Product Backlog Refinement
The Scrum framework prescribes five events mainly -
- The Sprint
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum/Stand-up
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
In addition to the above prescribed events, there is one event which many Scrum teams practice aka Product Backlog refinement. This meeting mainly allows the Product Owner and the development team to analyse the backlog stories collaboratively before the actual work on them starts.
What are the benefits of Product Backlog Refinement?
Refinement helps teams to understand the work needed before the actual development of the features start which encourages shorter and more efficient sprint planning.
There are well defined tasks defined ready to be moved to a Sprint Backlog, even before you get to Sprint Planning. As all the items are already prioritised and ranked in the refinement meeting, the Sprint Planning meeting takes much less time to complete.
It also helps teams to understand and maintain sprint velocity i.e the amount of work a team can tackle during a sprint. Having the items detailed out in the refinement meeting aids in the planning and execution of the tasks by the development team.
The team also understands what's important and how smaller tasks fit into the product roadmap and business strategy.
Who attends the Product Backlog Refinement meetings?
The Product Owner, Scrum Master and the entire development team should attend the refinement meeting. In simple words, the entire product development team.
The Product Owner leads the meeting, with the Scrum Master sitting in or being the facilitator. Team members from the customer support and quality assurance team should also be considered while setting up this meeting, as they may have valuable user insights.
How to conduct Product Backlog Refinement meetings?
The refinement meeting is mainly done to add detail, estimates and priority to the items in the Product Backlog. During the meeting, each item is discussed, reviewed and revised. Initially, teams may struggle to do it but they learn it eventually from trial and error. Make sure to time box the meeting ideally to 1 hour. You can also have more than one refinement meeting during each sprint.
How should the Product Owner prepare for the Product Backlog Refinement meetings?
A few things a Product Owner should keep in mind before running the refinement meeting are:
- Talk to your stakeholders
- Revisit the strategy objectives
- Track and review your KPI’s
- Remove features/stories which are no longer relevant
- Be customer centric when planning what features add more value
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you are not already doing product backlog refinement, start now and try to continue it for a couple of sprints, before you begin to see the benefits and results. It definitely takes time, practice and experimentation before finalising on the approach which works best for the team. And remember, what works for one team does not necessarily work for another.