The relationship between the Product Owner and the Developers has degraded over time. The Developers are growing increasingly angry with the Product…

The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting Scrum, which includes helping the

Scrum Team and the organization understand and enact Scrum values, principles, and practices. The

Scrum Master should offer guidance that:

Addresses the root cause of the conflict, not just the symptoms or the consequences.

Empowers the Scrum Team to self-organize and collaborate effectively, without relying on external

intervention or authority.

Fosters a culture of transparency, inspection, and adaptation, where feedback is welcomed and used

to improve the product and the process.

Focuses on delivering value to the customer and meeting the Sprint Goal, not on following a fixed

plan or satisfying individual p

.

Therefore, the best option is to address why requirements change during the Sprint Retrospective ©,

which is an event that allows the Scrum Team to inspect how they worked together and create a plan

for improvements. The Scrum Master should ask the Developers and the Product Owner to talk

about why the requirements are changing and consider the impact on value during this discussion.

This will help them understand each other’s perspectives, clarify their expectations, and align their

goals.

The other options are not appropriate because they:

Take everyone to a 2-day off-site event to relax and re-align (A), which may be a nice gesture, but

does not solve the underlying problem or help the Scrum Team improve their collaboration skills. It

may also be seen as a distraction or a reward for poor performance.

Ask each person’s functional manager to instruct their employees that they must collaborate better,

or be removed from the team (B), which undermines the self-organization and autonomy of the

Scrum Team and introduces a threat of punishment that may damage trust and motivation. It also

violates the Scrum value of respect and the principle of servant leadership.

Ask for a project manager or other external resource to mediate and temporarily take over for the

Product Owner (D), which creates a dependency on an outsider who may not have the necessary

knowledge, authority, or vision to manage the product. It also violates the Scrum role of the Product

Owner and the principle of single-wringable-neck.

Reference: : [Scrum Guide], The Scrum Master : [Scrum Guide], The Sprint Retrospective : [Scrum

Guide], The Product Owner : [Scrum Guide], The Developers : [Scrum Guide], Scrum Values