What are two ways a Scrum Master promotes T-shaped skill development across the team? (Choose two.)
Promoting T-shaped skill development means encouraging team members to develop a broad set of skills in addition to their specialization. This enhances team flexibility and resilience.
Pairing on Stories (A): By having team members pair up on stories, knowledge is shared, and members can learn from each other's expertise. This practice helps in building secondary skills and fosters a collaborative learning environment.
Cross-Functional Stories (E): Defining stories that require cross-functional skills ensures that team members have to work together, leveraging and developing a broader range of skills. This practice helps in cross-training and builds a more versatile team.
These methods help in breaking down silos within the team and promote a culture of continuous learning and skill development.
SAFe Scrum Master Reference:
SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Training Material, Chapter on Team Dynamics and Collaboration.
Which statement is true about large Stories?
Large stories, often referred to as 'epics,' pose a challenge to iterative development because they encompass too much work to be completed within a single iteration. This contradicts the principles of Agile, which emphasize small, incremental deliveries to ensure continuous progress and feedback. By breaking down large stories into smaller, more manageable pieces, teams can better align with iterative development practices, allowing for more frequent delivery of value, better risk management, and easier progress tracking.
What is the purpose of the retrospective held during an Inspect and Adapt event?
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.
What is a Product Owner (PO) anti-pattern in Iteration planning?
Anti-Pattern Explanation: Iteration Planning should not be the first time the team hears about the business intent of the work they are about to start. This should have been communicated earlier through backlog refinement sessions and ongoing interactions with the Product Owner (PO).
Business Intent Communication: The PO should regularly update the team on the business context and intent behind backlog items to ensure alignment and readiness for Iteration Planning.
Impact: Introducing business intent for the first time during Iteration Planning can lead to confusion, inadequate preparation, and a rushed planning session, which undermines the effectiveness of the iteration.
SAFe Scrum Master Reference:
SAFe emphasizes the importance of continuous backlog refinement and clear communication of business intent to ensure that teams are well-prepared for Iteration Planning.
When should centralized decision-making be used?
Centralized decision-making is appropriate in scenarios where consolidating decisions can lead to significant economies of scale, which involves:
Economies of Scale: These are cost advantages reaped by companies when production becomes efficient. This can happen through increased production, lower costs per unit, bulk purchasing, and centralized processes.
Consistency and Control: Centralized decisions ensure consistency across large-scale operations and can help in maintaining standards and controls, reducing duplication of effort, and leveraging bulk purchasing power.
In contrast, decentralized decision-making is more suitable for decisions requiring specific local context or those that need to be made frequently and swiftly.
SAFe Scrum Master Reference:
SAFe Advanced Scrum Master Training Material, Chapter on Decision-Making Frameworks.
