Product Backlog Refinement is only mentioned once in the official 2020 Scrum Guide, yet it is an incredibly important aspect to a successful product and successful sprints. The backlog refinement is the process of breaking down user stories into smaller, more precise work items. As you refine backlog items, you are adding more detail to them, adjusting the order of the items in the backlog, and resizing items if needed. (NOTE: Backlog refinement is the more common term for this activity, however historically it was also commonly referred to as “backlog grooming”).

When Should Product Backlog Refinement Occur?

It is not uncommon for product backlog refinement to be done during sprint planning sessions, however, I advise Scrum Teams to create a separate product backlog refinement meeting in order to give refinement activities the full attention they deserve.

For a current product that I am the Product Owner on, we have a standing meeting each week that is one hour long. The entire Scrum team is present for this meeting, so everyone is on the same page in regards to the various backlog items.

Tips for Having an Effective Backlog Refinement Meeting

Here are some of the key tips I have for running an effective, productive refinement meeting.

Make sure the right people are participating in the meeting

While the entire Scrum team should be present for the refinement meeting, the different roles have different responsibilities during the meeting. The Product Owner should focus on the priority listing of the backlog items, and work through each one (or as far as you can get in the allotted time-box) if the items require discussion. For each item, the team should be asking questions to fill in the blanks on any unknowns regarding a particular backlog item. By hammering out all of these kinks during the refinement meeting, you are setting up a smooth future Sprint Planning session.

Allocate appropriate time needed for the refinement meeting

There is no recommended time length for a refinement session. Like I stated earlier, I shoot for an hour a week for the entire team. Remember, the Product Owner should be tending to the backlog very frequently, so they should come prepared, making the meeting more effective.

Your refinement meetings might take longer, or shorter, it depends on your product. Also, if you are just getting started with a product and using Scrum, expect the first several refinement meetings to take a lot longer. In fact, you may want to dedicate a couple of two-hour sessions throughout the first few weeks to really get a strong backlog in place. Over time, however, your refinement sessions should get shorter.

Always continue refining product backlog items

Your goal with the product backlog should be to always be moving items from being "coarse" to "fine". Always be looking for ways to get the backlog items down to the smallest possible size so that the work item is clear and can be completed during a sprint cycle. While you should always be striving to refine the backlog items as much as possible, your entire backlog should not be completely refined, otherwise you are “waterfalling” your product. You need to leave flexibility for new items to enter the backlog as you learn from your releases.

Make sure to size and split your backlog items

Depending on what type of sizing your Scrum team uses, my recommended approach for how far down you should size an item is as follows… No item should be more than half of a sprint's length. So for example, if you run two-week sprints, no single backlog item should take more than five (5) days. Try to fit them into 2-3 days where possible. This will help with your sprint’s flow and prevent multiple last minute work item misses.

Make sure to use a Definition of Ready for each backlog item

How do you know if a product backlog item is refined down far enough. Consider these questions to know if you are in a good spot with a particular work item:

• Is value defined?

• Is the item properly sized?

• Do we need a workflow diagram?

• Can we split it into two work items?

• What testing do we need?

• Are there any dependencies?

• Are there technical roadblocks?

Make sure to address anything that has changed since the last Refinement meeting

The Product Owner will most likely be making many changes to the product backlog items during the days between Refinement meetings.  It is important that the Product Owner make sure to tell the team things that got added, deleted, moved up or down, or changed in general. Also, any risks that have developed from either the Product Owner or team should be mentioned, as they might require a spike to be created.