Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)Scrum Theory & PrinciplesHard
A Product Owner is struggling to prioritize Product Backlog items because stakeholders have conflicting opinions on what constitutes the highest value. This leads to frequent reordering and indecision, impacting the Developers' ability to plan effectively. Which Lean principle, if applied, would best help resolve this situation?
- ADeliver Fast
- BBuild Quality In
- CDecide as Late as Possible
- DOptimize the Whole
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Optimize the Whole
Conflicting stakeholder opinions and indecision on prioritization indicate a lack of a unified vision or understanding of the overall system's goals. Optimizing the Whole encourages looking at the entire system and its value chain, rather than individual parts or stakeholder preferences, to make decisions that benefit the entire product. This helps align priorities.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Deliver Fast emphasizes speed, which is difficult without clear priorities.
- B. Build Quality In focuses on preventing defects, not resolving prioritization conflicts.
- C. Decide as Late as Possible is about delaying irreversible decisions, but here the need is to make *effective* prioritization decisions now.
Lean Principle: Optimize the Whole
Focus on optimizing the entire system, not just individual parts, to achieve the best overall results and value.
- Avoids local optimizations that harm the global system.
- Encourages a holistic view of value delivery.
- Helps resolve conflicts by aligning towards a common goal.
Memory trick: Value Flow Pull Amplify Decide Optimize Build