PMI-ACP Practice Questions #69
During the transition to Agile, you notice that stakeholders are not actively engaging in sprint reviews, with minimal attendance. Upon discussing this with them, they mention not having time and view the reviews as primarily for the Product Owner and the team.
How should you address this situation?
A. Proceed without stakeholder involvement and rely on the team to make decisions about priorities and deliverables.
B. Limit stakeholder participation to milestone reviews instead of attending each sprint review.
C. Collaborate with stakeholders to define and communicate how their input during sprint reviews contributes to project success, ensuring the reviews are focused and relevant to their concerns.
D. Reduce the frequency of sprint reviews to accommodate stakeholder availability, consolidating them into monthly sessions.
Analysis
During the transition to Agile, stakeholders are not actively engaging in sprint reviews, with minimal attendance. They cite lack of time and view the reviews as primarily for the Product Owner and the team. However, stakeholder engagement in sprint reviews is essential for providing feedback, refining priorities, and ensuring alignment with business objectives. The correct approach should not accept their disengagement but rather help them understand the value of their participation while keeping the process efficient and relevant to their concerns.
Analysis of Options
A: Proceed without stakeholder involvement and rely on the team to make decisions about priorities and deliverables.
This is not a good approach because Agile emphasizes continuous feedback and stakeholder collaboration. While the team and Product Owner play a major role in prioritization, stakeholder input is necessary to ensure that the product delivers value. Ignoring their absence weakens the feedback loop, reducing the effectiveness of iterative development. Agile encourages engagement, not isolation, so this option is incorrect.
B: Limit stakeholder participation to milestone reviews instead of attending each sprint review.
This approach delays feedback and reduces Agile’s inspect-and-adapt cycle. In Agile, each sprint review is a milestone, and waiting for larger milestone reviews undermines the iterative approach. While some stakeholders may only participate at key points, the goal is to make sprint reviews valuable enough for them to attend regularly, rather than limiting their engagement further.
C: Collaborate with stakeholders to define and communicate how their input during sprint reviews contributes to project success, ensuring the reviews are focused and relevant to their concerns.
This is the best approach because it directly addresses the root cause—stakeholders not seeing value in attending reviews. By collaborating with them, you help align expectations, clarify how their insights shape project direction, and ensure that reviews stay relevant and time-efficient. Making reviews more focused and meaningful increases the likelihood of stakeholder participation.
D: Reduce the frequency of sprint reviews to accommodate stakeholder availability, consolidating them into monthly sessions.
This compromises the Agile feedback loop by reducing the frequency of stakeholder interaction. Agile encourages frequent and continuous feedback, and consolidating reviews into monthly sessions weakens iterative learning and adaptation. Instead of adjusting the process to fit stakeholders’ preferences, it is better to educate them on the importance of sprint reviews and improve their structure to make them more engaging.
Conclusion
The correct answer is Option C, as it focuses on improving stakeholder engagement by clarifying the value of their participation and ensuring sprint reviews are relevant and effective. Option A is incorrect because it ignores the importance of stakeholder feedback. Option B is incorrect because it delays valuable feedback rather than addressing the issue. Option D is incorrect because reducing sprint reviews weakens Agile’s feedback cycle instead of solving the root cause.
PMI – ACP Exam Content Outline Mapping
Domain | Task |
Leadership | Empower Teams |
Topics Covered:
- Empower Teams: Ensuring stakeholder engagement in the sprint review process by collaborating with them to highlight the value of their feedback and aligning reviews with their concerns, fostering continuous feedback and improvement.
- Fostering Continuous Improvement: Addressing the lack of stakeholder involvement by making sprint reviews more relevant, efficient, and focused on areas important to stakeholders, thereby improving the iterative feedback loop.
- Supporting Team Development: Encouraging active participation from stakeholders to ensure alignment with business goals and better decision-making, while also making the review process efficient and relevant to the team and stakeholders alike.
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