PMP Practice: Implement Resolution Strategies

In agile environments, team working agreements are foundational to self-organization and collective ownership. When conflicts arise about adherence to these agreements, the team should revisit and resolve them collaboratively rather than having the project manager impose a solution. Holding a focused retrospective allows the team to examine why the consensus rule was established, discuss whether it still serves the team's needs given current circumstances, and collectively decide whether to modify or reinforce it. This approach respects the agile principle of team self-management while addressing the root cause of the conflict. The scenario provides enough context that this is the best first action: the velocity is stable (so there's no performance crisis requiring immediate PM intervention), multiple team members have raised concerns (indicating this affects team cohesion), and the working agreement was collectively established (making collective resolution appropriate). This addresses both the immediate conflict and strengthens the team's ability to manage future disagreements about their process.

**Why not A:** Transitioning to a predictive approach with clearer role definitions and approval gates is an overreaction to a single working agreement dispute. The team's velocity is stable and the issue is localized to one person's behavior. Changing the entire methodology would undermine the team's existing collaborative culture and agile principles.

**Why not B:** Presenting velocity data to justify the lead developer's behavior and proposing to change the agreement to accommodate independent decisions sends the wrong message. It validates bypassing team agreements based on outcomes alone and ignores the three team members who feel their input is being dismissed, which threatens team cohesion.

**Why not D:** Meeting privately with the developer to explain that agreements must be followed is a directive approach that bypasses team self-organization. In agile, the team collectively owns their working agreements, so modifying or reinforcing those agreements should be a team decision, not a unilateral conversation between the PM and one individual.