What is Backlog Grooming? Definition, Benefits, Process and Best Practice

Backlog grooming is usually a continuous operation that is carried out at regular intervals during the development phase. Backlog grooming meetings can vary in frequency depending on the team’s needs, but they are typically conducted at the sprint planning meeting, which takes place before the start of a sprint. The product owner is essential in giving direction and determining which backlog tasks are prioritized.

In agile development approaches, especially Scrum, backlog grooming, also called backlog refinement or backlog management, is a process where the product owner and development team work together to analyze and prioritize items in the product backlog. The work that has to be done on a project is represented by a dynamic list of features, upgrades, and user stories called the product backlog.

Product managers, product owners, and the rest of the team discuss, evaluate, and prioritize backlog items during backlog grooming sessions. Maintaining an updated backlog and making sure that backlog items are ready for future sprints are the main objectives of backlog grooming. The procedure also assists product managers in elucidating and coordinating the organization behind the strategy that guides the backlog items.

The main objectives are:

• Setting priorities: Ascertain that the most significant and valuable items are positioned highest on the backlog.
• Detailing: Divide more complex features or user stories into more feasible, smaller assignments. This is helpful in the team’s understanding of the specifications and helps them calculate the amount of work needed for each item.
• Estimation: Give backlog items relative effort estimates (like Scrum story points).
• Clarity: Ascertain that the team understands and can express clearly the backlog items.
• Adaptation: Maintain a flexible and adaptive backlog. The backlog might need to be modified as the project develops or as new information becomes available to reflect shifting requirements or priorities.

• Improved Clarity and Understanding: Regular backlog grooming ensures that user stories and tasks are well-defined, reducing ambiguity and enhancing the team’s understanding of project requirements.
• Enhanced Prioritization: Grooming sessions enable the prioritization of backlog items based on factors such as business value and dependencies, ensuring that the team works on the most valuable features first.
• Early Risk Identification and Mitigation: Through discussions and refinements, potential risks and challenges are identified early, allowing the team to proactively address and mitigate them before they impact the development process.
• Facilitates Collaboration and Communication: Backlog grooming fosters collaboration among team members, product owners, and stakeholders, promoting effective communication and a shared understanding of project goals.
• Continuous Adaptation and Improvement: The practice of backlog grooming encourages continuous adaptation to changing requirements and facilitates a culture of ongoing improvement within the development team.

In the context of agile development, the idea of a DEEP product backlog is frequently connected to backlog grooming, especially in frameworks such as Scrum. The term DEEP signifies, desirable elements of an efficient and well-maintained product backlog.

• Extracted Appropriately: The most important items in the product backlog, those that will probably be worked on in the next several sprints, should have enough details.
• Emergent: New requirements or adjustments to current ones may arise as a result of fresh perspectives, shifting market dynamics or input from stakeholders.
• Estimated: It is important to estimate the amount of work or complexity associated with backlog items, particularly those at the top.
• Prioritized: Product backlog order should be determined by the value each item adds to the client or company. On the backlog, the highest-priority items belong at the top since they represent the most valuable features.

• Plan Frequent Grooming Sessions: Backlog grooming is usually done regularly, either in a dedicated session or as part of the sprint planning calendar.
• Bring the Grooming Team Together: The product owner, the scrum master, and the development team members often make up the grooming team. For more insights, other stakeholders might also be included, such as designers or subject matter experts.
• Examine the Backlog: Examine the current product backlog to start the grooming session. Examining user stories, features and other backlog items are all included in this process.
• Make the backlog a priority: Sort the backlog items in a collaborative manner according to their dependencies, business value and relevance.
• Refinement and Detailing: Pay attention to the important details. This entails defining requirements, supplying any extra data required for development and adding or modifying acceptance criteria.
• Estimation: Assess each item in the backlog in terms of effort or complexity. This facilitates planning and helps the group understand the relative responsibilities of various jobs.
• Answer queries and worries: Take use of the grooming session to answer any queries or worries brought up by team members. Make sure that everyone is aware of the backlog items and their relative importance.
• Eliminate or Postpone Low-Priority Items: Determine which backlog issues are lower priority or no longer relevant, and have a discussion about them. Choose whether to put them on hold or remove them from the backlog.
• Updates & Documentation: Make sure that any updates or additional information are recorded in the backlog documentation, including user stories. Inform the team and all relevant parties of any changes.
• Get ready for the sprint planning process: The backlog has been trimmed and polished, making it suitable for the next sprint planning meeting. Based on the priorities and specifics addressed throughout the grooming process, the team may safely choose and commit to a set of backlog items for the upcoming sprint.

