PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
During a sprint review, the product owner rejects a user story because it does not meet their expectations, even though the team followed the acceptance criteria. The team is frustrated. What should you do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
PMI often tests the principle of servant leadership and conflict resolution by tempting candidates to choose immediate rework (Option A) or escalation (Option C), when the correct first step is always facilitated communication to align expectations.
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 meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and align expectations
The immediate conflict stems from a misalignment between the acceptance criteria and the product owner's expectations. As a servant leader, the first step is to facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and ensure a shared understanding, which directly addresses the root cause of the frustration without escalating or ignoring the issue.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ask the team to rework the story based on the product owner's feedback without further discussion
Why it's wrong here
Simply asking the team to rework a rejected story without further discussion bypasses critical Agile principles of transparency and collaboration. This approach fails to address the root cause of the misalignment, such as unclear acceptance criteria or a misunderstanding of the Product Owner's needs. It risks creating significant waste through iterative rework, demotivating the development team, and perpetuating communication gaps rather than resolving them proactively.
- ✓
Facilitate a meeting between the product owner and the team to clarify the acceptance criteria and align expectations
Why this is correct
This option directly aligns with core Agile principles, emphasizing collaboration and direct communication to resolve impediments. When a user story is rejected, it often signals a discrepancy in understanding the acceptance criteria or the 'Definition of Done' between the development team and the Product Owner. Facilitating a meeting allows for immediate clarification, negotiation, and re-establishment of shared expectations, fostering transparency and ensuring future work is better aligned with value delivery.
- ✗
Appeal to the project sponsor to mediate the disagreement
Why it's wrong here
Escalating a disagreement between the Product Owner and the development team directly to the project sponsor is premature and undermines the team's autonomy and problem-solving capabilities. The Scrum Master, or a PMP in an agile context, is responsible for facilitating conflict resolution and removing impediments within the immediate team. Such internal disagreements should first be addressed through direct communication and collaboration within the Scrum team before considering external intervention, which should only occur if internal mechanisms fail.
- ✗
Add the story back to the product backlog for future prioritization
Why it's wrong here
Adding a rejected user story back to the product backlog without addressing the underlying reasons for its rejection is a deferral tactic, not a resolution. This action avoids confronting the immediate issue of misalignment or misunderstanding, which means the same problem is highly likely to recur in a future sprint. It also wastes the effort already invested in the story and fails to leverage the learning opportunity to improve the team's understanding of requirements and acceptance criteria, hindering continuous improvement.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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