Free sasm sample questions

Correct answer: Facilitate a Scrum of Scrums meeting during the breakout session to explicitly walk through the identified dependencies and encourage teams to negotiate solutions directly.

The most effective initial action is to facilitate direct communication and problem-solving among the teams. A Scrum of Scrums during the breakout provides a dedicated forum for dependency management and negotiation, empowering the teams to self-organize and align their plans. Stopping the event is a drastic measure, escalating to management removes team ownership, and documenting dependencies without resolving them does not address the core issue of collaboration.

Correct answer: Visualize and limit WIP

The primary cause of increasing lead time and aging WIP is having too many items in progress simultaneously. Visualizing the workflow and implementing explicit WIP limits forces the team to focus on completing existing work before starting new items. This directly tackles the problem described, improves predictability, and reduces context switching. While other accelerators are valuable, limiting WIP is the foundational first step for this specific scenario.

Correct answer: Switch to a silent brainstorming technique like '1-2-4-All' where individuals write down ideas first, then discuss in progressively larger groups.

The '1-2-4-All' liberating structure is specifically designed to address this type of dysfunction. It allows for individual, silent reflection first (1), ensuring that everyone's initial thoughts are captured without being influenced or shut down by dominant personalities. The subsequent sharing in pairs (2), then fours (4), and finally with the whole group (All) creates a safer, more structured environment for all ideas to be heard and considered. This directly promotes psychological safety and balanced participation.

Correct answer: To identify the systemic root causes of the ART's most significant problems from the PI and create improvement backlog items.

The problem-solving workshop's main goal is to move beyond symptoms and perform a root cause analysis (e.g., using Fishbone diagrams or 5 Whys) on the most significant challenges the ART faced during the Program Increment. The outcome is a set of actionable improvement items that are added to the ART backlog to be worked on in the next PI, fostering relentless improvement.

Correct answer: False

This statement is false. While the Release Train Engineer (RTE) facilitates dependency management and helps remove impediments, the primary responsibility lies with the Agile teams themselves. SAFe promotes self-organization and decentralized decision-making, encouraging teams to communicate and resolve dependencies directly with each other, especially during PI Planning.

Correct answers: Culture; Lean Flow

Correct answer: Propose a gradual, phased transition to cross-functional feature teams, starting with a pilot team. Use value stream mapping to demonstrate the current delays and model the potential improvements in flow time.

This approach addresses the root cause (team structure) while mitigating the risks perceived by leadership. A gradual, pilot-based transition allows the organization to learn and adapt. Using value stream mapping provides objective data to build a compelling case for change by visualizing the waste in the current system and quantifying the benefits of organizing around value with feature teams. This is a strategic, coaching-based approach that respects leadership's concerns while guiding them toward a more effective solution.

Correct answer: Owned: The Scrum Master takes ownership of chasing the vendor.

Correct answer: Introduce new retrospective formats and focus the discussion on one of the SAFe Core Values, like Built-in Quality or Transparency.

Stale retrospectives are a common problem. An Advanced Scrum Master should act as a coach and facilitator by introducing variety. Changing the format (e.g., Speedboat, Starfish, 4Ls) and focusing the discussion on a specific, higher-level concept like a SAFe Core Value can help the team look at their process from a new perspective, generating fresh insights and more meaningful improvement actions.

Correct answer: It increases the likelihood that the work will no longer be the highest-value thing to do when it is started.

Long queues mean that there is a significant delay between when an item is identified and when work on it begins. In a dynamic business environment, this delay increases the risk that customer needs, market conditions, or priorities will change, rendering the queued item obsolete or less valuable by the time the team is ready to work on it. This directly impacts the delivery of value.