Product Backlog creation in Scrum

Mohit Joshi Germantown, Tn, United States

Hi,

As described in the Scrum Guide, the Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product. It is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product.

But when is the product backlog created? Is it before the start of the first Sprint in a separate workshop session? Yes it gets refined during Sprints but at the start, in what event are the user stories for the product backlog captured?

Sprint Planning (which is the first event in the sprint cycle) is selecting items from Product Backlog into Sprint Backlog + a plan to deliver them into an increment. Does that mean we usually have a separate event before the first sprint to create the product backlog?

Thanks,
Mohit

Posted: Jul 27, 2020 10:33 AM

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Khai Ng. IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUP Hanoi, Viet Nam

Hi Mohit,

Scrum is not a Project Management Framework, it is just a Development Framework, "a framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products" as Scrum Guide has pointed out. Look at Project Life Cycle, we know that all projects pass through four general phases as "Starting the project", "Organizing and Preparing", "Carry out the work" and "Ending the project" (PMBOK); you can apply Scrum in any phases of a project where there is a product that need to be delivered. Product Backlog is a project document, owned by PO, and is an output of the Collect Requirements process carried out by BA or PO and is evolved till the end of project. The initial version of Product Backlog must be available for project to start; it can be existed in any form, e.g. an unorderred list of requirements. It is created in the Starting phase and evolved through the remaining phases.

Posted: Jul 27, 2020 10:46 PM (Updated by author: Jul 27, 2020 10:51 PM)

Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jul 27, 2020 6:06 PM

Replying to Mohit Joshi

...

Thanks Sergio. I need to understand your response more.

When you say Product Backlog is not requirements, what do you mean? As described in the Scrum Guide, the Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that is known to be needed in the product. It is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product.

Yes, it may mean what you have in the Product Backlog may not be actual requirements but wish-list from stakeholders that needs to be refined, decomposed (into tasks & put into Sprint Backlog) and prioritized, shouldn't it be containing to the minimum those items that can get the scrum team started with Sprint 1 to produce a releasable increment of the desired product?

In my view, there must be some form of a workshop session or a pre-Sprint event where those items are identified & added to the initial backlog. While some label it as Sprint 0, others state it should be part of Sprint Planning for Sprint 1. Not sure in real world, which is recommended.

You use the exact words: needs, wishes, and I can add desires, wants, etc. All these stuff has to be translated into something you can use to create the product. So, requirements is somethings that will allow you to create something, mainly because it has to be well stated and to achieve that you can use the method/technique that best fit for your current state. Just to take an example, if you use user stories take a look to the user story definition: "an invitation, a placeholder for a conversation". So, you have to take all that before a project is in place, including it inside the backlog you will have things that will define the approach you will use, the method/framework you will use, the project life cycle you will use and things like that.

Posted: Jul 28, 2020 8:43 AM

Mohit Joshi Germantown, Tn, United States

Jul 27, 2020 11:34 AM

Replying to Kiron Bondale

...

Mohit -

You have just identified one of the gaps in Scrum when you try to use it on projects rather than well established products.

Creation of the initial backlog needs to happen before the first sprint so some folks have invented the concept of Sprint 0 to handle this along with many other mobilization activities.

I prefer to use the DAD phase "Inception" as it is more honest to say that in many companies, you cannot get through mobilization within 1-4 weeks...

Kiron

Thanks Kiron.

Have been reading a little on DAD and found this good article in PMI resource library. Sounds like the "Inception" phase addresses the need of a "Sprint 0".

https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/inception-goals

-- Mohit

Posted: Jul 29, 2020 11:24 AM

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Product Backlog creation in Scrum

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