SSM SSM (6.0) - SAFe Scrum Master Practice 6.0 Questions and Answers

Norming is the stage of team development where team members stop focusing on their own goals and begin focusing on developing better ways of working together.  Norming occurs after the team has gone through the Forming and Storming stages, where they have established their roles and r e sponsibilities, and have resolved their initial conflicts and disagreements 1 2  In the Norming stage, the team starts to build trust, respect, and cohesion among themselves.  They also align on a common vision, mission, and goals, and agree on the norms and expectations for their collaboration and communication 1 2  The team becomes more productive, efficient, and effective, as they leverage their collective strengths and skills, and support each other in overcoming challenges and delivering va l ue 1 2  The team also develops a sense of identity and pride, and celebrates their achievements and learnings 1 2  

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.

Within a SAFe Agile Release Train (ART) , all teams work together toward a common mission guided by a single Program Backlog . This shared backlog aligns every team’s work to the same vision, ensuring coordination and synchronization.

This structure fosters transparency, dependency management, and alignment across all teams, allowing them to collaborate effectively while maintaining autonomy within their scope. The ART operates under the principle of “aligning with a common mission and cadence.”

From SAFe guidance:

“All teams on an ART share a common vision and a single Program Backlog that defines the work necessary to realize that vision.”

Thus, the correct answer is D. A common mission using a single backlog.

According to the SAFe 6 Scrum Master documentation, one of the traits of a servant leader is to persuade rather than use authority. This means that the servant leader influences others by appealing to their values, beliefs, and interests, rather than by imposing their own will or position. By persuading rather than using authority, the servant leader fosters a culture of collaboration, empowerment, and trust, where team members are more likely to accept and welcome coaching, feedback, and change. Persuasion also helps the servant leader to align the team with the organization’s vision, mission, and goals, and to create a shared understanding of the purpose and value of the work.

A servant leader is defined in SAFe® as someone who prioritizes the growth, well-being, and development of their team over personal or organizational agendas. Rather than exercising authority or control, servant leaders empower, support, and enable their teams to achieve autonomy and high performance.

Scrum Masters and Team Coaches embody this leadership style by removing impediments, fostering collaboration, and promoting a safe environment for experimentation and learning. The servant leader’s goal is to help the team reach its full potential, not to command or direct.

From SAFe guidance:

“Servant leaders focus on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. They put the needs of others first and help people develop and perform as highly as possible.”

Therefore, the correct answer is A. A leader that prioritizes the needs and growth of the team over their own priorities.

In SAFe® , the Coach Sync (also known as the Scrum of Scrums or SM/TC Sync ) is a coordination event for Scrum Masters and Team Coaches within an Agile Release Train (ART) . The main purpose of this event is to gain visibility into team progress , discuss impediments, and ensure cross-team alignment.

Facilitated by the Release Train Engineer (RTE) , the Coach Sync promotes transparency across the ART by allowing Scrum Masters to share information about iteration status, dependencies, and challenges that may affect other teams. It also serves as a forum for escalating ART-level impediments.

From SAFe guidance:

“The Coach Sync provides Scrum Masters and Team Coaches with visibility into progress and dependencies across teams and enables them to coordinate and remove impediments at the ART level.”

Thus, the correct answer is C. To gain visibility into progress , as this captures the event’s primary purpose.

According to the SAFe 6 Scrum Master documentation, one of the ways a Scrum Master/Team Coach can help improve ART performance is to facilitate cross-team collaboration. Cross-team collaboration is the ability of Agile teams to work together effectively and efficiently to deliver value to the customers and stakeholders. It involves sharing infor mation, resolving dependencies, aligning on goals, and providing feedback. Cross-team collaboration is essential for achieving the ART vision and objectives, as well as for delivering integrated and high-quality solutions.

