which legacy practice slows the move to lean portfolio management

SPC_SAFe_4.6

What are two primary reasons to change?
- - A burning platform
- - The company is failing to complete and the existing way of working is inadequate to achieve a new solution in time.
Proactive leadership
- - In the absence of a burning platform, leadership must create the sense of urgency to proactively drive change by taking a stand for a better, future state
Why should you establish the vision for change?
- - Without a good vision, a clever strategy or logical plan can rarely inspire the kind of action needed to produce major change.
www.scaledagileframework.com/invitation-based-safe-implementation/ -
Little's Law -
When you find a value stream, go all in and all at once for each ART. The one- week launch is proven adoption model.
- - Quickstart approach to ART Launch
  1. SAFe for Teams
    1. Monday, Tuesday
  2. PI Planning
    1. Wednesday, Thursday
  3. Workshops
    1. Friday
Three benefits of Big Room Training
- Accelerated learning
- A common scaled Agile paradigm
- Cost efficiency
What is the importance of the first PI Planning?
- First Impression of SAFe
- Generating a short-term win
- Builds the Art as a team
- Teaches teams about assuming responsibility for planning and delivery
- Creates visibility into the program
- Creates confidence in the commitment of Lean-Agile Leaders to the transformation
Things to remember when prepping for distributed team PI Planning
- 1. Have a dedicated facilitator and tech support person at each location
- Test Audio, video, and presentation-sharing connectivity, and then test it again
- Have a common understanding of how plans will be shared (video, wiki, email, etc)
- Establish team- based audio/video communication for breakout sessions.
What type of PI Planning agenda is recommended for large time zone differences ?
- 2.5 days, following respect people and cultures, we want to avoid asking teams to stay up all night
What does train the leaders do?
- Helps them create the mindset they need to empower employees for further action
What does training the stakeholders do?
- Gives the Stakeholders the skills and motivation the need to change the organization.
Which is the most important ART to launch?
i. the first one.
What does the ART as a team of teams do?
- removes Silos that inhibit flow
What can you find in the ART readiness workbook?
- Readiness Checklist
- Team Summary
- Team Roster
- Program Roster
- Content
- Facilities
- Supplies
What is the next step once the Lean-Agile change Agents have been trained?
- Train Executives, Managers, Leaders
What do you do after Executives, Managers, and leaders have been trained?
- Identify the Value steams.
What is the next step after the value stream has been identified?
- Create the implementation Plan
What happens after the implementation plan has been created?
- Prepare for Art Launch. Train Scaled Agile(Leading SAFe), POPM, SSM.
What is the step that follows Preparing for the ART launch?
- Train Teams and launch the ART
Once the teams have been trained what is the next step?
- Coach ART Execution
Once you have coached Art execution what do you do next?
- Launch more ARTS and Value streams
What is the step after Launching more ARTS and value streams?
- Extend to the Portfolio
What do you do once you have extended to the Portfolio?
- Sustain and improve
What are the SAFe Core Values?
- Alignment
- Transparency
- Built-in-Quality
- Program execution
  
  26. Alignment =
- This Provides the relevant briefings and participate in Program Increment (PI)) Planning.
- Helps with backlog visibility, review, and preparation
- Helps with Value Stream organization and coordination
- Constantly check for understanding
- Communicate the mission, visions and strategy at every opportunity
  
  27. Transparency =
- Visualize all relevant work
- Take ownership and responsibility for errors and mistakes
- Admit your own mistakes
- Support other who acknowledge and learn from their mistakes-never punish the messenger

