PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
A key stakeholder on your agile project frequently attends the daily standup and redirects team members to work on tasks that are not part of the sprint backlog. This is causing confusion and reducing the team's velocity. As the project manager, what should you do first?
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
✓
Have a private conversation with the stakeholder about the purpose of the daily standup and the impact of their actions.
The PM should address the issue directly with the stakeholder, explaining the importance of protecting the team's focus and the agreed-upon process. This aligns with stakeholder engagement and communication management.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Have a private conversation with the stakeholder about the purpose of the daily standup and the impact of their actions.
Why this is correct
Agile principles emphasize transparency and direct communication, making a private conversation the appropriate first step. The Daily Scrum is a time-boxed event for the Development Team to synchronize and plan their work for the next 24 hours, not for stakeholders to introduce new requirements or engage in detailed discussions. This direct approach allows for education on the event's specific purpose and its timeboxed nature, effectively addressing the disruption without alienating the key stakeholder, aligning with effective stakeholder management.
- ✗
Remove the stakeholder from the daily standup invitations to prevent disruption.
Why it's wrong here
Excluding a key stakeholder from project communications, even if they are disruptive, is counterproductive to effective stakeholder engagement and transparency. Agile principles advocate for continuous stakeholder involvement and collaboration, fostering trust and shared understanding. Removing them without prior communication or explanation can lead to mistrust, reduced buy-in, and a perception of being deliberately excluded, potentially escalating issues rather than resolving them and undermining the collaborative spirit of agile.
- ✗
Ask the team to accommodate the stakeholder's requests to maintain a good relationship.
Why it's wrong here
Accommodating ad-hoc stakeholder requests during a daily standup directly violates the sprint commitment and disrupts the team's planned work. The Daily Scrum is not a forum for introducing new work or changing priorities; that process occurs during backlog refinement and sprint planning. Uncritically accepting new requests undermines the team's autonomy, predictability, and ability to deliver on the sprint goal, leading to scope creep, potential burnout, and a loss of focus for the development team.
- ✗
Update the sprint backlog to include the stakeholder's requests and adjust the sprint goal.
Why it's wrong here
Immediately updating the sprint backlog and adjusting the sprint goal based on ad-hoc requests from a single stakeholder during a daily standup is a significant deviation from established agile practices. Changes to the sprint backlog or goal require formal discussion, prioritization by the Product Owner, and team consensus, typically during sprint planning or a dedicated backlog refinement session. Unilateral changes undermine the sprint commitment, destabilize the team's focus, and can lead to an unmanageable scope, jeopardizing the successful completion of the sprint.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement is the process of identifying people or groups who have an interest in a project and actively involving them through communication and collaboration to meet their needs and expectations.
Key term
Communication Management
Communication management is the process of planning, executing, and controlling the flow of information among project stakeholders to ensure clear, timely, and effective exchanges.
About these practice questions
This PMP question is part of Courseiva's 800-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMP practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PMP exam.