PMP Practice: Apply Intervention Strategies

The core issue is an organizational impediment where legitimate financial governance conflicts with agile flow. The best solution creates a hybrid governance model that satisfies both needs. By establishing pre-approved budget thresholds for common feature categories, the team regains the ability to move quickly on typical work while the CFO maintains financial control over exceptions and high-cost items. This removes the impediment by redesigning the approval process rather than fighting it or abandoning the agile approach. The scenario provides the closing fact that velocity has dropped by nearly half and the product owner is losing market opportunity, making speed restoration critical while still acknowledging the CFO's legitimate concern about budget control from other department overruns.

**Why not B:** Switching to predictive methodology abandons the agile approach without attempting to resolve the actual impediment. The problem is not that agile is wrong for this project, but that a governance process needs adaptation. Predictive planning would not eliminate approval delays and would sacrifice the iterative feedback that a gaming startup needs for market responsiveness. This represents over-correcting by changing the entire approach rather than addressing the specific impediment.

**Why not C:** Escalating to override the CFO treats this as a power struggle rather than a solvable organizational impediment. The CFO has legitimate authority over financial controls, especially given the context of recent budget overruns in other departments. Simply demanding autonomy without addressing the underlying governance concern will create organizational conflict and likely fail. The project manager should facilitate a solution, not escalate prematurely when a collaborative approach is available.

**Why not D:** Lengthening sprints to accommodate a broken process treats the symptom rather than removing the impediment. Monthly sprints would further slow feedback cycles and market responsiveness for a gaming startup competing for a closing market window. This approach accepts the impediment rather than resolving it and would compound the competitive disadvantage the product owner already expressed.