City finance asks for a year-long committed feature list to lock next year's budget for a 311 request product. How should the Product Owner respond?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Finance needs a budget, not a hostage list of 311 features. Fund the team toward citizen outcomes and leave the backlog free to reorder when 311 data talks. A year of locked tickets is a contract dressed up as a product strategy.
Full Explanation
Agile budgeting for a 311 request product funds capacity in service of outcomes rather than purchasing a frozen year-long feature contract. The Product Owner should keep Product Backlog order flexible so inspection of what callers actually need can still change priorities. Freezing a twelve-month ordered feature list and treating each item as a contractual Sprint Goal prevents adaptation and misuses Sprint Goals as a multi-month purchase order. Refusing to discuss budget at all because Product Owners supposedly do not talk to finance abdicates a real stakeholder conversation; finance can fund capacity without locking features. Converting the finance list into a Gantt and stopping forecast inspection at Sprint Reviews removes empiricism from both budgeting and delivery. Exam caveat: PSPO II separates funding conversations from feature contracts—capacity toward outcomes is the advanced ownership stance. Operational check: propose funding team capacity against Product Goals and Key Value Areas, show how Sprint Reviews will reorder the 311 backlog, and decline any budget lock that freezes twelve months of features as Sprint Goals. Finance can fund 311 capacity toward outcomes without buying a frozen feature catalog; flexibility in backlog order is what lets caller needs reshape the product. Decline any budget artifact that converts next year's features into contractual Sprint Goals.