Scrum & SAFe SSM Flashcards
What are the ART Events
PI Planning
ART Sync
System Demo
Inspect & Adapt
3c’s to a Scrum Master
Communicate,
Cooperate,
Coordinate
Nothing beats an Agile team except…
A team of Agile teams
What are some collaborative practices
Side by side programming
Continuous Integration
Collective Code ownership
Short design sessions
When it comes to decision making, a Scrum Master should…
Facilitate team decision-making rather than making decisions for the team
What are the stages of high-performing teams
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning
What are the Team Events in SAFe
Backlog Refinement Iteration Planning Daily Standup Iteration Review Iteration Retrospective
Peer pressure is a…
Strong Motivator
The absence of ______________ is the key problem that leads to other four team dysfunctions
Trust
______________ is the ultimate competitive advantage.
Teamwork
What are the five dysfunctions of a team in order of magnitude (lowest to highest)(top to bottom of triangle)
Inattention to results Avoidance of accountability Lack of commitment Fear of conflict Absence of a sense of trust
(Addressing Team disfunction 1) How does safe address inattention to results
Empirical review of results at the end of every iteration and release in the iteration retrospective which drives continuous improvement.
(Addressing Team disfunction 2) Avoidance of accountability
Stakeholders, peer pressure, and review of results drive accountability
(Addressing Team disfunction 3) Lack of commitment
Teams make shared commitments to each other and to external stakeholders.
(Addressing Team disfunction 4) Fear of conflict
Create a safe environment for conflict— The scrum Master should encourage discussion of disagreements. Shared commitment avoids individual conflict that occurs when objectives are not aligned. No playing the blame game.
(Addressing Team disfunction 5) Absence of trust
The environment must be safe. The team shares commitment and goals, displays hyper transparency, and engages in retrospectives.
___________ ____________ documents facilitate conflict management
Working agreement
____________________ is a cadence-based event that serves as the heartbeat of the Agile Release Train (ART), aligning all teams on the ART to a shared mission and vision.
Program Increment Planning
How long and often is PI planning
2 days every 8 - 12 weeks (10 weeks is typical)
An ART is made up of _______ number of teams involving _______ number of individuals
5 to 12 teams of 50 - 125+ individuals
In Program Increment (PI) planning who owns feature priories?
Product Management
In Program Increment (PI) Planning who owns story planning and high level estimates
Development team
In PI planning who works as intermediaries for governance, interfaces, and dependencies
Architect/Engineering and UX
What are the inputs to PI Planning process
- Business context
- Roadmap and Vision
- Top 10 features of the Program Backlog
What is the output of PI Planning process
- Committed team and PI Objectives
- Program Board
- Program Risks identified and ROAMed
- A good understanding of how the teams will work with each other so that the ART makes sure all teams are aligned to business value and contributes to business goals.
___________ are small increments of value that can be developed in days and are relatively easy to estimate.
Stories
What are the 3 C’s to a user story
Card: written on a card and annotated with notes.
Conversation: The details are in the conversation with the product owner.
Confirmation: Acceptance criteria confirm the stories correctness.
Features fit into ____ PI for ____ ART
1 1
Features fit into 1 PI for 1 ART
Stories fit into ____ iteration for ____ team
1 1
Stories fit into 1 iteration for 1 team
(T/F)
A feature is completed by multiple teams on the ART and a user story is completed by a single team on the ART
TRUE
An _______________ supports the activities needed to extend the architectural runway to provide future business functionality. It doesn’t deliver business value at the end of the Sprint, but rather delivers value in subsequent Sprint.
Enabler Story
What are the 3 components of a business feature?
A Title & Description
Acceptance Criteria
Benefit Hypothesis
____________ consists of the existing code, components, and technical infrastructure necessary to support the implementation of prioritized near team features, without excessive redesign and delay.
Architectural Runway
A small piece of desired functionality written in the users language
User Story
As a <> I want <> So that I <>
______ are detailed fictional characters acting as representative user(s)
Personas
Personas can help write user stories and go hand in hand with them
INVEST Stands for
Independent Negotiable Valuable Estimable Small Testable
One method for writing effective user stories?
