The Product Owner is going on a three-week vacation. The team should be closing the current Sprint and starting a new Sprint at the end of the first week of the Product Owner's vacation. What is the…

Question

Options

• AEach Scrum team should ideally have two Product Owners to provide cover.
• BThe Product Owner should be requested to delay his vacation by a week.
• CThe Scrum Master should take over and cover for the Product Owner.

• A
  8% (3)
• B
  14% (5)
• C
  78% (29)

Explanation

When the Product Owner is temporarily unavailable, the Scrum Master steps in to ensure continuity of Scrum ceremonies - their core responsibility is to uphold and facilitate the Scrum process, making them the natural fallback during short-term absences. The Scrum Master can run Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and Sprint Planning, keeping the team unblocked without disrupting the cadence.

Option A is wrong because the Scrum Guide explicitly defines exactly one Product Owner per product - two POs creates ambiguity over backlog ownership and prioritization authority, which undermines accountability.

Option B is wrong because requiring the PO to delay personal leave contradicts Scrum's principle of sustainable pace and team resilience; the framework should not be so fragile that it breaks down when one person is unavailable for a single Sprint cycle.

Memory tip: Think of the Scrum Master as the process guardian - their job is to protect and sustain Scrum itself, so when ceremonies are at risk, the SM is always the right answer for keeping rituals alive.

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