In the provided comic strip, the Project Manager/Product Owner (Lucia) is faced with a client (Tan) who wants to add a " new feature that will revolutionize the industry " late in the project. Even though the project is currently on track, adding a significant feature requires a disciplined approach to avoid scope creep.
* Why Choice A is correct:
* Change Control Process: In any professional project environment, a new request must go through the formal Change Control Process. This ensures the impact on time, cost, and quality is assessed before any work begins.
* Agile/Iterative Approach: By mentioning " future iterations " and " prototypes, " this choice aligns with Agile best practices. Instead of blindly adding a massive feature, the team tests the idea through small-scale models (prototypes) to validate the " revolutionary " claim before committing full resources.
* Evidence-Based: Documenting end-user feedback ensures that the decision to include or exclude the feature is based on actual data rather than just the client ' s opinion.
Analysis of other options:
* B (Have the end user write a user story): While user stories are great, simply writing one doesn ' t address the impact of the change on the current project constraints. This skips the necessary assessment and approval steps.
* C (Check with the project team... restructure timeline): This is a reactive approach that assumes the feature must be added. A Project Manager should never restructure a timeline or reduce quantities until the change has been officially analyzed and approved.
* D (Enable a stakeholder change): This is vague and doesn ' t follow standard project management terminology. " Enabling a stakeholder change " is not a standard procedure for handling new feature requests.
Key Concept: The Project Management Institute (PMI) emphasizes that the Project Manager must be a " guardian of the scope. " When a client proposes a " revolutionary " idea late in the game, the correct professional response is to funnel that enthusiasm through the Change Control System (Choice A) to protect the project ' s baseline while still being open to future innovation.