Creating The Sprint Backlog

The Scrum Sprint backlog is a list of tasks from the product backlog that the team has decided to be completed during the next sprint. The tasks and the order of their completion are decided by the Product Owner. The Product Owner is the voice of the customers, aimed at creating maximum value with each sprint.

In essence, the act of creating the sprint backlog is very straightforward. You take the product backlog where all the tasks are estimated and in a prioritized order, and you draw a line. All the tasks above the line go to the sprint backlog and are committed to being delivered during the next sprint. The rest of the tasks remain in the product backlog waiting for the next sprints.

In practice though, drawing the line / creating the sprint backlog is just one small step in a list of many things to do and consider.

This article goes over the aspects of creating the sprint backlog from the perspective of the product owner.

Creating the user stories

The Product Owner is the voice of the customer. The Product Owners daily job is to create user stories based on the input from users, customers, internal stakeholders and the product vision. These user stories then get complexity estimations from the developers and priority in the backlog based on the balance between the value created and the effort needed.

Backlog Prioritization

Backlog prioritization (sometimes also referred to as backlog refinement or backlog management) is a Scrum ceremony owned by the Product Owner. The purpose of the meeting is to keep the product backlog estimated and in order – making sure that all stories are still relevant, estimated and ready for delivery by the team.

Recommended Further Reading

The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: