Relying solely on the developers' experience with similar systems to define functionality can be limiting and potentially result in misaligned expectations with actual user needs. Effective Agile teams should focus on understanding and addressing the needs of end users, leveraging continuous feedback from customers, and engaging stakeholders directly. This ensures the product is built to meet real user expectations and can evolve as necessary based on user input. Instead of relying on previous experience, the team should be focused on co-creating value with customers through collaboration, feedback, and agile practices like user stories and regular testing.

Gold-plating—adding extra features not requested or prioritized—is ananti-patternin agile. Agile emphasizesdelivering the highest-priority features first, and product changes should always go through theProduct Ownerfor prioritization and validation.

According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.1: Backlog and Value Delivery)andMike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 6: Value-Driven Delivery), when capacity is available, the team should pull more storiesfrom the prioritized backlog, ensuring that all work aligns with stakeholder-defined value.

Option Dis correct: confirm backlog priority and use time to delivercustomer-prioritized value.

Option Asupports scope creep.

Option Bis partially correct but doesn’t optimize the time to deliver value.

Option Cperpetuates gold-plating and undermines value alignment.

The correct answer is B – Have team members work in pairs to learn from each other and develop new skills. Pairing encourages collaboration, knowledge sharing, and skill development, which helps reduce dependency on specific individuals and enhances engagement through variety.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Pair programming and other collaborative work methods help reduce repetition, promote learning, and improve motivation. These techniques allow for shared ownership and skill diversity.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.3 – Continuous Learning and Team Development)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Cross-training and pairing reduce boredom, eliminate knowledge silos, and increase team flexibility. They are effective responses to reduced motivation from repetitive work.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 7 – Continuous Improvement)

Incorrect options:

A may temporarily help morale but doesn’t address the root cause.

C is more suitable for analyzing inefficiencies, not directly resolving monotony.

D adds cost and doesn’t solve the underlying engagement problem.

Answer: B

────────────────────────────────────

Thefirst step for a new Scrum Masteris to gaincontext and alignment. According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 2.3: Agile Mindset), agile leaders must understand theproduct vision and goalsto provide proper support to the team and align delivery efforts with organizational objectives.

Mike Griffiths in thePMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 2: Agile Principles and Mindset)emphasizes that new leaders should start byunderstanding stakeholder expectations, enterprise context, and business driversbefore making operational decisions like backlog setup or sprint planning.

Option Bis correct: understanding the project vision provides critical context.

Option Ais premature without first understanding the broader organizational objectives.

Option C(sprint 0) can be useful but should follow alignment on vision and context.

Option Dskips necessary discovery and planning.

In Agile, continuous integration and regression testing should be part of every iteration to ensure that the product is always in a potentially shippable state. These practices help catch issues early in the development process, preventing defects from accumulating and becoming harder to fix later. By integrating and testing frequently, the team ensures that new code works with existing code and that the product maintains its quality throughout the development lifecycle. This approach aligns with Agile principles of delivering working software regularly and maintaining high-quality standards throughout each iteration.

If a story isnot completed, it isnot counted toward the current sprint velocity. When carrying the story forward to the next sprint, teams shouldre-evaluate the story size, especially if part of the work is already done. According to thePMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 5.4: Velocity and Estimation)andMike Griffiths’ PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 6: Adaptive Planning), agile teams are encouraged tore-estimatesuch items based on remaining work.

Option Dis correct: incomplete stories should be re-estimated based on new size or effort.

Option Aviolates velocity principles—onlyfully completedstories count.

Option Bundermines the fixed-length timebox principle of sprints.

Option Cis not directly relevant unless the story’s complexity necessitates research, which is not stated here.

The correct answer is C – Encourage all feedback then work with the customer to prioritize work for future sprints. Agile welcomes continuous feedback and values customer collaboration. All feedback should be collected and considered, but the product backlog is reprioritized to align with capacity and business goals.

From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:

“Agile promotes constant feedback to refine product direction. Feedback is incorporated into the backlog, prioritized based on value, and delivered incrementally according to capacity.”

(PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.4 – Value-Driven Delivery and Continuous Customer Collaboration)

Mike Griffiths adds:

“Stakeholder feedback is essential in agile. Not all feedback can be implemented immediately, but it should be welcomed, evaluated, and prioritized transparently in collaboration with the product owner and stakeholders.”

(Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 3 – Value-Driven Delivery)

Incorrect options:

A implies a heavy process not aligned with agile.

B prematurely limits feedback before collaborative prioritization.

D ignores the product owner’s prioritization role.

Answer: C

────────────────────────────────────