The team can keep sprinting and put the customer feedback into the Product Backlog, or keep sprinting with shorter Sprints for faster feedback loops. Stopping Sprints or letting feedback rewrite the Sprint Goal mid-Sprint breaks Scrum.
Exam Question
During a Sprint Review, the Product Owner determines that she is going to release the current Increment to production. The stakeholders ask to stop the Sprint to react more quickly to the user feedback that is expected after this release. The Product Owner prefers to continue the Sprint to make progress with the next release. You facilitate a discussion on how to proceed. What are two acceptable results of this discussion? (choose the best two answers)
- A. Continue sprinting and include the customer feedback in the Product Backlog.
- B. Stop sprinting and let the Developers work on new customer requests as they arise.
- C. Continue sprinting but shorten the Sprint length to allow for shorter feedback loops.
- D. Continue sprinting but allow customer feedback to change the Sprint Goal within the Sprint.
Correct Answer
A and C.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
Releasing an Increment does not require stopping the Sprint cycle. Option A is the standard path: new feedback goes into the Product Backlog, where the Product Owner orders it against other work for upcoming Sprints. Option C addresses the stakeholders’ concern directly. The Scrum Guide says “Shorter Sprints can be employed to generate more learning cycles and limit risk of cost and effort to smaller time frames.” With shorter Sprints, the team can respond to user feedback sooner while keeping focus and a stable Sprint Goal within each Sprint. Both options keep Scrum intact and serve the stakeholders’ need.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
B. Stop sprinting and work on requests as they arise. This abandons Scrum’s structure, Sprint Goals and transparency. Work becomes reactive with no shared focus.
D. Let customer feedback change the Sprint Goal mid-Sprint. The Scrum Guide says no changes are made during the Sprint that would endanger the Sprint Goal. Changing the goal itself removes the focus a Sprint provides.
Exam Tip
When stakeholders want faster response, look for answers that use the Product Backlog or shorter Sprints. Answers that drop Sprints or move the Sprint Goal mid-Sprint are wrong.
Key Takeaways
- Feedback flows into the Product Backlog.
- Shorter Sprints shorten the feedback loop.
- The Sprint Goal stays stable during a Sprint.
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More PSM II exam questions
- Towards the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, the Product Owner and the Developers have not been able to reach a clear, mutual understanding about the highest order Product Backlog items. Because of this, the Developers could not figure out how many Product Backlog items they could forecast for the upcoming Sprint. The Product Owner did make clear what business objective he is hoping to achieve with this Sprint. Which of the following two actions would you support?
- What is the way to determine if the Product Owner is interacting with the Developers enough throughout a Sprint?
- What are two ways in which technical debt relates to velocity?
- A Scrum Team has been working together for nine Sprints. A new Product Owner comes in, unsure about his responsibilities. As the Scrum Master you have observed how the functional and business insights of the Developers have grown over the past Sprints. The Product Owner however is relatively new to the company and to the product. What are two activities you would direct the new Product Owner towards focusing on?
- During the Sprint Retrospective, the newest member of the Scrum Team says that his perspective and ideas have been ignored by the rest of the Developers throughout the Sprint. What three Scrum Values are touched here?