POPM PI Planning Preparation Practice Question
A Product Manager is finalizing the Program Backlog before PI Planning. The ART has a mix of new features, technical enablers, and defects. To maximize the economic benefit of the upcoming PI, what should the Product Manager do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that only customer-facing features drive economic value, when technical enablers and defects also contribute through risk reduction and future capacity.
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
✓
Apply Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) to all items, including enablers and defects, to determine the optimal sequence.
Using WSJF for all backlog items allows the Product Manager to prioritize based on economic value, considering cost of delay and job size. This approach ensures that technical enablers and defects are evaluated alongside features, leading to a balanced backlog that maximizes value and minimizes risk for the upcoming PI.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Prioritize features strictly by their revenue potential, placing technical enablers and defects at the bottom.
Why it's wrong here
Prioritizing only by revenue potential ignores the long-term cost of technical debt and quality issues. Technical enablers and defects, if neglected, can degrade system performance and slow future delivery. A balanced approach that considers cost of delay for all item types is necessary to maximize economic benefit.
- ✗
Defer all technical enablers until after the PI to focus exclusively on customer-facing features.
Why it's wrong here
Deferring technical enablers can accumulate technical debt, slowing down future feature delivery and increasing risk. Enablers are essential for maintaining architectural runway and supporting future business needs. The Product Manager should include them in prioritization based on their economic value and risk reduction impact.
- ✓
Apply Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) to all items, including enablers and defects, to determine the optimal sequence.
Why this is correct
Applying WSJF to all backlog items ensures that the ART addresses the highest economic value first, regardless of type. WSJF considers user-business value, time criticality, risk reduction/opportunity enablement, and job size. This method helps balance new features with enablers and defects, optimizing the flow of value and reducing overall risk.
- ✗
Allow each team to choose their own priorities to increase motivation and autonomy.
Why it's wrong here
While team autonomy is valuable, allowing each team to set independent priorities can lead to misalignment with ART objectives and suboptimization. The Product Manager must provide a prioritized Program Backlog to ensure the ART works on the most valuable items collectively. Team autonomy applies to how work is done, not what work is prioritized.
About these practice questions
This POPM question is part of Courseiva's 336-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scaled Agile exam blueprint
This POPM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scaled Agile 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 POPM exam.