CAPM Practice: Explain when it is appropriate to use an adaptive approach

Market velocity — the rate at which competitive conditions and customer expectations change — strongly favors adaptive approaches. If market conditions change monthly, a 12-month predictive plan would be obsolete by delivery. Adaptive's frequent releases allow the team to respond to market feedback, compete with emerging products, and keep the product relevant as conditions evolve.

**Why not A:** A fixed budget is a constraint that applies equally to both predictive and adaptive approaches — neither life-cycle inherently requires a variable budget. Adaptive projects can and do operate within fixed budgets by adjusting scope rather than cost. Budget rigidity alone does not distinguish which approach is more appropriate for this scenario.

**Why not C:** A clear product vision actually makes predictive planning more viable, since requirements can be defined upfront with greater confidence. The question explicitly states the right feature set is unclear — a clear high-level vision from the product manager does not resolve the external market uncertainty that is driving the decision toward adaptive.

**Why not D:** Team experience with the technology reduces technical risk and makes the work more predictable, which if anything slightly favors a predictive approach by lowering implementation uncertainty. Technical familiarity is not a driver for adaptive — it is the uncertainty of what to build, not how to build it, that most strongly favors adaptive here.