Product Backlog Refinement: Techniques and Practices

Product backlog refinement, often referred to as backlog grooming, is the process of fine-tuning the backlog to ensure it reflects evolving priorities, enhances team collaboration, and ultimately drives product success. In this article, we’ll share a few ideas and agile refinement techniques that will help Scrum teams with backlog refinement and also get developers involved.

What is a Product Backlog?

The product backlog serves as a dynamic and prioritized list of features, enhancements, bug fixes, and other deliverables required to achieve the product vision. Owned and managed by the Product Owner, it encapsulates the evolving understanding of customer needs, market dynamics, and product goals.

Why is Product Backlog Refinement Important?

Working with a list of requirements is crucial for Agile software development. Product Backlog Refinement is often used by teams to ensure that all parties understand what is expected of them. 

According to the Scrum Guide:

“Product Backlog refinement is the act of adding detail such as a description, order, and size to items in the Product Backlog.”

The Scrum Guide does not give a detailed description of how exactly to undertake this task. However, it does provide flexibility. It allows teams to choose how they make use of agile refinement techniques used in Product Backlog Refinement, and how often. The customizable nature of Scrum meetings is important, but you shouldn’t neglect the key elements of Product Backlog Refinement.

The Purpose of Backlog Refinement

Backlog refinement isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing process, and an integral part of agile methodology. Its primary objectives include:

• 1. Prioritization: Reordering backlog items based on changing requirements, market trends, and stakeholder feedback.
• 2. Detailing and Sizing: Elaborating on user stories, breaking them into smaller, manageable tasks, and estimating effort.
• 3. Alignment: Ensuring the team fully understands and commits to upcoming work.
• 4. Adaptability: Enabling flexibility to incorporate new insights or changes without disrupting ongoing sprints.

What Should Product Backlog Refinement Look Like for My Team?

Product Backlog Refinement could be done during Sprint planning. However, we don’t recommend this, especially for new teams. This option is better suited for mature teams where the product is well-known and the team is highly experienced. For a new team or product, we suggest going with recurring Product Backlog Refinement meetings.

The team can adjust the length and frequency of the meeting or even cancel them altogether, depending on what’s necessary at that particular moment. The best way to determine how often your team needs Product Backlog Refinements and how long the meetings should last, is through experience and learning from your mistakes.

If Product Backlog refinement is not being done (or not being done well), Sprint Planning may involve more questions, discovery, and/or confusion.

So to help your team with effective planning, start with Product Backlog Refinement. Make sure the backlog is “ready” before you start planning, and let the team concentrate on the Sprint Goal during the planning meeting itself.

Preparing for Product Backlog Refinement: Define Which Backlog Items Should be Considered “Ready” or “Done”

During the Product Backlog Refinement meeting, the Product Owner makes sure that the product backlog items are “ready” so that the team can execute these items as soon as they are put into a current Sprint, and get them to “Done.” By “Ready” and “Done,” we mean the Definition of Ready and the Definition of Done.

The Definition of Ready (usually abbreviated as DoR) represents all the things that a product backlog item must meet in order to be “Ready” for the Sprint. The DoR can serve as a checklist for the team to guide their Product Backlog Refinement process.

The Definition of Done (usually abbreviated as DoD) is a quality standard that represents all the things that a product backlog item must meet to be considered “Done” by the Scrum Team. The Definition of Done is also considered to be the exit criteria that each item needs to meet at the end of the Sprint.

How to Run a Product Backlog Refinement Meeting

Running an effective product backlog refinement meeting is crucial for maintaining a well-organized and prioritized backlog. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to conduct these meetings successfully:

1. Schedule Regular Refinement Sessions

• Frequency: Hold regular meetings, typically weekly, to ensure consistent updates and alignment among team members.
• Duration: Keep the sessions time-bound, generally ranging from 1 to 2 hours to maintain focus and prevent exhaustion.

2. Preparing for the Meeting

• Select Backlog Items: Prior to the meeting, the Product Owner should curate a selection of backlog items to be discussed based on priority, upcoming sprint, or changes in requirements.
• Communicate Expectations: Share the agenda and items to be refined with the team in advance, allowing them time to review and prepare.

3. Assembling the Team

• Invite Key Stakeholders: Ensure relevant team members, including developers, testers, and stakeholders, are present to provide diverse perspectives and insights.
• Facilitator: Assign a facilitator (could be the Product Owner or Scrum Master) responsible for guiding the meeting and maintaining focus on the agenda.

