On the seventh day of the Iteration, the team realizes that they will not complete 5 of the 13 Stories. The Product Owner (PO) says she cannot negotiate the scope of the remaining Stories any…

Question

Options

• ADefer acceptance testing to the next Iteration
• BCommunicate the status of the Iteration to all stakeholders
• CHave an emergency Iteration Planning meeting
• DStop the current Iteration and plan a new Iteration with the new knowledge

• A
  10% (4)
• B
  83% (33)
• C
  3% (1)
• D
  5% (2)

Explanation

Communicating status to stakeholders (B) is correct because the PO's primary role when internal options are exhausted is transparency. Since scope negotiation is off the table and the iteration is already underway, the PO cannot unilaterally fix the delivery gap - but she can and must ensure stakeholders have accurate, timely information to make informed business decisions.

• A is wrong because deferring acceptance testing violates the Definition of Done and pushes incomplete work forward, creating hidden debt rather than surfacing the real problem.
• C is wrong because an emergency replanning meeting mid-iteration doesn't help when scope already cannot be negotiated - replanning requires flexibility that the PO just said doesn't exist.
• D is wrong because stopping an iteration is a drastic measure reserved for when the iteration goal has become fundamentally invalid (e.g., a major business pivot), not simply because the team is behind.

Memory tip: When the PO has no levers left to pull (can't negotiate, can't replan, won't stop), her job shifts from fixing to informing. Remember: "No scope to move → communicate and prove." Stakeholder communication is always available as a course of action, even when everything else is off the table.

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