A project team is reviewing the sprint, and the scrum master is concerned about the team creating features that are not needed. Which is a key factor for delivering the highest value to the customer?

Scope refinement is a process activity, but it is product ownership that drives the prioritization decisions that prevent unnecessary feature development.

A team coach supports team dynamics and process improvement but does not directly control what features are built or prioritized.

The product owner is responsible for maintaining and prioritizing the product backlog, ensuring the team always works on the highest-value features and explicitly deciding what is in and out of scope for each sprint. Without strong product ownership, teams may build features that seem interesting but do not align with actual customer or business value, which is precisely the risk the scrum master is observing.

A stable environment supports team productivity but does not determine whether the right features are being built.