Built-in quality
- Demonstrate quality by refusing to accept or ship low quality work
- Support investments in capacity planning for maintenance and reduction of technical debt
- Ensure UX, Architecture, operations, security, compliance, and other are part of flow of work.
Program Execution
- Participate as an active business owner in PI execution
- Celebrate high quality and predictability delivered program Increments
- Aggressively remove impediments and demotivates
What are the four pillars of the house of lean?
- Flow
- Respect for people and culture
- Innovation
- Relentless Improvement
What is the foundation of the house of lean?
- Leadership
What is the roof of the house of lean?
- Value
People do all the work. Your Customer is whoever consumes your work
- -Don't Overload them
- -Don't make them wait
- -Don't force them to do wasteful work
- -Don't impose wishful thinking
- build long-term partnerships based on trust
- Culture change comes last, not first
- To change culture change the organization - Respect for people and culture
Flow
- Optimize continuous and sustainable throughput for value
- build in quality; flow depends on it
- Understand, exploit, and mange variability
- Avoid start-stop-start project delays
- Use informed-decision making via fast feedback
Innovation
- Producers innovate; customers validate
- Get out of the office
- Provide time and space for creativity
- Apply innovation accounting
- Pivot without mercy or guilt
Relentless Improvement
- A constant sense of danger
- Optimize the whole
- Consider facts carefully, then act quickly
- Apply lean tools to identify and address root causes
- Reflect at key milestones; identify and address shortcomings –
Value
- Shortest sustainable lead time.
- Best quality and value to people and society.
- High morale, safety, customer delight - Value
Leadership
- Management applies and teaches Lean-Agile thinking, based decisions on this long-term philosophy.
Principles of lean-Agile Thinking – Agile Manifesto
- Individual and interactions – over processes and tools
- Working software - over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration - over contract negotiation
- Responding to change - over following a plan
What is the first SAFe Lean-Agile Principle? –
- Take an economic view
What is the second SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Apply Systems thinking
What is the third SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Assume Variability, preserve options
What is the fourth SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles
What is the fifth SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Based milestones on objective evaluation of working systems
What is the sixth SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Visualize and limit WIP, reduce batch sizes, and manage queue length
What is the seventh SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
What is the eight SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
What is the nineth SAFe Lean-Agile Principle?
- - Decentralize decision-making
Why the focus on principles?
- A lean-Agile transformation will deliver substantial benefits
- However, it is a significant change and every implementation is different
- Leaders should understand why the practices work; its part of knowing what it is they do
- If a practice need to change, understanding the principles will assure the change moves the moves the enterprise in the right direction
What are the Five primary dimensions of Built-In Quality?
- Flow
- Architecture & Design Quality
- Code Quality
- System Quality
- Release Quality
Once you have launched the ART, what is the next step?
- Showcase the success.
- showcase that the ART is meeting its PI objective s and relentlessly improving its program performance.
- Invite stakeholders and showcase the success of the team demos and system demo
- communicate real wins not gimmicks
- provide ongoing program consulting and team coaching to build the organizations lean-Agile capabilities.
Is inspect and adapt qualitative or quantitative?
- Quantitative?
What are the three parts to inspect and adapt?
- PI system Demo of the solution's current state to program stakeholders
Quantitative measurement
- Retrospective and problem solving workshop
What are the four budget guardrails on Lean Budget spend?
1. Guiding investments by horizon
2. Optimizing value and solution integrity with capacity allocation
3. Approving significant initiatives
4. Continuous Business Owner engagemen
What is the recommended way to express a Feature?
Story Points
** How is the flow of Portfolio Epics managed?
In the Portfolio Kanban
What is a Minimal Viable Product?
A minimal product that can validate a hypothesis
** In the Program Kanban some steps have Work-in-Process limits. Why is this necessary?
To help continuous deployment and increase flow
When does a Roadmap become a queue?
When it is longer than one Program Increment
What is one of the Agile Release Train sync meetings?
Scrum of Scrums
Which statement describes aspects of the team's commitment during PI Planning? A team does not commit to stretch objectives
What is the recommended frequency for updating Lean budget distribution? On demand (fund Value Streams, not projects)
What must management do for a successful Agile transformation?
Commit to quality and be the change agent in the system
What is one component of the Continuous Delivery Pipeline?
Continuous Exploration Continuous Integration Continuous Deployment
Which statement fits with the SAFe Core Value of Built-in Quality?
You cannot scale crappy code
What is considered an anti-pattern when assigning business values to Team PI Objectives?
Business Owners assign high values to important enabler work
What is SAFe's release strategy? Release on demand
What can be used as a template for putting SAFe into practice within an organization? SAFe Implementation Roadmap
What is a valid reason for moving a PI objective to stretch?
The team is unsure how to estimate the related stories using story points? The team has high uncertainty about a third-party delivery needed for the objective
The Agile Release Train uses which type of teams to get work done?
- Cross-functional teams
What is one benefit of unlocking the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers? To provide autonomy with purpose, mission, and minimum constraints
Which practice helps with a test-first mentality? BDD
Which statement accurately characterizes Strategic Themes? They are business objectives that connect the SAFe Portfolio to the Enterprise business strategy
What can be used to map the current state of a portfolio?
Portfolio Canvas
What is the biggest benefit of decentralized decision-making?
Delivering value in the shortest sustainable lead time
What are the 5 core competency of Lean Enterprise?
Lean Portfolio Management
Business Solutions and Lean Systems Engineering DevOps and Release on Demand
Team and Technical Agility Lean-Agile Leadership
Which core competency of the Lean Enterprise helps drive built-in quality practices?
- Team and Technical Agility
What is an example of applying cadence-based synchronization in SAFe?
- Teams align their iterations to the same schedule to support communication, coordination, and system integration
What are the last three steps of the SAFe Implementation Roadmap?
Launch more Agile Release Trains and Value Streams,
extend to the portfolio, sustain and improve
When is a Pre-PI Planning event needed?
When multiple Agile Release Trains working on the same Solution need to align and coordinate
On day two of PI Planning, management presents adjustments based on the previous day's management review and problem solving meeting. What is one possible type of adjustment they could make?
- Business priorities
Product Management has content authority over the Program Backlog. What do Product Owners have content authority over?
- Team Backlog
Which statement is true when continuously deploying using a DevOps model?
- It lessens the severity and frequency of release failures
What are the four budget guardrails?
- Guiding investments by horizon
- Optimizing value and solution integrity with capacity allocation
- Approving significant initiatives
- Continuous Business Owner engagement
What is one guardrail on Lean budget spend?
- Continuous Business Owner engagement
On day two of PI Planning, management presents adjustments based on the previous day's management review and problem-solving meeting. What is one possible type of adjustment they could make?
- Business priorities
** What is the last step in Kotter's approach to change management?
Anchor new approaches in the culture
What are Kotter's 8-Step Change Model?
Step 1: Create Urgency
Step 2: Form a Powerful Coalition Step 3: Create a Vision for Change Step 4: Communicate the Vision Step 5: Remove Obstacles
Step 6: Create Short-Term Wins Step 7: Build on the Change
Step 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture
What are the 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto?
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity-the art of maximizing the amount of work not done-is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self- organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Which statement is a principle of the Agile manifesto?
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential
** What is a valid reason for moving a PI objective to stretch?
The team has high uncertainty about a third-party delivery needed for the objective
When basing decisions on economics, how are lead time, product cost, value, and development expense used?
+To identify different parameters of the economic framework
The 12 Steps in SAFe Implementation Roadmap:
1. Reaching the Tipping Point
2. Train Lean-Agile Change Agents
3. Train Executives, Managers, and Leaders
4. Create a Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
5. Identify Value Streams and ARTs
6. Create the Implementation Plan
7. Prepare for ART Launch
8. Train Teams and Launch the ART
9. Coach ART Execution
10. Launch More ARTs and Value Streams
11. Extend to the Portfolio
12. Sustain and Improve
What is the connection between feedback and optimum batch size?
- Small batch sizes enable faster feedback with lower transaction costs
What is one key reason for keeping the test data for automated tests under version control?
- If test data gets out of sync, automated tests may not properly execute
What is the primary goal of decentralized decision-making?
- Enable faster flow of value
What does SAFe® Principle #3, "Assume variability; preserve options," enable?
- Better economic results
What is a result of shorter queue lengths?
Less variability
Which statement is most accurate about the Program Vision?
It expresses the strategic intent of the Program
What Definition of Done is required for the Iteration Review?
- Team Increment
  
