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PMP Practice: Document and communicate change impacts

Question 5 of 5 in Manage Project Changes

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Sky Volkov is leading an agile project for Bold Forge Labs developing a mobile fitness app. The team works in two-week sprints with a stable velocity. Over the past four sprints, the team completed 48, 52, 50, and 54 story points respectively. The product backlog currently contains 412 story points of prioritized work remaining. The product owner has just requested adding a new feature worth 38 story points, which the team agrees is feasible but will require them to defer some current backlog items. The sponsor wants to know the revised number of sprints needed to complete all work if this change is accepted. What is the most accurate estimate?
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Correct answer: 9 sprints

Explanation

The team's average velocity over the past four sprints is calculated as (48 + 52 + 50 + 54) ÷ 4 = 204 ÷ 4 = 51 story points per sprint. If the change is accepted, the total remaining work becomes 412 + 38 = 450 story points. Dividing the total work by the average velocity gives 450 ÷ 51 = 8.82 sprints. Since partial sprints must be rounded up to complete all work, the answer is 9 sprints. In agile change management, the project manager uses historical velocity data to provide realistic forecasts when scope changes are proposed, helping stakeholders make informed decisions about the impact on delivery timelines.

**Why not B:** This results from truncating 8.82 sprints down to 8 instead of rounding up. In sprint-based forecasting, any partial sprint means additional time is needed, so 8.82 must round to 9 complete sprints to finish all work.

**Why not C:** This error occurs from dividing the original backlog (412) by velocity (51) to get 8.08, rounding to 8, then adding 1 sprint for the new feature, yielding 9, then incorrectly adding another sprint. The new work should be included in the total before dividing by velocity, not added as separate sprints afterward.

**Why not D:** This results from calculating only the original backlog divided by velocity (412 ÷ 51 = 8.08, rounded down to 8), then subtracting 1, which completely ignores both the added scope and proper rounding conventions. This would severely underestimate the timeline.

Key Concept

This question covers Document and communicate change impacts under Manage Project Changes (Process).

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