During an Iteration Retrospective, a team identifies that their cycle time for stories has increased by 20% over the Program Increment (PI). The team's discussion stalls as they blame external dependencies. As a SAFe Scrum Master, what is the most effective technique to refocus the conversation on actionable improvements within the team's control?
An Agile team on an ART is consistently delivering their committed PI Objectives, but the System Demo reveals that their work does not integrate well with other teams' components, causing significant rework. Which SAFe principle is most likely being neglected?
A Scrum Master observes that their team's Product Owner is frequently absent from Backlog Refinement sessions, resulting in poorly defined stories and confusion during Iteration Planning. Which two actions are the most appropriate for the Scrum Master to take? (Select TWO).
**Case Study** A healthcare technology company, HealthForward, has launched its first Agile Release Train (ART) to build a new patient portal. The ART consists of five teams. After the first Program Increment (PI), the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop reveals a significant issue. The PI System Demo was disjointed, with each team demonstrating their features from their local development environments. Integration only happened in the last few days of the PI, uncovering major conflicts and bugs. The quantitative metrics showed that while 80% of stories were completed, only 40% of the integrated features were actually demonstrable and met quality standards. During the problem-solving workshop, the root cause was identified as a lack of a robust, shared integration environment and insufficient automated testing. Teams worked in silos, and the Definition of Done (DoD) was inconsistent across teams. The Scrum Masters feel overwhelmed, and the Release Train Engineer (RTE) is concerned that the ART will fail to deliver on its commitments in the next PI if this problem is not addressed systemically. As a Scrum Master on this ART, you are part of the problem-solving session to brainstorm improvement items for the next PI. The goal is to ensure that by the end of the next PI, the System Demo showcases a truly integrated and high-quality solution. Which improvement item should be prioritized to have the most significant impact on solving the identified integration problem?
True or False: In SAFe, the Team Backlog contains only User Stories.
During PI Planning, a team identifies a significant risk: 'The new authentication service we depend on from the platform team may not be ready by Iteration 3.' After discussion, the ART agrees this is a major concern. What is the next step for handling this risk according to the ROAMing process?
A new Scrum Master is trying to explain the purpose of the Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration to their team. Which statement best describes the primary purpose of the IP Iteration?
A key attribute of a servant leader is demonstrating empathy. How can a SAFe Scrum Master best demonstrate this attribute?
A Scrum Master is facilitating an Iteration Planning event. The team has calculated their capacity for the upcoming iteration. The Product Owner presents a set of high-priority stories from the Team Backlog. What is the primary output of this event?
The Team Sync is the SAFe equivalent of the Daily Stand-up meeting in Scrum. Its purpose is to inspect progress toward the ______ and adapt the plan for the remainder of the iteration.