  What is the primary purpose of Strategic Themes?
  Connect the portfolio to the enterprise business strategy

An Epic spanning two PIs was approved for implementation. What is the optimum implementation path from a Lean-Agile perspective?
- Demonstrate the progress to key stakeholders after first PI and make a decision how to proceed with the Epic in the second PI
What backlog items are part of the Solution Backlog?
- Capabilities
Why do Lean-Agile Leaders try to connect the silos of business, system engineering, hardware, software, test, and quality assurance?
– To align around value
Which statement describes one element of the CALMR approach to DevOps? - Establish a work environment of shared responsibility

Which statement is true about Work-In-Process (WIP) limits?

- Lower limits improve flow [4-5]

What replaces detailed requirements documents? - User Stories

Which two statements describe the responsibilities of the Product Owner? (Choose two.) - Single voice for customer and stakeholders, and to own and manage team backlog [2-15, 2-17]

implementing quality in Lean-Agile environment - Culture

What is an example of a Program event? - Scrum of Scrums

What is the goal of the SAFe House of Lean model? - Value [1-28]

Which responsibility belongs to the Product Owner in the team? To sequence backlog items to program priorities, events, and dependencies

Which two views does the Iteration Review provide into the Program? (Choose two.) - How the team is doing in the Program Increment, and how the team did on the iteration (sprint) [4-38]

What is an example of a modified Fibonacci sequence? - ...5, 8, 13, 20, 40...

What is the benefit of separating release elements from the Solution?

- It allows the release of different Solution elements at different times

The Agile Release Train aligns teams to a common mission using a single Vision and what else? - The Program Backlog [2-21]

The "3 Cs" is a popular guideline for writing user stories. What does each of the three C's represent? (Choose three.) - Card (WIT, Feature, User Story), Conversation (Acceptance Criteria), and Confirmation (Acceptance) [3-10]

What is the role of the System Architect/Engineer? - To guide the teams and support the Architectural Runway [2-21]

What is typically included in the Definition of Done for the team increment? - Stories are accepted by the Product Owner [4-37]

The Inspect and Adapt event always starts with which activity? - The PI System Demo [5-38]

When should a component team be used - To obtain high reuse and technical specialization with a focus on Non-functional Requirements.

Iteration Planning, Iteration Review, and Backlog Refinement are examples of which type of event? - Team events [5-31]

Which factor helps unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers? - Autonomy [2-4]

Which practices are demonstrated during the Inspect and Adapt event? - Reflect, problem solve, and identify improvement actions

Which statement describes a cadence-based PI Planning event? - It is an all-hands, two day event with the goal to identify impediments that could happen [5-4]

Which statement is true about Iteration planning for Kanban teams? -

Kanban teams publish Iteration Goals [3-33]

Which concepts are part of Kanban for teams? - Visualize work flow, limit WIP, improve flow [1-52]

What is one of the typical Kanban class of service for Agile Teams? - Funnel

Why is the modified Fibonacci sequence used when estimating? - It reflects the uncertainty in estimating larger items

A Cumulative Flow Diagram focuses on which curves? - Arrival curve ("to-do") and Departure curve ("done")

What is the recommended size of an Agile Team? - 5-9 people (7 +/- 2) but 5-11 on test

SAFe Core Values - Built-in Quality, Alignment, Program Execution, and Transparency

What is the role of the Scrum Master? - To act as a servant leader who helps teams self-organize, self-manage, and deliver using effective Agile practices

