A public-works director walks to the Developers of the pothole-reporting product and assigns them a “quick dashboard” outside the Product Backlog. What should the Product Owner do?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
If every director can walk onto the shop floor and hand out jobs, you do not have a Product Backlog — you have a hallway. One Product Owner orders the work; Developers do not take a second boss. Get leadership to back that fence or the Sprint Goal is wallpaper.
Full Explanation
Scrum accountabilities require that the Product Owner manage the Product Backlog and that Developers work from the Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog they plan, not from ad-hoc assignments. Stakeholder bypass creates hidden WIP, destroys forecastability, and splits value decisions. The Product Owner should make the boundary transparent and seek leadership support so the structure actually enables that accountability. Rank on an org chart does not create a second Product Owner.