After a tense Sprint on the 311 request portal, stakeholders tell the Product Owner to skip Sprint Retrospective and “let the team vent without product talk.” What should the Product Owner do?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Retrospective is the whole Scrum Team’s pit stop, and the Product Owner is on that team. Skipping it because 311 got tense just postpones the same mess. Show up, talk about how product collaboration actually worked, and leave with a real improvement.
Full Explanation
The Sprint Retrospective is for the Scrum Team to inspect how the Sprint went and adapt its practices; the Product Owner is a Scrum Team member and participates. Stakeholders do not get to excuse the Product Owner from that inspection, nor is the event a performance-appraisal forum. Product-collaboration issues—ordering clarity, stakeholder noise on the 311 portal, Done pressure—are legitimate Retrospective topics. The Product Owner should attend and help the team pick improvements that increase effectiveness.