What are two reasons Agile development is more beneficial than waterfall development? (Choose two.) - It allows businesses to deliver value to the market more quickly

It increases productivity and employee engagement

If the PI System Demo shows the current state of the Solution, then who is this demo intended for? - The Business Owners

Which statement is true about the PI Planning event? - Everyone in the program over two day period

Goal of SAFe House of Lean model - Value

How does relentless improvement support value in the SAFe House of Lean? - It optimizes the whole

What is the purpose of the Iteration Review? - To measure the team's progress by showing working Stories to the stakeholders and getting feedback from them

An Agile Team collects the Iteration metrics they have agreed upon during which part of the team retrospective? - During the quantitative part of the team retrospective [4-40]

What is the role of the Release Train Engineer? - 1. To coach teams to improve their results

2. To serve as the Scrum Master for the Agile Release Train

How can a technical exploration enabler be demonstrated? - Show the knowledge gained by the exploration [3-11]

Which three questions should each team member answer during the Daily Stand-up? (Choose three.) - 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? [4-30]

Which practice promotes built-in quality? - TDD

What are the four levels of the Scaled Agile Framework? - Team, Program, Large Solution, Portfolio [1-15]

What visibility should Scrum Masters provide during the Agile Release Train Sync? - Visibility into progress and impediments

Which statement reflects one of the steps for setting initial velocity? - The team members assess their availability, acknowledging time off and other potential duties [3-23]

Which activity is key to successfully implementing the Scaled Agile Framework? - Use a cadence-based PI Planning process

Jane is a Product Owner. It is day seven of the Iteration and her team tells her that they may miss their Iteration commitment. What should Jane do? - Support pulling a story that has not been started.

Quality is first and foremost a function of what in a Lean-Agile environment? - Culture of shared responsibility [4-22]

What are the Five Core Competencies of the Lean Enterprise introduced by SAFe 4.6? –

Lean-Agile Leadership
Team and Technical Agility
DevOps and Release on Demand
Business Solutions and Lean Systems Engineering 5. Lean Portfolio Management

On the seventh day of the iteration, the team realizes that they will not complete 5 of 13 Stories. The Product Owner (PO) says she cannot negotiate the scope of the remaining Stories any further. What is the PO's best course of action? - Stop the current iteration and plan new iteration with new knowledge

What is the major benefit of reducing batch size? - Increases throughput

What is one responsibility of the Scrum Master? - To remove impediments in order to help protect the team

Which statement is true about Features and Stories? - Features can be larger than an Iteration, but Stories should be small enough to fit into an iteration. Each Feature should have at least five stories.

What best supports Innovation in the SAFe House of Lean? - Fast learning cycles

What information does Cumulative Flow Diagram provide? - The data for the team to identify current bottlenecks

Which two statements describe Agile Release Train - 1. It is the primary value delivery construct in the Scaled Agile Framework

2. It is long lived, self-organizing, virtual organization of 5-12 Agile Teams that plan, commit and execute

Which statement defines the purpose of Iteration Planning? - It is to organize the work and define a realistic scope for the Iteration

A decrease in variability leads to an increase in what? - Predictability

What are two behaviors of an effective Scrum Master? - 1. To facilitate the team's progress towards the Iteration goals

2. To act as a servant leader and exhibit Lean-Agile leadership

Which statement describes the balance between emergent design and intentional architecture when talking about building quality? - It is required for speed of value and solution intent

What is one recommended way of splitting Features into Stories during a PI Planning event? - Implement the simplest variant of the functionality first them implement the rest as an enhancement

Which statement describes the event that occurs at the end of each Iteration to identify the team's opportunities for continuous improvement? - The Iteration Retrospective

What should be taken into account when estimating Story point size?

- Complexity

Product Management is responsible for "what gets built" as defined by the Vision, Roadmap, and what else? - Program backlog

Which statement is true about Iteration Planning? - It is required for every Iteration to enable fast learning cycles

What are three practices of Extreme Programming (XP)? - 1. Pair Programming

Continuous Integration
Test-driven Development

The Scrum Master wants to establish a team's initial velocity. A team has two testers, three developers, one full-time Scrum Master, and a Product Owner split between two teams. What is their normalized velocity before calculating time off? - 40

What is one key benefit of a Backlog Refinement session? - It provides time to identify dependencies and issues that could impact the next iteration

The Release Train Engineer is a servant leader who displays which two actions or behaviors? - 1. Creates an environment of mutual influence

Listens and supports teams in problem identification and decision- making

The Daily Stand-up timebox should not exceed how many minutes? - 15 minutes

A user story includes which three things? - 1. What 2. Why
Who

Continuous Deployment (CD) has six elements that, when followed, keep each team member, team, and the Agile Release Train on track. Which two statements best describe elements of CD? - 1. Maintain a staging environment that emulates production

2. Automate testing features and Non-functional Requirements

Which statement describes a cross-functional team? - Each team can define, build and test a component or feature

How does a Team Demonstrate Progress? - With an Iteration Review

When is the System Demo conducted during Program Execution? - At the end of every iteration

What is the recommended length of an iteration? - 2 weeks

What is the goal of the PI Planning event? - To create a plan for the upcoming PI showing how stories map to the iteration