___________ in user stories ..
I.N.V.E.S.T
S.M.A.R.T goals stand for?
*criteria for writing goals
Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound
Explain I in INVEST
Stores should be able to be developed separately from one another
Explain N in INVEST
Write stories with a negotiable scope
Explain V in INVEST
Stories should be valuable to the customer
Explain E in INVEST
Stories should be estimable
Explain S in INVEST
Stories should be small enough to fit into an iteration
Explain T in INVEST
Stories should be testable
Steps in Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
- Discover the behavior
- Formulation of specific tests
- Automation of tests
______________ provide the details of the story from a testing point of view
Acceptance Criteria
In SAFe, Acceptance criteria is created by whom
The Agile Team
What is one format for acceptance criteria
Given, When, Then
___________ build the ground work for future User Stories
Enabler Stories
What are the 4 types of Enabler stories
I-ACE
Infrastructure
Architecture
Compliance
Exploration
Type of Enabler that builds development and testing frameworks that enable a faster and more efficient development process
Infrastructure Enabler
Type of Enabler that builds the Architectural Runway, which enables smoother and faster development
Architectural Enabler
Type of Enabler that builds understanding of what is needed by the customer to understand prospective solutions and evaluate alternatives
Exploration Enabler
Type of Enabler that facilitates specific activities such as verification and validation, documentation, sing-offs, regulatory submissions, and approvals
Compliance Enabler
_____________ are a systematic approach to improving the system without changing the observable system behavior
Refactors
Examples: improving maintainability, performance, or scalability
_____________ are research activities to reduce risk, understand a functional need, increase estimate reliability, or define a technical approach
Spikes
What are the two types of Spikes
Technical Spike
Functional Spike
This type of spike involves researching a technical approach or unknown
Technical Spike
This type of Spike involves researching how a user might use or interact with the system
Functional Spike
A ________ is a singular number that represents ________
Story Point, User Story
Volume: How much there is?
Complexity: How hard it is?
Knowledge: What do we know?
Uncertainty: What is not known?
(T/F)
Story points are non relative numbers that are connected to a single unit of measure
FALSE!
Stories points are relative numbers that are not connected to a single unit of measure
When it comes to relative estimation, it is understood that an 8 point story could take _____ times longer than a 2 point story to complete
4 times longer
What are the modified Fibonacci sequence numbers?
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20
Estimation is a ________-team exercise
Whole
What are the ART level roles
- Executive
- Product Manager
- System Architect, UX, Development Manager
(T/F)
The Product Owner is an optional attendee of the daily Standup
TRUE
If they do attend, they should not pressure the team or interfere in the teams ability to self-organize and run their standup.
The ____________ has the content authority to make decisions at the User Story level.
Product Owner
The __________ has the responsibility to manage the time of the dependencies and the ambiguities.
Scrum Master
The __________ has the responsibility to define user stories, plan them into the Iteration, and work out interdependencies with other teams.
Agile Team
_____________ are business stories of what each team intends to deliver in the incoming PI.
Objectives
(T/F)
Objectives often directly relate to intended features in the backlog?
TRUE
Historical ______ from previous iterations are used to calculate the ________ of the Scrum team?
Averages, Velocity
*Only the average output of completed work in the last interactions is considered
This group meets to make adjustments to scope and objectives based on the day’s planning
Management
This is done in The Management Review and Problem Solving Session.
In what PI Team Brakeout do these things occur?
Ensure the has a draft plan to present.
Identify as many risks and dependencies as possible for the management review.
Secure subject matter experts and program stakeholders as needed by the team.
Facilitate the coordination with other teams for dependencies.
Team Breakout 1
In what PI team breakout do the following occur?
Business owners circulate and assign business value to PI Objectives from low (1) to high (10).
Teams finalize the program increment plan.
Teams consolidate program risks, impediments and dependencies.
Uncommitted objectives provide the capacity and guardrails needed to increase the reliability of cadence-based delivery.
