Refinement and Updating
Short Tip: It consists in refining the Product Backlog and updating other artifacts of the Maturing stage.
What is it?
Product Backlog refinement consists in reviewing the stories and breaking the epics into smaller stories or incorporating details into existing ones, as well as reprioritizing the items in the Backlog and reviewing estimates.
After the updates, necessary changes may be identified in other documents already made, such as the Roadmap or the Story Map, if such changes add value to the Scrum team.
Why use it?
Refinement is the time when the Backlog is reviewed and detailed, but only for those items that are relevant for the next Sprints. This routine can prevent spending time on details of lower-priority items that are subject to change, which would be a waste of resources.
Updating documents – but only for those that create value for the Scrum team – is a way of maintaining just enough documentation to allow efficient communication between the team and stakeholders.
How to use it?
The Backlog is refined by the Product Owner, the Scrum Master and the Developers together. During the refinement process, the team should:
- Include or exclude stories;
- Reorder the Product Backlog;
- Make estimates or reassess the ones already made;
- Break Epics into smaller stories for high-priority items.
According to Roman Pichler’s five-step proposition, to carry out the refinement:
- Analyze the product data that have just been collected, especially feedback from users and customers;
- Incorporate the learning into the Backlog by including, modifying and/or removing stories;
- Decide the next goal to meet by choosing a new Sprint goal;
- Refine the Backlog items by detailing the Epics or stories related to the new Sprint goal and making estimates on those items;
- Get the priority items ready for development by using small, clear, orderly and testable stories (with acceptance criteria).