Which statement is true of the Iteration Goals? - They align a team to a common vision of work in the iteration

Which statement is true about pair work in the Scaled Agile Framework? - It comes from pair programming in Extreme Programming (XP)

Which statement describes the information within a Story? - A story provides just enough information for the intent to be understood by both business and technical people

What is Scrum? - A lightweight process for cross-fucntional, self- organized teams

During the Inspect and Adapt event, how are reflection, data collection, problem solving, and identification of improvement actions used? - To increase the quality and reliability of the next PI

A team finishes developing all of their Stories in the first six days of the Iteration, test them in the following two days, and fixes bugs in the days remaining. How is the team behaving? - They are waterfalling the Iteration

Which statement is true about the purpose of a Work-In-Process constraint? - It encourages collaboration and enables flow

What does a Program Board help Teams identify? - Dependencies between teams

Which practice promotes built-in-quality? - Iteration Planning

The CALMR approach to DevOps includes Automation, Lean Flow, Measurement, and Recovery. What does the "C" represent? - Culture

What is the role of the Product Owner? - To represent the customer to the Agile Team. To write the stories that make up the team backlog.

What type of visibility should Product Owners provide during the Agile Release Train Sync? - Visibility into Scope and Priority backlog

What type of information can be easily seen in Cumulative Flow Diagram? - Work in Progress across the team. The data for the team to identify current bottlenecks.

According to definition of "Done", who must provide final approval? - The Release Management

What is one of the six steps in problem solving workshop? - Identify the biggest root cause using Pareto analysis

During iteration execution, a team's velocity tends to be most affected by what? - Changing team size, team makeup, and technical context

What are the SAFe core values? – 1. Built-in Quality

Program Execution
Alignment
Transparency

Modified Fibonacci Sequence - 5, 8, 13, 20, 24

Which is an example of a part of an Iteration Retrospective? - Team discussion around opportunities for continuous improvement

How does a team demonstrate progress? - Agile Team measures and then demonstrates its progress by showing working stories to the Product Owner (PO) and other stakeholders to get their feedback.

https://www.scaledagileframework.com/iteration-review/

Which activity happens in the Inspect and Adapt workshop? - Refining the Program Backlog

An Agile team has which two characteristics? - 1. Agile Team is cross- functional group of 5-11 people who have the responsibility to define, build, test, and where applicable deploy, some element of Solution value

2. A group of dedicated individuals who are empowered, self-organizing, self-managing, and deliver value

Which situation should use the Large Solution SAFe configuration? - Organizations that operate in an environment which requires compliance for high-assurance systems

