Scaled Agile SSM SSM (6.0) - SAFe Scrum Master Practice 6.0 Exam Practice Test

An essential coaching technique for Scrum Masters/Team Coaches in SAFe® is asking powerful questions. Instead of providing direct solutions, effective Scrum Masters guide the team toward self-discovery and collaborative problem-solving.

Powerful questions are open-ended, thought-provoking inquiries that stimulate deeper reflection and creative thinking. This approach aligns with the servant-leader mindset, enabling team members to take ownership of their challenges and develop collective accountability.

Examples include:

“What options have we not yet considered?”

“What’s the smallest next step we could take?”

“What’s blocking our progress, and how might we remove it together?”

From SAFe guidance:

“Scrum Masters and Team Coaches enable teams to find their own solutions by asking powerful questions rather than providing answers. This encourages collaboration and fosters a culture of continuous learning.”

Therefore, the correct answer is A. Asking powerful questions, as it directly supports self-management and team empowerment.

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.

Improving flow is a central responsibility of a Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) in SAFe®. One of the most effective ways to enhance flow is by establishing a Team Kanban board with the team.

A Kanban board visualizes the workflow, showing where work items are in the process and helping teams identify bottlenecks or work-in-progress (WIP) issues. By visualizing flow, the team can inspect, measure, and optimize how work moves from “To Do” to “Done.”

This approach aligns with SAFe’s Principle #6: Visualize and Limit WIP, Reduce Batch Sizes, and Manage Queue Lengths, which promotes smoother, faster delivery and higher predictability.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams use Kanban systems to visualize work, identify bottlenecks, and optimize flow. Scrum Masters/Team Coaches help teams establish and maintain their Kanban to improve throughput and reduce delays.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Work with team members to establish a team Kanban board, as it directly enables better visibility and flow management.

The primary goal of a team in an Iteration is to deliver working functionality that meets the acceptance criteria and the definition of done. This functionality is demonstrated to the stakeholders and customers in the Iteration Review and Demo event, where the team receives feedback and validation. By delivering working functionality at the end of the Iteration, the team contributes to the Incremental value delivery, one of the SAFe Lean-Agile Principles.

The CALMR approach to DevOps in SAFe® stands for Culture, Automation, Lean Flow, Measurement, and Recovery. It represents the foundational mindset required to achieve continuous delivery and operational excellence.

The “C” in CALMR stands for Culture, which emphasizes building a culture of shared responsibility between development, operations, and business teams. This shared responsibility ensures alignment, collaboration, and a collective focus on delivering value rather than working in silos.

From SAFe guidance:

“DevOps is founded on a culture of shared responsibility for the delivery of value, encouraging collaboration across all roles and reducing handoffs.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Create a culture of shared responsibility, as it reflects the first and most essential principle of the CALMR approach.

A safe environment for taking risks without fear of embarrassment or criticism is one of the characteristics of a high-performing Agile Team. A high-performing Agile Team is a cross-functional group of people that have everything, and everyone, necessary to produce a working, tested increment of product1 They are empowered, collaborative, aligned, and committed to delivering value to the customers and the organization2 One of the factors that enable a high-performing Agile Team is a safe environment where team members can experiment, learn, and grow without fear of failure, blame, or judgment3 A safe environment fosters a culture of innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement, as well as a sense of psychological safety, trust, and belonging among team members4 Team C is demonstrating this characteristic by creating a new workflow to speed up the testing process, even though it did not work out as expected. The rest of the team was excited to hear what was learned from the failed experiment, rather than being disappointed or critical. This shows that the team values learning over perfection, and supports each other in taking risks and trying new things.

One of the high-performing team characteristics that Team A is demonstrating is using regular feedback loops built into the learning cycle. A high-performing Agile Team is a cross-functional group of people that have everything, and everyone, necessary to produce a working, tested increment of product1 They are empowered, collaborative, aligned, and committed to delivering value to the customers and the organization1 One of the factors that enable a high-performing Agile Team is using regular feedback loops to learn and improve. Feedback loops are mechanisms that provide the team with information about the outcomes and impacts of their actions, as well as the needs and expectations of their customers and stakeholders23 Feedback loops help the team to validate their assumptions, measure their progress, and adjust their plans accordingly23 Feedback loops also help the team to foster a culture of experimentation, innovation, and continuous improvement, as well as to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty23 Team A is using regular feedback loops by releasing the functionality with a method for collecting direct customer feedback. This allows them to learn from the actual users of their product, and to incorporate their feedback into the next iteration of development. This way, they can deliver value faster and more effectively, as well as to enhance the quality and usability of their product4 

The Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event is a crucial part of the Program Increment (PI) cycle in SAFe®, held at the end of every PI. It provides a structured opportunity for the Agile Release Train (ART) to reflect, assess results, and drive relentless improvement.

According to SAFe, the I&A event consists of three distinct parts:

PI System Demo – A combined demonstration of all teams’ completed features during the PI to show the integrated solution’s current state.

Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement – Teams review performance metrics and gather stakeholder feedback to assess progress toward business objectives.

Problem-Solving Workshop – The ART collectively identifies systemic issues and applies root cause analysis techniques to create actionable improvement items.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Inspect and Adapt event consists of a PI System Demo, quantitative and qualitative measurement, and a problem-solving workshop.”

Thus, the correct answer is C. PI System Demo, qualitative and quantitative measurement, and problem-solving workshop.

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.

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.

