Overview:
A Product Backlog Health Check is a continuous and systematic evaluation of a product backlog’s overall effectiveness in an Agile framework. It involves assessing aspects like prioritization, clarity, completeness, and alignment with business goals. The goal is to identify issues and improve the backlog’s functionality and responsiveness to changing requirements, ensuring it remains a valuable tool throughout the development lifecycle.
Product Backlog Health Check (Owned by PDM or Product Owner)
The PDM (Product Owner) ensures that the product backlog is:
- DEEP;
- D – Detailed enough (Items that we plan to work on soon should be near the top of the backlog, small in size, and very detailed so that they can be worked on in a near-term sprint. Items that we won’t work on for some time should be toward the bottom of the backlog, larger in size, and less detailed. That’s OK; we don’t plan to work on those soon.) For optimal development clarity, each item must encompass all necessary information. Following the structure of a well-defined user story (As a [the Who], I want to [the What], So that I can [the WHY]), work items should provide a straightforward narrative. Additionally, supplementary details such as mockups, screenshots, and relevant links should be included, ensuring developers have comprehensive information to deliver high-quality results.
- E – Emergent (As long as a product is being developed or maintained, the product backlog is never complete or frozen. Instead, it is continuously updated based on a stream of economically valuable information that is constantly arriving. As new items are added or existing items are refined, the Product Manager must re-balance and re-prioritize the product backlog, taking the latest information into account)
- E – Estimable (Each delivery backlog item has a size estimate corresponding to the effort required to develop the item. The Product Manager uses these estimates as one of several inputs to help determine a story’s priority (and, therefore, position) in the product backlog. Also, a high-priority, large story (near the top of the backlog) signals to the Product Manager that additional item refinement is necessary before it can be moved into a near-term sprint. Items near the top of the backlog are smaller and more detailed and should have more accurate size estimates.)
- P – Prioritized (It is helpful to prioritize the near-term items destined for the next few sprints. Perhaps it is valuable to prioritize as far down in the backlog as we think we can get in Release 1. Going beyond that point at anything other than a gross level of prioritization is likely not worth our time.)
- Acceptance Criteria Available
- Priorities are ranked correctly
- Others, as needed
When should this happen? This activity should occur before the Product Backlog Refinement event. The product owner can complete it offline or collaborate with other stakeholders who can make valuable contributions to achieve a DEEP product backlog.
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