PMP · Question #1038
A project manager is working on a project to scale an operation globally. This endeavor required multiple interviews with various stakeholders. During the user story creation phase, the product…
The correct answer is B. Use a voting system for stakeholders. When stakeholders have conflicting opinions on requirements during user story creation, the project manager should facilitate decision-making using a voting system to achieve consensus or prioritization.
Question
A project manager is working on a project to scale an operation globally. This endeavor required multiple interviews with various stakeholders. During the user story creation phase, the product owner met with multiple stakeholders who had different opinions about the requirements. How should the project manager address this situation?
Options
- AAsk the product owner to create the backlog.
- BUse a voting system for stakeholders.
- CPerform a stakeholder identification analysis.
- DLimit the participation from stakeholders.
How the community answered
(39 responses)- A8% (3)
- B85% (33)
- C5% (2)
- D3% (1)
Why each option
When stakeholders have conflicting opinions on requirements during user story creation, the project manager should facilitate decision-making using a voting system to achieve consensus or prioritization.
The product owner is typically responsible for managing and prioritizing the product backlog, but asking them to simply 'create' it doesn't resolve the underlying conflict in stakeholder opinions.
When multiple stakeholders have differing opinions on requirements, a voting system (like Dot Voting or simple majority vote) can be an effective technique to quickly achieve consensus or prioritize among conflicting user stories. This method ensures that all voices are heard and contributes to a collective decision, helping to resolve disagreements and move forward with backlog refinement.
A stakeholder identification analysis should have been performed earlier in the project; performing it again now doesn't directly address conflicting requirements but rather identifies *who* the stakeholders are.
Limiting stakeholder participation would be detrimental, as it risks alienating important contributors and potentially overlooking critical requirements, leading to a less successful product.
Concept tested: Stakeholder consensus building; Requirement prioritization
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok/collect-requirements-process
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Olusegun A.Dec 2, 2025B is correct. When stakeholders disagree on requirements in an adaptive environment, you use a voting system like dot voting or multi-voting to drive consensus and prioritize the backlog efficiently. C might sound tempting but identification analysis happens earlier, and D goes against agile principles of stakeholder collaboration.
Carlos M.Nov 16, 2025B is correct. When stakeholders disagree on requirements, voting is the fastest way to reach consensus and move forward with user story creation.
Wei W.Nov 24, 2025B is correct here because when stakeholders disagree on requirements, a voting system like dot voting or fist of five gives the product owner a transparent way to surface priorities and let the group converge. It keeps everyone engaged rather than shutting voices out, which would erode trust. The empirical idea is to make the differing opinions visible and inspect them as a team rather than have the PO guess or quietly pick a side. Curious whether the exam expects you to know specific facilitation techniques by name, or if the voting system phrasing is just the generic catch-all for group decision-making?
Olusegun A.Nov 26, 2025Agree on B, but to answer your question, the exam does not care whether you know dot voting by name, it cares that you recognize facilitation techniques as the tool for driving group consensus toward prioritization.
Grace U.Dec 7, 2025B is the right call here, though the wording is a bit vague about what type of voting system. C is tempting because stakeholder identification sounds proactive, but the issue is not that stakeholders are unknown, it is that they disagree, so you need a decision technique to move forward.