SAFe Scrum Master Study Guide 5.0
Agile frameworks Ans - SAFe
Scrum
Crystal
Kanban
eXtreme Programming (XP)
Feature-driven development
What does a Scrum Master do? Ans - - Servant leaders and coaches for an Agile Team.
- Help educate team in Scrum, XP, Kanban and SAFe, ensuring the agreed Agile process is being
followed.
- Help remove impediments and foster an environment for high-performing team dynamics,
continuous flow and relentless improvement.
- Facilitates team events
- Works with RTE to ensure train meets PI objectives
- Fosters normalized estimating within the team
- Assists the PO in backlog for PI and IP.
- Attends scrum of scrum meetings.
ART Ans - Agile Release Train
PO Ans - Product Owner
Program Increment (PI) Planning Ans - A cadence-based, face-to-face event that serves as the
heartbeat of the Agile Release Train (ART), aligning all the teams on the ART to a common
mission and vision.
Innovation and Planning Iteration Ans - Occurs every PI and serves multiple purposes. It acts
as an estimating buffer for meeting PI objectives, as well as providing dedicated time for
innovation, continuing education, and PI planning and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events.
Inspect & Adapt (I&A) Ans - A significant event, held at the end of each PI, where the current
state of the solution is demonstrated and evaluated by the train. Teams reflect and identify
improvement backlog items via a structured, problem-solving workshop
Iteration Ans - A basic building block of Agile development. Each is a standard, fixed-length
timebox, where Agile Teams deliver incremental value in the form of working, tested software
and systems.
Cycle - Defines, builds, integrates, & test.
,What is the recommended timebox duration for an Iteration? Ans - 2 weeks; however, 1-4
weeks is acceptable, depending on the business context.
Who participates in the Inspect & Adapt (I&A) phase? Ans - All stakeholders, including:
1. The Agile Teams
2. Release Train Engineer (RTE)
3. System and Solution Architect Engineering
4. Product Management, Business Owners, and others on the Train
What results from the I&A phase? Ans - Improvement backlog items that go to the Program
Backlog for the next PI Planning event
3 parts of I&A Ans - PI System Demo
Quantitative Measurement
Retrospective and Problem-Solving Workshop
Purpose of PI System Demo Ans - To show all the Features the ART has developed over the
course of the PI
Leads: PM, PO, System Team
Attend: BO, Stakehlders, PM, RTE, SM & Teams
PI System Demo Timebox Ans - ~1 hr or less
What is one primary measurement to be considered in quantitative metrics? Ans - Program
predictability measure
Updated end of inspect & adapt event
Retrospective goal Ans - To identify whatever issues they would like to address
Retrospective objective Ans - To identify a few significant problems that the teams can
potentially address - What went well, what didn't go well, what can do better next time.
PDCA Cycle Ans - Plan
Do
Check
Adjust
Who facilitates the PI Planning event? Ans - Release Train Engineer (RTE)
In which iteration does PI Planning take place? Ans - Innovation and Planning Iteration
__ ________ is essential to SAFe; if you are not doing it, you are not doing SAFe. Ans - PI
Planning
, Business Benefits of PI Planning Ans - - Establishing face-to-face communication across all
team members and stakeholders
- Building the social network the ART depends on aligning development to business goals with
the business context, vision, and team project PI objectives
- Identifying dependencies and fostering cross-team and cross-ART collaboration
- Providing the opportunity for "just the right amount of architecture and Lean User Experience
(UX) guidance)
- Matching demand to capacity, eliminating excess WIP
- Fast decision-making
PI Planning Inputs Ans - Business context
Roadmap and vision
Top 10 features of the Program Backlog
NFRs (Non-functional Requirements)
PI Planning Outputs Ans - Committed PI objectives (A set of SMART objectives that are created
by each team with the business value assigned by the Business Owners)
Program board (this highlights the new feature delivery dates, feature dependencies among
teams and with other ARTs, and relevant milestones)
Plan is the goal
3 Areas of Preparation for a Successful PI Planning Ans - Organizational Readiness
Content Readiness
Facility Readiness
Organizational Readiness Ans - Strategic alignment and teams trains setup
Content Readiness Ans - Management and development preparedness
Facility Readiness Ans - The actual space and logistics for the event
Organizational Readiness Considerations Ans - Planning scope and context - is the scope
(product, system or technology domain) of the planning process understood? Do we know
which teams need to plan together?
Business alignment - is there reasonable agreement on priorities among Business Owners
Agile teams - Do we have Agile teams? Are there dedicated developer and test resources and
an identified Scrum Master and Product Owner for the team?
