PMP · Question #247
A project team is conducting sprint planning. At the end of the sprint, the product increment must be deployed on a customer's site. The product owner received an email from the account manager that t
The correct answer is B. Contact the customer's project manager.. When a potential impediment to product increment deployment arises from the customer's side, the project manager should directly contact the customer's project manager to coordinate a resolution.
Question
A project team is conducting sprint planning. At the end of the sprint, the product increment must be deployed on a customer's site. The product owner received an email from the account manager that the customer may not be ready to install the new version of the product. What should the project manager do?
Options
- AAsk the sales team to inform the customer.
- BContact the customer's project manager.
- CAsk the product owner to inform the customer.
- DContact the customer's technical lead.
How the community answered
(70 responses)- A9% (6)
- B74% (52)
- C13% (9)
- D4% (3)
Why each option
When a potential impediment to product increment deployment arises from the customer's side, the project manager should directly contact the customer's project manager to coordinate a resolution.
Asking the sales team or C (product owner) to inform the customer delegates a critical project coordination task and can lead to miscommunication or delayed resolution, as these roles might not have the full context or authority to resolve project-level impediments.
In a business-to-business context, direct communication between project managers is essential for coordinating cross-organizational activities and resolving potential issues that impact project delivery, especially when indirect information from an account manager suggests a problem. The customer's project manager is the primary point of contact responsible for their side of the project and is best positioned to address readiness and coordination.
Asking the sales team or C (product owner) to inform the customer delegates a critical project coordination task and can lead to miscommunication or delayed resolution, as these roles might not have the full context or authority to resolve project-level impediments.
While the technical lead might be involved in installation, the overall readiness and coordination issue is a project management concern, best addressed by the customer's project manager.
Concept tested: Stakeholder communication, external project coordination
Topics
Community Discussion
6
Wesley A.Jul 5, 2026B is correct and I missed this exact scenario my first time around. The key is recognizing that a deployment dependency on the customer side is a project-level integration risk, not a product ownership concern, so the PM owns escalating it through the proper project channel. Reaching out to the customer's project manager ensures the issue gets tracked and resolved by the person accountable for their side of the delivery. I picked C the first time because it sounded agile, but the product owner owns the backlog and stakeholder prioritization, not external deployment coordination.
Yusuf A.Jul 5, 2026I first leaned toward C since the product owner owns the backlog and stakeholder communication, but a senior PM pointed out that when there is a deployment risk on the customer's side, the PM needs to go through the customer's PM directly to coordinate readiness, not delegate it through the product owner.
Toby R.Jul 7, 2026Agreed, but the real giveaway in the stem is the word coordinate, which points to PM-to-PM communication every time, whereas anything about backlog grooming or prioritization would flip it back to the product owner.
Nina C.Jul 5, 2026Picked B. Does PMI always want the PM talking to their counterpart first?
Toby R.Jul 6, 2026Yeah B is the PMI default but watch for the twist where they throw in a regulatory or legal element, then it flips to C because compliance outranks the counterpart chat.
Toby R.Jun 26, 2026Picked C first too. Customer readiness is PM to PM, not PO scope.