CSPO Stakeholder and User Engagement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Product Owner discovers that two key stakeholders have conflicting priorities for the next Sprint. What is the BEST course of action?
- Escalate the conflict to the Scrum Master to resolve
- Facilitate a conversation between stakeholders to reach alignment before Sprint Planning (Correct answer)
- Split the Sprint into two tracks to satisfy both stakeholders
- Let the Development Team decide which priority to follow
Correct answer: Facilitate a conversation between stakeholders to reach alignment before Sprint Planning
The Product Owner is responsible for managing stakeholder relationships and should facilitate alignment before Sprint Planning to ensure a coherent Product Backlog.
Question 2: Which technique helps a Product Owner quickly gather feedback from a large number of users without conducting individual interviews?
- Pair programming sessions
- Surveys and questionnaires (Correct answer)
- Sprint Retrospectives
- Daily Standups
Correct answer: Surveys and questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires allow Product Owners to collect structured feedback from many users efficiently and at scale.
Question 3: A stakeholder continuously requests features that do not align with the product vision. How should the Product Owner respond?
- Add the features to the backlog to keep the stakeholder happy
- Explain how the product vision guides prioritization and explore the underlying need behind the request (Correct answer)
- Reject all requests from that stakeholder going forward
- Allow the Scrum Master to handle all future communications with the stakeholder
Correct answer: Explain how the product vision guides prioritization and explore the underlying need behind the request
The Product Owner should help stakeholders understand the product vision while also discovering the underlying business need that might be addressed differently.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a Sprint Review from a stakeholder engagement perspective?
- To hold the Development Team accountable for completed work
- To inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog based on stakeholder feedback (Correct answer)
- To plan the next Sprint's work with stakeholders
- To review the team's performance metrics with management
Correct answer: To inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog based on stakeholder feedback
The Sprint Review is an opportunity to gather stakeholder feedback on the Increment and use that input to refine and reprioritize the Product Backlog.
Question 5: A Product Owner wants to ensure users are represented in backlog refinement. Which approach is MOST effective?
- Invite actual users to participate in refinement sessions periodically (Correct answer)
- Have the Scrum Master represent user interests during refinement
- Read user reviews on app stores as the sole source of user feedback
- Delegate user research entirely to a UX designer
Correct answer: Invite actual users to participate in refinement sessions periodically
Involving real users directly in refinement sessions provides authentic insights and validates assumptions about user needs.
Question 6: When should a Product Owner share the Product Roadmap with stakeholders?
- Only after the product has been fully built
- Regularly, as a living document that evolves based on learning and feedback (Correct answer)
- Once per year during annual planning sessions only
- Only when stakeholders specifically request it
Correct answer: Regularly, as a living document that evolves based on learning and feedback
The Product Roadmap should be shared regularly as a living artifact that reflects current understanding and invites stakeholder input.
Question 7: A user story has been in the Product Backlog for six months without being prioritized. What should the Product Owner do?
- Keep it in the backlog indefinitely as it may become relevant later
- Reassess the story with stakeholders to determine if it still has value or should be removed (Correct answer)
- Automatically move it to the top of the backlog since it has waited long enough
- Assign it to the next Sprint to avoid it being forgotten
Correct answer: Reassess the story with stakeholders to determine if it still has value or should be removed
Product Owners should regularly groom the backlog, revisiting old items with stakeholders to determine their current value and relevance.
CSPO Stakeholder and User Engagement 2
A Product Owner discovers that two key stakeholders have conflicting priorities for the next Sprint.
What is the BEST course of action?