Synopsis
The Product Owner reviews the Product Vision with the team and they update the Product Vision, as needed. The team then
refines the Product Backlog to ensure that they all have an up-to-date ranked list on which to base their Release
Planning.
Value
Product Backlog refinement ensures that the team focuses on capabilities that provide the most value for the
investment. Higher ordered Product Backlog items (those at the top of the ranking) are better understood, testable, and
sized. Initial refinement of the Product Backlog is followed by continuous refinement throughout the sprints (Product
Backlog refinement should consume about 10% of the team’s time).
Note: The Scrum guide does not specify how often this task is performed, or whether it is done
with meetings. We take the approach that the Product Owner will call meetings as required. See Meetings and Rational Team Concert.
Steps
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Step
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Tool guidance
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1. Review the product vision
The Product Owner and development team review the Product Vision to align their work with the key
needs and objectives.
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In the web interface, click Plans > All Plans. Then click Product
Backlog.
Click the Product Vision tab
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2. Perform coarse business prioritization
The Product Owner uses a variant of the MoSCoW categorization scheme (Must Should Could Would) to
identify stories that are high priority ("Must" and "Should") for the next release.
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On the dashboard, in the Project Details area, click Plan to open the
product backlog.
Set View As to Ranked List.
Click the Business Value column so that the unassigned stories are grouped.
For each unassigned story, click on Business Value entry and assign a value.
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3. Detail high priority stories
The Product Owner adds detail to each "Must" and "Should" story, and the Epics containing those
stories. There should be sufficient detail to enable the team to size the story.
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Hover over each of the high priority stories and review the description. If it needs more detail,
click on the story and make edits.
Review associated Epics and add detail as needed.
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4. Estimate high priority stories
The development team estimates the size of the "Must" and "Should" stories, soliciting additional
details from the Product Owner as needed. See Agile Estimation.
Estimating all the "Must" and "Should" stories for each Epic is generally easier than skipping
from one Epic to another.
The team may discover that there are far too many high priority stories for the next
release. Rather than estimate all of the stories, the team can discuss with the Product
Owner the possibility of moving some stories to a lower priority ("Could" or "Would").
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In the Ranked List view of the product backlog, sort by Business
Value and click the first story without a size estimate. Click to navigate to the parent
Epic for context, and from the Epic to child stories in order to understand the full picture
for this Epic. Open each child story in a separate browser tab, and assign a size.
Return to the Ranked List view of the product backlog, and repeat until all high
priority stories have a size.
If a story or epic is unclear, solicit detail from the Product Owner, either through meetings, or via
comments on the work item.
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5. Rank the high priority stories
The Product Owner ranks the "Must" and "Should" stories.
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In the Ranked List view of the product backlog, sort by Rank (click
on the Rank column until it displays an up arrow).
To modify rank, click and drag the work item up or down (click at the far left of the work item), or
type a new number in the "rank" column.
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6. Determine if the backlog is sufficiently refined
The Scrum Master determines if the backlog is sufficiently refined. There should be more stories
ranked and sized than can fit in the next release. If this is not obvious, then continue
ranking and sizing lower priority stories.
If there have been previous releases or iterations, it may be helpful to examine the team's historical
velocity.
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To view historical velocity, view the burndown charts on the Scrum Master tab of the team
dashboard.
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More information
See the Rational Team Concert tutorial:
Plan the Release (Refine Product Backlog section) for detailed step-by-step guidance. Also see this demo.
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