What Really Is The Point Of A Product Backlog?

In Agile Scrum a Product Backlog may be described as a "prioritised list of all the features that contains brief descriptions of all the functionalities desired within a product".

As such it represents a summarised view of the work that needs to be completed in order to build the final product and is a snapshot in time of what is thought to be needed to complete this product.

The product backlog is a living and adaptable record of the product requirements which over time shall evolve to reflect changes in the realities of the project.

The product backlog may contain anything related to the intended product, including, but not limited to, such things as features (new features or product extensions that allow the product to address new market requirements, or features requested by customers or other stakeholders); defects or technical details such as UI and usability as well as knowledge acquired by research that will feed into the product development (through channels like  PoC creations and R&D).

The product backlog influences, and in turn is influenced by, all members of the team and it is therefore the responsibility of scrum master, product owner and development team to ensure that it continues to reflect an accurate state of the product.

The granularity of product backlog entries is important; under specifying attributes leads to a lack or guidance and direction; over specifying will lead the team to make decisions too early and impede creativity.

Product backlog entries should be expressed in terms of the VALUE it gives to the customer; with functional requirements given as features an non-functional requirements by using examples to show the differentiation between current status and desired state of a feature.

Many things can influence and change the priority of tasks in the backlog ... customer priority or needs difficulty of implementation urgency in which feedback is required mutual dependency between items in the backlog.

In summary, the accuracy and role played by the Product Backlog should not be under estimated. Its role and position is central to a successful product delivery and timely process; sufficient time and effort should be made to ensure that these goals are achieved.