SAFe Value Streams and Business Agility 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What are the two types of value streams defined in SAFe?
- Operational and Development (Correct answer)
- Strategic and Tactical
- Business and Technical
- Portfolio and Team
Correct answer: Operational and Development
SAFe defines Operational Value Streams (delivering goods/services to customers) and Development Value Streams (building solutions that support operational value streams).
Question 2: Which of the following best describes an Operational Value Stream in SAFe?
- The steps used to develop new products and solutions
- The steps used to deliver products or services to end customers (Correct answer)
- The backlog of features waiting to be implemented
- The process of planning a Program Increment
Correct answer: The steps used to deliver products or services to end customers
An Operational Value Stream represents the sequence of steps required to deliver a product or service to an end customer, generating revenue or fulfilling organizational purpose.
Question 3: How many core competencies make up the SAFe Business Agility model?
- 5
- 6
- 7 (Correct answer)
- 8
Correct answer: 7
SAFe defines seven core competencies of Business Agility: Lean-Agile Leadership, Team and Technical Agility, Agile Product Delivery, Enterprise Solution Delivery, Lean Portfolio Management, Organizational Agility, and Continuous Learning Culture.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of value stream mapping in SAFe?
- To assign team members to specific user stories
- To visualize and analyze the steps and flow of value to identify waste and improvement opportunities (Correct answer)
- To create the PI roadmap for the next quarter
- To document the SAFe configuration chosen by the enterprise
Correct answer: To visualize and analyze the steps and flow of value to identify waste and improvement opportunities
Value stream mapping visualizes the current flow of work—including wait times and process times—so teams can identify waste and create a future-state map with improved flow.
Question 5: What does LACE stand for in SAFe?
- Lean Agile Change Enablement
- Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (Correct answer)
- Large Agile Coordination Engine
- Lean Architecture Continuous Evolution
Correct answer: Lean-Agile Center of Excellence
LACE stands for Lean-Agile Center of Excellence, a small team of change agents who support the SAFe transformation by coaching, training, and guiding the enterprise.
Question 6: Which competency in SAFe Business Agility addresses the enterprise's ability to quickly adapt strategy and funding in response to market changes?
- Team and Technical Agility
- Lean Portfolio Management (Correct answer)
- Organizational Agility
- Continuous Learning Culture
Correct answer: Lean Portfolio Management
Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) enables the enterprise to align strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking to strategy, investment funding, Agile portfolio operations, and governance.
Question 7: In SAFe, a Development Value Stream is best described as:
- The customer journey from product discovery to purchase
- The sequence of steps used to build the systems that support operational value streams (Correct answer)
- A portfolio epic that spans multiple ARTs
- The release train's sprint-level delivery cadence
Correct answer: The sequence of steps used to build the systems that support operational value streams
A Development Value Stream encompasses the people and steps needed to build, test, and release the systems (software, hardware, services) that enable operational value streams to function.
SAFe Value Streams and Business Agility 1
What are the two types of value streams defined in SAFe?