Safe 4 5 Advanced Scrum Master
Safe 4 5 Advanced Scrum Master
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As part of the outcome of the Team Retrospective
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What are three Team Retrospective anti-patterns? (Choose three.)
When the team commits to working on 1-2 improvement items and adds them to the next Iteration Backlog
When the team reviews their interactions during the last Iteration and identifies 1-2 improvement items to work
on as a team
When the team reviews their interactions during the last Iteration and identifies 1-2 improvement items for the
Product Owner to work on
When the Scrum Master decides what the Retrospective topic(s) will be and directs the team on specific
improvement items to work on
A team's Product Owner (PO) takes an unexpected leave of absence for the last week of the Iteration. Three
of the team’s stories have been completed and are waiting to be accepted. The Scrum Master asks the
Product Manager (PM) to attend the Iteration Review and accept the stories. The PM responds that he is not
familiar enough with the intent to feel comfortable accepting these responsibilities. He suggests keeping
the Iteration open for an additional week and waiting for the PO to come back. What should the team’s
Scrum Master do?
The Scrum Master should accept the stories after the team demonstrates the stories
Strongly urge the PM to attend the Demo and accept the stories
An effective decision-making framework provides which two ultimate outcomes? (Choose two.)
Decentralizes decision-making
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What is one characteristic of an effective Agile team?
8 - 12 weeks
2 - 4 weeks
4 - 8 weeks
Which SAFe configuration requires having a Solution Vision?
Portfolio SAFe
Full SAFe
When development teams are empowered, self-organized, and allow the design to emerge
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When identifying the selection of common platforms
Maximizing purpose
Team goals
Market disruption
Individualized compensation
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During Iteration Review, the team decides to carry forward three stories to the next Iteration. This is the
second time during this PI that some of the team’s stories are carried over.
What are two actions the Scrum Master should take? (Choose
two.)
See if the Product Owner is agreeable to moving the stories into the next Iteration
Take a 'wait and see' approach because the team assures they are still on track for the PI
How does work flow from one state to the next in a Team Kanban board?
During the Daily Stand-up, team members make decisions and discuss how to move the work
People working in the first state move the work to the next work state
The Scrum Master moves the work from one state to the next to ensure ongoing progress within the team
Team members of a state pull work from the previous state when they can do so without impacting their current
state WIP constraint
The Scrum Master interacts with which level(s) of SAFe?
Team Level
Portfolio Level
All Levels
Program Level
What are two times when the Inspect and Adapt workshop is held? (Choose two.)
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At the end of every Iteration
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Which SAFe organizational construct allows businesses to build large and complex systems in a Lean-Agile
manner?
Value Stream
Solution Train
Portfolio
What is the most effective way to establish built-in quality?
Run performance testing as well as the testing of other non-functional requirements every IP Iteration
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They participate in scoring Business Value; however, they have a different measure than velocity
They use cycle time because it is more objective and based on actual timestamps
They need to estimate their velocity in story points in order to participate in the larger economic framework
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Which two SAFe events explicitly implement SAFe's mindset of relentless improvement? (Choose two.)
PI Planning
Solution Demo
Iteration Retrospective
Iteration Demo
What anti-pattern can emerge during the Scrum of Scrums?
Scrum Masters have a daily 15 minute meet-after with the Release Train Engineer
Scrum Masters work with the Release Train Engineer to resolve risks and impediments
What are the responsibilities of a Scrum Master on a train that go beyond basic team facilitation? (Choose
three.)
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Team Iteration Backlog
Improvement Roadmap
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What is the value of periodic resynchronization?
WIP is maximized
How do Agile Teams ensure their own Retrospective Improvement actions are implemented?
Discuss improvement actions during the Inspect and Adapt event and get confirmation from other Agile Teams
on implementation
Have the Scrum Master implement the team improvement actions so the team can focus on development
Add improvement stories to the Team Backlog to implement in the next Iteration
Use the Release Train Engineer to hold the Agile Team accountable for their improvement actions
What are two reasons why too much WIP is a problem? (Choose two.)
