SAFe-RTE Leak Questions

During the Team Breakout portion of PI Planning, the hourly activity that helps keep teams on track and facilitates early identification of risks is the ART planning board inspection. This activity involves reviewing the Agile Release Train (ART) planning board, which provides a visual representation of the team’s plans and progress. It allows for the identification of dependencies and risks, and ensures that all teams are aligned with the ART’s objectives. The planning board is a central tool in SAFe for maintaining synchronization among teams and providing transparency into the work being done. It is not the Iteration Review (A), which is a separate event that occurs at the end of an iteration. Coach Sync © and Business Owner feedback meeting (D) are also important activities, but they do not specifically serve the purpose of an hourly check-in during the Team Breakout sessions to keep teams on track and identify risks early1.QUESTION NO: 82

What occurs without a shared understanding of the principles?

A.Lean-Agile mindset is achievable

B.Measures that were once beneficial become problematic

C.Practices are systematically adapted to local context

D.Business outcomes improve significantly

Answer: B

In the context of SAFe, a shared understanding of the principles is crucial for the successful implementation of the Lean-Agile mindset. Without this shared understanding, measures that were once beneficial can become problematic. This is because the principles of SAFe are designed to work together as a coherent whole. When these principles are not understood or followed collectively, the practices derived from them may not yield the intended benefits and can even lead to negative outcomes.

For example, if a team adopts the SAFe principle of decentralized decision-making without a shared understanding of the Lean-Agile mindset, they might make decisions that are not aligned with the overall goals of the organization. Similarly, if the principle of transparency is not commonly understood, teams may not communicate effectively, leading to mistrust and reduced collaboration.

A shared understanding ensures that everyone in the organization is aligned on the ‘why’ behind the practices, which helps in effectively applying them to achieve the desired business outcomes. It also enables the organization to adapt these practices systematically to their local context while still maintaining the integrity of the SAFe framework.

Therefore, it is essential for Release Train Engineers (RTEs) and other SAFe practitioners to facilitate and reinforce a shared understanding of the SAFe principles to prevent beneficial measures from becoming problematic and to ensure that the Lean-Agile mindset is effectively achieved and sustained within the organization. This alignment is key to realizing the full potential of SAFe and achieving significant business outcomes.

 During PI Planning, the RTE works with Business Owners to ensure they assign business value scores to each team's PI Objective:

Quantifying Value: Assigning a numerical score to objectives allows for objective measurement of the value delivered at the end of the PI.

Prioritization and Decision-Making: Business value scores help teams and stakeholders understand the relative importance of objectives, informing decision-making processes.

The true statement about the retrospective and problem-solving part of the Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop is that key Agile Release Train (ART) stakeholders, including Business Owners, Customers, and management, can participate along with the teams. This is supported by the SAFe framework which states that all ART stakeholders participate along with the Agile Teams in the I&A event1. The purpose of this inclusive approach is to ensure that a broad perspective is considered when reflecting on the past Program Increment (PI) and identifying areas for improvement. By involving a diverse group of participants, the retrospective and problem-solving workshop can benefit from different viewpoints, leading to a more comprehensive set of improvement backlog items that go into the ART Backlog for the next PI Planning event1. This collaborative effort helps to drive continuous improvement and aligns with the SAFe principle of relentless improvement.

An environment of mutual influence is desirable because it demonstrates Respect for People, which is a core principle of the SAFe framework. This principle is about valuing people and their contributions, creating a culture of empowerment and trust, and fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment1. In such an environment, everyone’s voice is heard, and team members can influence each other positively, leading to better decision-making and more effective teamwork. This aligns with the SAFe principle of unlocking the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers, as it creates a space where they can communicate across functional boundaries, make decisions based on an understanding of the economics, and participate in a more productive and fulfilling solution development process2.