The Scrum Master/Team Coach plays a key role in facilitating cross-team collaboration by  1 :

Participating in the Scrum of Scrums (SoS) and ART Sync meetings, where they communicate the team’s progress, impediments, and dependencies, and coordinate with other teams and the Release Train Engineer (RTE)

Helping the team prepare for and participate in the PI Planning event, where they collaborate with other teams to define and commit to the PI objectives and identify risks and dependencies

Supporting the team in the System Demo, where they demonstrate the team’s work to other teams and stakeholders, and receive feedback and validation

Assisting the team in the Inspect and Adapt (I & A) event, where they review the ART performance, identify improvement opportunities, and create action plans

Encouraging the team to adopt Communities of Practice (CoPs), where they share knowledge, best practices, and learnings with other teams and experts

Promoting a culture of trust, respect, and cooperation among the team and other teams

A key responsibility of the Scrum Master/Team Coach (SM/TC) in SAFe® is to support Iteration Execution. This involves ensuring that the team adheres to Agile principles, manages dependencies, removes impediments, and maintains focus on achieving iteration goals.

The Scrum Master facilitates team events, promotes collaboration, and helps the team continuously improve. They also assist in managing scope and ensuring transparency by tracking progress through iteration burndowns, Kanban boards, or burn-up charts.

From SAFe guidance:

“Scrum Masters support iteration execution, help the team meet iteration goals, and ensure all Scrum events are productive and within their timeboxes.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. Supporting Iteration Execution, as it encapsulates a central part of the Scrum Master/Team Coach role.

Among the five Scrum values — Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage — the value that most directly supports transparency is Openness.

In both Scrum and SAFe®, transparency is a foundational principle of empirical process control. Teams must be open about progress, impediments, challenges, and feedback to allow effective inspection and adaptation. When teams practice openness, trust grows, collaboration deepens, and issues are surfaced early rather than hidden.

The Scrum Guide (2020) states:

“The Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about the work and the challenges. Openness encourages transparency, inspection, and adaptation.”

Similarly, SAFe encourages openness as part of the Lean-Agile mindset and team culture, ensuring alignment, honesty, and clarity across teams and ARTs.

Thus, the correct answer is B. Openness, as it directly enables transparency and honest collaboration.

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.

According to the SAFe 6 Scrum Master documentation, one of the elements on the Scrum Master/Team Coach responsibility wheel is to facilitate PI Planning. PI Planning is a two- day event where all the teams and stakeholders of an Agile Release Train (ART) collaborate to align on a common vision, define and commit to the PI objectives, and identify and manage risks and dependencies.  The Scrum Master/Team Coach facilitates PI Planning by  1 :

Helping the team prepare for the event, such as reviewing the business context, vision, and backlog, and creating draft plans

Supporting the team during the event, such as facilitating breakout sessions, resolving issues, and ensuring alignment and collaboration with other teams

Assisting the team after the event, such as finalizing the plans, updating the PI board, and conducting a retrospective

Facilitating PI Planning is one of the ways the Scrum Master/Team Coach helps the team and the ART achieve their goals and deliver value.

The Iteration Retrospective is a core event in SAFe® and Scrum where the team reflects on the past iteration to identify ways to improve processes, collaboration, and effectiveness. One of the most powerful ways to transform retrospective insights into action is by writing improvement Stories.

An improvement Story is treated like any other backlog item—it is estimated, prioritized, and included in the upcoming iteration backlog to ensure continuous, measurable progress toward higher performance. This approach aligns with SAFe’s focus on Relentless Improvement, a pillar of the SAFe House of Lean.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams record improvement items as stories and include them in the next iteration backlog. This ensures that improvement work receives visibility, commitment, and action.”

Thus, the correct answer is B. By writing improvement Stories, as it ensures improvement actions are tangible, trackable, and continuously implemented.

