Product Backlog Grooming

March 17, 2014 at 2:58 AM | Posted in Agile, Ceremonies, Estimating, Planning | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile, Grooming, Planning, Scrum, Shu

Although this material may be found in a variety of places on the web, clients have often asked me to provide them write-ups and explanations.  Enclosed is a brief summary of the Product Backlog Grooming.

Pre-Requisites

The Product Owner has a prioritized Product Backlog that aligns with their Release Plan and Roadmap.  To help expedite the meeting, the Product Owner should send out a list of stories that he/she wants the team to estimate. The team can then do any necessary research.

Duration

1 hour, 2 to 4 times during an Iteration

Purpose

The purpose of Product Backlog Grooming is for the Product Owner to present new stories to the Team, discuss the stories intent, capture the acceptance criteria and story point the story.  It is a time-boxed meeting where the goal is to estimate as many stories as possible in the allotted time.

If this meeting is conducted regularly, Iteration Planning – Part 1 will be much faster and smoother for everyone.

Attendees

Participants¹

• Product Owner
• Team
• ScrumMaster

Observers²

• Anyone

Concludes

This concludes when the meetings allotted time has expired or all the stories that were prioritized for that session have been estimated (planning poker).

Standard Scrum Ceremonies / Meetings

---

1. Participants in this document refer to individuals critical to the meeting and are allowed to talk during the meeting. ↩
2. Observers in this document refer to individuals allowed to observe meetings, but aren’t allowed to talk during the meeting. ↩

Advertisement