An agile project has requirements categorized as high, medium, and low priority. The team says so many items are marked high that it's unclear what to work on next. What should the project manager recommend?

In agile, the Product Owner is solely responsible for prioritizing the backlog, ensuring the team works on the most valuable items. They use tools like the product roadmap (long-term vision), release plan (mid-term goals), and iteration plan (short-term sprint goals) to make informed decisions and provide a clear sequence for the team. Asking the team to prioritize high-priority items themselves bypasses the Product Owner's role and could lead to misaligned efforts. While team input on technical dependencies is valuable, the ultimate prioritization authority rests with the Product Owner. Asking the team to rank by release plan and testing is too narrow; the Product Owner considers broader business value. Replacing categories with numeric prioritization might refine the scale but doesn't address the core issue of who makes the prioritization decisions or what criteria they use.