POPM Iteration Execution Practice Question
When a team is struggling to finish their stories, what should the Product Owner first consider?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume the PO should immediately escalate the issue to the Scrum Master or management, rather than taking direct ownership of the backlog's quality and the work's size/complexity.
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
✓
Review the size and complexity of stories with the team.
The PO should look at the backlog and the team's capacity to see if the work is appropriately sized and prioritized. Often, stories are too large or poorly defined, causing friction. By collaborating with the team to decompose work and clarify requirements, the PO can reduce the complexity of the tasks, making them easier to complete and ensuring the team can deliver consistent value.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Ask the Scrum Master to force the team to work faster.
Why it's wrong here
Forcing speed ignores the root causes of the struggle and leads to low-quality output. It also damages the relationship between the PO, the team, and the Scrum Master. The focus must be on process improvements, better story definition, and reducing technical obstacles, not on superficial speed mandates.
- ✓
Review the size and complexity of stories with the team.
Why this is correct
Large or poorly defined stories are a major cause of delays. By analyzing the work with the team, the PO can identify if stories are too big to be completed in one iteration. Breaking them down makes them easier to manage, test, and finish, which improves the team's flow.
- ✗
Remove the most difficult stories from the iteration.
Why it's wrong here
Removing difficult work without understanding why it is difficult is a missed opportunity for learning and improvement. The PO should instead support the team in overcoming the difficulty, perhaps by breaking the task down or getting external help, rather than just ignoring the technical challenges that need solving.
- ✗
Add more resources to the team to get the work done.
Why it's wrong here
Brooks's Law states that adding people to a late project makes it later. New team members require onboarding and ramp-up time, which actually reduces the team's capacity in the short term. The focus should be on making the existing team more effective through better processes and clearer requirements.
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.