One of the main responsibilities of a Scrum Master/Team Coach is to facilitate team events, such as Iteration Planning, Daily Stand-up, Iteration Review, and Iteration Retrospective. These events help the team to plan, execute, inspect, and adapt their work throughout the Iteration. By facilitating these events, the Scrum Master/Team Coach ensures that the team follows the Agile principles and practices, collaborates effectively, and delivers value to the customers and stakeholders.

In the context of SAFe® and Agile Team dynamics , healthy conflict is a defining characteristic of a high-performing team . It allows members to openly challenge ideas, explore different perspectives, and arrive at better decisions collectively.

Healthy conflict is based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to team goals. It is different from destructive conflict—rather than creating division, it fosters creativity, innovation, and stronger collaboration. When teams are psychologically safe and can engage in constructive debate, they can refine solutions and build consensus faster.

SAFe emphasizes servant leadership and coaching behaviors that enable such open communication:

“High-performing Agile Teams engage in healthy conflict, where diverse viewpoints are explored and disagreements are resolved constructively, leading to better decisions and shared commitment.”

While trust, clear goals, and decision-making are also vital attributes, healthy conflict specifically addresses how teams can manage differing opinions productively, making it the correct answer.

The problem-solving workshop is the third part of the Inspect and Adapt (I & A) event in SAFe®. Its main purpose is to use structured root cause analysis to develop solutions to recognized problems that blocked or slowed work during the Program Increment (PI).

Teams and ART stakeholders collaboratively identify systemic issues using techniques like the 5 Whys or fishbone diagrams. They then define concrete improvement actions, which are prioritized and added to the improvement backlog for implementation in the next PI.

From SAFe guidance:

“The purpose of the problem-solving workshop is to identify the root causes of systemic issues that impacted performance during the PI and create improvement actions to address them.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Developing solutions to recognized problems that blocked or slowed work.

According to the SAFe® (Scaled Agile Framework) guidelines, an effective Scrum Master or Team Coach (SM/TC) exhibits several key traits that enable them to support Agile Teams effectively. One of the most emphasized characteristics is the ability to navigate conflict constructively .

A " conflict navigator " refers to someone who helps the team identify and work through disagreements in a productive way. Rather than avoiding or suppressing conflict, a skilled Scrum Master uses it as an opportunity to surface issues, enhance team learning, and drive continuous improvement. This aligns with the servant-leadership stance encouraged both in SAFe and the Scrum Guide.

While traits like being charismatic or ambitious may be personally beneficial, they are not explicitly listed in SAFe or Scrum literature as core attributes for Scrum Masters. Similarly, competitiveness could actually contradict the collaborative, team-focused nature of Agile frameworks.

From the SAFe® Scrum Master role description :

“Effective Scrum Masters are servant leaders who display characteristics such as active listening, empathy, persuasion, and conflict facilitation.”

This highlights the importance of conflict facilitation , making “ Conflict navigator ” the correct answer.

For full reference, see:

???? SAFe Scrum Master Role – Scaled Agile Framework

An essential coaching technique for Scrum Masters/Team Coaches in SAFe® is asking powerful questions . Instead of providing direct solutions, effective Scrum Masters guide the team toward self-discovery and collaborative problem-solving.

Powerful questions are open-ended, thought-provoking inquiries that stimulate deeper reflection and creative thinking. This approach aligns with the servant-leader mindset, enabling team members to take ownership of their challenges and develop collective accountability.

Examples include:

“What options have we not yet considered?”

“What’s the smallest next step we could take?”

“What’s blocking our progress, and how might we remove it together?”

From SAFe guidance:

“Scrum Masters and Team Coaches enable teams to find their own solutions by asking powerful questions rather than providing answers. This encourages collaboration and fosters a culture of continuous learning.”

Therefore, the correct answer is A. Asking powerful questions , as it directly supports self-management and team empowerment.

An anti-pattern is a behavior that seems helpful but actually undermines Agile principles. In the context of Iteration Retrospectives , one anti-pattern for Scrum Masters or Team Coaches is focusing only on what to improve and not on what to preserve .

