Each of these smaller products would have its own product backlog and designated teams for development. Perhaps the best way to think of a product backlog is as a “living” document which reflects the progress of the project. It is an ever-evolving list of action items, some of which may be removed further down the line, replaced with more pertinent activities. A burndown chart helps visualize the allocated time of a task versus its completion time. Tasks are created from the user stories, and each task may comprise numerous subtasks.

• Once user stories are created, you then prioritize them based on their level of importance (i.e., high priority, medium priority, low priority).
• Quick iterations and deployment of new functionality and enhancements keep the focus squarely on delighting customers.
• As described in the Scrum Guide, the Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product.
• Backlogs can be used in any type of project, whether they are short-term projects or long-term initiatives.

New ideas get added as feedback from the market, and customers continually roll in through various channels. The 2008 housing crisis resulted in a backlog of foreclosures in which lenders had large inventories of residential properties they needed to sell and get off the books. With homes going into foreclosure at a much faster rate than usual, lenders did not have the capacity to process all the foreclosures in a timely manner.

Recommended Terms

The product backlog is a list of tasks/assignments that must be completed for a specific project. The tasks within the backlog are often prioritized and the teams pick them up in the order that ensures the fastest and swiftest workflow. You can use online to that has backog feature such as work management solution.

• To create a concise backlog, you or your team may include tasks that lack details, making them harder to complete.
• With an effective product backlog, you can assign developers daily, weekly, or monthly tasks that target your end goals and help you build a better product.
• When using Agile, it is important to keep track of all tasks in the backlog.
• This term refers to the buildup of tasks necessary to complete a project or maintain a company’s operations.

Breaking it down into smaller chunks of tasks will provide your team with a clear work breakdown structure (WBS) and offer transparency to your stakeholders. Backlogs may also apply to companies that develop products/services on a subscription basis, such as SaaS (software-as-a-service) providers. The term «backlog» has a number of uses in accounting and finance. It may, for example, refer to a company’s sales orders waiting to be filled or a stack of financial paperwork, such as loan applications, that needs to be processed. Bug fixes are often considered a higher priority than features because they represent risks and delays. Some bugs will be less damaging to the product and can potentially wait longer to be resolved, although the general rule is to deal with them sooner to prevent any future complications.

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In this article, we will dig deep to understand what the product backlog means, what it includes, and how the teams can work with it most efficiently. The Agile Product Backlog is a dynamic list owned by the Product Owner, containing all features for the product. The point is, the team should focus on creating value faster instead of precisely maintaining the product backlog. In theory, the scrum team can choose how to organize and format the product backlog.

Tackle complex tasks first

They also help bridge the time/distance gaps for remote teams and keep them engaged and are often referenced in weekly standups. Backlogs are ever-changing documents that help simplify product development by outlining specific tasks. The backlog contents, format, and current liabilities: definition how it works and liability list type are determined by backlog guidelines. This entry clarifies the term product backlog to avoid confusion with sprint backlogs, which are related, but a different concept. The product backlog is the single authoritative source for things that a team works on.

All Plans

When managing a Scrum team of developers, staying organized is crucial for product success. This is the product backlog, and, in many ways, it’s more important than the roadmap itself — at least on the day-to-day level. Technical blockers are hazards the team might encounter while developing the product, such as technical debt or a bug.

It is also key in improving work distribution and boosting workload management across the team. In short, backlogs represent everything the team could build, while roadmaps indicate what the organization has prioritized. That said, a theme-based visual roadmap is not just a list of backlog items slated for each upcoming release. In addition to these tactical benefits, you can hold periodic grooming sessions.

What does a product backlog include?

PMs then translate what they learn into a product roadmap, which is a high-level strategic plan. We’ve covered a lot about the product backlog already but barely touched its benefits for the teams and projects that thought-out product backlogs provide. Once the roadmap is clear, we can work on creating an extensive list of tasks (also known as items) that will become a product backlog). It is important to start with the roadmap because it will allow the team to see the long-term plan and understand the sequences better.