The Scrum Master should coach the Product Owner and raise the issue at the Sprint Retrospective. Replacing the Product Owner, stopping the Sprint or going to a manager skips over the team’s own ability to fix the problem.
Exam Question
The Product Owner is not collaborating with the Developers during the Sprint. What are two valuable actions for a Scrum Master to take? (choose the best two answers)
- A. Coach the Product Owner in the values of Scrum and incremental delivery.
- B. Bring up the problem in the Sprint Retrospective.
- C. Nominate a proxy Product Owner.
- D. Stop the Sprint, send the Product Owner to a course and restart.
- E. Inform the Product Owner’s functional manager.
Correct Answer
A and B.
Why This Is the Correct Answer
One of the Scrum Master’s services to the Product Owner is helping them understand and practice empirical product planning. A Product Owner who stays away during the Sprint may not see why ongoing collaboration matters for clarifying items, renegotiating scope and keeping the Sprint Goal on track. Coaching on Scrum values and incremental delivery addresses the cause directly. The Sprint Retrospective is where the Scrum Team inspects “individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done.” A collaboration problem fits there, and raising it lets the whole team find an improvement together.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
C. Nominate a proxy Product Owner. The Product Owner is one person, and the Scrum Master has no authority to appoint a replacement. A proxy also hides the real problem.
D. Stop the Sprint, send the Product Owner to a course and restart. Only the Product Owner can cancel a Sprint, and only when the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This is a heavy reaction to a coaching issue.
E. Inform the Product Owner’s functional manager. Escalating first skips coaching and team-level improvement. It damages trust and rarely solves the behavior.
Exam Tip
For people problems, the best Scrum Master answers start with coaching and transparency inside the team. Escalation and replacement are almost never the first move.
Key Takeaways
- Coach the Product Owner before considering anything else.
- The Sprint Retrospective is the place to raise collaboration problems.
- A Scrum Master cannot appoint or replace a Product Owner.
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