The Importance of Effective Product Backlog Management
Product Backlog management is an important skill that helps the Scrum Team work more effectively on their product and deliver value. When a Product Backlog is well-managed, the Scrum Team can work on the most important items in the order that contributes toward a shared goal and direction for the product.
On the other hand, when a Product Backlog is not well-managed the Product Owner risks being misaligned with team members and stakeholders. This misalignment generally causes team members to waste time on refining and working on Product Backlog items that the customer does not want. Furthermore, the Scrum Team accumulates an overwhelming number of Product Backlog items which makes effective Product Backlog management nearly impossible. When the Product Backlog becomes a long list of random ideas and tasks, it is often referred to as a “bloated Product Backlog”. This type of Product Backlog is difficult for the Product Owner to order effectively, is difficult for Developers to work from, and is hard for stakeholders to easily understand the potential value that customers will receive.
In order to manage the Product Backlog effectively, the Product Owner should ensure that the backlog is ordered appropriately and up-to-date, so that it:
- Increases transparency and the shared understanding of the work that needs to be done to improve the product
- Sets clear expectations with stakeholders about what is included in the Product Backlog and what is not
- Focuses the Scrum Team’s development efforts on delivering the next most important items of value
- Aligns the team on a shared Product Goal which is a step toward the product vision
- Minimizes the time wasted focusing on items that are considered to be of low importance
Product Backlog management allows the Product Owner to work with the Developers and stakeholders to create transparency and clarity around the Why and the What of the work that the team is pursuing to deliver value. However, it can quickly become unproductive when the team spends a lot of time diving deep into conversation about how the work should be done. This is because more information will emerge during the Sprint and the work may evolve. The Scrum Team will learn how much Product Backlog management is sufficient for them and how much information they need in order to start the work and finish it within a Sprint.
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