{"id":11230,"date":"2022-01-18T19:09:34","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T01:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threecloud.wpengine.com\/?p=11230"},"modified":"2024-02-28T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T15:48:10","slug":"taming-the-backlog-pt-2-what-makes-up-a-healthy-backlog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/resources\/taming-the-backlog-pt-2-what-makes-up-a-healthy-backlog\/","title":{"rendered":"Taming the Backlog\u00a0Pt. 2: What Makes\u00a0Up\u00a0a\u00a0Healthy\u00a0Backlog?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A healthy, well-managed\u00a0product backlog\u00a0makes\u00a0communication easier,\u00a0provides transparency,\u00a0and enables the flow for delivering valuable outcomes at a sustainable pace. It reflects the investments your business leaders are making in your product and provides near real-time data and visibility into work delivery.\u00a0In short, getting backlog management right has a positive cascading effect for\u00a0Agile\u00a0teams and businesses\u00a0across industries,\u00a0including\u00a0<\/span>healthcare<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>finance<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>insurance<\/span>, and more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/span>Part 1 of our series on\u00a0<\/span>Taming the Backlog<\/span><\/i>, we looked at three common anti-patterns of backlog ownership, and other characteristics of unhealthy backlogs. Now that we know what\u00a0to avoid, let\u2019s dive into what items you\u00a0<\/span>do<\/span><\/i>\u00a0want in a healthy product backlog and the characteristics you can focus on to\u00a0strengthen\u00a0it\u00a0even further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Contents of a High-Quality Backlog<\/h2>\n

If the product backlog is a software product development team\u2019s to-do list, what types of items\u00a0should be\u00a0included?\u00a0Below we define the most common components that, while well-known to Product Owners and IT leaders, should also be understood throughout your organization to ensure\u00a0backlog health. Keep\u00a0in mind that Agile frameworks define product backlog items differently, usually due to scale or size.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Epics<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Epics\u00a0are large bodies of work that\u00a0can take six to twelve months to complete. They\u00a0get decomposed into smaller increments\u00a0including\u00a0features and stories.\u00a0Performance and stability work are good examples of epics.\u00a0Another example\u00a0is\u00a0adding a shopping cart to an e-commerce website or mobile application.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Features<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Features\u00a0are smaller than epics and larger than stories,\u00a0typically\u00a0taking\u00a0one to three\u00a0months to complete.\u00a0Features\u00a0get decomposed\u00a0further\u00a0into stories. An example of a feature is one-click checkout in an e-commerce website or application.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. User Stories<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 User stories\u00a0are\u00a0considered the\u00a0most\u00a0common product backlog item,\u00a0as product development teams are generally customer focused. Stories should be small enough in scope to be completed in a single sprint or less.\u00a0Examples\u00a0of user stories\u00a0for the one-click checkout feature\u00a0are (1)\u00a0to allow a user to activate one-click checkout within their account\u00a0and (2)\u00a0to require\u00a0the user to select a default payment method.\u00a0User\u00a0stories\u00a0<\/span>do not<\/span>\u00a0have to be associated with a feature or epic.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Technical Stories<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Technical stories\u00a0are often\u00a0enablers or\u00a0involve\u00a0paying down technical debt. These should also be small enough to complete in a single sprint. An example of a technical story is to add error logging for troubleshooting purposes. Technical stories should have business justification the same as any other work. Some technical stories, such as version upgrades for software that will no longer be supported, simply must be done.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Bugs and Defects<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Bugs and defects\u00a0are discovered through testing or actual end user activity on a live product. From a product backlog perspective, they are like a story in that there should be sufficient detail, including steps to reproduce the issue.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Spikes\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u2013 Spikes,\u00a0also referred to as research stories, usually come out of product backlog<\/span>\u00a0refinement. Sometimes you just don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know. Once identified, a spike should be added to the current sprint backlog, which can impact the other work planned for the sprint or iteration. Therefore, spikes are not blank checks. Exit criteria should be defined and the time box respected.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With\u00a0so\u00a0many different types of items, it\u2019s easy to see how a product backlog can get messy quickly. Even in the acceptable scenarios for product backlog ownership\u00a0(see\u00a0<\/span>Part 1<\/span><\/a>), it takes\u00a0consistent\u00a0effort to capture, refine, socialize, and prioritize\u00a0these\u00a0items.\u00a0It also takes\u00a0time to communicate changes in overall priority so that transparency and stakeholder expectations are maintained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    More Characteristics\u00a0of a\u00a0Healthy Backlog<\/h2>\n

    To create a framework for a healthy backlog, you\u2019ll need to focus on more than just the specific items included and how they\u2019re categorized. Use these additional characteristics as your guide in assessing your current backlog and strengthening it\u00a0further.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    A healthy backlog is:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Right Size.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Set a limit for the number of items allowed in the backlog\u2013100 items or less,\u00a0generally.\u00a0The right size can also be equated to the number of items projected for the next four iterations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Current<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0Items should be less than 9 months old. Newer is better, though it\u2019s important to keep in mind that some epics can take 6 or more months to complete. With the pace of change at the backlog level, accept that the older an item gets without\u00a0being\u00a0worked on, the less likely it is to ever\u00a0be\u00a0worked on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Actionable.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Have\u00a0two\u00a0iterations worth of work ready and prioritized for the team. This is easier said than done given the rate of change that teams deal with, yet critically important to keep the flow of value delivery consistent. This alone makes dedicated product ownership non-negotiable; it is a full-time job.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. Balanced.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0New features, production support, tech debt, and innovation\/process improvement items all vie for priority. It is possible to balance time invested in the\u00a0different types of work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The idea of current items\u00a0likely leaves you with a looming question about backlog size and long projects. How can you confidently estimate a project longer than a few months, if the healthy size for a backlog is relatively small? Keep in mind that backlog size is about minimizing waste and reducing complexity. By keeping focus on the next few iterations in the team backlog, time is not spent defining work too far in the future, which is likely to change in nature or scope. Estimating Agile programs or projects\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span><\/i>\u00a0possible without cluttering your backlogs, and the\u00a0<\/span>Agile Enablement experts at 3Cloud<\/span>\u00a0can help you tackle that\u00a0as needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      From there, team capacity\u00a0and time are\u00a0fixed,\u00a0and there is generally more work requested than an Agile team can do.\u00a0Given that, striking the right size and balancing priorities are two\u00a0of the\u00a0most critical characteristics\u00a0from the list\u00a0above. They\u2019re key to keeping your backlog current and actionable. In Part 3, we\u2019ll outline ways to trim your backlog down and ensure it stays objectively prioritized.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      A healthy, well-managed\u00a0product backlog\u00a0makes\u00a0communication easier,\u00a0provides transparency,\u00a0and enables the flow for delivering valuable outcomes at a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":11472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[381,292],"tags":[385],"class_list":["post-11230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-app-experience","category-app-innovation","tag-devops","topics-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3cloudsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}