The phrase “backlog” actually refers to a log stashed behind a fireplace for later use. Most frequently, the time period is used figuratively to imply an accumulation of duties to begin or resume sooner or later.
Within the Agile world, backlog grooming refers back to the strategy of refining and prioritizing an inventory of duties to make sure the product improvement workforce has sufficient work to choose up within the subsequent dash.
On this information, we’ll give a complete overview of the backlog grooming (additionally known as backlog refinement) course of, clarify the way it differs from dash planning, and description ideas and greatest practices to make sure you’re getting essentially the most out of your backlog grooming classes.
Desk of contents
What’s backlog grooming?
Backlog grooming is a course of through which the product proprietor and product managers assessment, talk about, and prioritize the checklist of person tales within the backlog with the whole workforce. A backlog is a prioritized checklist of duties for the workforce to work on. The backlog may include product bugs, new options, technical debt, UI adjustments, and many others.
The objects within the backlog should be outlined in painstaking element, then groomed — i.e., mentioned with the workforce to make sure everybody understands what must be executed. The backlog grooming session additionally affords the workforce a chance to seek the advice of with the product managers and product homeowners. Product managers and homeowners then element subsequent steps, reinforce the general product technique to which the backlog objects degree up, and description targets the workforce ought to purpose to realize after finishing a set of backlog objects.
Now that we perceive what backlog grooming is, let’s assessment the place it suits into the scrum course of.
Scrum is an agile framework that defines a algorithm, roles, obligations and conferences to develop a software program product in an incremental method. The target is to ship in smaller chunks extra rapidly and adapt to suggestions as you progress towards the ultimate stage.
As per the scrum framework, the workforce goes by following occasions:
- Dash — A time-boxed occasion the place the workforce works on the dash backlog
- Dash planning — The workforce evaluates the groomed person tales when it comes to story factors. This occasion defines the objective of the dash and work that must be accomplished within the subsequent dash
- Each day scrum — A each day occasion that tracks the workforce’s progress towards the dash objective
- Dash assessment — The workforce opinions the work executed throughout the dash with the product proprietor and key stakeholders
- Dash retrospective — As soon as a dash is accomplished, the workforce to comes collectively to debate what will be improved in future sprints and congratulate one another for work effectively executed
Earlier than a dash can start, the workforce wants a product backlog. Backlog grooming is the method that ensures the product backlog is prepared for the workforce to work on.
Backlog grooming vs. dash planning
It’s necessary to grasp the distinction between dash planning and backlog grooming. Dash planning is a scrum occasion performed by the scrum grasp to set a dash plan and objective for the upcoming dash. Dash planning occurs earlier than a dash begins and after the backlog grooming session and is time-boxed (most of eight hours for a month-long dash).
Backlog grooming occurs earlier than dash planning. In a backlog grooming session, the workforce prioritizes the backlog of duties to be mentioned throughout dash planning. Based mostly on that dialogue, the builders decide to work on a particular set of person tales.
The scrum grasp ensures that sufficient person tales are deliberate for the subsequent dash primarily based on the dash velocity, workforce members’ trip plans, and many others. As soon as dash planning is full, the dash is able to be kicked off.
The desk beneath illustrates the important thing variations between backlog grooming and dash planning:
When ought to backlog grooming happen?
Backlog grooming happens earlier than the dash planning session.
For an instance state of affairs, let’s say a dash begins on Monday and is 2 weeks lengthy. Right here’s when the next occasions would occur:
- The dash retrospective could be held on the final day of the dash — on this case, Friday night — earlier than the subsequent dash begins
- Dash planning can occur on both Friday or Thursday earlier than the dash begins on Monday (or, worst case, Monday morning earlier than the dash begins, relying on everybody’s availability and when the grooming session occurs)
- Backlog grooming is performed by a product proprietor and is predicated on their availability
The product proprietor often conducts the session as quickly as person tales are prepared from a product, design and technical perspective. If a dash begins on a Monday, backlog grooming can occur anytime between Monday and Friday earlier than the dash begins. If it occurs on a Friday, then dash planning may get pushed to Monday morning earlier than a dash begins.
