POPM Iteration Execution Practice Question
A Scrum Master asks the Product Owner to help the team improve its Iteration Execution. The team's board shows several stories that have been in progress for multiple days, and the team is unsure whether the work is still needed. What should the Product Owner do first to improve flow?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that stalled work is a capacity problem, when it is usually a backlog clarity and priority problem owned by the Product Owner.
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
✓
Reprioritize the Team Backlog with the team and remove or split stories that are no longer needed.
The Product Owner is accountable for Team Backlog content and priority, so addressing aging, uncertain work requires reordering and removing low-value items with the team. Capacity changes, task assignment, or escalation do not fix the root cause of unclear priorities. Keeping the backlog current lets the team focus on the highest-value work and improves flow during Iteration Execution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Reprioritize the Team Backlog with the team and remove or split stories that are no longer needed.
Why this is correct
The Product Owner owns Team Backlog content and prioritization, so working with the team to reorder and remove stale work directly addresses work-in-progress flow. This keeps the team focused on the highest-value items and makes the board reflect current priorities. It is the most appropriate first action because the symptom is unclear, aging work, not a tooling or capacity problem.
- ✗
Create a detailed task breakdown for every story on the board and assign tasks to individual team members.
Why it's wrong here
Detailed task breakdowns and assigning tasks are team self-management activities, not Product Owner responsibilities. This action does not address the root issue that some stories may no longer be needed. It also increases work in progress by adding granularity without removing low-value items. The Product Owner should focus on backlog content and priority.
- ✗
Escalate to the Business Owners and ask them to decide which stories should remain in the iteration.
Why it's wrong here
Business Owners provide funding and governance, but they do not manage day-to-day Team Backlog content. Escalating this decision would bypass the Product Owner's accountability and slow the team down. The Product Owner should collaborate with the team to remove or reprioritize work, not shift the decision upward. This keeps ownership where it belongs.
- ✗
Ask the Release Train Engineer to add more capacity to the team for the next iteration.
Why it's wrong here
Adding capacity does not resolve aging, unclear work already in progress; it can increase work in progress and worsen flow. The scenario describes uncertainty about whether work is still needed, not a capacity shortage. The Release Train Engineer facilitates the train, but changing team capacity is not the Product Owner's first response to unclear backlog items.
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.