PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
During a sprint retrospective, the team expresses frustration that they are frequently interrupted by unplanned support requests from the operations department. The product owner agrees this is impacting velocity. What should the project manager do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose to escalate (Option B) or defer action (Option C) instead of recognizing that the product owner is the correct stakeholder to collaborate with for immediate prioritization and capacity planning.
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
✓
Work with the product owner to prioritize support requests and allocate a dedicated buffer for them.
The immediate priority is to manage the unplanned work that is disrupting the sprint. By working with the product owner to prioritize support requests and allocate a dedicated buffer (e.g., a fixed capacity within the sprint backlog), the project manager ensures that the team can handle operational interruptions without derailing planned work. This aligns with the Agile principle of protecting the team's focus and using empirical data to adjust the process, rather than escalating or deferring action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Work with the product owner to prioritize support requests and allocate a dedicated buffer for them.
Why this is correct
This is the most effective agile approach because it involves the Product Owner (PO) in managing the product backlog, which encompasses all work, including support. By prioritizing support requests and allocating a dedicated buffer (e.g., a percentage of sprint capacity or a rotating team member), the team can proactively manage interruptions without derailing sprint goals. This strategy protects the team's focus and morale while ensuring critical support needs are addressed in a structured manner.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the project sponsor to negotiate with operations.
Why it's wrong here
Escalating the issue directly to the project sponsor is premature and bypasses the Scrum Master's (or PMP's) responsibility to facilitate resolution at a lower level first. Such an action suggests a failure to leverage team-level problem-solving or collaboration with the Product Owner, which are fundamental agile practices. Escalation should be reserved for intractable impediments that cannot be resolved within the team's immediate sphere of influence, not as a first response to a common operational challenge.
- ✗
Ask the team to track the time spent on support requests and report it at the next retrospective.
Why it's wrong here
While data collection can be valuable for long-term analysis, simply asking the team to track time without an immediate plan for action defers resolution and prolongs the team's frustration. The retrospective has already identified the problem, indicating a need for immediate intervention rather than just more data. This approach fails to provide any immediate relief or a concrete path forward to address the ongoing interruptions and their impact on sprint commitments.
- ✗
Instruct the team to handle support requests as they come to maintain stakeholder satisfaction.
Why it's wrong here
Instructing the team to handle support requests as they come directly contradicts agile principles of focused work and sprint goals, leading to constant context switching and reduced productivity. This reactive approach prioritizes immediate, unmanaged stakeholder satisfaction over planned sprint commitments, ultimately harming the team's ability to deliver on its sprint goals. Uncontrolled interruptions lead to burnout, decreased morale, and an inability to predict or commit to future work effectively.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Sprint Retrospective
A Sprint Retrospective is a time-boxed meeting at the end of a Scrum sprint where the team reflects on their process and identifies improvements for the next sprint.
Key term
Scrum Methodology
Scrum is a lightweight process framework that helps teams deliver complex projects in small, iterative chunks called sprints.
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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.