What are two areas of focus when coaching the Inspect and Adapt event?
1. X Make sure the event finishes with clear improvement items for the Program Backlog
2. Make sure all Scrum Master are working as a single problem solving team to surface and resolve systemic impediments
3. X Prepare in advance the data for the quantitative section
4. Verify that no two teams are working on the same problem during the Problem Solving workshop
What are two ways the SAFe Economic Framework guides Value Streams investment decisions?
1. By time criticality
2. X By funding Value Streams
3. By empowering the Product Owner to sequence the Solution Backlog
4. By prioritizing work by return on investment
5. X By requiring Lean Business cases for Epics
What primary reason for change makes it easiest to drive a transformation across the enterprise?
1. X Burning platform – failure is occurring and so change is necessary
2. Follow a market trend – everyone is moving to Lean Agile
3. Analyst input – the view of analysis is that this is the direction of the market
4. Proactive leadership – improvement is necessary otherwise a burning platform will emerge soon.
Juan is the coach of a new Agile Release Train. All members of the train are new to Agile. After two iterations Juan is hearing that most teams have problems running all of their team events. He does not have time to attend the event for all teams. What two things can he do?
1. X Coach the Scrum Master by establishing a Community of Practice
2. Attend as many events as possible in the first PI and attend more in the following PI
3. There is nothing to be done mid-PI, problems that are critical enough will be raised in the Inspect and Adapt event and handled there.
4. Attend Release management meeting to understand possible problems
5. X Attend the Iteration Retrospective as this will give him the most opportunity to help
Why launch a train using the Quickstart approach?
1. It allows the teams to begin by doing PI Planning and then reinforcing the knowledge by learning SAFe for Teams the next day
2. X It increases engagement by getting people all in, all at once.
3. It refactors the Program Backlog before PI Planning based on feedback from the class
4. It reduces PI Planning to one day since some of the work is done in training
Why would an invitation-based implementation approach be used
1. It supports launching Agile Release Trains without reorganizing around value which makes the organizational change easier
2. It is easier to mandate from the top
3. It allows launching more trains at the same time
4. X It engages people by allowing them to choose the implementation
During a Value Stream identification workshop the teams have designed three development value streams in support of the operational value stream the company the company is focused on. Which test would help to identify if these are good development Value Streams?
1. All of them have between 50 and 125 people needed to develop their solution
2. The structure of the Value Stream matched existing organizational structures
3. X Each can operate and deliver value relatively independently from the others
4. There is a clear definition of who the Solution Manager is for each one
Which leadership style helps to create a safe environment for learning, growth and mutual influence?
1. X Leader as the servant
2. Leader as the developer of people
3. Leader as the conductor
4. Leader as the influencer
What are two ways an Exploration Enabler is demoed?
1. Show the architecture created to support future User Stories
2. X Show a prototype produced
3. Show screen shots of test results
4. X Show the knowledge file
5. Show the functioning code in the production environment
When the LACE acts as an Agile team, which two team practices are the likely to use?
1. X Run an Iteration Retrospective
2. X Plan a Program Increment
3. Build a Lean Portfolio
4. Build Lean Agile Budgets e. Hold a daily Stand-Up
  f.
What occurs during the Agile Release Train Inspect and Adapt event?
1. X Solution Demo
2. Iteration Metrics update
3. Program Predictability Measure update
4. Iteration Review
What are two ways to evolve the Solution intent from variable to fixed scope?
1. X Modelling
2. Adapting work-in-progress limits
3. Creating work breakdown structures
4. X Trade studies
5. Defining release milestones
When should a Lean Portfolio be established
1. When there are at least 5 Agile Release Trains that require coordination
2. X When the lack of communication between strategy and execution is hurting value delivery
3. Establish the Portfolio as part of training the executives
4. Only if mandated from the top because it is better to operate in a completely decentralized environment
What are two benefits of big room training
1. Smaller classrooms provide more efficient learning environment
2. The Program Backlog can be ready for the training
3. X Everyone on the train hears the same message
4. X Accelerates launch timelines
5. Leaders do not need to attend multiple times
Relentless improvement as defined in the Scaled Agile Framework includes which two activities?
1. Building long-term relationships based on trust
2. X Apply Lean problem solving tools and techniques
3. Reflect at key milestones
4. X Hold employees reviews to provide fast feedback
5. Hold people accountable
What is the right use for SAFe Foundation?
1. X Train Agile Teams before PI Planning
2. Train leaders and executives who do not have time for Leading SAFe
  c. Introduce stakeholders to SAFe to drive interest in SAFe training
  d. Train Agile Release Train (ART) leadership before launching the ART
Which two statements describe SAFe’s approach to operational and development Value Streams?
1. X SAFe focuses on development Value Streams
2. Operational Value Streams contain the systems and steps to develop those systems
3. X The operational Value Stream must be understood to define the development Value Streams
4. SAFe focuses on operational Value Streams
5. The development Value Streams must be understood to define the operational Value Streams
Why is capacity allocation important in SAFe
1. X So the team is able to meet its iteration goals
2. To synchronize the development cadence of Features and Component teams
3. Work can be better estimated
4. So that teams continuously invest in the Architectural Runway
Who typically facilitates the Agile Release Train Sync meeting
1. X Release Train Engineer
2. Value Stream Engineer
3. Senior Scrum Master
4. Agile Coach
Which statement is true about Lean Portfolio Management and budgeting
1. It reviews the top performing Solutions to ensure they are staying with budget targets
2. It monitors the budgets in the different Agile Release Trains but avoids funding new Epics
3. It cannot make any budget changes to the Portfolio
4. X It empowers stakeholders to adapt the current backlog and roadmap context
What is a responsibility of the SAFe Program Consultant change agent
1. X Coach Release Train Engineers on their role
2. Define Epic hypothesis statements
3. Prioritize the Program Backlog
4. Define Work in Process limits for the Program Kanban
What are two reasons to manage an implementation plan as a Roadmap?
b. X It allows the teams to ensure executives are not over controlling the
1. It creates a visible radiator for the Lean Agile Center of Excellence daily stand up
  implementation process
  1. X It allows preserving options in the implementation process
  2. It allows teams to commit in advance to no more than nine month of the implementation roadmap making it more agile
  3. It gets stakeholders used to the commitment and forecast structure of the implementation roadmap
According to the Harvard Business Review article “The new Product Development Game” what does it mean to create built-in instability
1. Provide unclear requirements, a volatile, demanding work environment and monitor the team’s progress
2. Monitor the team closely and make decisions for them as much as possible
3. Change the team’s mission daily
4. X Provide challenging requirements and high degree of freedom to meet the requirements
Which three actions are needed to launch an Agile Release Train?
1. X Identify the Release Train Engineer
2. Identify shared services
3. Have a strategy for unit testing and test automation
4. X Identify who will set the business context
5. Identify the System Team
6. X Decide Iteration and Program Increment cadence
What are two benefits of cadence and synchronization?
1. Synchronization enables multiple perspectives to be understood, resolved and integrated at the same time.
2. Cadence enables variability despite making wait times slightly less predictable
3. Synchronization enables reduction in work-in-process
4. X Cadence limits variance e. X They increase throughput
When should a lean portfolio be established?
1. Only if mandated from the top because it is better to operate in a completely decentralized environment
2. When there are at least 5 Agile Release Trains
3. Establish the portfolio as part of training the executives
4. X When the lack of communication between strategy and execution is hurting value delivery
What are the top two reasons for adopting Agile in an organization?
1. Reduce risk by centralizing decision making
2. X Accelerate product delivery
3. Reduce project cost
4. X Enhance ability to manage changing priorities
5. Increase predictability by reducing changes
What are the SAFe core values?
1. Empowerment, self-organizing teams, decentralization of control, value
2. Lean leadership, build in quality, agile architecture, product flow
3. Incremental delivery, transparency, trust, built-in quality
4. X Built-in quality, program execution, alignment, transparency
In a LACE an argument began between Lee , the Director of Software and Clair, the VP of HR. Clair wants to launch an Efficiency Agile Release Train first since that product was crucial and has a long history of missed deliveries. Lee wants to start with the Simulator Agile Release Train since it is high performing group that can transition quickly to SAFe and present a short term win. Who is right?
1. Both have good points and so it is best to launch both at the same time
2. X Neither is right, it is most important to focus on Agile Release Trains that have leadership support, and not the level of challenges they face
3. Lee is right because a lack of short term success is a key failure in most change initiatives
4. Clair is right because Agile Release Trains that face significance challenges will be able to improve and prove a better outcome for the success of SAFe
  
