PMP Process — Managing Technical Aspects Practice Question
You are managing a software development project using a hybrid approach. During a sprint review, the product owner requests a new feature that would add significant value but was not in the product backlog. The team estimates it will take two additional sprints. What should you do FIRST?
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
✓
Submit a change request through the Integrated Change Control process
To submit a change request through the Integrated Change Control process to formally evaluate the impact on scope, schedule, and cost before any work begins.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Submit a change request through the Integrated Change Control process
Why this is correct
Submitting a change request through the Integrated Change Control process is the correct action in a hybrid project environment. This formal process ensures that any proposed scope change is thoroughly evaluated for its potential impacts on project baselines, including scope, schedule, and cost. It facilitates obtaining necessary approvals from relevant stakeholders, often a Change Control Board (CCB), before implementation, thereby maintaining project governance and preventing uncontrolled scope creep.
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Add the feature to the product backlog and prioritize it for a future sprint
Why it's wrong here
Adding the feature directly to the product backlog without formal change control is inappropriate for a hybrid project, even if it's prioritized for a future sprint. While pure agile allows product owners significant autonomy over the backlog, a hybrid approach integrates formal governance. New scope items typically require a change request to assess their alignment with the overall project management plan and baselines, ensuring controlled evolution rather than informal addition.
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Ask the team to add the feature to the current sprint backlog to satisfy the product owner
Why it's wrong here
Asking the team to add the feature to the current sprint backlog without proper approval is a critical error that bypasses all established change control mechanisms. This action directly violates the sprint commitment, disrupts the team's planned work, and introduces uncontrolled scope creep into an active iteration. It jeopardizes the sprint goal, potentially delays other committed features, and undermines the project's baselines without any impact assessment or formal stakeholder consent.
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Tell the product owner that no changes are allowed after the sprint starts
Why it's wrong here
Telling the product owner that no changes are allowed after the sprint starts is an overly rigid and uncollaborative response that contradicts adaptive project management principles. While sprint commitments are important, a project manager's role is to manage change effectively, not to outright refuse its consideration. The correct approach involves facilitating the formal process for evaluating proposed changes, ensuring they are assessed and approved or rejected through the Integrated Change Control process, even in a hybrid context.
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
Change Control Process
A formal, structured procedure used to manage any changes to a project's scope, schedule, budget, or requirements, ensuring every modification is reviewed, approved, tested, and documented before implementation.
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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.