Overview
Definition: Product Backlog refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog.
Length: “Refinement usually consumes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team” (1)
People: Product Owner, Development Team
Outcome: Product Backlog items become more transparent through refinement and the top items are deemed ‘Ready’ for a Sprint (i.e. can be ‘Done’ by the team within one Sprint)
Benefits
Product Backlog Refinement Benefits (2, page 103, Mastering Professional Scrum)
- Increased Transparency – adding details for what you plan to deliver, and your progress
- Clarification of Value – outcomes of what you are trying to achieve become clearer, and helps the team to build the right thing
- Breaking things into consumable pieces – increases flexibility for the team to meet ‘Done’ in a Sprint
- Reduction of dependencies
- Forecasting
- Incorporation of learning – gained learning is incorporated into the product
Facilitation Techniques
Fishbowl collaboration (3)
- Three – five people collaborate around a whiteboard (the fish in the bowl)
- Others in the room may observe but are not allowed to speak
- If someone from outside the bowl wishes to speak they can dive into the bowl which bounces out one of the fish already in the bowl
- People can leave anytime if they are not finding it valuable
- This technique keeps the conversation small and productive
Three Amigos and BDD
- Backlog Refinement is attended by someone to represent each discipline in rotation (i.e. Three Amigos of Product, Development, Testing)
- Behaviour Driven Development is used to focus the conversation on the behaviour of the User Story
- See my talk notes
References
- The Scrum Guide
- Mastering Professional Scrum by Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl
- User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton
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