Program Increment (PI). The system demo offers the ART a fact-based measure of current, system-level progress within the PI. It’s the true measure of ART velocity and progress. Achieving this requires implementing the scalable engineering practices necessary to support Continuous Integration across the ART. By holding regular system demos, the ART can evaluate the quality, functionality, and usability of the solution, as well as identify and resolve any issues, risks, or dependencies. The system demo also provides an opportunity for feedback and learning from the customers, Business Owners, and other stakeholders, which can help the ART to align with the vision and goals, and to adapt to changing needs and expectations.

In SAFe®, the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event provides the Agile Release Train (ART) with a structured opportunity to reflect, measure progress, and identify systemic improvements. The Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) plays a critical role in supporting this event by ensuring that each team’s contribution is backed by meaningful, accurate data.

Providing team data—such as iteration metrics, team velocity, predictability, and performance against objectives—enables evidence-based discussions during the quantitative and qualitative measurement portion of the I&A. This transparency helps identify trends, validate outcomes, and support root cause analysis during the problem-solving workshop.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams prepare quantitative and qualitative data for the Inspect and Adapt to provide objective insights into their performance and enable continuous improvement discussions.”

Thus, the correct answer is C. Provide team data, as it directly supports the empirical foundation of the I&A event.

PI Planning is one of the events that aligns teams on a train. PI Planning is a cadence-based event for the entire Agile Release Train (ART) that aligns teams and stakeholders to a shared mission and vision. PI Planning provides an opportunity for the ART to review the business context and priorities, identify and resolve dependencies and risks, and commit to a realistic and achievable plan for the next Program Increment (PI). PI Planning is essential to SAFe: If you are not doing it, you are not doing SAFe1 

In SAFe®, Iteration Planning is the event where the team determines how much work they can commit to for the upcoming iteration and aligns on the iteration goal. The recommended first step of Iteration Planning is to establish team capacity.

By identifying the available capacity (in person-days or story points) considering holidays, time off, or other commitments, the team ensures realistic planning and avoids overcommitment. This forms the foundation for selecting appropriate backlog items that fit within available capacity.

From SAFe guidance:

“Iteration Planning starts with establishing the team’s capacity for the upcoming iteration. This ensures that the team commits to a realistic amount of work based on their availability.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Establish capacity, as it is the first and most critical step in effective iteration planning.

In SAFe®, the Iteration Review is the event where the Agile Team measures and demonstrates the outcome of the iteration. The team reviews the completed work, compares it against the iteration goals, and gathers feedback from stakeholders.

This review allows the team to assess whether the iteration delivered the intended value and identify areas for improvement in future iterations. The focus is on transparency, empirical measurement, and alignment to customer needs.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Iteration Review provides the opportunity for the team to demonstrate the increment, measure progress toward iteration goals, and collect feedback.”

Thus, the correct answer is A. The Iteration Review, as it specifically measures the outcome of the iteration and validates progress.

During PI Planning, the Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) plays an important facilitative and support role. One key responsibility is to participate in the management review and problem-solving meeting that occurs midway through PI Planning.

This meeting allows leaders and Scrum Masters to review the teams’ progress, resolve cross-team risks, address scope challenges, and ensure alignment before finalizing PI objectives. The Scrum Master’s insights into team capacity, dependencies, and risks are crucial for ART-level decision-making.

From SAFe guidance:

“Scrum Masters participate in the management review and problem-solving session during PI Planning to help resolve issues that may prevent teams from meeting their objectives.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Participate in management review and problem-solving.

During PI Planning, teams are expected to create draft PI Objectives that summarize the business value they intend to deliver. However, a common anti-pattern occurs when teams spend too much time analyzing each Story instead of focusing on higher-level outcomes.

The goal of draft objectives is to express intent, alignment, and expected value—not to finalize every technical detail or task. Over-analyzing individual stories during PI Planning slows progress, distracts from collaboration with other teams, and limits the time available for identifying dependencies and risks.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams should avoid excessive analysis of stories during PI Planning. The focus should be on creating draft objectives that align with business value and ART goals.”

Thus, the correct answer is A. Too much time is spent analyzing each Story, as it prevents the team from maintaining the right level of planning abstraction.

An anti-pattern is a behavior that seems helpful but actually undermines Agile principles. In the context of Iteration Retrospectives, one anti-pattern for Scrum Masters or Team Coaches is focusing only on what to improve and not on what to preserve.

Effective retrospectives are balanced—they highlight both what went well and what can be improved. Recognizing and reinforcing successful practices helps the team sustain productive behaviors while targeting specific areas for change. Ignoring positive aspects can lower morale and overlook practices that contribute to success.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams use the retrospective to discuss what went well, what didn’t, and what actions to take. Recognizing what to preserve reinforces effective team habits and strengths.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. They focus only on what to improve and not what to preserve, as this behavior disrupts balanced reflection and continuous improvement.

One of the main responsibilities of a Scrum Master/Team Coach is to facilitate team events, such as Iteration Planning, Daily Stand-up, Iteration Review, and Iteration Retrospective. These events help the team to plan, execute, inspect, and adapt their work throughout the Iteration. By facilitating these events, the Scrum Master/Team Coach ensures that the team follows the Agile principles and practices, collaborates effectively, and delivers value to the customers and stakeholders.

