ADM ADM Scaling Agile Frameworks 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the main purpose of PI Planning in SAFe?
- Align all ART teams on goals, dependencies, and a shared plan for the upcoming Program Increment (Correct answer)
- Conduct performance reviews for all team members before the PI begins
- Approve the annual budget for the Agile Release Train
- Review and close out completed epics in the portfolio backlog
Correct answer: Align all ART teams on goals, dependencies, and a shared plan for the upcoming Program Increment
PI Planning is a two-day (or equivalent) face-to-face event where all ART teams plan together, identify cross-team dependencies, and commit to PI Objectives.
Question 2: What is the Nexus framework designed for?
- Scaling Scrum for 3–9 teams working on a single product (Correct answer)
- Scaling SAFe across multiple Agile Release Trains
- Providing a Kanban-based alternative to Scrum for large teams
- Managing portfolio-level investment decisions in agile organizations
Correct answer: Scaling Scrum for 3–9 teams working on a single product
Nexus, created by Ken Schwaber, adds a Nexus Integration Team and integration-focused events on top of standard Scrum to coordinate up to nine teams on one product.
Question 3: What is a System Demo in SAFe?
- An integrated demonstration of all teams' work on the ART at the end of each iteration (Correct answer)
- A demo given by a single team to its product owner at sprint review
- A quarterly showcase of portfolio epics to executives
- A rehearsal event before the PI Planning ceremony
Correct answer: An integrated demonstration of all teams' work on the ART at the end of each iteration
The System Demo occurs every sprint and shows the combined, integrated increment from all ART teams, allowing stakeholders to see real system-level progress.
Question 4: What happens during SAFe's Inspect & Adapt (I&A) event?
- Teams and the ART reflect on the PI, identify improvement opportunities, and run a structured problem-solving workshop (Correct answer)
- The product owner reviews and re-prioritizes the ART backlog for the next PI
- Executives present the portfolio strategy to all ART members
- Teams conduct individual sprint retrospectives in parallel
Correct answer: Teams and the ART reflect on the PI, identify improvement opportunities, and run a structured problem-solving workshop
Inspect & Adapt closes each PI with a System Demo, quantitative measurement review, and a problem-solving workshop to drive continuous improvement at scale.
Question 5: What is Portfolio Kanban used for in SAFe?
- Visualizing and managing the flow of epics through the portfolio from ideation to implementation (Correct answer)
- Tracking daily task completion across all teams in the ART
- Replacing the PI Planning event for fully distributed organizations
- Managing individual developer workloads across multiple products
Correct answer: Visualizing and managing the flow of epics through the portfolio from ideation to implementation
Portfolio Kanban applies WIP limits and flow principles to the portfolio backlog, ensuring epics are analyzed, approved, and implemented in a steady, visible flow.
Question 6: What is a key distinction between LeSS and SAFe as scaling frameworks?
- LeSS minimizes additional roles and structure while SAFe introduces many new roles and ceremonies (Correct answer)
- LeSS requires more than 50 teams while SAFe works best with fewer than 10
- LeSS is primarily for hardware development while SAFe targets software-only organizations
- LeSS mandates quarterly PI Planning while SAFe uses monthly sprint reviews
Correct answer: LeSS minimizes additional roles and structure while SAFe introduces many new roles and ceremonies
LeSS deliberately keeps Scrum's simplicity and resists adding overhead, whereas SAFe prescribes a rich set of roles, events, and artifacts for enterprise coordination.
ADM ADM Scaling Agile Frameworks 2
What is the main purpose of PI Planning in SAFe?