What is Product Backlog and who owns it? | chisel (2023)

What is the product portfolio?

Backlogs de Scrumlist all the work you need to complete. It is where you store the things you need to do in the future.

Specifically, a product backlog is a list that includes user stories, new features, changes to existing features, anderror correction.It also contains elements that help teams achieve specific results.

Nothing is done unless it is in the product backlog. However, just because you wrote something doesn't mean you have to turn it in.

it's justrepresents an optionto provide certain things in lieu of compromises.

Should bestraightto add an item to the product backlog. Also, deleting a pending item should be just as simple.

When organizing the product portfolio, you shouldSort items by priority.The highest ranked items represent the most essential in the kit to complete the task.

Osizemidetailof a portfolio item can vary depending on the length of time you need.

Working on an item shouldcontain enough informationso that the equipment starts working immediately.

However, assume that these items do not have a specific due date.

Your outline should remain broad with few details in such a case. This ensures that you can transfer to other projects as needed or desired.

Product backlog items continually change as team members better understand the outcome.

These changes include adding or removing backlog items and refining existing ones.

Such a process gives thedynamic featureforany product design/development.

Regarding the product portfolio, a team can have several people with different roles.

The person responsible for maintaining everything related to this list is called the"Product Owner."

Prima:Click here to learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a Product Owner.

This position requires keeping track of items that you can delete once completed or no longer need to be there for whatever reason.

Changes in the teams, such as the inclusion of new elements or changes in the objectives, must also translate into changes in the respective priorities. It helps everything stay up to date.

Who is the owner of the product portfolio?

the product ownerowns and decides to prioritize the product portfolio.

It would be better for all the members of the wholecross-functional teamsto contribute to the delays.

Another thing to remember is thatChange of owners and purposesbased on team approach.

For example, the owner of the sprint backlog in scrum is the delivery team.

Who makes the final decision on the prioritization of the product portfolio?

Sin mixed, ohproduct owner (PO)is the only person responsible for prioritizing the stories within the product portfolio.

Even if the PO makes the final decision to prioritize the product backlog, it does not mean that the product owner is alone in this task. They can ask for any help they need.

It would be better if you understood that the owner of the product is alawyerfor the client

The more they understand the customer's needs, the better their project will be in terms ofcost-benefitmisustainability.

They shouldstay in close contact with your customersto collect all the necessary information about how they would like this new product or aresourcedevelop.

Talking to other stakeholders can also give them an idea: there should be no surprises during development.

All it takes is one big change request at an expensive time close to the release date to push things back weeks, if not months, without proper planning beforehand.

The product owner is the only person responsible for deciding prioritiesAt the end of the day.This is why you should never have multiple product owners.

There must be a single point of truth for decisions: the product owner.

So,Where does the scrum master come into all of this?

think about himscrum master as team leader.

Prima:Click here for an understanding of a scum team.

must remainimpartial in all matters of product designand decision making, but still face obstacles that could inhibit a productive workflow on the project.

they are likemoderatorsthis way. They may not play favorites with their team members or interfere in case of disagreement on the best way forward.

Suppose they go too deep into this kind of discussion. In that case, it will only serve as an impediment when trying to solve problems with your colleagues.

Your time would now be split between two responsibilities instead of just one.

The Scrum Master will always help the Product Owner in the process. However, they will not get involved in the last word.

Preventing the Scrum Master from prioritizing is the same logic as why aproject Managerand a scrum master should never be the same person.

Many companies will try this because they want to achieveagile practices without changingtheir old values, processes or organizations. But it doesn't work like that.

How long or Product Backlog?

Product backlog exists and changes throughout product development.

It is lasts for the life of the product.

Who can request backlog items?

Product owners request product rollup.

work with himconcerned parties,the development team,and the scrum teamplan and analyze the work.

OPO and Scrum Team need to work togetherProvide the development team with a suitable plan for product backlog.

What are the characteristics of a good Product Backlog?

The following are the four characteristics of a good product portfolio.

