CSM Scrum Team Roles and Accountabilities Practice Question
During a Sprint, a stakeholder approaches a developer directly and asks for a small urgent modification to a user story currently in progress. What is the most appropriate action for the developer to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume developers should be accommodating and helpful to stakeholders, forgetting that bypassing the Product Owner disrupts the established workflow and violates accountability boundaries within the Scrum framework.
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
✓
Direct the stakeholder to discuss the request with the Product Owner so it can be evaluated, prioritized, and added to the Product Backlog.
The developer should direct the stakeholder to the Product Owner, who is exclusively accountable for managing product backlog items and their ordering. Developers must protect the Sprint Backlog from mid-Sprint scope changes introduced outside the Scrum Team to maintain focus on the Sprint Goal. Engaging directly without the Product Owner risks undermining team predictability and introduces unmanaged scope creep into the active iteration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Implement the modification immediately if it takes less than an hour to avoid unnecessary bureaucratic delay for the stakeholder.
Why it's wrong here
Making unapproved modifications directly during the Sprint circumvents the Product Owner and compromises the integrity of the Sprint Backlog. Developers lack the authority to independently accept new functional scope changes mid-iteration without Product Owner alignment.
- ✗
Bring the request to the next Daily Scrum so the entire Scrum Team can vote on whether to swap out an existing backlog item.
Why it's wrong here
The Daily Scrum is exclusively for developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan for the next 24 hours, not a decision-making forum for negotiating stakeholder scope requests or voting on backlog items.
- ✓
Direct the stakeholder to discuss the request with the Product Owner so it can be evaluated, prioritized, and added to the Product Backlog.
Why this is correct
The Product Owner owns the Product Backlog and must evaluate all new scope requests. They decide whether the item merits inclusion in a future Sprint based on value, dependencies, and overall product strategy without disrupting current execution.
- ✗
Halt the current Sprint immediately, call an emergency Sprint Planning session, and rebuild the Sprint Backlog with the new requirement.
Why it's wrong here
A Sprint can only be cancelled by the Product Owner, and only when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. A minor stakeholder request never justifies cancelling an active Sprint or incurring the overhead of emergency replanning.
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 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.