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The Backlog Refinement is the update of the Product Backlog based upon what has been completed and what has been learned in a recently completed Sprint.

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Step 6: Backlog Refinement.docx
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Quick reference

Step 6: Backlog Refinement

The Backlog Refinement is the update of the Product Backlog based upon what has been completed and what has been learned in a recently completed Sprint.

When to Use Step 6: Backlog Refinement

The Backlog Refinement is normally done immediately following the Sprint Demo.

Instructions

  • The Product Backlog refinement is done by the Product Owner.
  • The Product Owner considers the results of the Sprint Demo:
    • The performance of the completed Stories.
    • Insight concerning uncompleted Stories.
    • Ideas for new Stories or modifications to the remaining Stories that will improve the project’s ability to deliver on the Vision or goal of the project.
  • During the course of the Sprint, business or industry conditions may have changed that result in the need to add, delete, or modify Stories.
  • The Product Owner then begins to reprioritize the remaining Product Backlog in preparation for starting another Sprint.

 

Hints and Tips

  • This is the chance for a “do-over” on the Product Backlog.  If the Product Owner now realizes that some of the stories missed the mark, they should change them. There is no reason to keep inadequate or unnecessary Stories just because they were in the original Product Backlog.
  • This normally doesn’t take long, especially if there were no surprises in the Sprint Demo.
  • Continuing with the museum website upgrade example:
    • A new Story was created to get the Donor button to work with the Merchant Services interface.
    • Another new Story was added based upon comments from the Sprint Demo and that was to include an interactive Calendar function.
    • The Stories were then reprioritized:

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  • 00:03 Hi, this is Ray Sheen.
  • 00:05 Well now that the sprint is over, we need to update this project.
  • 00:08 So let's look at step number 6, product backlog refinement.
  • 00:12 Recall that the product backlog is the prioritized list of
  • 00:16 all the stories to represent the project deliverables and results.
  • 00:21 Some of those have just been demonstrated in these print demo.
  • 00:25 So we want to look at the remaining stories and the backlog and
  • 00:28 refine that list.
  • 00:29 We'll us the results so this print demo as a starting point for the refinement,
  • 00:34 based upon all the stories that where completed and demonstrated the product
  • 00:38 donor will have a better understanding of what is realistic and feasible.
  • 00:42 Also there's now better insight about uncompleted stories.
  • 00:46 Where they too difficult?
  • 00:47 Is there some technical or organizational obstacle?
  • 00:50 Or did the team just run out of time?
  • 00:53 I encourage the product owner at this point to revisit the project
  • 00:56 vision or goal.
  • 00:57 With the completion of the stories from the Sprint they should reconsider whether
  • 01:01 they have the right stories in the remaining product backlog and
  • 01:05 whether the demo criteria should be revised on any of those stories.
  • 01:09 Of course, it is quite possible that during this sprint,
  • 01:11 there are some changes to industry or business conditions.
  • 01:15 This is the time to add, modify, or delete stories.
  • 01:19 I caution the product owner not to become wedded to the original stories.
  • 01:23 This is like free do-over.
  • 01:25 If you know that some stories really should be different, change them.
  • 01:29 As the new stories or modified stories are added to the list,
  • 01:32 the product owner needs to start thinking about changes to priorities
  • 01:35 before going into the next Sprint.
  • 01:38 It should be obvious that since we are dealing with the product backlog,
  • 01:41 that the product donor is the person doing the refinement.
  • 01:44 They may still talk to stakeholders and the scrimp team members about the stories
  • 01:48 or demo criteria, but the product owner decides what has changed.
  • 01:53 Let's look at roles responsibilities and deliverables.
  • 01:57 The product owner has the primary responsibility and the only deliverable.
  • 02:01 They refine the product backlog And create an updated and reprioritized back log.
  • 02:06 Everyone else helps and contributes their expertise and
  • 02:09 insight as requested by the product owner.
  • 02:13 So let's look at our museum website upgrade project again.
  • 02:17 Based upon the Sprint demo results, I needed to create a new story card that
  • 02:20 gets the donor button to work with a merchant services account.
  • 02:25 Also during the Sprint demo a suggestion was made to add an interactive
  • 02:28 calendar function.
  • 02:30 This was consistent with the goal so I created a story card for that too.
  • 02:34 Then it was time to reprioritize and these were the results:
  • 02:38 the donor button was at the top of the list the interactive calendar was
  • 02:42 prioritized to be right after the interactive map and before the analytics.
  • 02:47 Everything else stayed in the same relative order.
  • 02:49 And for this project the refinement activities took about 15 minutes.
  • 02:54 On a large, complex project it will definitely take longer.
  • 02:58 The product backlog refinement is a great opportunity for
  • 03:02 the product owner to fine tune the project requirements.
  • 03:07 It's a built-in mid-course correction.

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