Answering: “You have been a Product Owner at a new company for a few weeks. It has become clear to you that many people, both inside and outside the Scrum Team, expect close involvement in the decisions that you, as a Product Owner, are accountable for.”

Reasonable options are to make decision areas explicit with a delegation board, show with data how slow decisions are hurting value, and work with the Scrum Master to raise the company’s understanding of product ownership. Letting others keep making your decisions, or shutting everyone out, are both poor choices.

Exam Question

You have been a Product Owner at a new company for a few weeks. It has become clear to you that many people, both inside and outside the Scrum Team, expect close involvement in the decisions that you, as a Product Owner, are accountable for.
As a result, you find that it takes too long to make decisions. Which of the following are reasonable options you could take?
(choose the best three answers)
A. Create and share a delegation board that displays your decision-making areas and work with your Scrum Team to clarify decision-making accountability and responsibility.
B. Allow other members of the Scrum Team and stakeholders to continue making decisions they are not accountable for; documenting which decisions do not deliver the intended value.
C. Demonstrate, with the help of data, how long it is taking you to make decisions and the impact that the long decision-making cycle has on delivering value to the customer.
D. Work with your Scrum Master to better understand what next steps you can take to move the company’s understanding of product ownership up in the maturity curve towards Entrepreneur.
E. Start making all the decisions without consulting the others who have expressed interest.

Correct Answer

A, C and D.

Why This Is the Correct Answer

The Scrum Guide says “For Product Owners to succeed, the entire organization must respect their decisions.” When many people expect a say, the Product Owner needs to clarify authority, not grab or give it up. A delegation board makes visible which decisions the Product Owner makes alone, which they consult on and which they delegate. Data on decision lead time turns a frustration into evidence that management can act on. The Scrum Master serves the organization by helping it understand empirical product development, and Scrum.org describes Product Owner maturity as ranging from a scribe or proxy up to an entrepreneur. Working together to move toward that end is a long-term fix.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

B. Let others keep making decisions and document which ones fail. This lets the problem continue and wastes value on purpose. It treats a structural issue as a blame exercise.

E. Start making all decisions without consulting anyone. Product Owners should take input from the team and stakeholders. Ignoring them damages trust and leads to poorer decisions.

Exam Tip

On PSPO II scenarios about decision-making authority, choose answers that make authority transparent and use evidence. Extremes such as giving up authority or acting alone are distractors.

Key Takeaways

• Make decision-making areas transparent, for example with a delegation board.
• Use data to show the cost of slow decisions.
• The Scrum Master helps the organization mature its view of product ownership.