The success of a product starts with just an idea which includes a lot of brainstorming and dedicated teamwork to create something valuable for the customers with the right team and planning.

But, how do these teams stay organized with pressure and rapid product development? Here comes the role of the backlog where you can make a list of your tasks and organize them. In agile, you can break these tasks into smaller parts which helps to easily determine which task is more important and are to be looked at first.

These smaller tasks are the work items in the backlog(that we’ll look into in the latter part of the article). How does this order or hierarchy of work items look in the product backlog? Does every organization follow the same hierarchy in the backlog?

Let’s take a look at the product backlog.

What is a Product Backlog?

A product backlog is a list of tasks that are made to work on long-term plans of product development. It is a decision-making tool that helps estimate, rectify, and prioritize the work items to be worked on.

Along with ensuring that the team is working on the most important and valuable features, it helps fix the most important bugs or prioritize other important tasks that are critical to product development.

A well-prioritized backlog makes planning easier and effectively communicates the tasks across the teams. This helps in setting expectations with stakeholders and other teams, especially when they bring additional work, and makes a long-term plan.

Importance of Product Backlog

One of the important things to note about Product Backlog is that there is no final version of the backlog. The Product Backlog is progressive. It changes regularly with the progress in product development as new ideas appear from different teams with brainstorming which may change according to the requirements or move position in the backlog.

A product backlog helps the product team to run smoothly by improving collaboration in the organization. It has become an essential tool for the teams to communicate and keeps all the team members aligned with the organizational goal.

All the tasks for the product development go along the backlog, as it acts as a base for iterative planning for the product. The product owner or the product manager helps in prioritizing the listed tasks along with the duration of time(or the sprints) in which they can be completed.

Another aspect where having a backlog is important for any organization is that it helps in the development of agile teams. It encourages the organization to have a flexible and productive work environment. As the tasks in the backlog are not set in stone, the teams can arrange these tasks in order of importance and priority.

Purpose of Product Backlog

The purpose of the product backlog is to have a well-prioritized list of actionable items that keeps teams in the loop about the progress being made. The backlog is aligned with the company’s overall strategy and translates the work items into the working details of creating the product.

A product backlog has some important functionality.

1. Provides a source for the planned work

When the teams work towards their goal along with the backlog, they do not need to wander to different teams in search of their next tasks in product development. They already have lists of tasks to easily prioritize their next task.

2. Helps in owning the work

When a product team works together to plan product development, the backlog makes it easier for different team members to own tasks. In backlog, the features are listed in the order of their priority, making it easier for the team to quickly see what needs to be done next and by whom.

3. Reduces the complexity

With the source and the planned work of product development that can be accessed by all the team members, the backlog reduces the complexity and miscommunication of the tasks between the product teams.

4. Makes it easier for team discussions

The product backlog contains the lists of work items to be worked on for product development. But, not all the items or tasks need to be elaborated. The backlog helps in facilitating team discussions on different work items by prioritizing the tasks and moving the least important ones backward.

5. Develop the confidence

It is easier to add the work items to the backlog if the team finds it important for the product’s success. As backlog helps in making the team’s discussions easier for the list of work items, the teams can delete the unimportant tasks or move them backward. This develops the team member’s confidence in the product’s success.

Hierarchy of Work items

The work items in the Product Backlog include- Epic, Features, and User Stories. These work items follow the same hierarchy in the product backlog.

Let’s take a look at each work item.

1. Epics

Epics refer to a set of requirements for product development that have not been segregated into features and user stories yet. An epic is a large story that cannot be simply achieved in a single sprint. It may take months to accomplish any particular epic.

Another way to think of epic- is a big goal set for the product yet to be simplified and divided into several tasks for your agile team to work on. Epic is usually regarded as the ‘top tier’ or a work hierarchy. Breaking it down into daily tasks, called ‘user stories’, helps an organization achieve its overall business goals.

2. Features

A feature is a distinct functionality that a user needs to add value to the end product. Requests for features can come from the end-users themselves, as well as the product manager, salespeople, the support team, etc. The product owner or the product manager keeps track of these requests to ensure that the product continues to satisfy existing customers and attract new ones.

3. User Stories

The User Story is simply the list of items that need to be done within a project. The idea of forming user stories is to break down a product into manageable tasks in context to what the final product should be like so that the large project can be done successfully within the estimated time interval. It is an agile approach that helps the teams to shift their focus from writing the smaller tasks to discussing them.

Though, not all organizations need to follow the same hierarchy of work items to manage their backlog. But what’s more important is to have the backlog as it represents your strategic daily tasks. The skills that you develop as a product leader or maybe as a product manager to manage, prioritize, upgrade, and maintain the backlog will provide great assistance in building a great product.

Key Takeaways

The product backlog is arranged according to the progress toward the implementation. There are epics, features, and user stories that are in progress or are completed. A backlog is constructed so that the high-priority items appear at the top of the list, and the least important features are at the bottom.

  • The backlog aligns with the company’s overall strategy and converts it into the working details for developing the product.
  • The hierarchy of work items- epics, features, and user stories makes it easy to understand the product.
  • With the detailed hierarchy of work items, it’s easy to make changes in the smaller stories which makes a bigger difference in the final product.

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