POPM PI Execution Practice Question
Exhibit
CONFIG: { 'in_progress_limit': 5, 'active_work': 8, 'bottleneck_source': 'QA_Automation', 'status': 'WIP_Violation' }Refer to the exhibit. The current board configuration shows a WIP violation in the QA column. What is the most appropriate action for the PO?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often suggest adding more resources to the QA column, failing to understand that WIP limits are meant to stop the start of new work to clear existing bottlenecks.
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
✓
Help the team focus on finishing existing work before starting new stories.
The PO should support the team in stopping new work to focus on clearing the bottleneck in QA. By honoring WIP limits, the team ensures flow and avoids multi-tasking, which is critical for PI execution. The PO plays a key role by helping the team reprioritize their focus to address the constraint, ensuring that the team finishes items before starting new ones to maintain consistent delivery velocity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ignore the WIP limit and ask the team to start the next set of features.
Why it's wrong here
Ignoring WIP limits causes context switching and increases the lead time for all features. This defeats the purpose of Agile flow and makes it harder to finish work. The PO must support, not undermine, the team's established flow controls to ensure efficient delivery of the PI commitments.
- ✓
Help the team focus on finishing existing work before starting new stories.
Why this is correct
Focusing on completing work in progress is essential to resolving bottlenecks and restoring flow. By encouraging the team to pause new starts, the PO helps them clear the backlog of items stuck in QA. This increases throughput and ensures that the team delivers finished value rather than partially completed work.
- ✗
Increase the WIP limit to allow the team to keep moving.
Why it's wrong here
Simply raising the WIP limit masks the problem instead of fixing the bottleneck. If QA is the constraint, increasing the limit just results in more work piling up in the bottleneck. The PO should help the team solve the constraint rather than changing the rules to hide the issue.
- ✗
Reassign developers to the QA team to bypass the bottleneck.
Why it's wrong here
While cross-training is beneficial, unilaterally reassigning developers can disrupt their ongoing work and decrease overall team productivity. The PO should discuss this strategy with the team to see if it is a viable approach. Simply ordering the shift ignores the complexity of the skills required for testing effectively.
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.