PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
In an agile project, the team has missed their sprint commitment for the third consecutive sprint. During the retrospective, team members cite unclear requirements and frequent interruptions from stakeholders. As the project manager, what is the BEST action to take?
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 refine user stories and shield the team from external interruptions
The best action because the root cause is unclear requirements and frequent interruptions. The project manager should work with the product owner to refine user stories and ensure they are clear, and also shield the team from stakeholder interruptions. Option A (reducing story points) does not address the root cause; the team would still face unclear requirements and interruptions. Option C (adding developers) does not solve the clarity or interruption issues and may disrupt the team. Option D (increasing sprint duration) is not appropriate as it does not address the root cause and violates timeboxing principles.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Require the team to commit to fewer story points next sprint
Why it's wrong here
Forcing a team to reduce their commitment directly contradicts the agile principle of self-organizing teams and servant leadership. The Project Manager's role is to facilitate the team's ability to determine its own capacity and commitment through empirical data and continuous improvement, not to dictate it. Such an action undermines team autonomy, trust, and the inspect-and-adapt cycle crucial for sustainable velocity.
- ✓
Work with the product owner to refine user stories and shield the team from external interruptions
Why this is correct
This is the most appropriate action for an agile Project Manager acting as a servant leader. Collaborating with the Product Owner to refine user stories ensures clarity, reduces ambiguity, and improves the team's ability to accurately estimate and complete work. Simultaneously, shielding the team from external interruptions removes impediments, allowing them to maintain focus and flow, directly addressing common causes for missed sprint commitments.
- ✗
Add more developers to the team to increase velocity
Why it's wrong here
Adding more developers to a struggling team is often counterproductive, a concept known as Brooks's Law. New team members require significant onboarding and ramp-up time, which diverts existing team members' attention and temporarily decreases overall productivity. This approach fails to address the underlying issues causing the missed commitment, such as unclear requirements or process inefficiencies, and can disrupt established team dynamics.
- ✗
Increase the sprint duration to give the team more time
Why it's wrong here
Increasing the sprint duration does not resolve the root causes of a missed commitment, such as poor estimation, unclear requirements, or external disruptions. Agile emphasizes fixed-length sprints to create consistent rhythms, enable frequent feedback loops, and limit work-in-progress. Extending the sprint merely delays the inspection and adaptation cycle, potentially allowing problems to persist or worsen without proper identification and resolution.
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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.