Team Breakout 2

What items appear on the Program Board?
Feature Delivery (Features)
Significant Dependencies
Milestones / Events
*a red string us used to link dependent stories to the story they depend on…
The program board shows all of the above for all iterations.
What’s done in the final plan review?
- Changes to capacity and load
- Final PI Objectives with business value
- Program risks and impediments
- Q&A Session
(T/F)
Teams and Business Owners peer-review all final plans?
TRUE
______ is used to address Program Risks
ROAM
ROAM stand for..?
- Resolved
- Owned
- Accepted
- Mitigated
A risk that has been addressed, no longer a concern.
Resolved
A risk that someone has taken responsibility of
Owned
A risk that nothing more can be done. If it occurs, release may be compromised
Accepted
A risk that the team has planned to adjust to as necessary
Mitigated
A _____________ is taken by the team on the ART after dependencies are identifies and risks are addressed
Fist of Five
Teams vote on:
1. An agreement between team members to do everything in their power to meet agreed-to objectives.
- If it is not achievable, teams agree to escalate so that corrective action can be taken.
(T/F)
Program PI Objectives simply combine each ART team’s PI Objectives
TRUE
What are the events/ceramonies in Scrum
Sprint Planning Sprint Execution Daily Standup Sprint Review Sprint Retrospective
What is the main reason why some teams never reach stage 4 (Performing) in the stages of high performing teams?
- Because there are conflicts
- Because no one guides them
- Because the team is not structured correctly
- Because leadership is spontaneous
Because no one guides them —the Scrum Master is a guide for the team.
Who can change the backlog during an iteration
- Senior Management
- Release train Engineer
- Scrum master
- Agile Team
Agile Team
Good coach do not give people the answer, but instead they….?
Guide people to the solution
The Program Board identifies Feature Deliver Dates, Milestones, and what else for teams in the Agile Release Train?
Dependencies
The scrum master does not facilitate the ____________ meeting.
Scrum of Scrums
What type of Enabler does a System Architect review during System Demo?
Enabler Features
Enabler Stories
Enabler Epics
Enabler Capabilities
Enabler Capabilities
When is the one time a Scrum Master may be a participant rather than a facilitator?
When using ad hoc teams for Inspect and Adapt.
Becoming a coach requires a shift from old behaviors to new ones. What are three examples of old behaviors?
- Focusing on Deadlines
- Driving the team toward specific outcomes
- Fixing problems for the team
- Asking the team for the answers
- Facilitating team problem solving
- Focusing on business value delivery
Focusing on Deadlines
Driving the team toward specific outcomes
Fixing problems for the team
What are two common PI Planning Anti-patterns?
- Scrum Masters who work with multiple teams do not have time for teams
- stories are created for the iterations
- The team decides which changes need to happen and when
- Too much time is spent analyzing each Story
- Too much time is spent prioritizing Features
- Scrum Masters who work with multiple teams do not have time for their teams
- Too much time spent analyzing each story
What are the tress features that summarize DevOps?
- A set of technical practices
- A culture
- A mindset
What are the two primary aspects of a Lean-Agile Mindset?
- Lean Thinking
- Embracing Agility
What are the two key constructs in delivering continuous value?
Cadence and Synchronization
______________ owns the decision of releasing changes into production.
Product Management
(T/F)
The team must commit to the iteration goals at the end of Iteration Planning.
TRUE
This demo is performed in the IP iteration.
The PI System Demo
The _____________ own the planning of stories into iterations during PI Planning.
Agile Teams
Becoming a coach requires a shift from old behaviors to new ones. What are three examples of old behaviors? Choose three.
- Focusing on business value delivery
- Fixing problems for the team
- Facilitating team problem solving
- Asking the team for answers
- Focusing on deadlines
- Driving towards specific outcomes
Focusing on deadlines
Driving towards specific outcomes
Fixing problems for the team
Which type of enabler does a system architect review during System Demo?
Enabler Epics
______________ provides clarity, commitment, and management of information
- Aligns team members to a common purpose.
- Aligns teams to a common program increment (PI) Objectives and manage dependencies.