Content Readiness Considerations Ans - Executive briefing - a briefing that defines the current
business context
Agile frameworks Ans - SAFe
Scrum
Crystal
Kanban
eXtreme Programming (XP)
Feature-driven development
What does a Scrum Master do? Ans - - Servant leaders and coaches for an Agile Team.
- Help educate team in Scrum, XP, Kanban and SAFe, ensuring the agreed Agile process is being
followed.
- Help remove impediments and foster an environment for high-performing team dynamics,
continuous flow and relentless improvement.
- Facilitates team events
- Works with RTE to ensure train meets PI objectives
- Fosters normalized estimating within the team
- Assists the PO in backlog for PI and IP.
- Attends scrum of scrum meetings.
ART Ans - Agile Release Train
PO Ans - Product Owner
Program Increment (PI) Planning Ans - A cadence-based, face-to-face event that serves as the
heartbeat of the Agile Release Train (ART), aligning all the teams on the ART to a common
mission and vision.
Innovation and Planning Iteration Ans - Occurs every PI and serves multiple purposes. It acts
as an estimating buffer for meeting PI objectives, as well as providing dedicated time for
innovation, continuing education, and PI planning and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events.
Inspect & Adapt (I&A) Ans - A significant event, held at the end of each PI, where the current
state of the solution is demonstrated and evaluated by the train. Teams reflect and identify
improvement backlog items via a structured, problem-solving workshop
Iteration Ans - A basic building block of Agile development. Each is a standard, fixed-length
timebox, where Agile Teams deliver incremental value in the form of working, tested software
and systems.
Cycle - Defines, builds, integrates, & test.
,What is the recommended timebox duration for an Iteration? Ans - 2 weeks; however, 1-4
weeks is acceptable, depending on the business context.
Who participates in the Inspect & Adapt (I&A) phase? Ans - All stakeholders, including:
1. The Agile Teams
2. Release Train Engineer (RTE)
3. System and Solution Architect Engineering
4. Product Management, Business Owners, and others on the Train
What results from the I&A phase? Ans - Improvement backlog items that go to the Program
Backlog for the next PI Planning event
3 parts of I&A Ans - PI System Demo
Quantitative Measurement
Retrospective and Problem-Solving Workshop
Purpose of PI System Demo Ans - To show all the Features the ART has developed over the
course of the PI
Leads: PM, PO, System Team
Attend: BO, Stakehlders, PM, RTE, SM & Teams
PI System Demo Timebox Ans - ~1 hr or less
What is one primary measurement to be considered in quantitative metrics? Ans - Program
predictability measure
Updated end of inspect & adapt event
Retrospective goal Ans - To identify whatever issues they would like to address
Retrospective objective Ans - To identify a few significant problems that the teams can
potentially address - What went well, what didn't go well, what can do better next time.
PDCA Cycle Ans - Plan
Do
Check
Adjust
Who facilitates the PI Planning event? Ans - Release Train Engineer (RTE)
In which iteration does PI Planning take place? Ans - Innovation and Planning Iteration
__ ________ is essential to SAFe; if you are not doing it, you are not doing SAFe. Ans - PI
Planning
, Business Benefits of PI Planning Ans - - Establishing face-to-face communication across all
team members and stakeholders
- Building the social network the ART depends on aligning development to business goals with
the business context, vision, and team project PI objectives
- Identifying dependencies and fostering cross-team and cross-ART collaboration
- Providing the opportunity for "just the right amount of architecture and Lean User Experience
(UX) guidance)
- Matching demand to capacity, eliminating excess WIP
- Fast decision-making
PI Planning Inputs Ans - Business context
Roadmap and vision
Top 10 features of the Program Backlog
NFRs (Non-functional Requirements)
PI Planning Outputs Ans - Committed PI objectives (A set of SMART objectives that are created
by each team with the business value assigned by the Business Owners)
Program board (this highlights the new feature delivery dates, feature dependencies among
teams and with other ARTs, and relevant milestones)
Plan is the goal
3 Areas of Preparation for a Successful PI Planning Ans - Organizational Readiness
Content Readiness
Facility Readiness
Organizational Readiness Ans - Strategic alignment and teams trains setup
Content Readiness Ans - Management and development preparedness
Facility Readiness Ans - The actual space and logistics for the event
Organizational Readiness Considerations Ans - Planning scope and context - is the scope
(product, system or technology domain) of the planning process understood? Do we know
which teams need to plan together?
Business alignment - is there reasonable agreement on priorities among Business Owners
Agile teams - Do we have Agile teams? Are there dedicated developer and test resources and
an identified Scrum Master and Product Owner for the team?
Content Readiness Considerations Ans - Executive briefing - a briefing that defines the current
business context
