A stakeholder wants to add work directly to the sprint. Who handles it?
Uncontrolled sprint work intakeRoute the request through the team's agreed product and delivery accountabilities. Make the effect on the current goal and selected work explicit rather than accepting hidden side work.
What to do now
- Capture the request and urgency
- Discuss it with the Product Owner and Developers
- Assess the effect on the current goal
- Agree any scope adaptation transparently
When to escalate
Escalate when
The request involves an emergency or makes the current goal obsolete.
Who decides
The relevant Scrum accountability or delivery owner
Example
An urgent correction replaces a lower-priority item through an explicit team discussion.
Mistake to avoid
Letting seniority create invisible extra sprint commitments.
Prevent a repeat
Inspect useful outcomes and feedback; apply Scrum-specific rules only when the team is actually using Scrum.
Suggested ApprovedFlow setup
- Tasks
- Documents
- Resources
Represent agreed work and evidence with enabled task features; do not imply native Scrum automation or certified Scrum compliance. See the platform
Related cases
- We carry unfinished work into every sprint. What should we inspect?Persistent delivery overcommitment
- Our sprint review is only a slide presentation. What is missing?Weak product inspection
- A senior stakeholder bypasses the project manager and assigns work directly. What should happen?Uncontrolled instruction channel
- A sponsor keeps launching projects outside the intake process. What should happen?Uncontrolled portfolio entry