PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
During a sprint review, the product owner expresses dissatisfaction with the delivered increment because it does not meet their expectations. The team followed the agreed-upon acceptance criteria. What should the project manager do?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose Option A, thinking that meeting acceptance criteria is absolute, but the PMP exam emphasizes stakeholder satisfaction and adaptive communication over rigid adherence to documentation.
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
✓
Facilitate a conversation between the product owner and the team to clarify expectations and update the acceptance criteria for next sprint
The project manager's role in an Agile framework is to facilitate collaboration and ensure alignment between the product owner and the development team. Since the team met the agreed acceptance criteria, the gap is in the product owner's expectations, which must be clarified through direct conversation. Updating the acceptance criteria for the next sprint ensures future increments align with the product owner's vision without redoing work that was technically correct.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Inform the product owner that the work meets the agreed criteria and cannot be changed
Why it's wrong here
This approach is counterproductive in an agile environment, as it prioritizes rigid adherence to initial documentation over customer satisfaction and collaboration. Dismissing the Product Owner's dissatisfaction outright, even if the work technically met prior criteria, undermines trust and the iterative nature of agile development. It hinders the team's ability to adapt to new insights and deliver maximum value, potentially damaging the crucial Product Owner-team relationship.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision
Why it's wrong here
Escalating this issue to the project sponsor is premature and bypasses the empowered roles within a self-organizing Scrum team. The Product Owner and development team are the primary stakeholders responsible for defining and delivering product value and resolving internal discrepancies. Such an internal disagreement should first be addressed through direct communication and negotiation within the team, leveraging their autonomy before involving higher authority.
- ✗
Ask the team to redo the work to meet the product owner's unstated expectations
Why it's wrong here
Unilaterally asking the team to redo work based on *unstated* expectations constitutes uncontrolled scope creep, often referred to as "gold-plating." This action wastes valuable resources, extends timelines, and undermines the integrity of agreed-upon acceptance criteria. In agile, changes to scope or requirements should be transparently discussed, prioritized, and formally incorporated into the product backlog for future sprints, not retroactively imposed without clear justification.
- ✓
Facilitate a conversation between the product owner and the team to clarify expectations and update the acceptance criteria for next sprint
Why this is correct
This option embodies core agile principles of communication, collaboration, and continuous improvement, particularly during the Sprint Review. By facilitating a conversation, the Scrum Master (or equivalent facilitator) helps bridge the gap between current understanding and emerging needs, allowing the team and Product Owner to collaboratively refine expectations. Updating acceptance criteria for *next* sprint ensures that future work aligns with the Product Owner's evolving vision, preventing similar issues and fostering a shared understanding of "done."
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Agile Framework
An Agile Framework is a set of principles and practices for managing projects by delivering work in small, iterative cycles, allowing teams to adapt quickly to changing requirements and customer feedback.
Key term
Scrum Methodology
Scrum is a lightweight process framework that helps teams deliver complex projects in small, iterative chunks called sprints.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PMP question from scratch — 800 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or 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.