This video is part of our 19-part Scrum Foundations video series. Click here to watch the rest of the series for free. 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 owner 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:
By far, the predominant way for a Scrum team to express features on the agile product backlog is in the form ofuser stories, which are short, simple descriptions of the desired functionality told from perspective of the user. An example would be, "As a shopper, I can review the items in my shopping cart before checking out so that I can see what I've already selected." Because there's really no difference between a bug and a new feature -- each describes something different that a user wants -- bugs are also put on the Scrum product backlog. Technical work and knowledge acquisition activities also belong on the agile backlog. An example of technical work would be, "Upgrade all developers' workstations to Windows 7." An example of knowledge acquisition could be a Scrum backlog item about researching various JavaScript libraries and making a selection. For more,check out this product backlog example. Video |