PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
In a Scrum project, the development team consistently fails to meet the sprint goal. The product owner is frustrated, and the team is demotivated. During the retrospective, the team identifies that the sprint backlog is too ambitious. What is the BEST action for the Scrum Master?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently think the Scrum Master should directly fix the problem by reducing the backlog (Option A), but the PMI exam emphasizes servant leadership and coaching over directive actions.
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 team on how to estimate and commit to a realistic amount of work based on velocity
The Scrum Master's primary role is to coach the team in self-management and continuous improvement. Since the team identified that the sprint backlog is too ambitious, the best action is to coach them on estimating and committing to a realistic amount of work based on their historical velocity. This empowers the team to make accurate commitments, directly addressing the root cause of missed sprint goals and demotivation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the sprint backlog yourself to ensure the team can succeed
Why it's wrong here
As a Scrum Master, directly reducing the sprint backlog yourself undermines the team's self-organizing principle and their ownership of the commitment. The Development Team is responsible for determining what they can realistically achieve within a sprint, and imposing changes from outside disempowers them, hindering their ability to learn from past experiences and improve their estimation process. This action would violate the Scrum framework's emphasis on team autonomy and shared accountability for sprint goals.
- ✓
Coach the team on how to estimate and commit to a realistic amount of work based on velocity
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master's primary role in this situation is to act as a coach, guiding the Development Team to improve their estimation and commitment practices. By facilitating discussions around historical velocity and helping the team understand their sustainable pace, the Scrum Master empowers them to make more realistic forecasts for future sprints. This approach fosters self-management and continuous improvement, addressing the root cause of consistent failure through empirical data and team learning.
- ✗
Add more team members to increase capacity
Why it's wrong here
Adding more team members is often a counterproductive response to a team consistently failing to meet commitments, especially if the underlying issue is poor estimation. New members require onboarding, which initially decreases overall team productivity, a phenomenon known as Brooks's Law. Furthermore, this action fails to address the fundamental problem of inaccurate forecasting and commitment, potentially masking the real issue rather than resolving it through improved team practices.
- ✗
Extend the sprint duration to give the team more time
Why it's wrong here
Arbitrarily extending the sprint duration disrupts the consistent rhythm and empirical feedback loop that short, fixed-length sprints provide. While sprint length can be adjusted, it is a significant process change that should be a deliberate decision made by the Development Team and Product Owner, not an imposed solution to a commitment problem. This action would mask the underlying estimation issues and delay the opportunity for the team to learn and adapt within a stable sprint cadence.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
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.
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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