Stacia Heimgartner provides a useful Product Owner’s guide to the Product Backlog . Here’s what I think are the key points:
- As the Product Owner you’re responsible for the features that get delivered. Own the Product Backlog. Plan one iteration ahead of the developers.
- Product Backlog items should be high-level. Like user stories (in fact I actually use user stories as product backlog items), backlog items serve as reminders to collaborate continuously with the development team to progressively discuss details and to capture them as acceptance tests. I’ll talk some more on adaptive planning, collaborating and making decisions at the latest responsible moment in a future post.
- Learn to prioritise effectively so that you get the biggest bang for your buck . Identify what is valuable to your company and find out the cost of each backlog item by getting provisional estimates from the development team. Then prioritise.
- The Product Backlog is a dynamic entity so manage it constantly. As new information becomes available through collaboartion, inspect and adapt the Product Backlog. Keep the Product Backlog publicly visible, at all times.
Other posts for the Product Owner:
Being an effective onsite customer or product owner