The next chart exhibits the timing of the backlog grooming, dash retrospective, and dash planning conferences for a dash beginning on a Monday below the three situations described above:
This timing for backlog grooming ensures that the backlog objects are prioritized, mentioned, estimated, and able to be mentioned throughout dash planning. With out a backlog grooming session, the workforce can not conduct a dash planning session and due to this fact can not start the dash.
Who attends a backlog grooming session?
The complete workforce participates in backlog grooming. As such, the product supervisor, product proprietor, scrum grasp, builders, designers, QAs, and all different stakeholders are required to attend the grooming session. A backlog grooming session is mostly led by the product proprietor.
What is completed in a backlog grooming session?
In a typical backlog grooming session, the product proprietor walks the workforce by new options and designs primarily based on the person tales within the backlog. The session can also be a chance for the workforce to debate the product imaginative and prescient and technique, product roadmap, or any excellent questions or points that want clarification.
Backlog grooming is completed to make sure that person tales within the backlog are prioritized, updated, and prepared for builders to work on. Your backlog grooming session agenda needs to be designed to get builders on the identical web page about what they should do as soon as they begin engaged on the person tales within the backlog.
The target of a backlog grooming session is to place the workforce to ship a greater product extra effectively. The product proprietor who’s spearheading the workforce has the essential accountability of sustaining the product backlog and conducting the grooming classes to speak subsequent steps for the workforce.
The tip objective of the backlog grooming session is twofold:
- Replace backlog objects with all the small print needed for the builders to execute on the plan
- Align the workforce on the product roadmap and technique
Easy methods to run a profitable backlog grooming session: Ideas and greatest practices
Backlog grooming is an ongoing exercise undertaken by the product proprietor in collaboration with different key stakeholders. Whereas grooming the backlog, the product proprietor should take away any pointless objects, prioritize the remaining objects, outline the person tales with clear and concise acceptance standards, and supply the mandatory technical particulars and designs earlier than the session takes place with the engineering workforce.
A backlog can embrace tons of of things or extra, so it’s necessary to categorize them utilizing labels and epics. A effectively organized and categorized backlog will makes the roles of each the product proprietor and engineering workforce infinitely simpler for upcoming sprints.
Under are some ideas and greatest practices for operating a profitable backlog grooming session.
Outline person tales to keep away from confusion/uncertainty
The product proprietor will outline person tales to the perfect of their skill, however often builders nonetheless require additional clarification. The backlog grooming session provides the workforce a chance to ask questions and search clarification about person tales to keep away from any confusion.
Not being on the identical web page concerning the description or acceptance standards of person tales can lead builders to implement half-baked tales or tales that result in surprising outcomes. In conditions like that, throughout assessment, the product proprietor would supply extra clarification and ship the person story again to the developer to revise and implement it as anticipated. It’s not laborious to see how this back-and-forth may delay the supply of the function.
Add new person tales based on new insights
Generally throughout a grooming session, the workforce discovers one other activity that have to be accomplished earlier than executing a brand new function. Due to this fact, it should create a brand new person story. Including new person tales on this state of affairs ensures there aren’t any gaps or missed steps because the workforce works on duties within the backlog.
Assign/reassign story factors
The workforce evaluates the groomed person tales utilizing story factors. Builders estimate the hassle required to finish the duties related to the person story. Typically, one story level represents someday’s price of effort. Based mostly on a consensus established between the builders, person tales are assigned a narrative level worth.
Break down broad person tales into smaller objects
The workforce breaks down person tales which might be estimated to take greater than three days to finish. Bigger person tales are damaged down into smaller components as a result of it goes in opposition to agile ideas to spend an excessive amount of time engaged on a single, lengthy person story. Consumer tales which might be divided into a number of smaller, impartial tales are extra testable than longer person tales.
