SAFe Scrum Master

One example of Scrum Masters/Team Coaches helping without diminishing the commitment of others is facilitating necessary meetings for the team.Facilitating means providing guidance and support to the team in conducting effective and productive meetings, such as Iteration Planning, Daily Stand-up, Iteration Review, and Iteration Retrospective1Facilitating does not mean taking over the meeting or making decisions for the team.Rather, it means creating a safe and respectful environment, ensuring clear and shared objectives, encouraging participation and collaboration, managing time and agenda, resolving conflicts and issues, and summarizing outcomes and action items23By facilitating necessary meetings for the team, Scrum Masters/Team Coaches help the team to achieve their goals, improve their processes, and deliver value to the customers and the organization14At the same time, they respect and empower the team's autonomy, self-organization, and self-management, and do not interfere with their commitment or accountability14

(Must be taken from SAFe 6 Scrum Master resources)

One of the responsibilities of a Scrum Master/Team Coach is to help the team achieve flow, which is
a state of continuous and sustainable delivery of value. They do this by teaching and coaching the
team on SAFe Scrum and SAFe Team Kanban practices, such as limiting work in progress, visualizing
work, managing queues, and reducing batch sizes. They also help identify and eliminate
impediments and bottlenecks that hinder the team’s progress and performance.

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 Backlog. 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 Iteration. 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 organization.

The Scrum value that can help Agile Teams create transparency from the options provided is Respect.

Explanation

In the context of Scrum and Agile methodologies, respect is a fundamental value that fosters transparency within teams. When team members respect each other, they are more likely to be open and honest about their work, challenges, and progress. This openness leads to greater transparency, as it encourages sharing of information and collaboration.

Here's a brief description of how respect contributes to transparency:

• Respect: This value is about acknowledging and appreciating the skills, knowledge, and capabilities of all team members. It encourages open communication, mutual understanding, and trust. When team members respect each other, they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns, which promotes transparency.

The other options provided, while important in their own right, do not directly contribute to transparency in the same way as respect does.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the best way for a Scrum Master/Team Coach to build a high-performing team from the options provided is:

Encourage team members to acquire t-shaped skills

Explanation

T-shaped skills refer to the ability of a team member to contribute broadly (the horizontal bar of the 'T') across many areas, while also having deep expertise in a specific area (the vertical bar of the 'T'). This concept is central to Agile and SAFe methodologies, as it promotes flexibility, collaboration, and efficiency within teams.

Here's why the other options are not as effective:

• Encourage handoffs to allow each team member to contribute: Handoffs can lead to delays and miscommunication. SAFe promotes collective ownership and continuous collaboration instead.
• Suppress team conflicts to encourage more productivity: Suppressing conflicts can lead to unresolved issues and resentment within the team. It's better to facilitate healthy conflict resolution.
• Assign Stories so the team does not have to pull from the Kanban: This goes against the principle of self-organization in Agile and SAFe. Teams should pull work as capacity allows, promoting ownership and commitment.

In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), teams are typically advised to maintain a backlog with enough refined Stories to cover approximately 2-3 weeks of work. This allows for a manageable scope of work that the team can commit to completing within a reasonable timeframe, promoting agility and flexibility in responding to changing priorities and customer needs.

The CALMR approach to DevOps, as outlined in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0, stands for Culture, Automation, Lean, Measurement, and Recovery. Each letter in the acronym represents a key element of the approach.

Given the options you provided, the correct answer is:

• Create a culture of shared responsibility

This aligns with the 'Culture' aspect of the CALMR approach. In this context, culture refers to fostering a collaborative environment where everyone shares responsibility for the delivery and stability of the system.

Here's a brief overview of what each element in the CALMR approach stands for:

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the correct answer is:

Work with team members to establish a team Kanban board

Explanation

The Scrum Master or Team Coach can help teams improve flow by working with them to establish a team Kanban board. This is a visual tool that helps teams manage their work and improve their workflow efficiency.

Here's why the other options are not as effective:

• Coach team members to combine work into bigger Stories: This could lead to larger, more complex work items that take longer to complete, potentially slowing down the flow.
• Direct team members to work in their domain of expertise: While this can improve individual productivity, it doesn't necessarily improve the overall team flow. It could also lead to silos within the team.
• Encourage hand-offs so each team member can write a Story to capture their piece of the work: This could lead to more hand-offs and dependencies, which can slow down the flow.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the responsibility of a Scrum Master/Team Coach among the options provided is:

Answer

• Supporting Iteration Execution

Explanation

The Scrum Master/Team Coach plays a crucial role in facilitating the team's progress towards team goals. The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Agile Team, helping to remove impediments and fostering an environment for high-performing team dynamics, continuous flow, and relentless improvement.