The Coach Sync (sometimes referred to as the Scrum of Scrums or SM/TC Sync) is a coordination event within SAFe® where Scrum Masters and Team Coaches from the Agile Release Train (ART) meet to discuss progress, dependencies, and impediments that affect multiple teams.

This event provides a forum for escalating and addressing ART-level impediments that cannot be resolved within a single team. The RTE (Release Train Engineer) typically facilitates this meeting to ensure transparency and problem-solving across teams.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Coach Sync allows Scrum Masters and Team Coaches to discuss cross-team progress and impediments, escalating those that require ART-level visibility or resolution.”

Therefore, the correct answer is C. Coach Sync. This event enables effective synchronization among teams and promotes continuous improvement across the ART.

In SAFe®, the team backlog is the source of work for the Agile Team and includes all the user stories, enablers, and defects that represent potential upcoming work. It is owned and managed by the team, often guided by the Product Owner, who ensures the backlog remains prioritized and ready for iteration planning.

A crucial ongoing activity related to the backlog is refinement (or backlog refinement)—the process of reviewing, clarifying, and breaking down backlog items into smaller, well-understood Stories that are ready for implementation. During this activity, the team collaborates to ensure backlog items have sufficient detail, appropriate acceptance criteria, and relative sizing estimates.

From SAFe guidance:

“The team backlog is the source for stories, enablers, and defects planned in iterations. Teams continuously refine the backlog to ensure upcoming work is well understood and ready for planning.”

Therefore, the correct answer is C. The team backlog is where the team refines possible Stories.

According to the SAFe 6 Scrum Master documentation, one of the traits of a servant leader is to persuade rather than use authority. This means that the servant leader influences others by appealing to their values, beliefs, and interests, rather than by imposing their own will or position. By persuading rather than using authority, the servant leader fosters a culture of collaboration, empowerment, and trust, where team members are more likely to accept and welcome coaching, feedback, and change. Persuasion also helps the servant leader to align the team with the organization’s vision, mission, and goals, and to create a shared understanding of the purpose and value of the work.

The Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration is a vital element of SAFe® that occurs at the end of every Program Increment (PI). It provides intentional space for innovation, exploration, learning, and planning, ensuring a sustainable pace and continuous improvement across the Agile Release Train (ART).

This iteration gives teams the time to focus on innovation and continuing education, such as experimenting with new technologies, attending training, or conducting hackathons. It also includes activities like PI Planning preparation and Inspect and Adapt participation.

From SAFe guidance:

“The IP Iteration provides dedicated time for innovation, education, and planning activities. It supports relentless improvement and a sustainable pace for the ART.”

Therefore, the correct answer is A. It provides dedicated time for innovation and continuing education, as this captures the core benefit of the IP Iteration.

According to SAFe, one output of a successful Iteration Retrospective is the creation of a few improvement Stories that enter the Team Backlog for the next iteration. These stories reflect the team’s agreement on what they can do better in terms of their process, practices, and performance. The improvement stories are visible and prioritized along with the other stories in the backlog. They help the team implement the concept of relentless improvement, which is one of the core values of SAFe.

One benefit of having an IP Iteration every PI is that it creates an estimating buffer for meeting PI objectives. PI objectives are a set of SMART goals that align the teams and stakeholders to a common vision and mission for the upcoming Program Increment (PI). They are derived from the business context, priorities, and dependencies, and are agreed upon and committed by the teams during PI Planning1 However, since PI objectives are based on estimates and assumptions, there is always a degree of uncertainty and variability in the delivery process. To account for this, SAFe recommends that teams reserve 10% of their capacity for each PI as an estimating buffer. This buffer is used during the IP Iteration, which is a unique, dedicated iteration that occurs every PI and provides dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, PI Planning, and Inspect and Adapt events2 By having an IP Iteration as an estimating buffer, the teams can improve the predictability and flow of value delivery, as well as reduce the stress and pressure of meeting the PI objectives23 

One example of an Agile Team development practice is to demo working functionality frequently to the product owner and other stakeholders. This practice helps the team to get fast feedback, validate their assumptions, and ensure that they are delivering value that meets the customer needs and expectations. Demoing frequently also helps the team to improve the quality of their work, as they have to ensure that the functionality is tested and meets the definition of done before showing it to others. Demoing frequently is part of the SAFe Scrum and SAFe Team Kanban practices, and is done at the end of each iteration in the Iteration Review event.

The Team Sync (or Daily Stand-up) in SAFe® is a short, focused, timeboxed event that allows the team to align on progress toward iteration goals, identify impediments, and plan the next 24 hours.

The meeting promotes transparency and collaboration, ensuring that all team members are aware of progress and issues that could affect delivery. It also reinforces self-management by allowing the team to adapt plans daily based on new information.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Team Sync allows team members to align on progress toward iteration goals, discuss impediments, and adjust their plans to stay on track.”

Thus, the correct answer is A. The team aligns on the progress of Iteration Goals, as it captures the event’s primary intent.

One way uncommitted objectives help Agile Teams make a plan for the PI is that they maintain the predictability of achieving the objectives. Uncommitted objectives are PI objectives that are not included in the team’s commitment or counted against teams in the ART predictability measure. They are used to identify work that can be variable within the scope of a PI, such as stretch goals, spikes, innovation, or exploration1 Uncommitted objectives help improve the predictability of delivering business value since they allow the team to adjust their scope based on the actual progress and feedback during the PI. They also provide the team with some flexibility and capacity to respond to changing needs and expectations, as well as to pursue learning and improvement opportunities12