Fundamentals of Product Backlog Management in Agile 

What is the Product Backlog? ● The Product Backlog is a single artifact describing everything about a product. ● The Product Backlog must be transparent to the entire development team. ● It is critical to manage the Product Backlog right to succeed in Agile development. 

What is Product Backlog Items (PBIs) ● The PBI represents a piece of work that needs to be completed in order to build the product. ● All development activities are managed based on PBIs. ● The Product Backlog is a collection of PBIs. 

Relationship between Roles and Product Backlog ● The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog by clarifying requirements, prioritizing and getting feedback from stakeholders. ● While the Product Owner remains responsible, management can be delegated to the developers. ● If the Product Owner and Developers are not experienced enough, the Scrum Master coaches them on how to manage it. 

Product Backlog Hierarchy ● The theme represents the high-level business strategy and objectives in the long term. ● The epic is a large, valuable PBI that cannot be completed within a sprint and must be divided into several smaller User Stories. ● The User Story is a single valuable PBI that is small enough to be completed within a sprint. ● Tasks are the breakdown of the user story. 

Details of PBI Layer Description Length Example Theme Top Level Objective Several months to years Increase website traffic Epic Large value More than a Sprint Make a landing page User Story Core value Within a Sprint Develop a search function Task Specific Tasks Few days Code a back-end program 

INVEST Framework Independent A PBI should be independent from other PBIs. Negotiable The Product Owner and Developers can negotiate. Valuable PBIs must be valuable for users. Estimable PBIs can be estimated. Small A PBI can be completed within a Sprint. Testable PBIs are testable through Acceptance Criteria. 

3C Model 3C Model is a widely accepted as best practice for ensuring the quality of PBIs through three simple steps. 

Sprint Events & Product Backlog 1. Sprint Planning 2. Daily Scrum & Product Backlog Refinement 3. Sprint Review 4. Sprint Retrospective Source: https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-framework-poster 

Bottom Line ● The Product Backlog describes everything about the product such as requirements, features, bugs, estimation, etc. ● Product Backlog Items (PBIs) are small items describing what to do specifically. ● The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog, while management can be delegated. ● The Product Backlog has a hierarchical structure, with themes, epics, user stories, and tasks. ● Good PBIs should be following the INVEST framework. ● The 3C Model is a best practice for ensuring the quality of PBIs. ● The Product Backlog is managed through Sprint Events.