  a.
  
  X They enable visibility into the ski
  b. X They provide access to expertise
What are two benefits of Communities of Practice
ll matric in large enterprise
1. They increase coordination, synergy across units
2. They provide an arena for managers who might not find their role on the SAFe big picture
3. They reduce the Work in Process
Which tool is used to manage capabilities evolution?
1. The capability backlog
2. X The solution Kanban
3. The program backlog
4. The Epic to capabilities funnel
What is the benefit of enhancing enterprise agility?
1. It does not require “what if” analysis of various implementation scenarios
2. X It allows for a faster response to changing market opportunities
3. It enables forecasting from the Portfolio Backlog
4. It requires less planning and forecasting
What are two problems that can be understood from the Program Board?
1. Event for future PIs
2. Too many features are placed in a team’s swim lane with no strings
3. Too much work in process in one iteration
4. X A significant dependency leading to a Feature
5. X Too many dependencies leading to a single program milestone
Which legacy practice slows the move to Lean Portfolio Management
1. Demand Management
2. Fact based milestones
3. Rolling wave planning
4. X Centralized annual planning
How can essential SAFe be used to evaluate a Full SAFe implementation
1. Customize essential SAFe with Constructs out of the full spanning palette
2. Customize essential SAFe with Constructs out of the large solution configuration
3. Customize essential SAFe with Constructs out of the out of the full SAFe
4. X Verify that the Full SAFe implementation performs the elements of essential SAFe correctly
Name two practices of Agile HR
1. X Support continuous learning
2. X Eliminate annual performance reviews
3. Decentralize all decisions to the teams
4. Remove all incentives
5. Hire for technical excellence
What is the target percentage for the program predictability measure a. 60-80%
b. X 80-100%
c. 50-75%
d. <50%
The time to market is too long and the team is unsure which part of the process is problematic. What should be done first?
1. Redo the value stream identification workshop
2. Set up key performance indicators and reporting to control the flow
3. Identify the bottlenecks by lowering work in process at all steps
4. X Organize a value stream mapping workshop
What are two possible problems to be aware of when coaching an agile release train sync meeting?
1. All the scrum master, product owners, and business owners are in the meeting
2. The Release Train engineer is not vocal
  d. X Features keep moving to the next iteration with noting being
3. The program board is used as a big visual information radiator for the meeting
  removed from the PI
  e. X All focus is on the current PI with not time spent on the preparation
  of the
  next PI
After launching the first ART, what should be the next train to launch?
1. A train in a different Value Stream to start building the Lean Portfolio
2. A train in a different Portfolio to spread the Lean Agile mindset across the enterprise
3. A train that has considerable challenges regardless of where it is in the organization
4. X A train in the same value stream to leverage the full flow of value
How does SAFe extend the agile manifesto foundation to the level of team of teams?
1. By uncovering better way of developing software by doing it and helping others do it
2. X By applying lean thinking to understand and improve the systems that support the teams
3. By allowing the teams to reflect on how to become more effective
4. By promoting face to face conversation across teams as the most efficient way to convey information
What are two ways an exploration enabler is demoed?
1. X Show a prototype produces
2. X Show the knowledge gained
3. Show the architecture created to support future user stories
4. Show the functioning code in the production environment
5. Show screen shots of test results
Why is it important to start an agile release train launch by setting the date for PI Planning?
1. X Because otherwise there is no forcing function
2. To communicate the date to the lean agile center of excellence
3. Because without the date it is impossible to know the length of iterations and program increments
4. To book conference and meeting rooms well in advance
Why is it recommended to start with essential SAFe
1. It is the newest addition to SAFe so many people will prefer it
2. X Most implementations start with a single ART
3. It required just one ART to implementation can begin without training executives and leaders
4. It does not require up front team training which speeds up the implementation process
Which statement is a value from the agile manifesto?
1. Working software over working hardware
2. Working software over comprehensive conversation
3. Working software over continuous attention to technical excellence
4. X Working software over comprehensive documentation
  