- Provide transparency and management information.
Iteration Goals
Communication and synchronization with _______________ .
Daily stand-ups
What are the Daily Standup questions
- What did I do yesterday to advance the iteration goals?
- What will I do today to advance the Iteration Goals?
- Are there any impediments that will prevent the team from meeting the Iteration Goals?
This meeting is held after the Daily Standup for involved parties to discuss topics that were beyond h the scope of the Daily Standup.
The meet-after
This chart shows/counts the effort remaining
Burn-down
In SAFe, we prefer these kinds of charts
Burn-ups
Commutative Flow Diagrams
Challenges of burn-down charts
- Focus on tasks completed vs stories completed
- Hard to distinguish between work added and not done.
This type of chart shows the amount of work completed
Burn-up chart
___________ is a research story considered an exploration-style enabler
Spike
Changing code without changing the behavior. Cleaning up existing code..
Refactoring
What does the team demo in the iteration review
A working, tested team increment
Iteration review is time boxed between
1 to 2 hours per week or iteration.
- presentation should be minimized and work should be reviewed from the repository of stories.
(T/F)
If a major stakeholder cannot attend the iteration review, the PO should follow up with them individually?
TRUE
Iteration retrospective is time boxed for
30 to 60 minutes
The purpose of this meeting is to pick one or two stories that can be done better for the next iteration.
Iteration Retrospective
The outcome of this meeting is to enter improvement items into the Team Backlog
Iteration Retrospective
_______ is an approach to DevOps
CALMR
CALMR stand for
Culture - establish a culture of shared responsibility for development, deployment, and operations. Of shared responsibility.
Automation- Automate the continuous delivery pipeline. Of continuous delivery pipeline.
Lean- Keep batch sizes small, limit WIP, and improve extreme visibility. Accelerates delivery.
Measurement- Measure the flow through the pipeline. Implement full-stack telemetry. Of flow, value, and quality
Recovery- Architect and enable low-risk releases. Establish fast recovery, fast revision, and fast fix-forward.
Measurement. Reduces risk and preserves value.
DevOps is optimized for
Development speed and Stability delivered through collaboration.
The __________________ occurs every Program Increment (PI) and serves multiple purposes. It acts as an estimating buffer for meeting PI Objectives and provides dedicated time for innovation, continuing education, PI Planning, and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events.
Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
Facilitates reliability, Program Increment Readiness, Planning, and Innivation
Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
An estimating guard band for cadence-based delivery
Innovation and Planning (IP) Iteration
The PI System demo usually takes place in the
Inspect and Adapt
*This demo should be as close to the end of the iteration as possible
This demo is usually part of the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) event, which feeds into the retrospective and various PI progress metrics, including the ‘program predictability measure’ and ‘program performance metrics. ‘ In large Solution Trains, the system demo feeds into the Solution Demo
PI System Demo
The Scrum Master should facilitate rather than participate when
Using Ad-hoc teams for Inspect & Adapt
(T/F)
The Scrum Master should prepare for the PI System Demo before the I&A event
TRUE
What are the three parts of the Inspect & Adapt event
- The PI System Demo
- Quantitative and Qualitative Measurements
- Problem-solving Workshop
The Inspect & Adapt event should be time-boxed for
3 to 4 hours per PI
Who attends the Inspect & Adapt event?
Teams and Stakeholder
In the ___________ the team demonstrates the current state of the solution to the appropriate stakeholders at the end of the PI
PI System Demo
Who leads the PI System Demo
Product Management, POs, and the System Team
Who attends the PI System Demo
Business owners, ART Stakeholders, Product Management, RTE, Scrum Masters, The teams
Before or during the System Demo, the teams meet with their _________ to review/ self-asses the business value achieved for each of their PO Objectives.
Each teams planned vs actual business value is then rolled up to the program predictability measure
Business Owners
What metric is used to measure the predictability of the ART
Program Predictability Measure
(T/F)
For the ART to do well, all teams must be performing well
TRUE
The program predictability measure graphs
The teams program objectives achieved each PI
The optimal region for teams to fall in on the Program Predictability Measure is called the _________
Effective Process Control Range
The _______________ contains all of the work to de done. This work is defined as stories, but it may include other work items representing all the things the team needs to do.