It does not allow the Development Team time to improve their processes
One of the Scrum Master's main responsibilities is to communicate with management and outside
stakeholders to help the team in what way?
Accept stories
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Manage the Iteration Planning Backlog
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What improves collaboration between Scrum Masters and System Architects, System Teams, and
Operations?
Roadmaps
Program Kanban
How do Kanban Teams implement the SAFe Lean-Agile mindset of relentless improvement?
By establishing a Kanban board to visualize the flow of work within Kanban team and aligning with the Program
and the rest of the teams
By creating Classes of Services and Policies to execute the work in a way that is aligned with Program and
Large Solution Levels
By using Cumulative Flow Diagrams which objectively measure bottlenecks and variation in the flow which
could be due to systemic factors
By estimating team velocity and comparing it across Iterations for continuous improvement
Who participates in the Inspect and Adapt event?
Stakeholders
Business Owners
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Who is responsible for assisting to establish Continuous Integration in SAFe?
Agile Teams
Shared Services
In complex systems development, what do local integration points ensure?
That each capability of the system is meeting its responsibilities in contributing to the overall solution intent
That all team members have access to the current product status
That a common understanding of the system design is distributed to the entire team
POs facilitate story grooming sessions with the team during the Iteration
POs and Product Managers are not aligned with business intent
POs design the solution before bringing the intent to the team
POs bring the business problem to the team and ask the team to design the solution
When developing an Agile Team's skill set, what skill type is most typical?
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M-shaped
I-shaped
E-shaped
T-shaped
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What are two key areas a team should be organized around? (Choose two.)
Enablers
Middleware
Features
Platform
Business logic
During Iteration Planning, the Product Owner (PO) introduces a new story to the team. They cannot come to
a consensus on the size of the new story and ask the PO for more details.
After a lot of discussion, multiple dependencies with other teams emerge, so the team decides to leave the
story in the Team Backlog and not commit. Is the team’s response an anti-pattern?
No; the Development Team left the story in the Team Backlog for further refinement with the PO
Yes; the Development Team identified multiple dependencies with other teams
Yes; the PO and the Development Team reached the planning session without preparation and the
dependencies were not identified
Solution Management
Solution Architect/Engineer
Project Manager
Project Owner
Which two actions enhance an Agile Release Train's performance? (Choose two.)
Team alignment
Reporting
Customer success
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In the SAFe House of Lean, which element should be emphasized with managers?
Lean-Agile Leadership
Flow
Innovation
To drive craftsmanship
To provide routine, periodic presentations of the short- and longer-term Vision to the teams
To provide a series of incremental steps forward through a shared and common framework
Large batch sizes reduce transaction cost and provide a higher return on investment
Lack of feedback contributes to higher holding cost and therefore larger batch sizes
Small batch sizes enable faster feedback with lower transaction costs
At the System Demo, each team demonstrates their own work but the system is not integrated. They say
they underestimated the integration effort. They cannot integrate every Iteration and meet the planned
scope. What should the Scrum Master suggest?
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Integrate the system during the IP Iteration
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How does a Scrum Master lead a team's efforts in relentless improvement?
By eliminating impediments
One state on the Kanban board has people waiting while the previous stage is overloaded. What should the
Scrum Master consider doing?
Request more people on the team to help with the overloaded stage in order to generate work faster for the
waiting stage
Call for a team self-assessment so that the team agrees on improvement actions
Encourage and coach the people in the under-utilized stage to help with the work of the of overloaded stage
What is one way to improve the skills of a team member?
Autonomy
Responsibility
Reward
Purpose
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Recognition
Mastery
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Why should team members continuously and actively engage with other teams during PI Planning?
Deliver Value
Plan-Do-Check-Adjust
Pair Programming
A team achieved less than 80% during the quantitative measurement of the Inspect and Adapt workshop.
What would be an unacceptable action for this team's Scrum Master to take?
