POPM PI Execution Practice Question
If a team's velocity is consistently lower than planned, what should the Product Owner do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers often pick punitive management actions like reducing story points or pushing the team to work faster, instead of focusing on collaborative root cause analysis.
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 to identify root causes and potential improvements.
The PO should first facilitate a discussion with the team to understand the root cause of the velocity issues. By investigating factors like technical debt, dependencies, or unclear requirements, the PO can work collaboratively to implement solutions. This approach avoids blaming the team and instead focuses on process improvement, which is the most effective way to restore productivity and meet future commitments sustainably.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the scope of the remaining PI features.
Why it's wrong here
Scope reduction is a potential outcome, but it should not be the first step. The PO must first understand why the velocity is low. If the cause is a fixable impediment, reducing scope might be premature. The PO should analyze the data first before making decisions that impact the committed goals.
- ✓
Work with the team to identify root causes and potential improvements.
Why this is correct
Understanding the root cause is the necessary first step to solving performance issues. Whether the issue is technical, process-related, or environmental, the PO and the team need a clear picture to address it effectively. This collaborative approach fosters transparency and empowers the team to own their process and performance improvements.
- ✗
Report the team to leadership for not meeting their commitments.
Why it's wrong here
Reporting the team to leadership is counterproductive and damages trust. It creates a culture of fear rather than one of learning and improvement. The PO's job is to support the team in their delivery, which involves removing obstacles and helping them succeed, not acting as a disciplinary authority figure.
- ✗
Increase the team's capacity by hiring more developers.
Why it's wrong here
Adding more people to a project that is already struggling often adds complexity and communication overhead, leading to further delays. This is a common fallacy in management. The team should focus on optimizing their existing capacity and removing bottlenecks before considering adding new team members to the project.
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.