PMP Practice: Apply Intervention Strategies

Freya Johansson is leading a mobile app development project at Serengeti Automation Inc, a gaming startup. The team has been working in two-week sprints for three months. During the last retrospective, developers mentioned that every feature request from the product owner now requires written approval from the finance director before implementation, a new requirement introduced by the CFO two sprints ago. This approval process takes 5-7 business days. The team's velocity has dropped from 34 story points per sprint to 19 story points, and several high-value user stories have been blocked mid-sprint waiting for financial sign-off. The product owner expresses frustration that the market window for their competitive features is closing. The CFO states that financial oversight is non-negotiable due to recent budget overruns in other departments. What should Freya do to remove this impediment while respecting organizational governance?