
Examples of Product Backlog Items
- New Features. Requests for new features originate from a multitude of sources. ...
- Technical Debt. Technical debt includes work that needs to be done for the product to stay up to date and be maintainable.
- Bugs. Bugs and defects are problems discovered by end users that escaped quality control during development.
- Research. ...
How to get out of a work backlog?
Backlog items are essentially any ideas that could add value to a product being developed. In Scrum, those ideas are turned into items that are stored on a product backlog – hence, backlog items or product backlog items (sometimes referred to as PBIs).
How to calculate the backlog and manage your resources?
What is a Backlog A backlog is a list of tasks required to support a larger strategic plan. For example, a product development context contains a prioritized list of items. The product team agrees to work on these projects next. Typical items on a product backlog include user stories, changes to existing functionality, and bug fixes.
How to create a product backlog?
Mar 29, 2022 · A product backlog item often represents an effort to deliver functional capabilities listed on a roadmap. A product backlog item is a short description of a product that the customer needs. It could be anything from a new feature to fix, a bug fix, or even an enhancement. You must prioritize the backlog item by: How soon it’s needed?
What is deep in product backlog?
Definition. A product backlog is a list of the new features, changes to existing features, bug fixes, infrastructure changes or other activities that a team may deliver in order to achieve a specific outcome. The product backlog is the single authoritative source for things that a team works on. That means that nothing gets done that isn’t on the ...

What are backlog items in agile?
In Agile development, a product backlog is a prioritized list of deliverables (such as new features) that should be implemented as part of a project or product development. It's a decision-making artifact that helps you estimate, refine, and prioritize everything you might sometime in the future want to complete.
What is a product backlog item in Scrum?
The agile product backlog in Scrum is a prioritized features list, containing short descriptions of all functionality desired in the product. When applying Scrum, it's not necessary to start a project with a lengthy, upfront effort to document all requirements.
How do you define a product backlog item?
A product backlog item (PBI) is a single element of work in the product backlog. This can include specifications, new feature requests, bugs, or change requirements. Simply put, a PBI is an individual task that needs to be taken care of to improve the project or fix an issue.Nov 3, 2020
What is a good backlog item?
Good Product Backlog Characteristics. Good product backlogs share similar characteristics, which Mike Cohn and Roman Pichler captured with the acronym DEEP: Detailed appropriately, Emergent, Estimated, Prioritized.
What is the difference between a product backlog and a sprint backlog?
The Product Backlog contains all the items in the software development project. The Sprint Backlog contains only the items of the Backlog specific to the current Sprint.Jun 21, 2021
What is product backlog item in Azure Devops?
Your product backlog corresponds to your project plan, the roadmap for what your team plans to deliver. You create your product backlog by adding user stories, backlog items, or requirements. As shown in the following image, your backlog consists of a flat list of work items.
Who writes backlog?
The Product OwnerThe Product Owner (PO) “owns” the product backlog on behalf of the stakeholders, and is primarily responsible for creating it.
What is Scrum sprint backlog?
The sprint backlog is a list of tasks identified by the Scrum team to be completed during the Scrum sprint. During the sprint planning meeting, the team selects some number of product backlog items, usually in the form of user stories, and identifies the tasks necessary to complete each user story.
What is PBI Devops?
To plan a software project and track software defects using Scrum, teams use the product backlog item (PBI) and bug work item types (WITs).Apr 1, 2022
What is product backlog with example?
Product Backlog Example 1: Team Organization A backlog structured around team organization does just that: Its hierarchy is shaped by the shape of the organization — by the different teams working on the product. For example, Team A, Team B, Team C. Or Team Yellow and Team Blue, as above.Feb 25, 2018
What is a good backlog size?
Here there is a commonly accepted standard that the top of your product backlog should have 2-3 sprints worth of stories that meet the definition of "ready", where the development team can pick them up and run with them.Jun 8, 2015
What does a Scrum product backlog look like?
In the simplest definition the Scrum Product Backlog is simply a list of all things that needs to be done within the project. It replaces the traditional requirements specification artifacts. These items can have a technical nature or can be user-centric e.g. in the form of user stories.
Why do we need a backlog?
Make it easier to assign work. When a product team gets together to plan work for a specific upcoming time period, a backlog makes it much easier to assign tasks to each person. This is because the tasks are already written down, ordered according to their priority level, and the team can hand out the highest-priority items to ...
What is a backlog in a team?
A backlog can serve several important functions for an organization. 1. Provide a single source of truth for the team’s planned work. When a cross-functional team works from a product backlog, the team knows they never need to search for what to work on next or to wonder in which order they should prioritize their work.
