If you work with agile methodologies, you probably know what a sprint is: a fixed period of time when a team delivers a potentially shippable product increment. But how do you decide what to work on in each sprint? That's where a sprint backlog comes in.
A sprint backlog is a subset of the product backlog, which is the list of all the features, requirements, and user stories that the product owner wants to achieve in the project. The sprint backlog contains the user stories that the team commits to complete in a specific sprint, as well as the tasks and hours needed to do so. The sprint backlog is created during the sprint planning meeting, where the team and the product owner negotiate and prioritize the user stories based on their value , complexity, and dependencies.
The sprint backlog is a selected set of product backlog items that developers select in agreement with the product owner and commit to transforming into a product increment at the end of the sprint. The selected product items contribute to the sprint goal. If the team has agreed on a definition of ready, these items must meet the definition of ready at the start of the sprint. At the end of the sprint they must meet the agreed definition of done.
A sprint backlog is like a granular to-do list for the development team during a sprint. It is derived from the macro list of product backlog. The product owner prioritize and selects stories or features from the product backlog for the team to complete in the upcoming sprint. This sprint backlog becomes the team's guide during the sprint.
In simple words, your Product Backlog defines the Why and What of your Product while your Sprint backlog reflects How exactly the Scrum Team is going to create the most valuable Product Backlog Items(PBIs) into a working piece of software/Product increment at the end of the Sprint. The content of the Sprint Backlog is determined by the Sprint Goal for the Scrum Team. Sprint Backlog can have the User Stories, Tasks, Spikes, Bugs, Enablers, Exploratory tasks and all the other issue types that are needed to meet the Sprint Goal.
In my experience, sprint backlog is the stories or tasks accepted by the team for delivery in that particular sprint which are aligned to sprint goal. The sprint backlog is planned in the sprint planning meeting with estimates. While deciding sprint backlog, the team should pick 'Definition of Ready'-marked product backlog stories or tasks. Maintaining the Sprint backlog is the responsibility of developers in consultation with the scrum master and product owner.
Sprint backlog is a forecast in terms of user which team identifies as part of sprint planning meeting. Sprint backlog is derived from the Product backlog based on the order of backlog set by the product owner. Team pulls the stories from the product backlog for their upcoming sprint. Team never commits for a sprint backlog it is just a forecast. Team commits to Sprint Goal which is another outcome of the Sprint Planning meeting. In my opinion, the things to remember while a team selects a sprint backlog is team is aware of the product goal and vision and product owners should reiterate it as early as often. The second important point is team should understand the user stories and agree as a team.
A sprint backlog is important because it helps the team focus on the most valuable and feasible user stories for each sprint. It also provides a clear and realistic scope of work that the team can track and measure throughout the sprint. A sprint backlog also fosters collaboration and communication among the team members, as they break down the user stories into tasks and assign them to each other. Additionally, a sprint backlog enables transparency and accountability, as the team and the product owner can review the progress and quality of the work in the daily stand-up meetings and the sprint review meeting.
The sprint backlog is the only source of work for developers, which helps to keep a focus on what we really consider that can help us achieve the sprint goal, on the other hand the sprint backlog, allows us to make transparent the team's plans, enabling inspection and future adaptation if necessary.
In my opinion, Sprint Backlog is important because team focuses on sprint goal by working on the sprint backlog and it is their opportunity daily to inspect their sprint backlog during the daily scrum meeting and comes out with the plan for next 24 hours with progress, roadblocks and a plan to remove them.
Thanks to the sprint goal you keep the focus so you can priorize the SBL. With the SPL you easily management priorities, by business value and effort to develop. You give transparency to everyone in the team to monitor the "job to be done".
A sprint backlog is important to clearly understand what, how, and at what time can be delivered. We can have more sprints backlog. Based on priority, and team stability (sicknesses, employee termination...) product owner and customer can decide what must be important for the next delivery and easily resuffle stories between sprints backlog to fit time and the scope of work.
