PMP · Question #1251
A key customer stakeholder asks the project team to include new tasks in the backlog and begin analyzing new requests. The customer expects results as soon as possible and pressures the team to…
The correct answer is B. Ask the customer to work with the product owner to prioritize all requests. The project manager should guide the customer to work directly with the product owner for prioritizing new requests, as this adheres to agile principles of backlog management and protects the development team from external pressure. This clarifies roles and responsibilities in…
Question
A key customer stakeholder asks the project team to include new tasks in the backlog and begin analyzing new requests. The customer expects results as soon as possible and pressures the team to attend noncritical meetings. The team is frustrated by this situation. How should the project manager approach this situation?
Options
- AWork with the team to receive customer directions and improve the process.
- BAsk the customer to work with the product owner to prioritize all requests.
- CCall for an internal team retrospective and create an improvement action plan.
- DUnderstand the customer's perspective and provide mentoring on agile mindsets.
How the community answered
(28 responses)- A7% (2)
- B79% (22)
- C4% (1)
- D11% (3)
Why each option
The project manager should guide the customer to work directly with the product owner for prioritizing new requests, as this adheres to agile principles of backlog management and protects the development team from external pressure. This clarifies roles and responsibilities in an agile context.
Working with the team to receive customer directions without a clear prioritization mechanism from the Product Owner would exacerbate the problem, allowing the customer to continue directly injecting work and pressure.
In an agile environment, the Product Owner is responsible for managing the product backlog, prioritizing items, and acting as the primary liaison between the stakeholders (like the customer) and the development team. Directing the customer to the Product Owner ensures that all new requests are properly vetted, prioritized against existing work, and integrated into the development flow without overwhelming or distracting the team. This also empowers the Product Owner in their role.
While a retrospective might be useful for internal process improvement, it doesn't address the external source of the problem, which is the customer's direct interaction with the team for new requests and prioritization.
Understanding the customer's perspective is good, but simply providing mentoring on agile mindsets to the customer without establishing clear communication channels and roles (Product Owner as the single point of contact for backlog changes) is unlikely to resolve the immediate issue of team frustration and disrupted workflow.
Concept tested: Agile roles and responsibilities, backlog management
Source: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum-and-why-it-is-important/product-owner
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Wei W.Jul 5, 2026B is correct. The product owner owns backlog priority and is the shield between stakeholders and the team, so routing the customer there protects the team's focus and keeps prioritization empirically driven rather than politically driven. D sounds collaborative but it leaves the team exposed to the pressure while you coach, which misses the point that self-organization requires someone actually owning the what and the order.
Olusegun A.Jul 5, 2026B. Saw this on my exam, customer bypassing PO is classic agile anti-pattern.
Carlos M.Jul 7, 2026Yeah B is right but watch out, some versions swap the wording to make C sound tempting if you confuse bypassing PO with bypassing sprint review.
Carlos M.Jul 5, 2026I first leaned toward D because mentoring the customer sounds reasonable, but the real issue is uncontrolled work flooding the team. B is correct because in agile the product owner is the single point of contact for prioritizing requests, and routing the customer through the PO protects the team and keeps the backlog organized.
Wei W.Jul 6, 2026Agree on B and the PO as the single wringable neck for priority, though the deeper move is educating stakeholders that saying yes to everything means saying no to something already in the sprint, which is why the PO exists to make that tradeoff visible rather than just act as a gatekeeper.