An effective Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) not only supports the team’s daily operations but also helps them grow and improve over time. Thinking beyond the day-to-day means guiding the team toward strategic improvement and long-term effectiveness, not just tactical task completion.

By helping the team prioritize improvement activities to ensure progress, Scrum Masters promote a mindset of continuous learning and adaptation. This aligns with SAFe’s Relentless Improvement pillar, encouraging the team to use metrics, feedback, and retrospectives to drive sustained enhancement in flow, quality, and collaboration.

From SAFe guidance:

“Scrum Masters help teams improve continuously by identifying, prioritizing, and pursuing improvement opportunities that enhance value delivery and team performance.”

Thus, the correct answer is D. Help the team prioritize improvement activities to ensure progress, as this demonstrates strategic thinking beyond daily coordination.

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.

The problem-solving workshop is the third part of the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event in SAFe®. Its main purpose is to use structured root cause analysis to develop solutions to recognized problems that blocked or slowed work during the Program Increment (PI).

Teams and ART stakeholders collaboratively identify systemic issues using techniques like the 5 Whys or fishbone diagrams. They then define concrete improvement actions, which are prioritized and added to the improvement backlog for implementation in the next PI.

From SAFe guidance:

“The purpose of the problem-solving workshop is to identify the root causes of systemic issues that impacted performance during the PI and create improvement actions to address them.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Developing solutions to recognized problems that blocked or slowed work.

Hackathons are one of the activities that can be done during the IP Iteration to foster innovation and learning. They allow the team members to work on whatever they want, with whomever they want, as long as the work reflects the mission of the company. The teams then demo their work to others at the end of the hackathon. Hackathons can help the team explore new ideas, technologies, and solutions that can benefit the business and the customers. They can also increase the team’s engagement, creativity, and collaboration. References: Innovation and Planning Iteration - Scaled Agile Framework, Exam Study Guide: SSM (6.0) - SAFe® Scrum Master

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.

In the context of SAFe® and Agile Team dynamics, healthy conflict is a defining characteristic of a high-performing team. It allows members to openly challenge ideas, explore different perspectives, and arrive at better decisions collectively.

Healthy conflict is based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to team goals. It is different from destructive conflict—rather than creating division, it fosters creativity, innovation, and stronger collaboration. When teams are psychologically safe and can engage in constructive debate, they can refine solutions and build consensus faster.

SAFe emphasizes servant leadership and coaching behaviors that enable such open communication:

“High-performing Agile Teams engage in healthy conflict, where diverse viewpoints are explored and disagreements are resolved constructively, leading to better decisions and shared commitment.”

While trust, clear goals, and decision-making are also vital attributes, healthy conflict specifically addresses how teams can manage differing opinions productively, making it the correct answer.

A servant leader is defined in SAFe® as someone who prioritizes the growth, well-being, and development of their team over personal or organizational agendas. Rather than exercising authority or control, servant leaders empower, support, and enable their teams to achieve autonomy and high performance.

Scrum Masters and Team Coaches embody this leadership style by removing impediments, fostering collaboration, and promoting a safe environment for experimentation and learning. The servant leader’s goal is to help the team reach its full potential, not to command or direct.

From SAFe guidance:

“Servant leaders focus on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. They put the needs of others first and help people develop and perform as highly as possible.”

Therefore, the correct answer is A. A leader that prioritizes the needs and growth of the team over their own priorities.

One of the best practices Scrum Masters/Team Coaches can use to run successful meetings is to leave meetings with clear action items. Action items are specific tasks that need to be done by a certain person or group by a certain deadline. They help the team to follow up on the outcomes of the meeting, track progress, and ensure accountability. Action items should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Scrum Masters/Team Coaches should document and communicate the action items to the team and stakeholders, and review them in the next meeting.

In SAFe®, the Coach Sync (also known as the Scrum of Scrums or SM/TC Sync) is a coordination event for Scrum Masters and Team Coaches within an Agile Release Train (ART). The main purpose of this event is to gain visibility into team progress, discuss impediments, and ensure cross-team alignment.

Facilitated by the Release Train Engineer (RTE), the Coach Sync promotes transparency across the ART by allowing Scrum Masters to share information about iteration status, dependencies, and challenges that may affect other teams. It also serves as a forum for escalating ART-level impediments.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Coach Sync provides Scrum Masters and Team Coaches with visibility into progress and dependencies across teams and enables them to coordinate and remove impediments at the ART level.”

Thus, the correct answer is C. To gain visibility into progress, as this captures the event’s primary purpose.

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 practice Scrum Masters/Team Coaches can use to facilitate conflict management is to enforce working agreements. Working agreements are a set of guidelines that define how a team wants to work together, communicate, and collaborate. They are created by the team members themselves and reflect their shared values, norms, and expectations. Working agreements can help prevent or reduce conflicts by establishing clear boundaries, roles, and responsibilities, as well as by promoting respect, trust, and transparency among team members. Working agreements can also help resolve conflicts by providing a common reference point and a framework for constructive feedback and dialogue. Scrum Masters/Team Coaches can support the team in creating, reviewing, and updating their working agreements, as well as in holding each other accountable for following them.

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.

Lean flow is one of the elements of the CALMR approach to DevOps in SAFe. It means applying lean principles and practices to optimize the flow of value from idea to production. Lean flow accelerates delivery by eliminating waste, reducing batch sizes, implementing pull systems, limiting work in process, managing queues, reducing handoffs, and applying cadence and synchronization. Lean flow enables faster feedback, shorter lead times, higher quality, and lower costs.

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.

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.