You can keep the acronymDEEPin mind and understand if your product portfolio fits.

duly detailed

One of thecriticalcharacteristics of a good product portfolio is that it will bedetailed enough.

Items in the product backlog that you need to take on later will have less detail than those prioritized.

Emergent

The product portfolio is a constantevolving document.Teams and Product Owners can add items and morerelevant informationevery time they find it.

They may also decide to change or remove some things.

If the product portfolio you're working on is changing, that's the hallmark of a good product portfolio.

Estimated

A good product portfolio should havea significant size estimate. And that estimate should be about the efforts that the team will require to develop them.

In this way, the product owner can easilyview, estimate and prioritize the itemOK.

For example, the items in the team's portfolio that will be prioritized will be small in size.

prioritized

A single product backlog should be a collection of multiple product backlog items. But in this case, you should not put all the items of the product portfolio on top.

When such a situation arises, it would be best to take the necessary product elements for release. Don't focus on the other items in the product portfolio.

So you save time and you canfocus on your priorities.

How to estimate the Product Backlog?

Estimating a product backlog helps product owners and teams review backlog items.

You can use the following three estimation methods to estimate product backlog.

poker planning

As the name suggests, this estimate of product backlog is also fun to work with.

once you have onerating scaleinstead, gather your team members. Now deal the ranked cards to each of them.

Read aloud the product backlog item you need to rank. Each team member will select the card and sort the items. But they won't disclose it until the product owner gives notice.

Once everyone has chosen their rank for that item, the team will show the cards.

If the estimates are similar, the group has accepted that statement.

But if the selected estimates differ, the team will need to analyze them further.

Order

Another estimate of the product portfolio is the order.

Each team member takes a card with a certain item from the printed product portfolio. Then they place it on the table.

The team then places the items on each side of the table considering how the team member estimates them.

One side of the table represents the high priority items. Conversely, the other side will have the lower priority items.

Then the other team member also takes a card from the pile and places it where they see fit. They can also move the existing card to either side.

After all the cards are stacked on the stack table and all members agree on their positions, you will give the product portfolio items a number. This number is assigned with the help of thefibonacci scales.

Sort the items starting with the lowest cards. For example, you assign the smallest element the number 1, and when you move to the other side of the table, the estimate would be 3, 4, 5, and so on.

Unique Method

One of the unique methods of estimating your product's backlog depends on the t-shirts you wear.

Amazed?No seas.

Estimating this method is easy.

Here's how you can do it: You can estimate the product backlog item based on sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL, etc.

This method is useful when you arenot sure about the numerical estimatesor are still discovering the project.

However, keep in mind that you cannot use this estimate to the end. Once you're comfortable with the numbers, convert these shirt sizes to one of the estimates above.

Who creates the estimate for a product backlog item?

ODevelopment teamo The TD is responsible for all estimates on the product backlog.

But the TD needs to consult and discuss the product backlog items with the owner.

What are the prioritization techniques of the Product Backlog?

RICE:

The RICE scoring model is a prioritization frameworkdesigned to help product managersdetermine which products, features, and other initiatives make the cut.You can assign the RICE score by ranking these items based on four factors.

The factors that form the acronym RICE are:

• Reach(the number of clients that would use this feature)
• Impact(how much it will improve the bottom line or income of your business)
• Trust(belief in our ability to meet that estimate)
• efforts(resources needed for development time/costs)

Using a scoring system like this can provide companies with three key benefits:

1. making it possiblemore informed decisionsof less biased decision makers.
2. Helpdefense optionswhen questioned by executives.
3. reducing the riskinvolved with new ideas that are introduced into already risky environments.

Moscow method:

The MoSCoW method is a structureforeffective communication with key stakeholderswhat and why you are working on specific features.

Moscowsupportsmust have (required), must have (preferred but not required),could have (possibly beneficialor advantageous),won't work now.

It used to be used bywaterfall basedHowever, it may work better in agile environments when time constraints make it difficult to complete the entire project simultaneously.

It helps critical stakeholders understand which backlog items are most important to focus on, and saves time and energy by categorizing them more efficiently.

