Prioritizing the Product Backlog – Part 1 of 8 (Video)

Scrum Product Backlog Prioritisation

A 59 Seconds Agile Training Video
Scrum Product Backlog Prioritisation Part 1 of 8
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Prioritizing the Product Backlog

A 59 Seconds Agile Article

This article provides an ‘Introduction to Prioritizing the Product Backlog’ and looks to discuss what the Product Backlog is. It provides an overview of who is involved in the process of Prioritizing the Product Backlog.

Prioritizing the Product Backlog: Product Requirements

Think back to the last time that you started developing a new product for your company. Your team was briefed on what the product would look like, what features it would include, and what the timeline looked like. Then each week your manager would tell you which features to work on, working from the top of the product requirements list to the bottom.

As far as you can tell, they just took the product requirements as delivered by the customer and began to assign them for development in that order. As you worked through the development of each feature, you found yourself having to double back over and over, to fix aspects of earlier features to allow them to integrate with the new features.

You also ran into features that took a lot longer and cost more to develop than your manager thought they would. 

So the entire project deadline kept getting pushed back further and further as your team struggled to develop all of the necessary features. You became frustrated with the illogical way the project was approached and started to wonder if there isn’t a better way.

The system of development your company works in doesn’t have a focused way to develop the features of your product. The lack of focus is leading to missed deadlines, extra costs, and inefficiencies in your work. If your team doesn’t find an alternative way to organize the feature development, you won’t be able to deliver the expected value to your customers.

Your company won’t be able to build their reputation for developing valuable, relevant products because you won’t be able to keep up with the quickly-moving market. Your team will be frustrated with the inefficient organization, and they’ll lose faith in their own product development.

Changing your approach to the way you plan your development process can clear up some of the costs, risks, and deadline issues.

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Prioritizing the Product Backlog

A 59 Seconds Agile Video Animation
Prioritizing the Product Backlog with 59 Seconds Agile

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User Stories Applied

A 59 Seconds Agile Book Review

User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn is one of our favourite books on Agile User Stories. The book starts with an overview into user stories, and details what a user story is and the different aspects of them. He then discusses how to go about writing a user story, and provides details of the INVEST criteria that can be used to determine if the story is meeting all of its objectives. Next Mike gives an in depth discussion of who user stories are written for and where to begin when gathering the details for them. The book then discusses acceptance testing user stories, including how to go about specifying these criteria and the responsibilities of the development team and customers during this process.

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Prioritizing the Product Backlog

A 59 Seconds Agile Infographic
59 Seconds Agile - Prioritising the Product Backlog
59 Seconds Agile – Prioritising the Product Backlog

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Agile Scrum Master Training Course

What is Agile? A 59 Seconds Agile Animation Video

Our Favourite Agile Books

We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum:

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