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A tool for managing product backlog.

Last post 08:59 am January 3, 2024 by Steven Deneir
1 reply
soudabeh mhashemi
01:08 pm December 27, 2023

Hello everybody.

I am looking for a tool to manage the product backlog. Two key factors are important for me. 1. Create a chart to show dependencies between tasks. 2. Show the priorities of different user stories.

Would you please share your experience using these types of tools? 

 

Thank you for your time.

Steven Deneir
08:59 am January 3, 2024

A Product Backlog brings transparency on a future state of the product. Therefor I do not expect to see tasks in a Product Backlog - this is an alarm bel for me.

Showing priorities can be done in different ways. The easiest one I use with most of my teams is the item that is on top of the Product Backlog is the most important one. Followed by the second in order, etc. So a hard-ranked list.

When it comes to tools, there are 2 criteria for me that are important:

1/ the tool needs to raise transparency. Meaning it should help all stakeholders to understand the Product Backlog.
2/ the tool needs to support collaboration. Meaning multiple people can actively work together on it. The tool should support this and not hinder this.

A flat list in a tool such as Jira or similar does not bring transparency. The view is too limited. Too many clicks are needed to find the information, etc. It also does not allow collaboration. If one team member does not refresh his/her screen after another one made some updates, there is certainly a loss of information. So take care.

The tool I prefer is a digital whiteboard such as Miro or Mural. These support transparency through ease of visualisation (zooming in and out for example). These also support collaboration. You can work with th entire team and stakeholders at the same moment on the Product Backlog and everyone will see at once what is happening.
Order can be shown using top-to-bottom approaches, using color codes, using icons, using numbers, ... whatever the team feels is most helpful to them.
Dependencies can be shown using arrows, color codes, sequencing, etc. again whatever the team feels is most helpful to them.

Which brings me to a last criteria: the tool is expected to support the team. They have their needs. These needs will change over time (typically rather sooner than later). The tool nees to support them and the fact of changing needs.

 

Hope this helps.
Feel free to shoot more questions!
 
PS You might be interested in my blog posts about the fundamentals of the Scrum framework. If so, please check out this page: https://boostyourscrum.com/professional-scrum-foundations-series/

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