Coordinate with the System Team to coach this team on Continuous Integration and test automation
Hold the team self-assessment at any time and do not wait for the Iteration Retrospective
When does the Inspect and Adapt event happen?
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Scrum of Scrums
Daily Stand-ups
PO Sync
System Demo
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What is a recommended story-splitting technique for Agile teams?
Implement the 'happy path' first and the rest of the scenarios afterwards
Implement the story UI first and build the business logic later
Start with the data structure and extend into the business logic and UI
The team focuses on task completion over story completion and acceptance criteria
The team provides updates only on tasks during the Daily Stand-up
The team focuses on story completion and acceptance criteria over task completion
The team waits to close the story until after the related tasks are complete
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Team members work separately on individual tasks for the same story
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SAFE 4.5 ADVANCED SCRUM MASTER – VALIDATION EXAM
VALIDATION EXAM QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
How is team performance calculated in SAFe?
The ratio of business value achieved to business value planned for the PI
When the team's integrated increment is demonstrated to the Product Owner and other business users
When the story is accepted by the Product Owner after meeting the team's Definition of Done
To reduce WIP
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To create the Program Board
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When is collaboration with System Architects, the Systems Team, and DevOps likely to have the greatest
impact on product development?
During PI Planning
Invite a Development Manager to a team meeting to emphasize the importance of splitting stories
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Demonstrate story-splitting techniques using a specific example
What might be included in the Improvement Roadmap?
The Product Manager wish list presented at the Inspect and Adapt workshop
Pair work
Iteration Planning
Report status
According to Daniel Pink, what are the key motivators to creative, knowledge-intensive work? (Choose
three.)
Engagement
Autonomy
Purpose
Enthusiasm
Mastery
Value
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What does a Scrum Master support in order to help the team improve and take responsibility for their
actions?
Feature Teams make integration harder because they tend to branch the code base
Architectural integrity of a system can suffer as multiple teams make changes to the same layers and
components
Testing features is not practical because it requires access to integrated system environments
Which two statements are true about batch size, cycle time, and utilization? (Choose two.)
Batch size is influenced by the Product Owner, utilization is influenced by the Development Team
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Collaborate through ad hoc meetings
Systems builders and customers have a high level of responsibility and should take great care to ensure
that any investment in new solutions will deliver what benefit?
Coach the team on how to make reliable commitments every Iteration with visible goals
Hold team members accountable to complete their tasks by monitoring task progress deviation
Ensure the team's velocity and WIP are a true representation of what is actually happening within the team
Be aligned with the Product Manager when reviewing the team's backlog
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Lee is a developer on the team. At every Daily Stand-up Lee reports, "Yesterday, I worked on indexing,
today I will work on indexing, I have no impediments."
What approach would the Scrum Master suggest to Lee to improve the team's visibility into his
work?
Clarify how his work has advanced the Iteration Goals so that the conversation is anchored in specific outcomes
Request Lee reports his status last in the Daily Stand-up so that the team members can talk about
dependencies first
What is key to maintaining team momentum?
They require Product Manager approval because they have multiple acceptance criteria
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What is one characteristic of an effective SAFe Agile Team?
To pivot as necessary
To increase velocity
Because the teams are not collaborating together and validating alignment as part of a larger Program
Because the teams managed their dependencies and planned their integration timing during PI Planning
Because the Product Management Team accepted each team’s final plan at the end of PI Planning Day 2
Because each Feature Team needs to integrate with the Component Team
What is the output of an Inspect and Adapt event?
A Solution Planning Board which highlights the objectives, anticipated delivery dates, and any other relevant
milestones for the solution
A set of improvement items that can be added to the backlog for the upcoming PI Planning event
A set of Strategic Themes that provide an ongoing strategy snapshot and communicates evolving intent and a
budget to the Portfolio
What are the benefits of organizing teams around features?
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Stories do not have to be tested because testing is at the feature level
What is a typical Product Owner (PO) anti-pattern in Iteration Planning?
