DEEP Product Backlog
A healthy product backlog is much like a healthy human: groomed, organized, and living in the open. - atlassian
Hello Product Managers, This week’s newsletter is brought to you by UserLeap
UserLeap enables product teams to quickly and easily understand their audience, improve their product, build their roadmap, and solve complex business problems through a combination of contextual micro surveys, AI-based text analysis, and 75+ research templates. Try for free
Product backlog
The agile product backlog in Scrum is a prioritized features list, containing short descriptions of all functionality desired in the product. When applying Scrum, it's not necessary to start a project with a lengthy, upfront effort to document all requirements. Typically, a Scrum team and its product manager begin by writing down everything they can think of for agile backlog prioritization. This agile product backlog is almost always more than enough for a first sprint. The Scrum product backlog is then allowed to grow and change as more is learned about the product and its customers.
A typical Scrum backlog comprises the following different types of items:
Features
Bugs
Technical work
Knowledge acquisition
DEEP Product Backlog?
DEEP identifies four key attributes of a high-functioning product backlog. It’s a simple tool that product owners or product managers can use to manage the product backlog and user stories effectively.
First coined by Roman Pichler and Mike Cohn, DEEP is simple, easy to remember, and can be done quickly. The acronym stands for: Detailed appropriately, estimated, emergent, and prioritized.
Detailed Appropriately. User stories on the product backlog that will be done soon need to be sufficiently well understood that they can be completed in the coming sprint. Stories that will not be developed for a while should be described in less detail.
Estimated. The product backlog is more than a list of all work to be done; it is also a useful planning tool. Because items further down the backlog are not as well understood (yet), the estimates associated with them will be less precise than estimates given items at the top.
Emergent. A product backlog is not static. It will change over time. As more is learned, user stories on the product backlog will be added, removed, or reprioritized.
Prioritized. The product backlog should be sorted with the most valuable items at the top and the least valuable at the bottom. By always working in priority order, the team is able to maximize the value of the product or system being developed.
Maintaining the product backlog is the primary responsibility of the product owner or product manager. Part of that process involves refining details and estimates and prioritizing items.
Obtaining a DEEP backlog is one of the key outcomes of a product backlog grooming or refinement session, which is a recurring event for agile product development teams. Regular backlog grooming sessions help ensure prioritizing the right stories and that the product backlog does not become a black hole.
How do you create a Product Backlog?
Step 1: Roadmaps and requirements
Start with the two Rs: roadmap and requirements. These two elements are the foundation of every product backlog. The roadmap is the scaffolding for how a project will take shape. The requirements are the list of backlog items that development teams need to accomplish in order to complete a project. Make note of your roadmap and requirements so you can start building around them.
Let's say your development team is building an app that shows runners how safe a given road is. Since this app is the highest priority for the company, it is the first and most important item on the roadmap. The team must first collect data on road safety. You would list data collection as a requirement.
Step 2: List tasks
List the tasks you must accomplish in order to finish the first item on your roadmap. Draw those tasks under each action item on the map. Some teams choose to have one task in progress at a time, while others will only ship a product once everything is complete.
Put these tasks in order according to their urgency. Usually, tasks with the highest impact on your customers are assigned the highest priority. Oftentimes, teams use user stories to get an understanding of what features will be most noticeable and useful for customers. Teams also choose to assign priority based on how urgently they need feedback, the difficulty of implementation, and the relationship between work teams.
Step 3: Team review
Once you've built the product backlog, it’s time to review it. Product owners should periodically conduct backlog grooming before each planning meeting. Specifically, it helps to double-check prioritization and to make sure developers are implementing feedback.
Step 4: Sort
To scale the backlog, group tasks into near-term and long-term items. Flesh out near-term items before sorting them: make sure product teams and design teams are on the same page, and clarify development estimates. While longer term items can remain vague, they should have a rough description and timeline.
Product backlog temples :
How do you use the Product Backlog template?
Start with our pre-made template, making any changes you’d like to suit your particular needs. Invite team members to join your board and collaborate. You can upload other file types such as documents, photos, videos, and PDFs to store all the relevant information in one place.
Blank Product backlog template (Spreadsheets)
You might also like :
User Stories Playbook (Pre-Order @50% off)
User Stories and backlog management guide
This is for you if:
You are a new product manager
You don't know how or where to start
You've started working on the product role but still feel lost about writing stories
You're none of the above but you know someone who is. Gift them!
Thank you for your support, Product Mindset Team.