PMP · Question #1348
An agile team has completed 9 out of 10 stories for the sprint. During the retrospective, a few team members pointed out that they finished all of their stories. However, one team member failed to fin
The correct answer is A. Emphasize to the team that each member is responsible for their story, but the team is. The agile leader should reinforce the principle of collective team responsibility for sprint goals, even when individual members have varying completion rates, fostering a collaborative approach.
Question
An agile team has completed 9 out of 10 stories for the sprint. During the retrospective, a few team members pointed out that they finished all of their stories. However, one team member failed to finish a story. What should the agile leader do?
Options
- AEmphasize to the team that each member is responsible for their story, but the team is
- BSuggest that the team assign stories at the beginning of the sprint based on each person's
- CWork with the product owner to remove the story from the sprint because the points cannot be
- DAsk the team to address this at the next sprint planning instead of at the retrospective.
How the community answered
(20 responses)- A80% (16)
- B10% (2)
- C5% (1)
- D5% (1)
Why each option
The agile leader should reinforce the principle of collective team responsibility for sprint goals, even when individual members have varying completion rates, fostering a collaborative approach.
In agile, while individuals take ownership of specific tasks or stories, the team as a whole is responsible for achieving the sprint goal. The agile leader should reinforce that the success or failure of a sprint is a shared team outcome, encouraging team members to swarm on unfinished work and support each other, rather than individualizing blame or success.
Assigning stories based on individual capacity might reduce the chance of one person being overloaded, but it counteracts the agile principle of self-organizing teams pulling work collaboratively and doesn't address the current retrospective finding effectively.
Removing the story from the sprint post-retrospective doesn't address the team dynamic or learning opportunity; the goal is to reflect on why it wasn't finished and how to improve.
Addressing this specific issue at the retrospective is precisely the correct time, as it's meant for inspecting the past sprint and adapting future processes, rather than delaying it to sprint planning.
Concept tested: Agile team accountability and collective ownership
Source: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-scrum-team
Topics
Community Discussion
4
Orla P.Jun 16, 2026Confirmed A on exam last month. Agile is all about collective accountability, so the leader reinforces that the team owns the sprint commitment together even though individuals work on specific stories.
Mateus R.Jun 13, 2026Think of a fishing boat where one guy comes back with an empty net. The captain doesn't yell at that one guy, he turns to the whole crew and says we sink or swim together, which is exactly what answer A is getting at with collective accountability. Saw this on my exam last spring and almost picked C because yanking the story sounded clean, but remembered that agile runs on shared ownership not individual blame, so A is your pick.
Bao N.Jun 2, 2026A is correct. The retrospective is exactly where this conversation belongs, and the agile leader should reinforce collective accountability rather than pointing fingers at the one person. Option A captures the balance that each member owns their committed work but the team succeeds or fails together. B and D both dodge the issue, and C is just wrong because unfinished stories go back to the backlog, not deleted.
Luis F.Jun 27, 2026I first leaned toward C because I figured an unfinished story just gets bounced out, but agile is all about team accountability not individual blame, so A is the right call. The retrospective is exactly where you reinforce that the team owns the sprint goal together.