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Scrum with Kanban - Sprint Backlog order

Last post 02:44 pm August 19, 2021 by Balaji Dhamodaran
3 replies
07:52 am August 16, 2021

When doing Kanban with Scrum, should the Sprint backlog (to do) column be ordered in the order of value with the most valuable at the top? Should developers take only from the top of that column?


09:24 am August 16, 2021

As of the January 2021 version of the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams, there are no explicit rules for how to organize the work on the team's board. However, following from the Scrum Guide, the Developers are responsible for the Sprint Backlog and its representation.

If a team came to me to ask how they should order their items, I'd suggest ordering them in the order that they will most likely be done. If someone on the team is ready to pull new work, they'd be able to start right to left to see if there's any work that they can help get to Done. If they start a new work item, it would likely be the one at the top of the first column, but professional judgment should be used to pick the right piece of work. The person may not have the knowledge and skills necessary to do the work represented by the first item, and perhaps the person who does is unavailable to work with them to build their skills, so the second or third item would be pulled in order to match the work with the skills of the people available.

The ordering would be based on any number of factors or combinations of factors, including dependencies, risk, and value. Work that should be done first to enable other work may be higher. RIskier work may be higher than less risky work to find and manage risks earlier in the Sprint. More valuable work may be done sooner to maximize the value of the Increment. I would recommend some kind of agreement among the Developers, or perhaps between the Developers and the Product Owner, that helps to guide the team in ordering (and therefore selecting) work in the Sprint Backlog to maximize the value of the visualization.


01:22 pm August 16, 2021

When doing Kanban with Scrum, should the Sprint backlog (to do) column be ordered in the order of value with the most valuable at the top? 

The team has a Sprint Goal, such as improving an SLE or cycle time or throughput. What Sprint Backlog order would maximize the chances of their goal commitment being achieved?


02:44 pm August 19, 2021

Every Product Backlog item can potentially become an increment and every increment has its value.PO knows it better by ordering the PBI. Probably team can follow the same order in Sprint as well to achieve the goal


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