Effective retrospectives are balanced—they highlight both what went well and what can be improved . Recognizing and reinforcing successful practices helps the team sustain productive behaviors while targeting specific areas for change. Ignoring positive aspects can lower morale and overlook practices that contribute to success.

From SAFe guidance:

“Teams use the retrospective to discuss what went well, what didn’t, and what actions to take. Recognizing what to preserve reinforces effective team habits and strengths.”

Therefore, the correct answer is B. They focus only on what to improve and not what to preserve , as this behavior disrupts balanced reflection and continuous improvement.

According to SAFe® , the Iteration Retrospective is a key event that enables relentless improvement , one of the pillars of the SAFe House of Lean. The purpose is to reflect on the previous iteration and identify what went well, what didn’t, and what can be improved.

An essential outcome of this meeting is a set of actionable improvement items that can be added to the team backlog . These items are often captured as improvement Stories , ensuring that process enhancements are visible, prioritized, and implemented in the next iteration.

From SAFe guidance:

“The retrospective concludes with actionable improvement items added to the backlog. These items should be implemented in subsequent iterations to improve performance.”

Therefore, the correct answer is D. Ensure the event ends with actionable improvement items for the backlog , as it ensures continuous learning and measurable improvement.

A constructive IP Iteration is one of the recommended practices for Scrum Masters/Team Coaches to help teams avoid burnout, address technical debt, and foster innovation. An IP Iteration is a unique, dedicated iteration that occurs every PI and provides an estimating buffer for meeting PI Objectives and dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, PI Planning, and Inspect and Adapt events. During the IP Iteration, teams can work on activities such as hackathons, research and design, spikes, refactoring, automation, training, and other improvement initiatives that are difficult to fit into a continuous, incremental value delivery pattern. An IP Iteration also allows teams to prepare for and participate in the PI Planning and Inspect and Adapt events, which are essential for alignment, collabora tion, and learning across the ART. A constructive IP Iteration can improve the predictability and flow of value delivery, increase employee engagement and satisfaction, enhance the agility and resilience of the teams, and create a competitive advantage for the enterprise.

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.

Respect is one of the five Scrum values that can help Agile Teams create transparency. Respect means that team members value each other’s opinions, skills, and contributions, and treat each other with dignity and professionalism. Respect also means that team members are honest and open with each other, and share information and feedback without hiding or withholding anything. By respecting each other, Agile Teams can foster a culture of trust and collaboration, where everyone feels comfortable to express their ideas, concerns, and issues, and work together to solve them. Transparency is essential for Agile Teams to inspect and adapt their work, and to align their actions with the vision and goals of the organization.

A safe environment for taking risks without fear of embarrassment or criticism is one of the characteristics of a high-performing Agile Team.  A high-performing Agile Team is a cross-functional group of people that have everything, and everyone, necessary to produce a working, tested incr e ment of product 1  They are empowered, collaborative, aligned, and committed to delivering value to the customers and the organization 2  One of the factors that enable a high-performing Agile Team is a safe environment where team members can experiment, learn, and grow without fear of failure, blame, or judgment 3  A safe environ ment fosters a culture of innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement, as well as a sense of psychological safety, trust, and belonging among team me m bers 4  Team C is demonstrating this characteristic by creating a new workflow to speed up the testing process, even though it did not work out as expected. The rest of the team was excited to hear what was learned from the failed experiment, rather than being disappointed or critical. This shows that the team values learning over perfection, and supports each other in taking risks and trying new things.

One of the best practices Scrum Masters/Team Coaches can use to run successful meetings is to leave meetings with clear action items. Action items are specific tasks that need to be done by a certain person or group by a certain deadline. They help the team to follow up on the outcomes of the meeting, track progress, and ensure accountability. Action items should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Scrum Masters/Team Coaches should document and communicate the action items to the team and stakeholders, and review them in the next meeting.