4. Conducting the Meeting

• Clarify Objectives: Set the tone by outlining the meeting’s purpose, goals, and expectations.
• Review Backlog Items: Start by discussing the selected backlog items, ensuring the team understands their context and purpose.
• Encourage Discussions: Facilitate open discussions, encourage team members to ask questions, clarify doubts, and share insights regarding the backlog items.
• Break Down User Stories: Use techniques like story splitting to break down complex user stories into smaller, manageable tasks. Ensure these tasks align with the “INVEST” principles.
• Estimation and Prioritization: Collaboratively estimate the effort required for each refined item and reassess their priority based on team discussions and stakeholder input.
• Capture Changes: Document any changes made, new insights, or decisions taken during the meeting for future reference.

5. Ensure Collaboration and Participation

• Engage the Entire Team: Encourage active participation from all team members to foster shared understanding and commitment.
• Seek Diverse Inputs: Welcome diverse perspectives from developers, testers, and stakeholders to gain comprehensive insights into backlog items.

6. Maintain Focus and Time Management

• Stay Focused: Guide discussions to remain on track and aligned with the meeting’s objectives. Avoid deviating into unrelated topics.
• Time Management: Keep an eye on the clock and ensure that discussions are productive without stretching beyond the allocated time.

7. Review and Follow-Up

• Summarize Discussions: At the end of the meeting, summarize the key decisions, changes, and action items agreed upon during the session.
• Follow-Up: Share meeting notes or updates with the team post-meeting, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding refined backlog items and any tasks assigned.

8. Continuous Improvement

• Collect Feedback: Encourage feedback from team members regarding the refinement process, seeking areas for improvement in subsequent meetings.
• Iterate and Adapt: Based on feedback, continuously refine the process to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

By following these steps and fostering a collaborative environment, teams can conduct productive backlog refinement meetings that contribute significantly to a well-groomed and adaptable product backlog. The key lies in consistent communication, active participation, and a focus on achieving the meeting’s objectives.

Techniques for Effective Backlog Refinement

Here are two effective techniques used for product backlog grooming.

1. Shift & Share methodology:

Shift & Share gets rid of long large-group presentations and replaces them with several concise explanations made simultaneously to multiple small groups.

• The Product Owner assigns, for example, one person who will be in charge of a station. The Product Owner shares the concept of what they want to see and why.
• The Product Owner themselves occupies another station.
• We split the team into two groups and send each group to different stations.
• The host of the station explains a concept and main idea of the product backlog item.Then, the team discusses, asks questions, and immediately adds necessary details to the product backlog item: description, acceptance criteria, mockups, assessment, etc.
• After 20 minutes, the groups change stations and repeat the process.
• The entire team gets back together, the Product Owner looks at the brainstormed ideas and answers any remaining questions. If sizing isn’t already complete, it should be done at this point.

Please note, exact timing may vary from team to team. Try different options and choose what works best for your team.

2. The minimal specification agile refinement technique

Minimal specification (Min Specs) specifies only the essential “must-dos” and “must-not-dos” in order to achieve a specific purpose

• The Product Owner asks developers to create a list of all must-do and must-not-do requirements (Max Specs). The goal is to include as many elements as possible. This means you should:
  • Have every team member prepare their own list of requirements in one minute.
  • Organize people in small groups (2-4) and ask them to combine their lists in 6 minutes. Together they refine their lists, combine them into one document, and add new items. The resulting document is a Max Spec list.
• Each group checks every item on its Max Spec list to see if it correlates with the specified purpose. If the purpose can be achieved without the item, that item is deleted from the list. This round should take around 15 minutes.
•  If necessary, hold a second 15-minute round.
• In no more than 15 minutes, make a short list of requirements while comparing the specs from the small groups.

The output of this activity is several sentences with maximum value and minimum work. This is Min Specs.

Again, the exact timing may vary from team to team. Try different options and choose what works best for your team. If you are interested in these agile refinement techniques, you can read more here.

Conclusion

Product backlog refinement isn’t a standalone task, but a continuous, collaborative effort crucial for project success. By employing various techniques, best practices, and overcoming challenges, teams can maintain a refined backlog that adapts to changing needs, facilitates effective planning, and ensures the delivery of high-quality products that meet customer expectations. Embracing a culture of continuous improvement in backlog refinement empowers teams to navigate complexities and drive innovation in agile development.