How do you include stakeholder feedback in your backlog?

Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations that have an interest in, influence over, or are affected by a project, decision, or outcome. Their interests can be financial, social, environmental, or personal. Common types of stakeholders include Internal Stakeholders, External Stakeholders, Primary Stakeholders, and Secondary Stakeholders. Understanding stakeholder perspectives and managing their expectations are crucial for the success of any project or business strategy. Engaging stakeholders can lead to better decision-making, improved project outcomes, and enhanced relationships.

In the Envisioning process and after having formed the Scrum Team (i.e. PO, SM and DEV) it is useful to identify the stakeholders together with their degree of influence/interest in the project in the presence of the Business Owner. Then one can proceed to the construction of the Personas, it is possible to reason about their needs, pains and desires using an "empathy map". After having done a good job of discovering the stakeholders, one can move on to the definition of a vision in MVP terms of what we want to build and, subsequently, to the construction of the Product Backlog through the first high-level (epic) User Stories. These first steps allow a clear vison definition of the project. Defining stakeholders is also an ongoing process

Stakeholder feedback is one of the most critical aspects when building and maintaining the product backlog. The exercise of including stakeholder feedback should be done from the very beginning. - Discovery Phase - Conducting stakeholder discussions / surveys to understand what they are looking for in the final product. - Prioritisation of Feedback - to be done based on Business Value and effort involved. - Regular Feedback - Sprint Reviews to be conducted to capture regular stakeholder feedback and capturing feedback in the product backlog to address any gaps / changing needs.

In product management, stakeholders, as per @Marty Cagan, encompass a wide range of individuals or groups, both internal and external, with varied interests in a product's success. Effective stakeholder management involves recognizing their influence and navigating conflicting interests to align the product with organizational goals and user needs. I see it as a strategic process of identifying and engaging with these parties to drive product and organizational success, and it's a critical aspect of effective product leadership.

Start by actively gathering input during the discovery phase, prioritize feedback that aligns with project goals, and convert it into actionable backlog items. During backlog refinement and sprint planning, ensure that stakeholder-driven items are included, fostering alignment with sprint goals. Maintain open communication with stakeholders. Regular stakeholder engagement should feed into backlog updates, ensuring a responsive and value-driven Agile approach.

Collecting feedback can be challenging in practice due to varying stakeholder availability and willingness to provide feedback. Consider setting up dedicated channels for feedback, such as regular feedback meetings. Make it as easy as possible for stakeholders to share their thoughts and experiences. Also, be prepared to handle both positive and negative feedback constructively.

It is also very important to keep the stakeholders informed about the actions taken based on their feedback. This gives a very positive feeling about the brand or the team that they not only listned but also acted upon their concerns.

To include stakeholder feedback in the backlog, first, make sure the feedback matches the product's main goals. Not all feedback may fit, so focus on what aligns with those goals. If you receive complex feedback that affects many parts of the product, consider creating "feedback epics." These epics help organize and track significant changes resulting from the feedback. This way, you're incorporating stakeholder feedback in a way that supports your product's big picture and efficiently manages substantial changes.

When you have identified the right stakeholder weather the business or technical, A business analyst can collect the requirement from PO or SME or PO can collect from SME using variety of techniques such as interview, workshops, focus groups, surveys. Ensure that feedback or requirements that are collected are good requirements and complete requirements. If unsure, verify and validate. It helps

There are certainly regular events where feedback and stakeholder needs can be collected: such as Review meetings, Stakeholder meetings or to define the project roadmap. Help can be taken from other company departments such as marketing, customer service, sales through feedback by end users in demos, interviews, questionnaires, focus group and experiments. But the most important thing for this to happen frequently and effectively is that there is constant communication between the scrum team and all levels of the organisation concerned. When this does not happen, there is a risk of working waterfall. Responsibility for fostering this internal-external dialogue lies with the PO and SM. A plan for stakeholders involvement is fundamental.

A BA or a PO must do this through out the sprints till the project is over. In my projects, PO utilizes different technique depending on what level of information is provided such as MoSCoW, Kano, business priority, financial priority, customer onboarding priority.

Prioritizing feedback is important to better align it with product goals, considering its business value and market urgency. Involving stakeholders in this process is essential, as they possess the business knowledge and understand the needs of end users.

Set of examples which is used in our organisation and it includes a mix of urgent requests, long-term suggestions, and minor improvements. It’s important to work with the PO to prioritize this feedback according to business value, impact, and urgency. It can be done by using 1. The MoSCoW method (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won’t have) 2. Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) can be helpful prioritization techniques to decide what feedback should be addressed first.

We want to maximise the value of the next increment and move towards the product goal. Prioritisation will of feedback and ideas helps guide us to what the next most valuable thing is, that supports the product goal. There are a number of different ways of valuing the ideas and their potential return on investment. Some are more subjective than others, and consideration also needs to be given to the trade-off between short-term value and longer term investments. Decision-making may be constrained by short term needs, for example an upcoming funding round, marketing campaign, or availability of dependencies. A pragmatist also has to take political capital into consideration, negotiating skilfully, and picking their battles carefully.