Team Backlog
______________ is an event where all team members determine how much of the team backlog they can commit to delivering during an upcoming iteration.
Iteration Planning
In the __________ the team gathers remotely or in person to discuss sweat the team did in the last 24 hours to progress the team’s iteration goals, what they will do in the next 24 hours to progress the team’s iteration goals, and what blocks might be in the team’s way.
Daily Stand-up
At the end of each iteration, the team conducts an _____________. During this meeting, the team demonstrates Each story accomplished, culminating with the team’s increment of value for that iteration. This is not a formal status report; rather, it’s a review of the tangible outcomes of the iteration.
Iteration Review
At the end of the review, the team conducts an ___________ -a time to reflect on the iteration, the process, things that are working well, and current obstacles. The team creates improvement stories for the next iteration.
Iteration Retrospective
The team backlog contains these kinds of stories…
User
Enabler
Improvement
_____________ stories are the stories that capture the results of the teams iteration retrospective
Improvement Stories
_____________ backlog contains all of the enabler stories that originate from the Program Backlog.
The Team
Who is responsible for the team backlog
The Product Owner
(T/F)
The entire ART works from the Program Backlog
TRUE
The _____________ backlog consists of upcoming features that are planned to be delivered by an ART
The team backlog can include
Spikes / research Capabilities Epics Refactors Maintenance Other technical debt Other team dependencies Other commitments Features Stories
(T/F)
Enabler stories are prioritized and estimated he same way as user stories.
TRUE
Teams apply capacity allocation to which two backlogs
Program Backlog and Team Backlog
This backlog consists of the stories committed to for the iteration, with clearly defined acceptance criteria.
Iteration Backlog
___________ represent a sentence or two for each story stating the business objectives of the iteration.
Iteration Goals
What are the outputs of Iteration Planning
Iteration Backlog
Iteration Goals
The teams commitment
_____________________ over process and tools
Individuals and Interactions
_____________________ over comprehensive documentation
Working Software
_____________________ over contract negotiation
Customer Collaboration
_____________________ over following a plan.
Responding to change
The DEEP Criteria stands for
Detailed
Estimated
Emergent
Prioritized
The Product Backlog must be __________.
DEEP
What are/ What does S.M.A.R.T Objectives Mean
A way to write better objectives and stands for;
Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-bound
What are the three components of story points?
Risk- unclear demand, dependencies on third parties, uncertainty in the future
Complexity- Effort needed to develop a feature
Repetition- monotonous tasks without any risks or repetition
What does CALMR Stand for and what is it used for?
Culture Automation Lean Flow Measurement Recovery
CALMR is used for DevOps
An increment should be
Useable
Shippable
Valuable
What are the 4L’s of a retrospective?
What I…
- Loved
- Loathed
- Learned
- Longed for
What are the 12 Agile Principles
- Customer Satisfaction
- Welcoming Change
- Frequent Delivery of Working Solutions
- Collaboration
- Motivated Teams
- Face-to-Face Conversation
- Working Software
- Sustainable Development
- Technical Excellence
- Simplicity
- Self-Organizing Teams
- Reflections… Inspect and Adapt
4 Agile Values - Agile Manifesto
- Individuals and Interactions OVER Processes and Tools.
- Working software OVER Comprehensive Documentation.
- Customer collaboration OVER Contract Negotiation.
- Responding to Change OVER Following a Plan.
we still value the items on the right, but we emphasize/value the items on the left more
What do story points represent?
EFFORT required to complete a user story
What impacts a story point’s effort estimate?
Complexity,
Amount of work
Risks & Uncertainties
_______ are an estimate of the overall effort it will take to implement a PBI or any other piece of work
Story Point
User stories are not ____________, they are place holders for conversations.
Requirements
User stories provide for collaboration and conversation around the value to be delivered to the stakeholder/customer…
