Backlog Grooming is the process by which Product Backlog Items are reviewed, revised, and reprioritized before they are added to a sprint backlog during Sprint Planning. The purpose of backlog grooming is to ensure that the highest priority PBIs are selected for the coming sprint backlog so your team can deliver the greatest possible value within their 2-week timeboxed sprint.
Backlog grooming sessions should be prominently scheduled events in your agile project’s monthly rhythm . Before starting the backlog grooming session it will also help to define what you mean by backlog grooming so everyone involved has a common understanding of each other’s expectations. Once you agree on what backlog grooming means for your team, then next steps would include finalizing who should be involved in this special event, considering how long backlog grooming sessions should last, and perhaps more importantly, how backlog grooming will fit into your project’s monthly rhythm.
One of the most effective ways to plan backlog grooming sessions is to create a backlog grooming backlog for each stage gate . For example: backlog groomer backlogs for product backlog refinement, estimation and prioritization events. After all, it doesn’t make sense to schedule a separate backlog grooming session if one was held just days earlier for planning purposes.
Another aspect of planning and preparing well in advance is to define what you mean by backlog grooming so everyone involved has a common understanding of each other’s expectations. Essentially what you are doing here is scheduling user story refinements that articulate the details stakeholders care about such as acceptance criteria and detailed scenarios. This is usually carried out by the product owner and/or business analysts while the backlog groomer acts as a facilitator, helping to ensure that nothing “falling between the cracks” does so literally, i.e., are missed.
The backlog groomer also participates in the backlog grooming event itself, acting as an enabler to keep discussions on track by identifying topics that need clarification or exploring generic problems across multiple stories when necessary. The idea here is to manage what comes up at backlog grooming sessions , which requires an awareness of past backlog grooming sessions . Has it ever occurred to you that when is the sprint backlog created ?
Differences between Backlog Grooming and Sprint Planning are:
- The backlog grooming is typically a less structured activity than sprint planning, allowing backlog grooming sessions to start without having backlog items already estimated. 2. Backlog groomers act as facilitator helping to ensure that nothing “falling between the cracks” does so literally, i.e., are missed. While at Sprint Planning the Product Owner is in charge of estimating backlog items and negotiating what will be done in a Sprint.
- In backlog grooming no commitments are made while the backlog groomer helps product owners in making decisions about which features can be implementable within a single sprint or which features should be broken down into smaller stories for implementation in future sprints. In Sprint Planning the team makes commitment based on backlog items that can be done within a sprint. What is digital product management ?
- Backlog grooming is an activity that takes place between backlog refinement and backlog refinement sessions. Product backlog grooming happens on a regular basis, for example during backlog refinement sessions, as new requirements emerge and as the product backlog evolves to reflect them. Backlog grooming is more frequently performed than backlog refinement and less frequently than backlog refinement sessions.
- During backlog grooming we look at each item of backlog focussing on quick win/potential problems and also adding details about the stories so they are ready for development in the next sprint planning session by team members. In this sense there really isn’t much difference from backlog grooming to backlog refinement except that different type of information focus.
- All backlog items should be fleshed out so that the team, and product owner are able to understand what is required in terms of development effort, time estimates, risks etc. backlog refinement sessions are also used closely before sprint planning where the team collaboratively break down backlog items into tasks they can commit to during a sprint backlog refinement sessions are typically longer than backlog grooming with less distinction between each item on the backlog or even 5 minutes per item is enough for this session
7 . Backlog grooming may occur at any interval including waiting until backlog items reach a certain point before grooming them (e.g., once work begins on an item). Backlog grooming entails all aspects of backlog management including: elaborating on backlog items, making estimations, ordering backlog items, removing backlog items, etc.
- Backlog grooming occurs during backlog refinement sessions where the team collaboratively break down backlog items into tasks they can commit to during a sprint backlog refinement sessions are typically longer than backlog grooming with less distinction between each item on the backlog or even 5 minutes per item is enough for this session
9 . The team holds just one backlog refinement meeting before each sprint backlog refinement meetings may span multiple days but there should be no more than 3 consecutive days of backlog refinement meetings without another opportunity for the team to inspect and adapt their work together in some other forum.
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