Take away outdated person tales and duties
Product Roadmap retains altering primarily based on totally different parameters just like the change in group’s technique, a shifting development out there, altering person habits or new rivals out there. The backlog all the time must be up to date and aligned to the adjustments within the product roadmap and therefore there may very well be person tales or duties that grow to be outdated. These irrelevant person tales or duties should be moved out of the backlog as quickly as there’s a clear lower route from the important thing stakeholders.
The workforce spends time eradicating outdated person tales and descoped duties as a result of they’re now not related.
Reprioritize person tales
The product proprietor reprioritizes person tales primarily based on adjustments to the product roadmap. Throughout a backlog grooming session, the workforce might uncover steps or duties that should be executed previous to beginning work on a person story.
For instance, a function that wants API integration with one other platform may should be accomplished earlier than the UI will be developed on the appliance. This extra activity of API integration should due to this fact take precedence. On this state of affairs, the duty for API integration is created and positioned above the precise function to be applied.
Determine roadblocks and reduce dangers related to backlog objects
Because the workforce discusses a backlog merchandise, it’s essential to determine any roadblocks that may impede progress. Relying on the kind of difficulty, it might be advantageous to dedicate a whole, separate session to a roadblock or set of roadblocks.
The workforce should purpose to resolve any foreseeable obstacles as quickly as potential earlier than a dash begins. If this isn’t executed, the merchandise needs to be faraway from the prioritized person tales checklist. Together with a roadblock-addled merchandise in a dash would stop the workforce from seeing the person story by to completion.
What’s the DEEP framework?
In 2010, product administration luminaries Roman Pichler and Mike Cohn got here up with the DEEP framework for backlog grooming. DEEP stipulates the next:
To make sure that the product backlog is DEEP and stays that means, it’s a must to groom or refine it commonly. Grooming the product backlog is an ongoing, collaborative course of that includes the product proprietor and workforce.
The DEEP framework serves as a information to assist product managers and homeowners handle the product backlog successfully. DEEP stands for:
- Detailed appropriately
- Estimated
- Emergent
- Prioritized
Let’s zoom in on every of those 4 attributes:
Detailed appropriately
Each merchandise within the backlog have to be completely defined with all the suitable particulars.
For instance, let’s say a person story describes the performance to be applied together with the acceptance standards. The outline of the function and acceptance standards are usually not ample; the person story should even have all of the related designs connected and technical particulars written by the tech lead.
That mentioned, not all backlog objects are created equal. The DEEP framework stipulates that higher-priority objects needs to be described in additional granular element than lower-priority ones. This helps preserve the backlog concise and ensures that options which might be most certainly to be applied within the subsequent dash are prepared in time.
For a person story to be full, it should even be linked to different tales blocking it. In any other case, different dependencies should even be accomplished.
Estimated
The workforce should estimate the time and sources require to finish all of the objects within the backlog. Tough estimates supplied initially will be revised later throughout dash planning; that is typically needed when builders come throughout some extra data that might affect the dash.
Emergent
A backlog is a dynamic artifact that continuously adjustments as per the product roadmap. New tales are added and outdated person tales are eliminated as the necessity arises.
For instance, let’s say you might have a set of options from the roadmap and also you obtain a requirement from the stakeholders to incorporate one other function. Based mostly on this transformation, the product proprietor wants to put extra tales within the backlog. On the identical time, there may be one other function that beforehand appeared earlier within the prioritized checklist however now takes a again seat as per the up to date product roadmap. Therefore, this merchandise must be faraway from the backlog.
Prioritized
Backlog objects have to be listed in a prioritized order. The product proprietor is accountable for figuring out which backlog objects needs to be accomplished in what order. This tells the workforce how one can method the backlog and which duties have to be accomplished earlier than beginning different duties.
Conclusion
A wholesome backlog is a prerequisite for environment friendly, stress-free, and incremental software program product improvement. With the information and greatest practices mentioned on this information, you must have all of the instruments you must run efficient backlog grooming classes that result in profitable merchandise (and well timed supply).