The PO brings in changes to the planned features based on stakeholder feedback from the Product Demo
The PO introduces the business intent to the team for the first time
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What is the purpose of the Large Solution Level in SAFe?
To coordinate multiple Agile Release Trains that develop the same solution
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The team does not feel valued by the Program Team
The team does not identify and commit to improvement items for how they do their work
The team does not inspect the Program Increment and revise the Product Backlog
The team often over-commits during the Iterations and does not have available time to retrospect
What is the primary goal of decentralized decision-making?
To resolve dependencies
To reduce delay
To minimize WIP
Why are phase-gate milestones problematic?
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Deep experience in one skill and general experience in other skills
Experience across several areas and can execute using a combination of skills
Deep expertise in one single skill set within one domain area
What are two benefits of applying cadence? (Choose two.)
To facilitate better planning and allow for more efficient use of resources
To cause multiple perspectives to be understood, resolved, and integrated at the same time
What goes into the Portfolio Backlog?
Epics
Capabilities
Strategic Themes
Projects
A team integrates and tests the stories on the last day of the Iteration. This has become a pattern for the
last three Iterations. Why is this considered an anti-pattern?
Because the team consistently meets their commitments and the Product Owner accepts
Because the team demonstrates the full stories to the Product Owner during the Iteration Review
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Communication
Values
Trust
Competency
What is one output from the Problem-Solving Workshop?
ROAMed risks
An assessment report
Portfolio Level
Program Level
Team Level
By eliminating impediments
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Identify impediments
Revise planning
Secure funding
The work within one state of a team's Kanban board is being completed at a much faster rate than the next
state. What could resolve this issue?
Add more people to the second state to catch up with the gap in velocity
Have the Scrum Master change the WIP limit of the faster state to allow swarming on the accumulated work
Have the Scrum Master or Product Owner redesign the board to ensure a smooth flow of work
Which statement is true about Work-in-Process (WIP)?
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A Scrum Master is invited to help an Agile Release Train that has struggled through multiple PIs. They just
finished the second Iteration in the current PI and have nothing to show at the System Demo. Program
stakeholders are really concerned.
What should be done?
Find a vendor that specializes in integrating system increments from multiple teams
Re-architect the system so that there are no dependencies between the teams and integration is not required at
this time
Have every team demonstrate their team increment to the stakeholders separately in the team branch
Stop working on any new functionality and fully integrate and test the system; adjust scope based on what is
learned
What is the SAFe recommended ideal size of an Agile Release Train?
10 - 30 people
25 - 50 people
50 - 125 people
If the distance between the arrival and departure curves on a team's Cumulative Flow Diagram are growing
apart, what is likely happening?
To help in quantifying quality measurements for the whole Agile Release Train and enable the SAFe Program
Execution core value
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To predict the scope of the remaining requirements in the Program Backlog
To enable the Agile Release Train to achieve the business value as a percentage from what is planned
What is one requirement for automating deployment processes in DevOps?
They require the Product Owner to act as gate-keeper or guardian for the process
They assume a point solution exists and can be built right the first time
The purpose of Continuous Integration is to deliver what?
They fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members
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They tend to have a higher velocity than teams that embrace conflict
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The SAFe Agile Team includes the Scrum Master and which two other key roles? (Choose two.)
Business Owner
Dev Team
Product Owner
Solution Management
How is average cycle time measured in a Kanban System?
Measure the vertical distance between arrival and departure lines on a Continuous Flow Diagram
Measure the horizontal distance between arrival and departure lines on a Continuous Flow Diagram
Measure the cycle time for at least three items and calculate the statistical mean of the items
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During Iteration Planning, the Product Owner (PO) introduces multiple new stories to the team. After a lot of
discussion, the team decides to insert spikes into the Iteration for research. Why is this situation an anti-
pattern?
The team will engage the dependent teams to work on the stories
The PO and the team arrived at the planning session without preparation
The Development Team decides they want to use pair programming in future Iterations. Where should this
be documented?
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