Here's a brief explanation of each option:

1. Supporting Iteration Execution: This is a core responsibility of the Scrum Master. They facilitate the team's progress towards iteration goals.
2. Assigning points for each user story: This is typically a team responsibility, not specifically the Scrum Master's. The team collectively estimates the effort for each user story in the backlog.
3. Accepting completed work: This is typically the role of the Product Owner, not the Scrum Master. The Product Owner accepts user stories once they meet the acceptance criteria.
4. Attending PO Sync: While the Scrum Master might attend this meeting, it is not a primary responsibility. The main attendees of the PO Sync are the Product Owners.

One way to ensure a team is holding successful iteration reviews and demos is to have the team
demo working, tested system components that meet the definition of done (DoD). This shows the
team’s progress and value delivery, and allows them to receive feedback from the product owner
and other stakeholders. The team should minimize the use of slides and the preparation time for the
demos, and focus on the solution instead of the presentation.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, all four characteristics mentioned are crucial for a high-performing team. However, in the context of your question, where two developers have different ideas on how to implement a solution, the most relevant characteristic would be Healthy Conflict.

Explanation

• Healthy Conflict: This is a key characteristic of high-performing teams. It allows for the open discussion of ideas, where each team member feels comfortable expressing their thoughts and opinions. In this scenario, the two developers can engage in a constructive debate about their differing ideas, which can lead to a more robust and well-thought-out solution.

Here's a brief overview of how the other characteristics contribute to a high-performing team:

• Mutual Trust: This is the foundation of any team. It allows team members to feel safe in expressing their ideas and opinions, knowing that they will be respected and considered.
• Effective Decision-Making: This characteristic ensures that decisions are made in a timely and efficient manner, with the input of all team members. It's crucial for moving projects forward and avoiding stagnation.
• Clear Goals and Purpose: Having a clear understanding of the team's goals and purpose helps to align all team members and keeps everyone focused on the same objectives.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the Scrum Master/Team Coach plays a crucial role in Program Increment (PI) Planning. Among the options provided, the most accurate one is:

Briefing the team before planning

Explanation

The Scrum Master/Team Coach is responsible for ensuring that the team is well-prepared and understands the objectives and context before the PI Planning event. This includes briefing the team on the vision, roadmap, and features that will be discussed during the planning session.

Here's a brief overview of the Scrum Master's role in PI Planning:

• Briefing the team before planning: The Scrum Master ensures that the team is ready for PI Planning by providing necessary context and information. This includes understanding the vision, roadmap, and features that will be discussed.
• Facilitate Coach Sync: This is not a typical responsibility of the Scrum Master during PI Planning.
• Participate in management review and problem-solving: While the Scrum Master may participate in these activities, it is not their primary role during PI Planning.
• Perform the ART confidence vote: This is typically done by all members of the Agile Release Train (ART), not specifically by the Scrum Master.

Here's a simplified table of the Scrum Master's role in PI Planning:

One anti-pattern of the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) is to have no actionable improvement Features
created as a result of the problem-solving workshop. This is considered an anti-pattern because the
main goal of the I&A workshop is to identify and address the systemic issues that are limiting the
effectiveness of the Agile Release Train (ART). The workshop should produce one or more
improvement Features that are added to the ART backlog and prioritized for the next PI Planning
event. These Features should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-
bound) and aligned with the ART vision and goals. Without actionable improvement Features, the
ART will miss the opportunity to learn and improve from the feedback and data collected during the
PI.

Iteration Review - Scaled Agile Framework
Exam Study Guide: SSM (6.0) - SAFe® Scrum Master

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.

One Agile development value is customer collaboration over contract negotiation. This value is one of the four core values of the Agile Manifesto, which states: ''We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.''1This value emphasizes the importance of building a trusting and collaborative relationship with the customers, rather than relying on rigid and formal contracts that may limit the ability to respond to changing needs and expectations2Customer collaboration means involving the customers throughout the development process, seeking their feedback, input, and validation, and delivering solutions that meet their requirements and expectations3Customer collaboration also means respecting the customers' opinions and perspectives, and resolving any conflicts or issues in a constructive and respectful manner4Customer collaboration helps the Agile teams to deliver value faster and more effectively, as well as to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty

(Must be taken from SAFe 6 Scrum Master resources)