Different stakeholders might give you different feedback. It would be practically impossible to incorporate all the feedback at the same time. That's the reason, the product owner must prioritize these inputs and implement the most important and feasible ones first.

Stakeholders feedback is important in achieving product goals. Based on the feedback the product backlog refinement, grooming can help in prioritizing the tasks, feedbacks. The development team should be in the loop and must fully understand the requirements enabling them for a successful delivery.

The backlog is the direct representation of the value of the work to be done. For the right value to be delivered in the right order, the backlog must be continuously refined. The refinement includes highly understandable and well-defined user stories in the optimal implementation order. So using a tool, that makes the entire backlog transparent and easily accessible is also key.

Do not be afraid to close out a product backlog item if it does not match the vision for the product. Your Product Backlog should not be a graveyard of ideas, but a rich tapestry of where you might go.

Updating the product backlog is important for several reasons: 1. Avoiding Duplicates 2. Relevance to Market Trends 3. Prioritization 4. Clarity and Detail.

Translate the prioritized feedback into user stories, tasks, or improvements and add them to the backlog. Ensure that each item is well-defined, with clear acceptance criteria and enough detail for the development team to act on.

This is a crucial step: it’s important to regularly review how well the team is incorporating stakeholder feedback into the backlog. During retrospectives, discuss whether feedback is being handled efficiently and whether there are any improvements that can be made to the process. It is a key responsibility for Agile teams and plays a critical role in delivering a product that meets both user needs and business objectives.

A good backlog is DEEP: detailed enough at the top, estimated (more precise, more broken down items at the top), emergent (should always reflect the latest high prio items), and prioritized (even if PO structure is scaled there should be only one person who is authorized to change ranking, otherwise chaos ensues). Product vision with north star metric can be a guiding factor, discussion of the status and progress should be part of the ceremonies, this can motivate teams. For bigger epics it is good if we manage to split up in a way that part of the resulting stories can be downprioritized and while the remaining stories provide streamlined high business value - this will contribute to speeding up development.

During the review backlog process, you should evaluate the stakeholder feedback alongside existing backlog items, considering factors like urgency, impact, and feasibility. This evaluation informs decisions on which feedback to prioritize and how to incorporate it into the backlog.

(1) When looking at the backlog, pay close attention to feedback from stakeholders. Find the feedback that can really help your project. (2) Turn this feedback into clear tasks or stories that explain what needs to be done and why. (3) Set up regular times to review this feedback and put it into your to-do list. That's how you make sure you're always considering what's important to your stakeholders.

Update & reviewing backlog is an ongoing process. Feedback received from stakeholders could be a separate task and must be reviewed time and again in order to make sure all the feedbacks are taken into account .Follow up is essential till the time the task is completed or decision taken otherwise.

To include stakeholder feedback in your backlog, establish structured channels for collecting it, like stakeholder meetings or surveys. Prioritize this feedback based on factors such as business value and effort. Implement prioritized items in sprints, and validate them during sprint reviews. These actions align with both Scrum and SAFe, fostering a customer-centric approach and a feedback loop that continually refines the product.

-Stakeholders come in different forms and sizes. They can be your customers, sales & marketing team or even your development team. -Getting their feedback, knowing their point of view is very crucial. -Feedback can be obtained in a formal way as in scheduled meetings or informal channel like discussions during networking events. -After feedback is gathered, it's important to document and analyze it. -Ensure the feedback points are in line with the product goals and organization vision. Accordingly sort and add in the backlog -Based on prioritization principles and discussions with internal teams, during backlog grooming and sprint planning include those points on the development sprint. -Include relevant stakeholders on review meetings.

Plan and implement the feedback in upcoming sprints. Ensure that the team is aware of the priorities and understands the context and importance of each backlog item derived from stakeholder feedback.

To include stakeholder feedback in your backlog: 1. Capture feedback. 2. Prioritize based on value. 3. Document clearly. 4. Collaborate with the team. 5. Convert to tasks or stories. 6. Prioritize within the backlog. 7. Regularly review and update. 8. Communicate with stakeholders.

In my point of view, the first step to include your stakeholders is to categorize them. One of the techniques for this categorization is based on their power and interests about your product. After that, It's time to take care of those stakeholders who have high power and high interests.

In Scrum, incorporating stakeholder feedback into your backlog is not only possible but essential. Here's how to do it effectively: 1. Ensure that stakeholder feedback aligns with the project's goals and the product's vision. Not all feedback may have equal importance, so prioritize based on impact. 2. Hold regular meetings or reviews where the Scrum team collaborates with stakeholders to discuss and clarify feedback. This helps in better understanding and refining the feedback. 3. Don't view stakeholder feedback as a one-time task. Incorporate it iteratively, possibly in future sprints or releases, based on its priority and feasibility.

Level setting the stakeholder's expectations reduces the risk of conflict and disappointment. Also when stakeholders are aligned on the project's goals and expectations, they are more likely to support the project and help it to succeed.

In my experience, part of the process is building a culture where feedback is given openly and easily. If your stakeholders aren't forthcoming with their feedback, take a step back and develop a change management strategy to promote this activity with support from your people leaders. Aside from the encouragement to provide feedback, you should also include how and what "good" looks like as this will help ensure you are collecting constructive and well thought out comments.