How to create an effective Product Backlog

Hey there! Today, I want to talk to you about how to create an effective Product Backlog. If you work in software development or project management, you are probably familiar with this term.

A Product Backlog is a list of tasks that need to be completed to achieve a project's goal. But how do you make such a list as effective and useful for the team as possible? Let's figure it out.

Start with defining the goal

Before you start creating a Product Backlog, define the project goal.

• Why are we making this product?
• What problems does it solve?
• What value does it bring to users?

If you have a clear understanding of the project's goals, it will be easier for you to choose tasks to include in the Product Backlog.

Define priorities

Defining priorities is one of the most important aspects of creating a Product Backlog. Not all tasks are equally important, and not all need to be done right away. The decision on which tasks to do first should be based on their business value and importance to users.

For example, if your product is a food delivery app, tasks related to food ordering and delivery are likely to have a high priority.

Describe tasks in sufficient detail

Each task in the Product Backlog should be described in sufficient detail so that the team understands what is expected of them. Describe the task so that the team can estimate its complexity and workload.

For example, instead of writing "improve search," write "improve search algorithm, add the ability to filter results by category, make the search faster and more user-friendly."

Don't forget about feedback

The Product Backlog is a living document that is constantly changing and evolving. It's important to get feedback from the team and the client to be able to adjust and add to the list of tasks. For example, if the team discovers that a task is more difficult than anticipated, it can be changed or broken down into several simpler tasks. It's also important to discuss the Product Backlog with the client and get feedback on priorities and changes to product requirements.

Update the Product Backlog regularly

The Product Backlog is a document that should be updated constantly. New tasks are added, old tasks are removed, or priorities are changed. The team should be able to see an up-to-date list of tasks and know which tasks are the most important at the moment.

Use Product Backlog management tools

There are various Product Backlog management tools that can help you create, describe, and track tasks. Some of them are JIRA, Trello, Asana, and others. They allow you to create tasks, define priorities, describe tasks, track progress, receive feedback, and more.

In conclusion, creating an effective Product Backlog is a process that requires constant communication and collaboration between the team, the client, and all stakeholders. If you follow the above steps and use appropriate tools, your team can create a Product Backlog that will help achieve the project goal and bring maximum value to users.

Let's take a look at a bad example and try to fix it.

Let's say we have a Product Backlog for an electronics store app and it looks like this:

1. Add a shopping cart
2. Create a product page
3. Add the ability to leave reviews
4. Add a payment page
5. Create a logo

There are a few problems with this example:

First, the tasks are not defined in enough detail. For example, adding a shopping cart could mean different things for different teams. What functional requirements are necessary for the cart? How will it interact with the payment system and the product page?

Second, the tasks do not have clear priorities. Which of these items has the most value for users and for the business? Priorities need to be defined and tasks ranked accordingly.

To fix these problems, we can do the following:

1. Describe the tasks in more detail. For example, for adding a shopping cart, we can add the following requirements: add a "Add to Cart" button, the ability to change the quantity of items in the cart, the ability to remove items from the cart, and so on.
2. Define priorities. For example, in our case, creating a product page and adding a shopping cart may have the most value for users and the business, so we can highlight them as the most priority tasks.
3. Remove tasks that have no value for users or the business. For example, creating a logo should not be part of the Product Backlog, as it has no direct relation to the functionality of the application.

In general, to create a proper Product Backlog, you need to define clear project goals, determine functional requirements, set priorities, and optimize the task list to achieve maximum value for users and the business.

Now it's time to provide a good example from a real project.

We have a Product Backlog for creating an online platform for math courses for students in grades 5-11. Below is an example of a task list in the Product Backlog:

1. Develop a homepage that will contain the main course categories, the best course ratings, and recommendations for new users.
2. Create a course page that will contain information about the course, the instructor, duration, price, user reviews, and sample assignments.
3. Add user registration and authentication functionality using social networks and email.
4. Create a personal account where users can manage their purchases, view their grades, and continue their course studies.
5. Add the ability to pay for courses using payment systems and bank cards.
6. Develop a recommendation system for users based on their past purchases and ratings.
7. Create a section for communication between students and instructors, where they can ask questions and exchange experiences.
8. Add the ability to view online video lessons and complete interactive assignments that will be automatically graded.
9. Develop a homework grading and evaluation system based on multiple criteria, such as accuracy, completeness, clarity, and more.
10. Optimize the site for mobile devices and different browsers.

Here, we can see that each task is defined in sufficient detail and contains information on what needs to be done, how it will be implemented, and how it will be used by users. Additionally, tasks are defined in order of priority, which helps the team focus on the most important tasks and allocate more time and resources to them.

However, tasks like these may not be in demand by the development team, so let's break down the first task into more atomic tasks.

The development of the homepage can be broken down into the following tasks:

1. Develop the homepage design, including color palette, fonts, layout, and more.
2. Add course categories to the homepage. Categories should be clear and easy to understand for users who may be looking for a specific type of course.
3. Implement the "best course ratings" functionality on the homepage, so that users can see which courses are most popular and receive the best reviews.
4. Add a "recommendations for new users" block to the homepage, where new users can get information on how to get started with the platform, how to choose courses, and more.
5. Develop the "course search" functionality on the homepage, so that users can quickly find the courses and instructors that interest them.

Thus, by breaking down the first task into smaller ones, we have obtained a more detailed list of tasks that will be more convenient for the development team to perceive. Each task is more specific and defined more clearly, which will allow the team to work more effectively and accurately on the implementation of each of the tasks.

So, in this article, I tried to describe the question of how to create an effective Product Backlog. We discussed important aspects such as defining project goals, task priorities, and breaking tasks down into smaller and more detailed ones. We learned how to manage the Product Backlog correctly to achieve success in the project. I hope this article was helpful to you and that you can apply this knowledge when creating your Product Backlog.

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