A prototyping approach is a way of developing a product incrementally by creating and testing different versions of the product until it meets the customer's needs and expectations. Prototyping is often used in agile project management, where user stories are the smallest unit of work that deliver value to the end user.
However, sometimes user stories may be too complex or uncertain to be estimated or completed within a sprint. In such cases, the project manager may use a spike to gain more knowledge or clarity about the user story. A spike is a time-boxed investigation or experiment that helps the team reduce the risk or increase the reliability of a user story. A spike may also help the team identify and resolve any cross-dependencies or technical challenges that may affect the user story. Therefore, the best option for the project manager in this scenario is to determine cross-dependencies and plan a spike in the next sprint. This will allow the team to learn more about the user stories that are taking longer to be delivered and find a feasible solution. The other options are not as effective as option C. Option A is not proactive, as it waits until the retrospective meeting to address the risks and issues. Option B is not sufficient, as it only informs the stakeholders about the delay, but does not offer any action plan to overcome it. Option D is not relevant, as the problem is not related to the communications management plan, but to the user stories themselves. References: (Professional in Business Analysis Reference Materials source and documents)
* PMBOKGuide - Sixth Edition, Chapter 5: Project Scope Management, Section 5.4.2.2: Product
* Analysis1
* PMBOKGuide - Sixth Edition, Chapter 6: Project Schedule Management, Section 6.5.2.1: Agile Release Planning2
* What is Spike in Scrum? - Visual Paradigm3
* User Stories | Examples and Template | Atlassian4