A well-known artefact of Scrum is the product backlog.
There is a simple explanation: The product backlog lists the tasks that must be completed before the product can be released following its priority. To launch a product, you must understand the customer’s needs or the various technical options available, describe functional and non-functional requirements, set up a testing environment, and correct any defects discovered. Product backlogs are considered before traditional requirements artefacts such as market specifications and product designs.
Scrum Masters, teams, and stakeholders often assist product owners in managing product backlogs. In collaboration with each other, they discover the capabilities of the product. Product backlogs possess four qualities: appropriately detailed, estimated, emergent, and prioritised.
There are several qualities of a product backlog such as described below.
Appropriate Detail. There is sufficient detail in the backlog items. Higher-priority items are stories with more detail. As a result of these guidelines, the backlog is kept concise and ensures that the next sprint will include workable stories. In this way, all requirements are discovered, deconstructed, and refined.
Estimated. Each item on the product backlog is given an estimate. Generally, estimates are coarse-grained and expressed as several story points or ideal days. It is helpful to know their sizes to plan the release and prioritise the stories.
Emergent. The product backlog has an organic quality. As it evolves, its content changes continuously. Customer information is continuously incorporated, modified, reprioritised, refined, or removed from the backlog.
Prioritising. All stories that are prioritised are included in the product backlog. The most critical priority stories are implemented first. These stories are located at the top of the product backlog.
Product Backlog Grooming involves the following:
Discovering and describing existing stories and changing or removing them as needed is necessary. Product backlogs are prioritised. At the top of the list are the most essential stories. Several high-priority stories are decomposed and refined for the upcoming sprint planning meeting. The team determines the size of product backlog stories. Whenever new stories are added to the product backlog, existing stories are altered, or estimates need to be revised, it is necessary to estimate the size of those stories.
The product owner is responsible for maintaining a healthy backlog, but grooming is a collaborative effort. Individuals on a Scrum team identify and describe stories, prioritise stories, decompose them, and refine them as needed. In addition to grooming activities, Scrum allocates 10% of its time to stakeholder engagement. Rather than assigning requirements to others, team members now assume this responsibility themselves. For this reason, there aren’t documents and teams avoid miscommunications. Instead of writing a report, team members meet with the product owner and the Scrum Master.
A product backlog is an enjoyable and practical part of Scrum’s core function, establishing a dialogue between the team and stakeholders. As a result, Scrum and technology are not separated, and no handoffs are necessary. A sense of ownership and commitment is developed by applying the team members’ combined skills and knowledge. Some grooming for many teams often follows the daily scrums, others perform grooming weekly, while others hold grooming workshops at the end of sprints.
A sprint review is where stakeholders and the Scrum team discuss the next steps. We identify upcoming backlog stories and remove unnecessary stories. It is essential to have a grooming process to ensure consistency in the activities, such as weekly grooming workshops. A well-organised backlog ensures the success of a sprint planning meeting.
Discovering and describing items. The process of identifying and describing product backlog items must be continuous. People used to write detailed and comprehensive requirements specifications in advance must be aware that Scrum differs fundamentally from that method. As a project proceeds, requirements are discovered. Our understanding of the customer’s needs will lead to changes in existing requirements. We will develop new requirements to meet their needs. It is only possible to write down some requirements at a time because of time constraints. Scrum considers the entire development process from the beginning to the end of a project. It can be challenging for many product managers to transition from product manager to product owner.
Discovering Items. An essential step to discovering backlog items is stocking the product backlog. The product can be created more efficiently when stakeholders and Scrum teams work together. Every item on the backlog does not need to be listed. It is essential to keep the backlog simple and functional to ensure success. Ideas and suggestions from customers and users grow backlogs. Large and complex product backlogs can make focusing and prioritising items a little challenging. Keeping your product idea in mind should guide your efforts. Make sure you focus on what matters. There is nothing wrong with details, but too many can be problematic. A priority is assigned to each story as the process progresses. If a large, coarse-grained story has a low priority and an enormous scope, it is not worth prioritising. As long as their priorities do not change (because they are consumed or reprioritised), the items remain as they are until their priorities change. This rule can be relaxed if the requirements are not functional.
