During a sprint review, the product owner rejects one of the product features that the development team demonstrated. Apparently, the team misunderstood the user story based on which the feature has been developed.

What should happen next to the user story?

A. The user story is automatically placed into the sprint backlog of the next sprint
B. The user story is deleted from the product backlog and dropped from the project
C. The user story is rewritten to address the reasons why they were not accepted
D. The user story is placed in the product backlog to be reprioritized

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HINT: Are rejected user stories automatically placed into the backlog or does something else need to occur first?

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Answer and Explanation:
The correct answer is C.

The product owner rejecting a feature that was developed and demonstrated is an indication that something was not clear between the development team and business representatives, customers, or the product owner.

If the feature was developed based on an incomplete or inaccurate user story, the product owner should meet with the authors of the user story and have the story updated or rewritten. Maybe more details are required, or the acceptance criteria should be elaborated. Once the user story is updated, it can be placed back in the product backlog, reprioritized, and then planned for one of the upcoming sprints.

The chances of a feature being rejected can be minimized by the product owner working closely with the development team and having the feature demonstrated as it is being developed or shortly after it is developed and before the sprint review. Regardless, the reasons for the rejected feature should be discussed during the sprint retrospective so that the source of the issue can be determined and corrected going forward.

Details for each option:

A. Incorrect. There is a reason that the feature was rejected, and this must be addressed first. Also, priorities may have changed during the iteration, so no user story is automatically placed into the next sprint backlog.

B. Incorrect. This action is a rather drastic step that should not be taken. The feature has already been developed implying the user story was prioritized and deemed of high value to the customer, so dropping it from the project is not a rational choice. The correct next step is determining why the work was rejected and making the necessary corrections.

C. Correct. If a feature is rejected, it is most often due to a gap in team's understanding the expectations of the business or customer. This misunderstanding can arise due to missed acceptance criteria or a poorly written user story which served as a basis for the feature. The first step is to correct or rewrite the user story. Then it can be placed into the backlog and reprioritized.

D. Incorrect. Simply placing the user story back in the backlog to be reprioritized without addressing the reason why the feature was rejected will not resolve the issue. Once the user story is fixed (rewritten), it can be placed back in the backlog and then reprioritized.