{"id":63728,"date":"2021-07-23T11:42:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T10:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/?p=63728"},"modified":"2025-01-13T16:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T16:26:14","slug":"how-to-groom-a-product-backlog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prodpad.com\/blog\/how-to-groom-a-product-backlog\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Groom a Product Backlog Like a Product Management Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grooming a product backlog is an essential part of product management. Indeed, maintaining a healthy backlog is key to harnessing the creative potential of a company and efficiently building the best product possible.

In this post, we\u2019ll explain what a product backlog is, the best practices for grooming it, and how collaborative and transparent backlog management can benefit everyone \u2060\u2014 not just the product team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a product backlog?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This definition is important because it can mean different things to different people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many often assume it\u2019s a development backlog, which is a list of tasks and tickets waiting in JIRA or some other dev tool, approved and ready to go. Essentially it\u2019s a to-do list: stories to be built, bugs or defects to be fixed, improvements that have been specced, and any other DevOp tasks. Ideally, a development backlog is concise, with enough detail that the dev team can work autonomously because the tasks are clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A product backlog<\/strong>, on the other hand, is a list of everything before it ends up in development. It\u2019s not a list of everything you should do, it\u2019s a list of everything you could <\/em>do. Marty Cagan coined the term Opportunity Backlog<\/a>, because this is a list of opportunities for the product and company to improve. It will <\/em>include bad ideas that will <\/em>be thrown out, likely by the product manager<\/a>.

Trouble comes when your team confuses the two and puts all ideas and tasks in the same list. My advice? Don\u2019t put ideas in the development backlog.<\/strong> That\u2019s where ideas go to die. They are not thoroughly explored, discussed, measured or weighed. And it becomes a graveyard of team aspiration and input, because their suggestions go \u201cnowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Separating backlogs can correct this perception, make other contributors feel valued, save the dev team\u2019s time, and ultimately benefit the product and customer.

ProdPad separates them but keeps a synced connection between the two. It helps PMs manage the actual product backlog, and also integrates with many dev tools so that approved ideas automatically become tasks on the development backlog. Then it updates as work progresses, so users can see how the ideas have ultimately been executed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is backlog grooming?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, backlog grooming is a review process where new features and fixes are prioritized according to the product roadmap<\/a>, so the development team has a clear, complete to-do list.

Part of the grooming process is determining which problems are not worth solving (at the moment), which ideas are not worth pursuing (at the moment), and then classifying all potential tasks accordingly. This is something a PM will do continuously on their own, but many may also choose to run a reoccurring backlog refinement meeting<\/a> or session, to involve the wider team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s involved?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Though officially conducted by a product owner or product manager, grooming actually involves many different roles. Product specs shouldn\u2019t be written on the PMs own intuition. User stories<\/a> shouldn\u2019t be written in a vacuum. That\u2019s because a product manager doesn\u2019t have all the answers, and it\u2019s not their job to have answers. 

Instead, it\u2019s their job to ask the best questions, and surround themselves with those who have that insight. PMs should collaborate with different functional teams to get first-hand feedback. As a huge company culture and morale bonus, this opens the backlog up to other people.

That said, a product manager doesn\u2019t have time to sit down and interview each person with an idea in the backlog.

ProdPad helps bring in new voices while making sure the PM doesn\u2019t get overwhelmed. The collaborative part of the tool takes pressure off the PM to write all the specs themselves and lets other people pitch in. Each person with a suggestion can answer the key questions \u2060\u2014 <\/em>such as \u201cWhat problem would this solve?<\/em>\u201d and \u201cWhat would be the value if it were solved?\u201d<\/em> \u2060\u2014 so that insight is captured in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best practices for backlog grooming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n