SAFe Scrum Master

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration is a special iteration dedicated to innovation, continuing education, PI Planning, and infrastructure work. It's also a time for teams to rest and prepare for the next Program Increment (PI).

If Team A decides to continue with their feature delivery work during the IP Iteration, they could potentially experience all of the effects listed in the options. However, the most significant effect would be:

They could lose an opportunity to manage risks and communication within the Agile Release Train (ART)

This is because the IP Iteration is a crucial time for teams to reflect on their work, identify and manage risks, and improve communication within the ART. By continuing with their feature delivery work, Team A might miss out on these opportunities, which could negatively impact their performance in the next PI.

Here's a table summarizing the potential effects:

The ''C'' in the CALMR approach to DevOps stands for culture, which is the foundation of successful DevOps adoption. Culture refers to the values, beliefs, and behaviors that guide the collaboration and alignment of everyone in the value stream. By creating a culture of shared responsibility, teams can manage the tensions caused by differing needs, such as speed, quality, security, and stability. A culture of shared responsibility means that everyone is accountable for the outcomes of their work, and that they work together to deliver value to the customers. It also means that teams respect each other's roles and expertise, and seek feedback and learning opportunities. A culture of shared responsibility fosters trust, transparency, and continuous improvement, which are essential for DevOps.

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:

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology identifies seven core competencies that are critical to achieving business agility. These competencies are:

1. Lean-Agile Leadership
2. Team and Technical Agility
3. Agile Product Delivery
4. Enterprise Solution Delivery
5. Lean Portfolio Management
6. Organizational Agility
7. Continuous Learning Culture

From the options you provided, Agile Product Delivery and Built-in Quality are recognized as core competencies in the SAFe 6.0 methodology.

Here is a brief explanation of these two competencies:

• Agile Product Delivery: This competency is about delivering valuable outcomes in a lean, reliable, and continuous flow. It involves three dimensions: Customer Centricity and Design Thinking, DevOps and Release on Demand, and Developing on Cadence and Releasing on Demand.
• Built-in Quality: This competency ensures that each solution element, at every increment, meets appropriate quality standards throughout development. It involves five specific aspects: Flow, Architecture and Design Quality, Code Quality, System Quality, and Release Quality.

The other two options you provided, "Growth Mindset" and "Design Thinking Practices", are important aspects of the SAFe methodology, but they are not recognized as standalone core competencies. They are incorporated within other competencies. For example, Design Thinking is a part of the Agile Product Delivery competency, and Growth Mindset is a part of the Continuous Learning Culture competency.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the correct statement about the team backlog is:

The team backlog is where the team refines possible Stories

Explanation

The team backlog is a prioritized list of work for the Agile Team. It includes:

• User Stories
• Defects
• Enablers

The team backlog is the property of the Agile Team and they are responsible for maintaining it. The team backlog is where the team refines possible Stories, not where they commit to work, finalize work, or accept Stories.

The process of refining Stories involves breaking down large Stories (also known as Epics) into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then further elaborating on these pieces as necessary. This process is also known as backlog grooming or backlog refinement.

Here is a simplified representation of the process:

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, all the options provided can be used by a Scrum Master or Team Coach to guide team members towards finding solutions together. However, the context and the specific problem at hand will determine the most suitable technique to use.

Here's a brief explanation of each technique:

Asking Powerful Questions

This technique involves the Scrum Master asking thought-provoking questions that encourage team members to think critically and come up with solutions. The questions should be open-ended and designed to stimulate creative thinking.

Pairing Team Members to Grow T-Shaped Skills

This technique involves pairing team members with different skill sets to work on tasks together. This not only promotes collaboration but also helps team members to broaden their skills and knowledge, hence the term "T-shaped skills".

Bringing in New Team Members to Refresh the Team Dynamic

Sometimes, introducing new team members can bring fresh perspectives and ideas, which can help in finding solutions. However, this should be done carefully to avoid disrupting the existing team dynamics.

Facilitating a Process Improvement Workshop

This involves organizing a workshop where team members can discuss their processes, identify areas of improvement, and come up with solutions to enhance their efficiency and productivity.

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the common anti-pattern for teams trying to prepare their draft objectives at PI planning is:

Too much time is spent analyzing each Story

This is considered an anti-pattern because it can lead to analysis paralysis, where the team spends so much time trying to understand every detail of each story that they lose sight of the bigger picture and delay the planning process. The focus during PI planning should be on understanding the high-level objectives and how the team can work together to achieve them, rather than getting bogged down in the details of individual stories.

Remember, the goal of PI planning is to align the team on the objectives for the upcoming Program Increment and to create a plan to achieve those objectives. It's important to strike a balance between understanding the details of the work and maintaining a focus on the overall objectives.

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.

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)

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.

One way a Scrum Master/Team Coach can support productive team Backlog Refinement sessions is to ensure subject matter experts are invited. Subject matter experts (SMEs) are people who have specialized knowledge or skills related to the domain or technical aspects of the product or solution. They can provide valuable input and feedback to the team during Backlog Refinement, such as clarifying requirements, validating assumptions, identifying dependencies, and suggesting solutions. SMEs can also help the team to split, estimate, and prioritize the backlog items more effectively and accurately. By inviting SMEs to the Backlog Refinement sessions, the Scrum Master/Team Coach can facilitate better collaboration, communication, and alignment among the team and the stakeholders. (Must be taken from SAFe 6 Scrum Master resources)

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.

One of the recommended practices for Scrum Masters/Team Coaches when facilitating Iteration Review is to begin to consider how and what to demo in Iteration Planning. This helps the team to have a clear vision of the expected outcome and to align their work with the iteration goals. It also facilitates the preparation and execution of the demo, as the team can anticipate the feedback and questions from the stakeholders. (Must be taken from SAFe 6 Scrum Master resources)

According to the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 6.0 methodology, the absence of DevOps can lead to several issues. However, based on the options provided, the most relevant issue is:

Challenges between teams that build Solutions and those who operate the Solutions

This is because DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. Without DevOps, there can be a disconnect between the teams that build the solutions and those who operate them, leading to inefficiencies and potential issues in the software development process.

Here's the answer in a table format:

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.

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)

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.

The best examples are: Focus on business value delivery, Ask the Team for the answer and Facilitate Team problem-solving.
Focusing on business value delivery over fosucing on certain targets
Asking the Team for the answer over providing answers for the Team
Focusing on business value delivery over fosucing on certain targets

The ART Planning Board highlights the new Feature delivery dates, Feature dependencies among Teams and relevant

A Team's velocity is calculated by summing up the points of the fully completed stories, so it’s 8+1=9 points, excluding story C which is not completed 100%.

Openness is one of the Scrum Values that can help Agile Teams create transparency. Being open involves sharing information, feedback, and concerns openly within the team and with stakeholders. It fosters an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their thoughts and ideas, leading to better collaboration and decision-making. Openness promotes transparency by ensuring that relevant information is readily available to all team members, allowing for a clear understanding of the work being done and the challenges being faced.