PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
During an agile project, the product owner frequently changes priorities during the sprint, causing the team to lose focus and miss sprint goals. The team expresses frustration in the retrospective. As the project manager, what should you do?
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
✓
Coach the product owner on the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus
The product owner should be coached on agile principles, specifically the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus and sprint goal. Option A is wrong because ignoring the product owner undermines collaboration and agile values. Option C is wrong because adding buffer does not address the root cause and may reduce accountability. Option D is wrong because extending sprint duration does not solve the priority change issue and may lead to loss of time-boxing benefits.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Instruct the team to ignore the product owner's changes until the next sprint planning
Why it's wrong here
This approach directly contradicts agile principles of collaboration and continuous communication. Ignoring the Product Owner's input, even if disruptive, prevents addressing the underlying issue and can foster an adversarial relationship between the development team and the Product Owner. The Project Manager's role is to facilitate effective communication and problem-solving, not to create silos or dismiss stakeholder input, which ultimately undermines team cohesion and product ownership.
- ✓
Coach the product owner on the importance of not changing priorities during a sprint to protect the team's focus
Why this is correct
This is the most appropriate agile response as it addresses the root cause through education and coaching. The Project Manager, acting as a servant leader, should explain to the Product Owner how frequent priority changes during a sprint disrupt the team's focus, jeopardize the sprint goal, and reduce predictability and velocity. This coaching reinforces the principle of sprint stability, ensuring the team can deliver committed work effectively and maintain a sustainable pace.
- ✗
Add a buffer to the sprint backlog to accommodate potential changes
Why it's wrong here
While seemingly pragmatic, adding a buffer to the sprint backlog does not address the fundamental issue of frequent priority changes. Instead, it implicitly accommodates and potentially encourages the undesirable behavior, masking the problem rather than solving it. This approach can lead to scope creep, dilute the team's focus on committed sprint goals, and ultimately reduce the predictability and value delivered within a sprint, avoiding necessary coaching and process improvement.
- ✗
Extend the sprint duration to allow the team to accommodate changes
Why it's wrong here
Extending the sprint duration is an anti-pattern in agile frameworks, undermining the crucial principle of time-boxing. While it might temporarily allow the team to absorb changes, it fails to address the root cause of the Product Owner's frequent priority shifts. This tactical fix reduces predictability, makes forecasting more difficult, and can lead to a cycle of continuously shifting deadlines rather than fostering discipline around sprint commitments and stable goals.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Scrum Methodology
Scrum is a lightweight process framework that helps teams deliver complex projects in small, iterative chunks called sprints.
Key term
Sprint Planning
Sprint Planning is a time-boxed meeting at the start of a Scrum sprint where the team decides what work they can deliver and how they will do it.
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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on PMP
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. You are managing an agile project. The product owner frequently changes priorities during the sprint, causing the team to lose focus and miss sprint goals. What should the scrum master do?
medium- A.Tell the team to ignore the product owner's changes and focus on the original sprint goal.
- ✓ B.Coach the product owner on the importance of sprint goal stability and the impact of changes.
- C.Ask the product owner to stop changing priorities and escalate to management.
- D.Request a new product owner who understands agile principles.
Why B: The scrum master's primary responsibility is to coach the product owner on their role, emphasizing the importance of sprint goal stability and the impact of frequent changes on the team's focus and ability to meet commitments. Option A is incorrect because the scrum master should not override the product owner's authority or instruct the team to ignore a key stakeholder. Option C is incorrect; while asking the product owner to stop is part of coaching, immediate escalation to management is a last resort and not the scrum master's initial approach. The scrum master's role is to facilitate resolution through coaching first. Option D is incorrect; the scrum master's role is to coach the existing product owner to improve their understanding and application of agile principles, not to request their replacement, which is an extreme and inappropriate measure.
Variation 2. In an agile project, the product owner frequently changes priorities within a sprint, causing the team to lose focus and velocity to drop. What should the project manager do first?
hard- A.Ask the team to accommodate the changes and work overtime to meet the original commitment
- ✓ B.Facilitate a retrospective where the team can discuss the impact of changing priorities and agree on a process
- C.Escalate to the project sponsor that the product owner is interfering with the team
- D.Tell the product owner that scope changes are not allowed during a sprint
Why B: The project manager should first facilitate a retrospective to allow the team to collaboratively analyze the impact of changing priorities and agree on a process to protect the sprint goal. This aligns with the agile principle of continuous improvement and empowers the team to address the root cause without escalating prematurely or violating sprint commitments.
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.