The correct answer is D - Ensured that the team was comprised of cross-functional, generalized specialists.
Agile teams are expected to be cross-functional and self-sufficient. A lack of a required skill that halts progress typically points to an improperly constructed team. Building teams with broad (T-shaped) skills ensures they can collectively deliver value without external dependencies.
From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:
"Agile teams are ideally composed of cross-functional members who have both depth in a specialty and breadth across disciplines. This enables the team to self-organize and deliver complete increments of value." (PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 4.1 - Building Agile Teams) Mike Griffiths elaborates:
"Agile favors generalized specialists or T-shaped professionals who can collaborate across functions. This improves agility, resilience, and continuity within iterations." (Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book, Chapter 4 - Team Performance) Why the other options are insufficient:
* A is a reactive strategy; proactive skill assessment is preferred.
* B may delay critical features unnecessarily.
* C creates external dependencies, which agile seeks to avoid.
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The correct answer is B - Break the story up and focus on the most valuable parts. Agile promotes progressive elaboration, and large or complex stories (epics) should be broken down into smaller, testable user stories. This practice enables clarity, faster feedback, and more accurate planning.
From the PMI Agile Practice Guide:
"Large stories (epics) should be split into smaller user stories to enable understanding, estimation, and incremental delivery. Stories should be small enough to be completed within an iteration." (PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 - User Stories and Story Splitting) Mike Griffiths states:
"When a user story is too large or unclear, the team should break it down into smaller pieces, focusing on the most valuable parts first. Story splitting is a key agile practice." (Mike Griffiths, PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 - Adaptive Planning) Incorrect options:
* A discourages collaboration and learning.
* C delays the resolution unnecessarily.
* D avoids solving the actual problem and abandons valuable work.

When teams face conflicts about priorities or direction, they should fall back on agile values and principles.
According to the Agile Manifesto and PMI Agile Practice Guide (Section 2.2 Agile Mindset), decisions should be grounded in values such as collaboration, sustainability, simplicity, and delivering customer value.
Mike Griffiths in the PMI-ACP Exam Prep Book (Chapter 2: Agile Principles and Mindset) highlights that teams should be self-organizing, and consensus should emerge from aligning decisions with core agile values-rather than defaulting to top-down directives or contractual obligations.
* Option A is correct: referring to the agile framework and team values enables internal resolution in a collaborative and value-driven way.
* Option B (contracts) and Option C (priority list) are more rigid and transactional.
* Option D bypasses the team's ability to self-resolve, which is not ideal for a mature agile team.

The correct answer is D - Periodically, at both the release and project level.
Agile planning is iterative and layered. When new requirements or constraints emerge, plans should be updated at the appropriate levels-sprint, release, and potentially the overall project level. Periodic adjustments ensure continued alignment with business needs and system dependencies.
PMI Agile Practice Guide:
"Agile planning is done at multiple levels: product vision, roadmap, release, iteration, and daily. These plans are continually updated based on new learning and stakeholder feedback." (PMI Agile Practice Guide, Section 5.3 - Adaptive Planning) Mike Griffiths:
"Effective planning includes periodic updates at all planning horizons. Adjusting at both the project and release levels ensures strategic alignment and tactical feasibility." (PMI-ACP Exam Prep, Chapter 5 - Adaptive Planning) Incorrect options:
* A misses the iterative nature of Agile planning.
* B and C are too narrow in scope.

Velocity is a measure of the amount of work a team can handle during a sprint, typically measured in story points. While it can fluctuate slightly from sprint to sprint, the goal is to have velocity stabilize over time, as this helps in forecasting future sprints and planning. An increase in velocity from 27 to 35 could indicate an improvement in the team's capacity to deliver, which should be celebrated if it aligns with the team's capabilities. However, a stable velocity over time is what typically matters for predictability and planning.