Backlog refinement can be split into 2 meetings or combined.
Backlog Refinement 1
Backlog refinement is when the Product Owner introduces the team to the sprint goals for the following fortnight and together they edit the sprint goals to be realistically likely to deliver.
The team then ideates to identify and create stories that should be completed in order to achieve the goals. The team then has a few days after the meeting to fill in the details of the stories and analyse the work that needs to be done.
Attendees
Dev team, PO mandatory, stakeholders optional
Duration
1 hour
Agenda
- Talk through what each goal means and what is expected to be done
- Identify the work needed to reach each sprint goal and ensure there are stories and each is assigned to someone to (later) fill out the required detail
- Identify the co-owners (team members who will make it happen) and stakeholders (outside the team) who will contribute with the delivery
- If possible, people identified above can break-out into small groups to ideate (use Design Thinking/HCD methods) on How the team will deliver on the outcomes using the best possible approach. (Use Desirability Feasibility Viability framework)
Backlog Refinement 2
Ensure that the team agrees on the work needed to meet each goal and that each story has enough information to be able to start work (meets the DoR Definition of Done )
- Add/review items on the backlog to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items
- Write and estimate stories in the backlog to make sure they are ready
- Ensure that there are enough ready stories so that Sprint Planning can run quickly and efficiently
Attendees
Dev team, PO mandatory
Duration
1 hour
Agenda
- Walk through each sprint goal and identify all the stories to meet the goal
- Walk through each story to make sure the team understands the work required
- Check estimate or estimate each story