  a. X To have a better prepared initial program backlog for the first PI
Why is it important to train Product owner and product manager before launching the ART
Planning
1. Because training the leaders for the first time should not occur with the teams
2. X To help facilitate the first PI planning process
3. In a lean environment of continuous deliver and flow of value, the focus is on execution, so it is better to train before the launch
What is the recommended order of classes and activities when launching an Agile Release Train using the Quickstart approach?
1. PI Planning, SAFe for Teams, SAFe Workshop
2. SAFe workshop, PI Planning, SAFe for Teams
3. X SAFe for Teams, PI Planning, SAFe workshop
4. SAFe workshop, SAFe for Teams, PI Planning
What is the purpose of Solution Intent?
1. X To record and communicate the necessary requirements and design decisions
2. To create a comprehensive design document for approval before development
3. To provide an up front and static definition of the systems design
4. To provide a roadmap for future development
When building incrementally, how do integration points occur?
1. Upon product management request
2. At a fixed cadence
3. Through phase gate milestones
4. X By integrates learning cycles
What is the primary purpose of the management review at the end of Day 1 of the PI Planning?
1. To assign business value to the team’s draft PI Objective
2. To evaluate the performance of teams
3. To design the next generation of the product
4. X To make adjustments to the PI Scope and address program challenges
How does SAFe extend the Agile Manifesto foundation to the level of team of teams?
1. By allowing the team to reflect on how to become more effective
2. By uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping other do it
3. By promoting face to face conversation across teams as the most efficient way to convey information
4. X By applying lean thinking to understand and improve the systems that support the teams
How can an organization gain trust between the business and development?
1. Pair up IT with Epics Owners for all IT meetings
2. X Deliver predictability
3. Give teams access to the program Kanban
4. Reduce the amount of features
When is the ROAM technique used to categorize program risks?
1. At the product owner sync
2. At scrum of scrums
3. At the agile release train sync
4. X At PI Planning
What is the call to action when promoting SAFe during a meeting with company executives?
1. Train leaders and managers and then decide on the next steps
2. Launch one pilot agile release train and then learn and adapt
3. Propose a large preparation (teams, HR, organization) and then select a date to start the transformation
  d. X Organize a value stream identification workshop to determine the
  dependencies and to synchronize the agile release train launch
Ann is invited to help an agile release train that has struggled through multiple innovation and planning (IP) iterations. They just finished the second iteration in the current PI and have nothing to demonstrate at the system demo.
1. Program stakeholders are really concerned. What should Ann do?
2. RE-architect the system so that there are no dependencies between the teams and integration is not needed
  d. X Re-plan the current PI: Descope to leave enough time to integrate
3. Have every team demonstrate their team increment to the stakeholder separately on the team branch
  what has been build during the IP iteration
  e. Stop working on any new functionality and fully integrate and test the system, adjust scope based on learnings.
What is one key message about Little’s Law?
1. X The easiest way to achieve flow is to reduce queue lengths
2. The average wait time is dependent on the varying arrival rate items coming into the queue
3. The easiest way to reduce wait is to increase the processing rate
4. A single piece flow should always be the goal
Based on the work of Don Reinersten, the Scaled Agile Framework denotes five primary economic factors that can be used to consider the economics perspective of a particular investment. What are three of those primary economic factors?
1. X Lead time
2. X Development expense
3. Value stream budget
4. Return on investment
5. X Risk
6. Transaction cost
What are three examples of lean agile leadership?
1. X Developing skills and career paths for team members
2. Limiting process improvements to control scope
3. X Communicating the solution vision with the teams
4. X Creating an environment of mutual influence
5. Create work breakdown structures
6. Prioritizing team backlogs
Niccolo is invited to help a program where, even though not mandated by the external environment, management required teams to make big upfront and detailed scope commitments for every release.
What are the things Niccolo can do to best coach the decision makers?
1. X Illustrate the power of feedback in content decision making
2. X Explain the “understand and exploit variability” principle of product development flow.
3. Satisfy the immediate need and improve later
4. Explain the benefits of releasing at the end of the program increment
5. X Emphasize the value of “responding to change” from the agile manifesto
6. Explain that too much up front detail demotivates product owners as they have almost nothing to do afterwards
An inspect and adapt event is occurring and a program is trying to address a ling existing problem – unreliable PI commitments. One of the participants suggests that they are working on too many things at one time.
1. What aspect of the program causes uncontrollable amounts of work in process?
2. All program teams are cross functional, so every team creates work in multiple areas at the same time
3. Stories are too small
4. X Items in the program backlog are large chunks of work at different layers of the system instead of true features
5. Teams do not do a good job at task switching
What is this statement defining “A series of activities that have proven to be effective in successfully implementing SAFe”?
1. The SAFe Lean Agile principles
2. The scaled agile framework
3. X The SAFe Implementation Roadmap
4. An agile Release Train
What does Dunbars number provide guidance for in the scaled agile framework?
1. The percent utilization that enables a sustainable pace
2. The number of people on a lean portfolio team
3. X The number of members on a self-managing self-organizing agile release team
4. The number of people on a solution train
Relentless improvement as defined in the scaled agile framework includes which two activities?
1. X Apply lean problem-solving tools and techniques
2. Hold employee reviews to provide fast feedback
3. X Build long term relationship based on trust
4. Reflect at key milestones
5. Hold people accountable
What are two areas to examine when identifying operational value streams in an enterprise?
1. X The current products which the company sells
2. X The systems supporting each operating value stream
3. The internal departments which are supported
4. The number of agile release trains contained in the portfolio
5. The project cost accounting procedure in place