• Improved Prioritization: Grooming enables the team to reevaluate and rank backlog items according to shifting market conditions, customer input, or company requirements.
• Improved Visibility: Regular backlog grooming meetings give members a clear picture of the work that lies ahead.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Product owners, development teams and other stakeholders work together during the backlog grooming process. By working together, it is possible to exchange viewpoints, make requirements clear, and make sure that everyone is aware of the job that has to be done.
• Estimation Accuracy: The team may improve sprint planning and delivery projections by better understanding the complexity of each work by breaking down and estimating backlog items.
• Reduced Waste: Teams can find and eliminate items that are no longer relevant or useful by continuously streamlining the backlog.

• Product Owner: They are in charge of classifying and ranking items in the backlog of products according to their business value. They make sure that the expectations of stakeholders, business objectives and the overall product vision are all in line with the backlog.
• Scrum Master: The Agile process, which includes backlog grooming, is facilitated by the Scrum Master. They assist in planning and directing grooming sessions, making sure they take place frequently and are productive.
• Development Team: Members contribute to effort estimation, ask questions or voice concerns, and offer insights into the technical aspects of the task. Developers are frequently involved in the decomposition of user stories, specification and work estimation for backlog items.
• Stakeholders: Backlog item prioritization and improvement can be influenced by stakeholder’s insightful opinions on corporate priorities, user demands and market conditions.

Backlog grooming is a continuous process and attendance at every session is not required of all participants. Typically, the participants include:

• Product Owner: They are in charge of the product backlog, assign priorities to items and make sure the team knows what the business priorities are.
• Scrum Master: The Scrum Master helps to ensure the success of backlog grooming sessions and facilitates the Scrum process.
• Development Team: Backlog grooming is an active team effort, with developers, testers and other relevant jobs contributing as well. Their assistance is essential for decomposing user stories, estimating work and understanding technical issues.
• Stakeholders: Backlog grooming sessions may invite stakeholders, depending on the project and organization. Representatives from departments with a stake in the product, such as marketing, sales, customer service or others, may fall under this category.
• Experts in a certain field: They can offer specific expertise during backlog grooming if necessary. Their observations can aid in defining specifications and guarantee that the group understands the task at hand.
• UX specialists or designers: In grooming sessions, designers or user experience (UX) specialists may be invited to offer feedback on the user interface and general design if UX or design considerations are significant for backlog items.

• Frequent Meetings for Grooming: Plan dedicated backlog grooming sessions on a regular basis. These meetings can take place weekly or prior to each sprint planning meeting, depending on the requirements of the project.
• Include Important Stakeholders: Make sure that important participants in grooming sessions, such as the Product Owner, Scrum Master and other necessary team members, actively participate.
• Estimate Effort: Assess each item in the backlog in terms of effort or complexity. It helps in resource allocation, sprint planning and understanding the total amount of work needed for future tasks.
• Break down Big User Stories: This makes the work easier to understand and makes better planning and estimating possible.
• Put Value First: Sort backlog items into priority lists according to the value they provide to the client or company. Make sure the group is continuously focusing on the most important elements.
• Clear Acceptance Standards: Establish clear and concise approval standards for every item in the backlog.
• Working Together and Communicating: Encourage open discussion and teamwork during grooming sessions.
• Eliminate Outdated Items: Review and eliminate from the backlog any items that are lower priority or no longer relevant on a regular basis.

In agile development approaches like Scrum, backlog grooming is an essential and continuous practice that greatly enhances project success. As part of this team effort, the product backlog is continuously improved and prioritized to make sure it is ready for the next sprint. It’s an ongoing, flexible process that improves communication, keeps everyone on the same page and guarantees that the team will always be providing value to the project.

What is an example of backlog grooming?

Common backlog grooming activities include things like adding user stories, splitting user stories, evaluating and reevaluating estimates, prioritizing items (like user stories), updating items, adding or removing items, and so on.

What is backlog grooming vs sprint planning?

Sprint planning sessions focus only on the events that will take place in the upcoming sprint, addressing near-future items. Backlog grooming sessions help prioritize tasks by concentrating on the project as a whole. Let’s take a closer look at their parallels and differences to give you even more confidence for your next planning sessions.

What is the backlog grooming phase?

Product managers, product owners, and the rest of the team discuss, evaluate, and prioritize backlog items during backlog grooming sessions. Maintaining an updated backlog and making sure that backlog items are ready for future sprints are the main objectives of backlog grooming.

Is backlog grooming a scrum ceremony?

The only practice in scrum teams that lacks a set time box or frequency is backlog grooming. Nonetheless, adding new items to the list and prioritizing them is a crucial duty of the product owner, who should enlist the assistance of their team.

Who should run backlog grooming?

The product manager or the product owner typically lead backlog refinement sessions. It’s not always the case, though. A project manager, Scrum master, or other team member may lead a product backlog grooming session, depending on your organization’s hierarchical structure.