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PK0-005 Practice Question: A project manager is leading a software upgrade…
A project manager is leading a software upgrade project. The project is using an agile methodology with two-week sprints. After three sprints, the team has not completed all planned user stories, and the product owner is frustrated. The project manager reviews the velocity and finds it is 30% lower than estimated. The team cites unforeseen technical debt. What should the project manager do?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose to 'add more team members' (Option A) or 'extend sprint duration' (Option B) as intuitive fixes, but the exam tests the agile principle of adapting the plan based on empirical data (velocity) rather than forcing scope or schedule changes that ignore the underlying technical debt.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Reestimate the remaining work and adjust the release plan.
The project manager should first reestimate the remaining work based on the actual velocity (30% lower than planned) and then adjust the release plan accordingly. This aligns with agile principles of data-driven planning and transparency, addressing the root cause (unforeseen technical debt) by incorporating the team's actual capacity into future sprints.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add more team members to increase velocity.
Why it's wrong here
Adding people increases coordination overhead and onboarding time, and Brooks's law means velocity often drops further before recovering; the cited technical debt remains untouched. Adding team members suits a project with slack in communication and independent workstreams, not a debt-constrained backlog.
- ✗
Extend the sprint duration to complete more work.
Why it's wrong here
Lengthening the sprint changes the cadence without addressing the technical debt depressing velocity, and agile teams keep the timebox fixed while adjusting scope. Extending a sprint would suit a one-off schedule slip, but here the shortfall repeats every sprint and stems from debt.
- ✗
Ask the product owner to prioritize only critical stories.
Why it's wrong here
Reprioritising stories reduces scope delivered but leaves the technical debt unaddressed, so velocity stays depressed and the product owner's frustration recurs. Prioritisation is the right lever when capacity is fixed and value must be maximised, not when the team's throughput itself has fallen.
- ✓
Reestimate the remaining work and adjust the release plan.
Why this is correct
Velocity is 30% below estimate because of unforeseen technical debt, so the remaining work estimates and release plan are unrealistic. Reestimating remaining work and adjusting the release plan satisfies the stem's constraint, restoring a forecast grounded in actual team capacity.
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