Most Recent Scaled Agile SAFe-SASM Exam Questions & Answers

Achieving Continuous Deployment involves several practices, one of which is decoupling deployment from release. This means that code can be deployed to production continuously and automatically, but it is only released to end-users when it is appropriate. Decoupling these processes allows for more frequent and reliable deployments without affecting the user experience until the features are ready for release. This practice helps in maintaining system stability and enabling faster feedback loops.

SAFe Scrum Master Reference

SAFe Continuous Delivery Pipeline: practices for Continuous Deployment

SAFe 5.0 framework: decoupling deployment and release for continuous improvement

Release Train Engineer (RTE):

Role: The RTE is a servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART). They facilitate ART events and processes, assist teams in delivering value, and help manage risks and dependencies.

Interaction with Scrum Master:

Scrum Masters frequently collaborate with the RTE to coordinate cross-team activities and dependencies.

They work together during events like PI Planning, Scrum of Scrums, and Inspect & Adapt (I&A) workshops to ensure alignment and continuous improvement.

The RTE provides support and guidance to Scrum Masters, helping them resolve impediments that affect the ART.

Product Owner (PO):

Role: The Product Owner is responsible for defining and prioritizing the team backlog, ensuring that the team is working on the most valuable tasks.

Interaction with Scrum Master:

Scrum Masters work closely with Product Owners to facilitate effective backlog refinement sessions, ensuring that the backlog items are well-understood and ready for iteration planning.

They support the Product Owner in maintaining a clear and prioritized backlog, helping to communicate the vision and goals to the team.

During iteration planning and reviews, Scrum Masters assist Product Owners in engaging with the team and stakeholders, ensuring that feedback is collected and incorporated.

SAFe Scrum Master Reference:

Release Train Engineer:

SAFe materials outline the critical role of the RTE in coordinating the ART and supporting Scrum Masters in their efforts to remove impediments and ensure smooth execution of plans.

Scrum Open: Discusses the collaborative relationship between Scrum Masters and RTEs in facilitating ART events and managing dependencies.

Product Owner:

The SAFe framework emphasizes the importance of the Scrum Master-Product Owner partnership in driving the delivery of value and maintaining a healthy backlog.

Product Owner Open: Provides insights into how Scrum Masters and Product Owners work together to align on priorities and ensure the team is focused on the right tasks.

Inspect and Adapt (I&A) Event: This event includes a retrospective aimed at reviewing the past Program Increment (PI) and identifying issues that need to be addressed.

Purpose of Retrospective: The retrospective helps the team reflect on what went well, what didn't, and why. It is used to identify specific problems and root causes that will be addressed in the subsequent problem-solving workshop.

Outcome: The issues identified during the retrospective form the basis for the problem-solving workshop, where the team collaboratively develops action plans to improve processes and outcomes.

SAFe Scrum Master Reference:

The I&A event in SAFe is designed to foster continuous improvement by systematically identifying and addressing issues through structured retrospectives and problem-solving workshops.

Cadence: Refers to a regular, predictable schedule that sets the rhythm for the team or ART (Agile Release Train) activities. It helps in aligning planning, development, and delivery cycles.

Synchronization: Ensures that multiple teams or ARTs work together in harmony, aligning their schedules, dependencies, and delivery efforts.

Benefit Explanation: Having both cadence and synchronization means that all teams within the ART are working in a coordinated manner, iterating together. This alignment ensures that dependencies are managed, integration happens regularly, and the system evolves cohesively.

SAFe Scrum Master Reference:

SAFe promotes cadence and synchronization to manage complex dependencies and ensure that all parts of the system evolve together, enhancing overall system integrity and quality.

WIP (Work in Process): Refers to the number of work items that are in progress at any given time.

Impact of High WIP: Having too many items in progress can lead to context switching, inefficiencies, and delays, ultimately slowing down the overall throughput of the team.

Throughput: The rate at which the team completes work items. Reducing WIP helps the team focus on completing tasks, leading to faster throughput and better flow of work.

SAFe Scrum Master Reference:

SAFe emphasizes limiting WIP to improve flow efficiency, reduce bottlenecks, and increase throughput.