PMP · Question #253
During sprint planning, the product owner wants to prioritize items with high business value. However, the project team is concerned about technical debt and infrastructure dependencies to deliver the
The correct answer is A. Support a voting exercise so all team members can express their opinion and the reason behind. The project manager should facilitate a collaborative decision-making process, such as a voting exercise, to ensure all team members can express their perspectives and reach a balanced sprint plan.
Question
During sprint planning, the product owner wants to prioritize items with high business value. However, the project team is concerned about technical debt and infrastructure dependencies to deliver the expected value. How should the project manager handle this issue?
Options
- ASupport a voting exercise so all team members can express their opinion and the reason behind
- BSupport the project sponsor so the decision is made top-down and the team follows the provided
- CSupport the product owner so only items with high business value are included in the next sprint.
- DSupport the project team so technical debt and infrastructure dependencies are included in the
How the community answered
(42 responses)- A74% (31)
- B7% (3)
- C17% (7)
- D2% (1)
Why each option
The project manager should facilitate a collaborative decision-making process, such as a voting exercise, to ensure all team members can express their perspectives and reach a balanced sprint plan.
In an Agile environment, the project manager (often a Scrum Master) acts as a facilitator. A voting exercise allows all team members and the product owner to contribute their expertise and concerns (business value vs. technical debt) to arrive at a consensus-based decision for sprint prioritization, promoting shared ownership and a balanced approach.
Supporting a top-down decision from the project sponsor undermines the self-organizing principle of Agile teams and disregards valuable technical input from the development team.
Exclusively supporting the product owner ignores critical technical concerns raised by the development team, potentially leading to increased technical debt and an unstable product.
Exclusively supporting the project team overlooks the primary goal of Agile, which is to deliver business value, and might lead to an imbalance in sprint content.
Concept tested: Agile facilitation & conflict resolution
Source: https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide
Topics
Community Discussion
5
Hiroshi T.Jun 29, 2026A. The PMBOK Guide seventh edition emphasizes servant leadership and team empowerment, so facilitating a collaborative discussion where the team and product owner negotiate priorities together is the correct approach. Voting with rationale lets technical constraints and business value both surface, which is exactly how sprint planning should resolve this tension.
Orla P.Jul 1, 2026Agreed on A, and just to add: if the exam stem mentions a deadline or fixed sprint goal, watch for a distractor answer that has the PM unilaterally reprioritizing, because that flips you back to waterfall and costs you the point.
Prof. SaraJul 3, 2026A is the right call here because Agile emphasizes collaboration and self-organizing teams over top-down mandates. Option C is tempting because the product owner does own priority, but value delivery stalls if the team cannot actually deploy the work due to underlying technical debt. Option B directly contradicts servant leadership and should be eliminated immediately. I wish the option text included the actual outcome of the voting exercise, but A still aligns best with the PMP mindset of facilitating consensus between the product owner and the development team.
Orla P.Jun 24, 2026B. Sponsor escalation cuts the deadlock, PO versus team is a standoff.
Prof. SaraJun 25, 2026Actually A is correct here, Orla. In a PO versus team standoff the Scrum Master owns removing impediments and facilitating the conversation, so escalating to the sponsor skips the proper servant-leader step. Remember the mnemonic: SMRI - Scrum Master Removes Impediments, which maps to the Agile Principles domain on the blueprint.