POPM PI Execution Practice Question
During the second iteration of a Program Increment, a Product Owner notices that two teams are building conflicting user interface components for the same feature, leading to rework. The teams are not aware of each other's designs. What is the most effective action for the Product Owner to take to resolve this during PI Execution?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming the Release Train Engineer must resolve all cross-team conflicts, when Product Owners are accountable for aligning on feature intent and design.
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
✓
Collaborate with the other Product Owner to align on a shared design and update the team backlogs accordingly.
Product Owners are responsible for maximizing value and ensuring alignment across teams. When conflicting work is discovered, the most effective action is for the Product Owners to collaborate, align on a shared design, and update the backlogs. This directly addresses the misalignment, prevents further rework, and keeps the teams focused on delivering a cohesive solution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Collaborate with the other Product Owner to align on a shared design and update the team backlogs accordingly.
Why this is correct
Product Owners are accountable for defining and prioritizing work to maximize value. When teams build conflicting components, the Product Owners must collaborate to align on a shared solution, update backlogs, and ensure both teams understand the integrated design. This directly resolves the conflict and prevents further rework.
- ✗
Add a new user story to one team's backlog to rework the conflicting component later.
Why it's wrong here
Adding rework later increases waste and does not prevent the conflict from continuing. The Product Owner should address the root cause now by aligning the teams. Deferring the issue may lead to compounding integration problems and delays in delivering value during the Program Increment.
- ✗
Direct one team to stop work and wait until the other team completes its component.
Why it's wrong here
Stopping work on one team creates delays and does not resolve the underlying misalignment. The Product Owner should facilitate collaboration to integrate efforts, not halt progress. This approach also risks demoralizing the team and fails to address the need for a cohesive design across teams.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the Release Train Engineer to schedule a joint design session.
Why it's wrong here
While the Release Train Engineer can facilitate, the Product Owner is responsible for ensuring alignment on feature intent and acceptance criteria. Escalating without first attempting to align the teams' understanding of the feature may delay resolution and does not directly address the Product Owner's accountability for value delivery.
Visual reference
About these practice questions
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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.