An agile project is in iteration five of eight. After planning, a new competitor appears and the team must move faster to protect market share. What should the project manager do?

The correct answer is to help the team find a new approach to launch the product as soon as possible. In agile, the project manager (or Scrum Master) serves the team by removing impediments and facilitating problem-solving. A new market threat requires a strategic response, and the team is best positioned to devise an accelerated approach, potentially through re-prioritization, scope adjustments, or process improvements. Adding competitor features to the backlog is incorrect because it might further delay the current product launch and doesn't address the immediate need for speed. Asking the sponsor to increase team size is often counterproductive in agile, as adding people to a late project can initially slow it down due to increased communication overhead and onboarding. Telling the team to simply "increase velocity" is not helpful; it's a demand without providing support or solutions, and velocity is an output, not an input that can be directly commanded.