POPM Product Owner and Product Management Roles Practice Question
A Product Owner is working with a team that has a high volume of unplanned work, causing them to miss their Iteration Goals. The team's velocity has dropped, and stakeholders are becoming concerned. What is the most effective action for the Product Owner to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is thinking that increasing capacity or enforcing a code freeze will solve unplanned work, when the real solution is to understand and buffer for it.
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 team and stakeholders to identify the sources of unplanned work and establish a buffer for it in the team's capacity.
The most effective action is to identify the sources of unplanned work and establish a capacity buffer. This enables the team to handle interruptions while maintaining predictable delivery. It also promotes transparency and collaboration with stakeholders to manage expectations and reduce future unplanned work.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Work with the team and stakeholders to identify the sources of unplanned work and establish a buffer for it in the team's capacity.
Why this is correct
Identifying sources of unplanned work and creating a capacity buffer allows the team to handle necessary interruptions without derailing planned work. This approach is realistic and helps stabilize velocity. It also fosters transparency with stakeholders about the impact of unplanned work on commitments.
- ✗
Increase the team's capacity for the next Iteration to compensate for the lost velocity.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing capacity without addressing the root cause of unplanned work will likely lead to overcommitment and further missed goals. The Product Owner should first understand and mitigate the sources of unplanned work. Simply adding capacity does not solve the underlying issue and may exacerbate the problem.
- ✗
Ask the Release Train Engineer to enforce a code freeze to prevent unplanned work from entering the Iteration.
Why it's wrong here
A code freeze does not address the sources of unplanned work and may hinder necessary changes. Unplanned work often stems from production support, urgent defects, or stakeholder requests that cannot be frozen. The Product Owner should collaborate with stakeholders to manage and prioritize such work, not impose a freeze.
- ✗
Reduce the team's Iteration Goals to only include high-priority items and ignore unplanned work.
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring unplanned work is not sustainable; it can lead to technical debt, production issues, and stakeholder dissatisfaction. The Product Owner should acknowledge unplanned work and work with the team to accommodate it while protecting planned work. Reducing goals without addressing the cause is a temporary fix that may harm long-term delivery.
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.