CSM Service to the Scrum Team Practice Question
A Scrum Team's Product Owner has been unable to attend the last three Sprint Reviews because of conflicting commitments. The Developers have been demoing completed Increments directly to key stakeholders during those sessions, and the stakeholders have begun sending change requests straight to individual Developers. What is the most appropriate action for the Scrum Master to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming the Scrum Master should shield the Developers by taking over stakeholder communication or building a side process, rather than coaching the Product Owner to reclaim the accountability that already belongs to them.
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
✓
Coach the Product Owner on the purpose of the Sprint Review and help them re-establish their ownership of stakeholder engagement and Product Backlog ordering.
The Sprint Review is the Scrum Team's opportunity to inspect the Increment with stakeholders and adapt the Product Backlog, and the Product Owner is accountable for maximizing value and ordering that backlog. When stakeholders bypass the Product Owner, the Scrum Master serves the team best by coaching the Product Owner back into that accountability, which restores a single channel for feedback and protects the Developers from unmanaged scope changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Coach the Product Owner on the purpose of the Sprint Review and help them re-establish their ownership of stakeholder engagement and Product Backlog ordering.
Why this is correct
The Sprint Review exists so the Scrum Team and stakeholders can inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog, and the Product Owner is accountable for that conversation and for ordering the backlog. Coaching the Product Owner to reclaim this responsibility restores the intended feedback loop, keeps stakeholder input flowing through one accountable voice, and prevents Developers from absorbing conflicting requests outside the Sprint.
- ✗
Accept the new arrangement and start logging stakeholder change requests in a separate document for the Developers to triage at the next Sprint Retrospective.
Why it's wrong here
Codifying a workaround that routes stakeholder requests around the Product Owner entrenches the dysfunction instead of resolving it. The Retrospective is for inspecting how the team worked, not for triaging incoming feature requests, and a parallel request log creates a second, competing backlog that undermines the Product Owner's accountability for ordering the single Product Backlog.
- ✗
Instruct the Developers to stop demonstrating the Increment until the Product Owner can attend every Sprint Review in person.
Why it's wrong here
Suspending the Sprint Review denies stakeholders the transparency and feedback the event is designed to produce, and it punishes the Developers for a Product Owner availability problem. It also imposes a rigid attendance rule that Scrum does not require; the Scrum Master should instead remove the impediment and restore the Product Owner's engagement rather than cancel the inspection opportunity.
- ✗
Escalate the Product Owner's absence to their line manager and request that a replacement Product Owner be assigned to the Scrum Team.
Why it's wrong here
Escalating straight to reassignment skips the coaching and impediment-removal work the Scrum Master is accountable for, and it treats a scheduling conflict as a competence failure. Replacing the Product Owner is an organizational decision with wide consequences; the Scrum Master should first help the existing Product Owner understand and fulfil the accountabilities of the role.
About these practice questions
This CSM question is part of Courseiva's 312-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 Scrum Alliance exam blueprint
This CSM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scrum Alliance 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 CSM exam.