According to the PMBOK Guide, the product owner is the person responsible for defining and prioritizing the product backlog, and ensuring that the product delivers value to the customer and stakeholders1. The product owner also collaborates with the project team and the project manager to review the work in progress and provide feedback2. Therefore, if a key agile project team member takes a leave of absence in the middle of an iteration and will not return to work for a while, the project manager should review the work in progress with the product owner to determine the next step regarding the feature on which the team member was working. The product owner may decide to defer, modify, or cancel the feature depending on the value and urgency of the feature. The other options are not the best actions for the project manager to do next. Assigning the feature to another team member may not be feasible or desirable, as it may disrupt the team’s self-organization and velocity3. Reviewing team capacity and reassigning the functionality to additional iterations may not be aligned with the product owner’s vision and expectations4. Determining if the team member can work from home may not be possible or appropriate, as it may depend on the team member’s personal situation and the nature of the work. References:
1: PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 49
2: PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 50
3: PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 52
4: PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 53
PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 54
PMBOK Guide, 6th edition, page 57
