A customer asks the project manager about opportunities to create business value. What should the project manager do first in order to provide the customer with an appropriate response?

Meeting with the sponsor to review the business case is a valid activity but typically covers the initial justification; the product owner and backlog provide more granular, up-to-date insight into *current* value creation.

Examining business value throughout the project is an ongoing process, but it is not the *first* direct action to address a specific customer inquiry about immediate value opportunities.

The product owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and managing the product backlog, which is a prioritized list of features and functionalities. Consulting the product owner and reviewing the backlog provides the most current and relevant information about planned value delivery and opportunities.

Asking the team to organize a spike to identify more value is a technique for exploring unknowns, but it is not the initial step when the product owner and backlog already hold considerable information about planned value.