Value vs. Effort

The Value vs. Effort Prioritization Methodaidsimplifyall enumerate various characteristics and initiatives.

It quantifies them with value and effort scores to properly determine their place in the matrix.

value x effortprioritization methodis a great way for organizationsuse your resources more effectively.

In addition, he stays true to the company's values ​​and goals while delivering on customer promises. All of this will lead to higher revenue or growth if executed correctly.

Features are classified according tohow much value they providerelative to the effort required for implementation.

Canmeasure it by ROI (return on investment)or the total cost involved per feature up to full development. You can choose what seems most appropriate given your specific circumstances.

1-2-3 later

The Product Owner reviews all items in the Product Backlog.three times.

The first time, they try to find the most important item to work on next and put it aside while they inspect other items in the same way.

They repeat this process two more times, inspecting each new batch of options two at a time (one of the previous batches).

Finally, they're back where we started: the original list again. However, now you organize according to the urgency of completion.

This technique would be better to usewhen there are fewer than 25 backordered items in total.

Simple two-factor classification

First, the product owner gives each item a business value from 0 to 5; higher numbers mean they are more valuable to the company.

Then, that person assumes them and asks for help to categorize them into two groups:

1. small enoughtherefore it can be completed in less than a day if everyone piles into it;
2. everything else istoo big or uncertainabout meeting the deadline.

The Product Owner reviews everyone who falls into the first category based on their score. Then they order them and add what was left out.

The Product Owner should only focus on the items in the “little enough” for this disambiguation work.

Leave the other items in an almost random order. This helps facilitate prioritization decisions when many options have the same business value score. This technique works well when there is20 and 50 product portfolio items.

These techniques require some thought if multiple items within a category share an equal business value score.

However, it is advisable not to worry too much about them. That is, as long as you have articles classified in “little" size. Small size usually meansless than twenty

Prima:Click here to understand the purpose of a product and how to define it.

FIFO with shipped items

In this technique, the items of the product portfolio arearranged in order of order.

The only exception is that the Product Owner can move a set number at the start of each sprint.

Also, you can exclude items at the top if they have been completed or are considered irrelevant. This process works forany size and quantity.

However, all entries must be small enough to complete in one sprint.

Examples of product accumulation

Let's take a look at examples of goal-based product backlogs.

A product portfolio structured around objectives is also known asgoal-oriented order book. he focuses onproduct purposeand divides it into sub-features.

The two benefits you can get from a goal-oriented backlog are:

• Teams can spend more time onBusiness value.They may update and improve certain features of a product.
  
• Because the goals are visible on a daily basis, teams feelresponsiblefor working for them. You can create measurable feedback scores to see if the team is on track.

Backlog de Sprint vs. Backlog de Producto

Osprint backlogit's ashort term plandue to team workload.

The product portfolio is along term plandetermined by the deliverables that make your products more valuable.

Many people may think that these two tasks are subservient to each other. But this is not always true because actually both can be different approaches.

although youthe goals are the same, they often become part of each other.

The product portfolio isa container for essential workthat keeps your company active in the market competition.

It can also change frequently with items being added or removed on a regular basis. It is usually more prominent than the Sprint Backlog due to itshigher granularity(less stuff split below user story levels).

The Product Owner monitors this list, particularly unassigned tasks.

These unassigned tasks are designed to ensure that something new always comes along, so customers never get bored.

On the other hand, thesprint backlogit is a container for the work items that the team has committed to doing as part of the next sprint.

It is the result of the meeting where they decide what work to do in the next week and month, which usually lasts from one to four weeks.

You generate the content for these sprints based on the agreed user stories.

However, if necessary, you can also includebugs and refactoring tasks(making the code more efficient).

Finally,software for product managersasChiselHelp teams organize andprioritize product portfolio.

Click here to request a demo session with Chisel.

It's asimple but powerful toolthat makes it easy to collaborate with your team members on the back-end of any project or initiative.

Comintuitive features like kanban boards, you can easily see what tasks are due next and if they were completed or not.

Best of all, Chisel is free forever! take a chance