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What is Product Backlog
Grooming and Why it is Critical
by Samer Fallouhhttps://by.dialexa.com/what-is-product-backlog-grooming-and-why-is-it-important
Dialexa
We are on a mission to make every
company a great technology company.
We work with organizations to define
and execute digital transformation
strategies to improve business
operations and customer experiences.
Our services include:
• Multi-Year Technology Roadmap
• Platform Engineering
• User Experience Design
• Custom Software Development
• Hardware Prototyping /IoT
The new product development process can be messy and unwieldy if it's not managed carefully.
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why-is-it-important
In agile projects, product backlog grooming is the key to making sure that projects stay on track.
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In this post, we share what it is, best practices for effective backlog grooming meetings and how it makes for better (and easier) sprint planning.
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why-is-it-important
WHAT IS BACKLOG GROOMING?
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why-is-it-important
Backlog is defined as the full set of user stories not in the current sprint that defines the remainder of the project's scope.
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why-is-it-important
When that happens, the status of individual user stories can become unclear, the team can lose focus on important tasks and they may have trouble estimating the time and resources needed to complete items, and the project completion date can slip.
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Enter the product backlog grooming meeting, which is basically a meeting between the project manager and customer point of contact in which the participants break the backlog down into user stories and reprioritize them.
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You may also hear it referred to as a product backlog refinement meeting or story time session,
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why-is-it-important
but whatever the terminology, the purpose is to discuss the current backlog list and offer suggestions for improving it, which may take the form of:
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why-is-it-important
Writing new user stories, a process we outline in the post, Our Approach to Developing User Stories.
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why-is-it-important
Refining and reprioritizing previously written user stories and breaking them down into smaller stories, if needed.
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why-is-it-important
Redefining acceptance and testing criteria.
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why-is-it-important
Reviewing time and personnel estimates for individual backlog items, utilizing what we've learned from completed sprints.
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why-is-it-important
Adding new product features, then prioritizing and estimating them.
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why-is-it-important
Looking more extensively into the total backlog to enable long-range technical and project planning.
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Take special note of the last item: long-range technical and project planning.
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why-is-it-important
Many project managers limit grooming meetings to tasks related to the next sprint, but we believe that approach misses an opportunity to keep a project that's in good shape running well in subsequent sprints.
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For example, the meeting can be useful in alerting product owners of possible challenges and obstacles down the road, keeping the team on track and ahead of schedule.
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BACKLOG GROOMING BEST PRACTICES
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Timing is Critical
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At Dialexa, we normally hold the backlog grooming meeting 3-4 days after the start of a sprint (around a week before the next sprint in our typical two week sprints), and the meeting typically follows a demo of the prior sprint's deliverables.
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As the project status is then fresh on participants' minds,
the client is familiar with recent project progress and gaps prior to discussing the
backlog. Get the full write up of this slideshare at
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why-is-it-important
The meeting should leave the team feeling familiar with the product backlog and with a clear understanding of the goals for the next sprint.
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At the end of each sprint, we do a sprint planning meeting to verify there are no major changes to the backlog and decide the expected content for the next sprint.
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why-is-it-important
This allows the development team to start the next sprint with confidence.
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Plan for Success
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Implementing well-managed meetings will improve the overall speed and efficiency of the sprint planning meetings that follow, helping to boost commitment and product familiarity.
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It's important to clearly state expectations upfront for what needs to be accomplished during the meeting and have a set agenda.
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why-is-it-important
This puts everyone in the same mindset, saves valuable time and keeps the meeting flowing smoothly. Sometimes these recurring meetings can get tedious so a well-run meeting will make all the difference.
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The goal here is for all attendees to leave the meeting with a clear understanding of what is left for project completion and the upcoming sprint goals.
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Right Folks, Right TimeGet the full write up of this slideshare at
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why-is-it-important
Attendees should include the project manager, the customer point of contact and key individual development team members, if required.
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A well organized backlog grooming meeting can save the time of valuable development resources.
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Some companies limit customer participation, but at Dialexa, the customer is a part of the team and we teach them the dance that is an agile project.
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We have found that educating and partnering with our clients in a transparent
way is key to reducing surprises and increasing understanding of all involved.Get the full write up of this slideshare at
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why-is-it-important
FINAL THOUGHT
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why-is-it-important
There's no question that backlog grooming meetings are a critical step in improving the speed and efficiency of your agile project,
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why-is-it-important
greatly reducing scope creep and increasing team grasp of project deliverables. Adhering to the best practices above can ensure that you get the most of backlog grooming meetings.
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To learn more about how Dialexa solves problems, read our approach to the new product development process for software.
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Thank You
Doug Platts
If you are looking to undertake a
digital transformation initiative,
contact Dialexa today and see
how we can help make your
company a great technology
company.Get the full write up of this slideshare at
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backlog-grooming-and-why-is-it-important
![[PPT]Slide 1 - Deniss Kumlander · Web viewSprint retrospective 1-3 hours Release Sprint backlog Product backlog Updated product backlog The process, called Scrum, is widely used](https://img.dokumen.tips/doc/110x75/5afc53c97f8b9a944d8bfb15/pptslide-1-deniss-viewsprint-retrospective-1-3-hours-release-sprint-backlog.jpg)
