Scaled Agile Updated SSM Exam Questions and Answers by irha

According to the SAFe 6 Scrum Master documentation, one of the ways a servant leader can support team members in decision-making is by giving each team member the opportunity to contribute. This means that the servant leader encourages and facilitates the participation of all team members in the decision-making process, ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard and valued. By giving each team member the opportunity to contribute, the servant leader fosters a culture of collaboration, empowerment, and trust, as well as increases the quality and buy-in of the decisions.

In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), Agile Teams work together as part of an Agile Release Train (ART). One of the defining features that unites all teams within an ART is synchronization to a common cadence. This means all teams follow the same iteration schedule—planning, executing, reviewing, and retrospecting in harmony.

The common cadence provides a steady rhythm that simplifies coordination and dependency management across multiple teams. It ensures alignment by creating predictable, synchronized events such as PI Planning, System Demos, and Inspect & Adapt workshops. This synchronization allows cross-team integration and transparency, enabling teams to deliver coherent system-level increments and support scaled agility.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams on the Agile Release Train (ART) align to a common cadence and synchronize their iterations, which facilitates system-level integration and provides regular opportunities for assessment and adaptation.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Synchronization to a common cadence, as it represents the key organizing attribute shared by all teams on an ART.

In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), sustainable pace and predictable delivery are essential for high-performing Agile teams. An important signal that a team may be overcommitting to work is when team members begin pulling in work from future Iterations before completing the committed iteration backlog.

This behavior is an anti-pattern because it disrupts the cadence and predictability of the Agile Release Train (ART). It also undermines flow and focus, spreading the team’s effort too thin across multiple iterations and reducing quality. Overcommitting leads to burnout, missed commitments, and lower morale, which negatively affect the team’s long-term velocity and dependability.

According to SAFe:

“Teams should plan only as much work as they can complete within the iteration based on historical velocity and available capacity. Pulling work from future iterations indicates overcommitment or lack of focus on the planned goals.”

Therefore, C. Team members are pulling in work from future Iterations is the correct answer—it’s a clear symptom of overcommitment and poor iteration discipline.

The intended value of the Backlog Refinement event is that the team is able to prepare requirements for Iteration Planning. Backlog Refinement is an ongoing process where the team collaborates with the Product Owner and other stakeholders to review, split, prioritize, and estimate the stories in the Team Backlog1 One of the main objectives of Backlog Refinement is to ensure that the stories are ready for Iteration Planning, which means they are clear, feasible, testable, and small enough to be completed in a single Iteration2 By doing so, the team can improve the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of their work, as well as deliver value to the customers and the organization123