PMP · Question #109
Two team members were recently released from a project because the customer reduced the budget. However, the agile team is still receiving the same, if not more, work requirements as before. How shoul
The correct answer is D. Explain the new team velocity to the customer.. With reduced team capacity but unchanged work requirements, the agile project leader must transparently communicate the impact on the team's ability to deliver to the customer.
Question
Two team members were recently released from a project because the customer reduced the budget. However, the agile team is still receiving the same, if not more, work requirements as before. How should the agile project leader resolve this situation?
Options
- AUpdate the project budget with the released team members.
- BUpdate the restriction log with the new team capacity.
- CExplain the new project requirements to the team.
- DExplain the new team velocity to the customer.
How the community answered
(29 responses)- A10% (3)
- B7% (2)
- C3% (1)
- D79% (23)
Why each option
With reduced team capacity but unchanged work requirements, the agile project leader must transparently communicate the impact on the team's ability to deliver to the customer.
The team members were released *because* of budget reduction, so updating the budget *with* them contradicts the premise and is not a solution to the current problem of reduced capacity.
While capacity is a restriction, merely logging it doesn't resolve the discrepancy between work requirements and capacity; the impact needs to be communicated to the customer for decision-making.
The team already knows the requirements; the problem is their reduced capacity to meet them, so explaining requirements again does not help resolve the conflict.
The reduction in team members directly impacts the team's capacity and, consequently, its velocity (the amount of work it can complete in a sprint or iteration). The agile leader must communicate this change to the customer, explaining that the same volume of work cannot be delivered with reduced resources, necessitating a discussion about adjusting scope, schedule, or securing additional resources.
Concept tested: Agile capacity planning and stakeholder communication
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Grace U.Jan 23, 2026The correct answer is D. When budget cuts reduce team capacity but the customer keeps the same expectations, the agile leader needs to make the new velocity visible to the customer so they understand the impact on delivery. Agile teams commit to work based on actual capacity, so the customer must see that fewer people means less work completed per sprint. This transparency lets the customer make informed tradeoff decisions about scope instead of expecting the same output from a smaller team. It is completely normal to feel drawn to option B, but updating an internal log does not actually solve the mismatch between expectations and reality.
Carlos M.Jan 31, 2026D is the pick. B is tempting because you would absolutely track capacity internally, but the real problem here is the customer expecting the same output with fewer people, so you have to explain the reduced velocity to them.
Fatima Z.Jan 11, 2026Leaned toward B first but D wins because the customer needs to see the velocity reality.
Carlos M.Jan 13, 2026Yeah D is right but the real tell is they said customer, not internal team. Velocity metrics are for the team. Burnup or a forecast to release is what you show stakeholders.
Ingrid P.Jan 25, 2026Confirmed D on exam last week. The key here is that reduced capacity means lower velocity, and the customer needs to understand that constraint so they can reprioritize the backlog accordingly. I made a card for this one: reduced team plus same scope equals explain velocity impact to customer.
Viktor S.Jan 16, 2026B. Capacity just dropped, log it as a restriction before anything else.
Grace U.Jan 19, 2026It is D. Viktor, I get why capacity dropping feels like the priority, but the question is asking about the next step in the process, and D is the correct sequence here.