Contrary to popular belief, the Product Owner does not have dictatorial powers regarding the composition and order of the Product Backlog. Instead, Scrum as a framework is based on a delicate system of checks and balances, collaboration, and joint decision-making to mitigate risk; for example, the Product Owner falling in love with their solution over the problem of the customers. Learn more about critical Product Backlog principles, from the size and growth of the Product Backlog to whether a Product Backlog is necessary in the first place. (Some lean practitioners dispute its existence is justified.)
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First, let us look at the Scrum Guide’s current edition to understand Product Backlog principles better:
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.
[Product Owner] decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Product Backlog, and through the inspectable Increment at the Sprint Review.
Product Backlog items that can be Done by the Scrum Team within one Sprint are deemed ready for selection in a Sprint Planning event. They usually acquire this degree of transparency after refining activities. Product Backlog refinement is the act of breaking down and further defining Product Backlog items into smaller more precise items. This is an ongoing activity to add details, such as a description, order, and size. Attributes often vary with the domain of work.
The Developers who will be doing the work are responsible for the sizing. The Product Owner may influence the Developers by helping them understand and select trade-offs.
The Product Goal is in the Product Backlog. The rest of the Product Backlog emerges to define “what” will fulfill the Product Goal.
Source: Scrum Guide 2020.
For a complete overview of Product Backlog quotes from the Scrum Guide, see the Scrum Guide Reordered 2020.
Scrum, being a tactical framework, is good at effectively getting validated hypotheses into the hands of the customers to close the learning loop, allowing for the inspection of the initial assumption and the decision process to build an Increment and subsequently adapting the preparations for the next Sprint.
But ultimately, the first challenge in a complex environment is figuring out what is worth building. Therefore, a successful Scrum team needs to abandon the idea that the Product Owner miraculously identifies how to proceed in the best interest of customers, the organization, and the team. Instead, aim to integrate everyone into building a system that succeeds in feeding validated hypotheses of what might be valuable into the Product Backlog. (Learn more: Product Backlog Refinement: 14 First Principles.)
In other words, the mere existence of a Product Backlog does not guarantee success, as Scrum is equally well-suited to build things no customer wants effectively.
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These are my 14 Product Backlog principles for successful Scrum teams:
The Product Backlog can be a critical artifact for your Scrum team’s path to success. However, in a complex environment without experts knowing the answers to all problems, merely stuffing all requirements thrown at you into a Jira project won’t do the trick. More important than the list itself is creating a process around feeding validated hypotheses into the Product Backlog. For that purpose, consider the above-mentioned Product Backlog principles to help you succeed with this creative challenge.
What Product Backlog principles have worked for you? Please share with us in the comments.
Product Backlog Refinement First Principles
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Support your Scrum team with Product Backlog principles by avoiding common anti-patterns; download the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide to get started identifying them:
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