Creating a sprint backlog requires several steps. Firstly, review the product backlog and select user stories that are clear, testable, and aligned with the product vision and goals. Estimate the effort and complexity of each user story by using a technique such as planning poker. Then, prioritize the user stories based on their value, urgency, and risk using a method such as MoSCoW. Negotiate with the product owner to agree on user stories that fit into the sprint capacity. Additionally, break down the user stories into tasks and subtasks, and estimate the hours needed for each task. Lastly, assign tasks to team members based on their skills, availability, and preferences.
In my opinion, team selects the stories from the ordered product backlog by the Product Owner. User stories should defined properly with acceptance criteria, description, estimation. Team should also pay importance to Definition of Ready as per their agreement that what they can select in sprint and Definition of Done helps in exiting a sprint for a user story. DoD helps as exiting criteria for a sprint. Scrum Masters can help product owners with multiple prioritizing technique such as Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF), MustHaves-Shouldhave-CouldHave-WouldNotHave (MoSCoW), , Cost of Delay and 100 Points and so on.
Start by defining your sprint goal. Once you have your goal you can choose what matter the most. Choose stories that have met the DOR, enought maturity or that will certainly help to meet the sprint goal. Let members commit on what they can work the most effectively and start your sprint !
Customer, Product Owner, and Scrum master can help create a sprint backlog. If we have a product backlog, based on priority and team capacity, the product owner and scrum master move the created stories, technical tasks, or bugs to the sprint backlog. Ideally, before the sprint starts, the sprint backlog is approved by the customer.
During Sprint Planning, the Product Owner, in agreement with the Developers, selects the Product Backlog Items to build during the Sprint. The Scrum Team discuss why this sprint is important? what work is going to be done? and how is it going to be done? The Product Owner establishes the sprint goal. To determine how much work the team can do, the team's capacity and the effort to build each Product Backlog Item must be taken into account. Techniques are usually guided by the Scrum Master to estimate the effort, in some relative unit of measurement. Developers then discuss how they will perform the committed work. The tasks to be performed are assigned in agreement by the developers.
Using a sprint backlog effectively requires following best practices, such as regularly updating it to reflect the actual status of tasks and user stories. Tools like Trello, Jira, or Asana can help track and visualize the work in progress. Any changes, issues, or impediments that affect the sprint backlog should be communicated to the team and product owner immediately. At the end of a sprint, review the backlog to evaluate results and lessons learned. Use the sprint review meeting for showcasing the product increment to stakeholders and collecting their feedback. The sprint retrospective meeting is best for discussing what went well, what can be improved, and what actions to take for the next sprint.
The key in using a sprint backlog effectively is making the tasks granular and clear, estimating the level of effort needed to complete each one, and tracking progress daily by moving tasks across the board. Team gets real time view of scope and pace through the sprint backlog.
A great way to effectively use the sprint backlog is in conjunction with daily stand up meetings. Stand ups ensure accountability and provide consistent updates. Scrum masters can discover and update task statuses that a member may have missed, which can prevent duplicate efforts. Stand ups also help a team foresee certain issues sooner than later. For example, a product owner can determine true feasibility of a sprint based on the number of incomplete tasks in the backlog and length of time left in the sprint, which can then be used to update priorities or deadlines as necessary.
If you want to improve your sprint backlog skills, you can learn from agile practitioners and experts by reading blogs, books, podcasts, or online courses. It's also beneficial to practice creating and using sprint backlogs for your own projects or simulations and ask for feedback from mentors or coaches. Additionally, you can join online communities or forums to share experiences and challenges. Experimenting with different techniques and tools for creating, prioritizing, estimating, and tracking user stories and tasks is a great way to find out what works best for you and your team. You can use metrics such as velocity, burndown charts, or sprint goal success rate to measure and improve your sprint backlog performance.
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sprint backlog is approximately equal to all of those things that are not being delivered in this sprint that are _believed_ to be necessary to complete the work by the Product Owners and team members. what happens during the sprint and externally to the sprint determines the reality of what needs to have been done during the sprint..... the definition of ready is bounded by the intelligence and insights of those defining and bounding the sprint.....not necessarily by the reality of what is needed what is needed to complete the sprint... old patterns of inconsistent and low levels of understanding inhibit picking the ripest fruit and or fruit of the highest nutritional value for the giving of long life to the project (pattern recognition)