How to groom a backlog?
To combat this threat, one best practice is to conduct regular backlog grooming sessions. Then, when they pull together the cross-functional team for backlog grooming, product managers can: 1 Review the items and discuss how the items at the top support the company’s current strategic objectives. 2 Break down complex tasks into smaller, more actionable ones. 3 Discuss items on the list and clarify any issues or questions the team has about them. 4 Ensure user stories or other tasks at the top of the list meet the team’s definition of “ready.” 5 Help keep it organized, up-to-date, and healthy.
What is a PM?
Product managers (PM) must focus on high-level objectives to solve problems for their target market. This means PMs spend a lot of their time on strategic initiatives such as conducting market research, studying their existing products’ usage data, and talking with stakeholders such as their sales teams and customers.
What is a backlog item?
A “Backlog Item” simply defines a distinct piece of functionality that has yet to be delivered for a product. The Product Backlog is a term used to describe all of the remaining Backlog Items, and a Sprint Backlog is a term used to describe a subset of them that a Scrum team have committed to deliver in a sprint.
What is a defect in a work order?
A Defect must relate to one or more specific acceptance criteria (functional or non-functional requirement) that has been identified prior commencement of work (or arguably during depending on how flexibly you are with letting changes to requirements come in late).
Why is technical debt created?
Technical Debt is created for two reasons: 1 — When a bug is identified with an in-progress item (i.e. a functional or non-functional issue is found) and it is decided by the team (including the product owner) that it is low enough priority that it can be delivered without resolving the issue.
What is the user story?
Indeed, the user story is a very powerful principal. It’s a very simple way of keeping product features distinct and focused on the benefit they have to the user. The unified format, that is often used, provides a valuable way of easily communicating the purpose of the proposed feature to any stakeholder. But somewhere along the way the term became ...
What is a feature in a story?
It is a distinct piece of functionality that a user needs and that will add value to the product or strengthens the business proposition. Features can be big (“epics” maybe) or they can be small (“quickies” perhaps).
What is technical debt?
The risk here is that Technical Debt is pushed down the priority list and never resolved — as it is not perceived to bring about tangible benefit to the product , user or business. The term Technical Debt was originally coined by Ward Cunningham and the principal is that, like financial debt, it accrues interest.
What is spike in research?
A Spike is an investigation that helps to reduce the uncertainty of how a Feature might be delivered. Spikes are usually time-boxed bodies of work and they should feed into the backlog refinement process. A spike may result in a small prototype being created, or simply a document detailing the outcome of the research done.
What is product backlog?
A product backlog is a list of the new features, changes to existing features, bug fixes, infrastructure changes or other activities that a team may deliver in order to achieve a specific outcome.
What is the importance of product backlog?
The key activities in maintaining the product backlog include prioritizing product backlog items, deciding which product backlog items should be removed from the product backlog, and facilitating product backlog refinement. A product backlog can be an effective way for a team to communicate what they are working on and what they plan ...
What is product backlog?
As described in the Scrum Guide, the Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product. It is the single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team.
What is a product goal in Scrum?
The Product Goal describes a future state of the product which can serve as a target for the Scrum Team to plan against. The Product Goal is in the Product Backlog. The rest of the Product Backlog emerges to define “what” will fulfill the Product Goal.
What is the Purpose of a Backlog?
The Product Backlog serves to define tasks and drive the development forward. It increases transparency and helps the team know how much work is completed and what is left to be done.
The Importance of a Backlog to Product Managers
Product Managers need to chalk out the product strategy and figure out the best features and functionality for the product, in order to maximise value and create customer delight.
Benefits of a Product Backlog
A product backlog offers significant benefits during the development work.
What is a Sprint Backlog?
Agile teams divide their work into time-boxed iterations called sprints. Each sprint typically lasts around 2 weeks or a month, and the team pick up several PBIs that they can complete during this time.
Agile Product Backlog vs. Sprint Backlog: How do they differ?
The Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog are similar, yet quite different. Both are integral to the developing and scheduling process and are essential planning artifacts.
What is the purpose of description field?
The description field is used to define the background context of the deliverables and why those deliverables are being considered valuable. The description should always include documentation of the current state, the need (otherwise known as the problem or opportunity), as well as the desired future state.
Who is Kurt Wondra?
Kurt Wondra is high-energy, well-rounded IT consultant who started his career as a Software Engineer and quickly realized he had a knack for business analysis and project management (as his many clients can attest to).