It is possible to discover new stories after the product backlog has been established. The grooming workshop, sprint review meeting, and customer engagements and user feedback sessions are used to prioritise the product backlog. When entering requirements, make sure you understand the customer’s needs. In order to avoid creating an unmanageable wishlist, refrain from copying product backlogs mindlessly. Consider existing requirements as liabilities rather than assets. Therefore, requirements are necessary features for a product to work someday. Changing market conditions, technological advances, or scrum team knowledge may lead to changes in requirements.
Describing user stories. User stories describe products from the perspective of customers or users. It would be best to have a title, narrative, and acceptance criteria to complete a story. Coarse-grained stories are referred to as epics. User stories are easy to write, decompose, and refine. You can describe your project’s requirements however you see fit.
The structure of the backlog. Product backlogs often benefit from grouping related items into themes. They also structure the backlog, assist in prioritisation, simplify access to information, and act as placeholders for product functionality. At the outset, each theme should include two to five coarse-grained requirements. You can better understand what it will take to bring a product to life without overspecifying it. Backlogs based on themes contain both individual stories. In addition, a product backlog helps you distinguish between coarse-grained and fine-grained requirements.
Prioritising the product backlog. By prioritising a story, we can determine its importance. When all tasks are considered to be of high priority, the importance of each task is equal. If the customer is given priority, delivering a service that addresses their needs is more manageable. Product owners are responsible for prioritising the product backlog in accordance with the customer’s requirements. Like any other grooming activity, prioritising should be accomplished by all members of the Scrum team.
Engagement is generated by leveraging team knowledge. The team can accomplish its goals by focusing on the most essential stories. The contents of the backlog are also gradually frozen. Prioritising themes first makes sense because product backlog stories are small. It is possible to prioritise stories within and across themes if needed. Among the factors contributing to prioritising the product backlog are value, knowledge, uncertainty, risk, releaseability, and dependency.
Determining value in product backlogs. Prioritisation is often based on value. The most valuable items should always be delivered first. However, the question remains about what makes a product backlog story worth it. A valuable story brings a product to life. In other words, if the story is irrelevant, it must be excluded from the current release. If the story is de-prioritised, it gets placed at the bottom of the product backlog or even discarded. Product backlogs are kept concise, and Scrum teams are focused. The story will reappear if it is required in future versions. Consider whether the product can achieve the desired benefits without including a story in the release. Explore alternative methods if the story is indeed required but requires less effort, time, or cost than the original and seems obvious. Teams may only consider some relevant options due to hidden assumptions.
Examine existing requirements, too. It is also important to reexamine the current ones. Scrum teams develop better solutions after learning more about customer needs.
Uncertainty increases when we develop things we need to learn how to do. As a result, risk is linked to knowledge and uncertainty. Risks and uncertainties influence the success of products in many ways, so stories associated with risk and uncertainty should be given high priority. Knowledge is created faster, uncertainty is dispelled, and risk is reduced due to an improved understanding. Risk can also hide in the infrastructure and environment. Tackling uncertain, risky stories early in the project creates a risk-driven approach that may result in premature failure.
Failing early allows the Scrum team to change course while there is still the opportunity. A risk-driven, fail-fast approach can be challenging for individuals and organisations used to traditional processes, where problems and impediments surface late in the game and are often perceived as bad news rather than an opportunity to learn and improve.
Releasability. Early and frequent releases allow the software to evolve into a product that customers enjoy. An early release can inform the Scrum team whether a feature should be implemented. Early and frequent releases should influence backlog prioritisation. Users and customers should be able to use the new functionality and provide feedback.
It is a fact that product backlogs have dependencies. There are many instances in which functional requirements, for example, are highly dependent on other functional and non-functional requirements. In collaboration, dependencies among teams can influence priority setting. A dependency limits the ability to prioritise the product backlog and influences effort estimates. Whenever possible, resolve dependencies before undertaking other tasks.
As you can see, maintaining a product backlog takes quite a lot. It is a careful activity that influences the entire workflow. Remember that as a product owner, your work is more challenging than it looks. When starting, I recommend you get a thorough consultation.
