Answering: “Several Sprints into a project, the Product Owner tells the Scrum Master that a key stakeholder just started using the product. The stakeholder is unhappy with the slow performance, a complaint that the Product Owner agrees on. How will you move this forward?”

The Product Owner should take the performance concern straight to the Developers, work with them on improving it, and use what they learn to strengthen the Definition of Done. Waiting for the Retrospective or pushing it onto testers delays a known problem.

Exam Question

Several Sprints into a project, the Product Owner tells the Scrum Master that a key stakeholder just started using the product. The stakeholder is unhappy with the slow performance, a complaint that the Product Owner agrees on. How will you move this forward? (choose the best answer)

• A. Wait to bring this up in the next Sprint Retrospective as this is the appropriate time for the Scrum Team to re-consider the Definition of Done.
• B. Bring the concern to the testers in the Scrum Team and ask them to improve how the system is tested.
• C. Explain to the Product Owner that it’s up to the Developers to decide on acceptable performance standards as they own the Definition of Done.
• D. Encourage the Product Owner to bring the performance concerns to the Developers and work with them on how to improve performance, and ultimately have stronger Definition of Done.

Correct Answer

D. Encourage the Product Owner to bring the performance concerns to the Developers and work with them, and ultimately have a stronger Definition of Done.

Why This Is the Correct Answer

A stakeholder has inspected the product and found a real quality gap, and the Product Owner agrees. Scrum is built on inspection and adaptation, so the next step is to make the issue transparent to the people who can act on it. The Product Owner and Developers can add performance work to the Product Backlog now, and the Scrum Team can tighten the Definition of Done so future Increments meet the performance level stakeholders need. As Scrum Master, your job is to coach them to collaborate directly, not to carry the message yourself.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

A. Wait for the next Sprint Retrospective. The Retrospective is one place to change the Definition of Done, but nothing stops the team from acting on a known problem today. Waiting adds delay to value the stakeholder is already missing.

B. Ask the testers to improve how the system is tested. Scrum has no separate testers role; quality belongs to all the Developers. Better testing would also only detect slowness, not fix it.

C. Tell the Product Owner the Developers alone decide performance standards. The Scrum Team creates the Definition of Done, and the Product Owner’s view of what stakeholders need is essential input. Shutting the Product Owner out of quality decisions is the opposite of collaboration.

Exam Tip

When an answer has the Scrum Master or the Product Owner talk directly with the Developers to solve a problem now, it usually beats answers that wait for an event or hand the problem to a sub-group.

Key Takeaways

• Quality problems found by stakeholders are fed back immediately.
• The Definition of Done can and should get stronger over time.
• The Scrum Master coaches people to collaborate rather than relaying messages.