Your agile team has been working on a financial services application for three sprints. During the sprint review, the product owner asks the team to demonstrate a complex regulatory reporting feature that was not part of the sprint backlog. The team lead explains they focused on the agreed sprint goal instead. The product owner becomes frustrated, stating this feature is critical for an upcoming audit and should have been obvious to include. Stakeholders at the meeting appear concerned about the team's ability to deliver. What should the Scrum Master do to address this situation?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is B. Option B is correct because it addresses the root cause through servant leadership and process reinforcement. The Scrum Master should facilitate understanding that the sprint backlog is a commitment based on sprint planning, and any critical features must be discussed and prioritized during backlog refinement and planning ceremonies. This educates the product owner on their accountability for backlog management while maintaining team protection and psychological safety. Option A is incorrect because it frames the situation as a team failure when the actual issue is a breakdown in the product owner's backlog management and communication during planning. A retrospective focused on 'missing' requirements undermines the sprint commitment principle and doesn't address the product owner's role in the process. Options C and D create workarounds rather than fixing the collaboration process.

PMP Practice Question: Process — Agile, Hard

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