Backlog grooming differentiates good scrum teams from ones that are just scraping by. Viewed by some people as optional, there is often a temptation to skip it in favor of remaining focused on the current sprint. Experienced teams understand that backlog grooming can have an impact not just on the next sprint planning meeting but on the extent to what they build meets user needs.

What is backlog grooming?
The team reviews stories or epics in the backlog to be done in future sprints. The Product Owner (PO) explains the stories, the team asks questions, and additional story information may be captured as a result of the conversation. The PO may leave the meeting needing to gather additional information from users or customers about the story. The team may identify research spikes needed to understand the technical approach for the story. Typically the focus is on stories for the next sprint, but if those are well enough understood the focus may be on stories or epics further down in the backlog. The team may also adjust the sizing of stories based on what they learn during grooming. Large stories may be split into smaller ones, especially if they are going to be in the next sprint.

Note that backlog grooming can also be called “backlog refactoring”. My personal preference is to avoid the term “refactoring” because in some organizations new to agile, “refactoring” is still a dirty word associated with something that needs to be reworked because it was not done correctly the first time.

Why is it important to do on a regular basis?
I once worked with a Scrum team that literally took an entire week to finish a sprint plan. The team did zero backlog grooming. The sprint planning meetings were a combination of the PO identifying new user stories, the team members asking questions, delays while the PO sought answers, and delays while the team researched the feasibility of certain options. The end result was stories and sprint plans full of vagaries and risk. Contrast this with a team that does backlog grooming on a regular basis. Questions surface during the discussion and those questions are either answered immediately or the PO and team have time to research the answers. By the time sprint planning rolls around, most of sprint planning is about HOW the team will build it and not WHAT they are supposed to build. The PO and team can create a sprint plan to which they can commit.

How often should backlog grooming by done?
Backlog grooming should be a weekly meeting. Each meeting should be at least one hour long. A rule of thumb is never to do backlog grooming on the first or last day of a sprint. One the first day of the sprint the team is eager to get rolling the new sprint’s stories; on the last day of the sprint they may be focused on finishing off the last few sprint items. The last thing we want is for grooming to be perceived as getting in the way of the team’s success. Also, a few days may be needed after grooming to get answers to questions.

For a team that runs two week sprints starting on a Monday and ending on Friday, every Wednesday would be a perfect day for backlog grooming.

Who attends backlog grooming meetings?
The Product Owner, the Scrum Master, everyone on the team, and business representatives as needed. It is key for all of the scrum team members to attend so that they all have a good understanding and commitment to each story. Because a story is partly what is written down and partly a conversation, team members cannot expect to skip grooming and then catch up by reading the stories.

What is the PO’s role in backlog grooming?
The Product Owner’s role in backlog grooming starts before the actual meeting. The PO ensures the story prioritizations in the backlog are correct so that they know what stories will be groomed. They add acceptance criteria or user acceptance test cases to stories as appropriate, depending on how soon each story will be pulled into a sprint. While these are basic PO responsibilities, they are sometimes overlooked or ignored because of customer meetings, management presentations, etc. Regularly-scheduled grooming meetings are a great way for the PO to establish a personal cadence of prepping stories for backlog grooming.

A few days before backlog grooming, the PO tells the team which stories will be covered in the upcoming grooming meeting. This gives team members a chance to take a look at the stories ahead of time and either start thinking about the stories and possibly come prepared with questions.

The PO typically runs the grooming meeting.

What is the Scrum Master’s role in backlog grooming?
The Scrum Master can help out the PO by scheduling the meeting and taking care of meeting logistics. More importantly, the SM can ensures that the PO is on top of the backlog prioritization and knows what will be groomed. As a Scrum Master, I worked with a PO who was chronically ill-prepared for backlog grooming meetings. I addressed this via pre-meetings with her a few days before backlog grooming to help her get into the habit of prepping the backlog for grooming.

What is the team’s job in backlog grooming?
If possible, team members take a look at the stories to be groomed before the actual meeting. In the meeting, they seek to understand the requirements by discussing and asking questions. The PO may provide 50% of the story content before the grooming session. Good discussions will round out the acceptance criteria as the team and PO look at the story from different perspectives.

Reflections

• Backlog grooming is an essential activity. Resist the temptation to skip it.
• Schedule grooming meetings so that they fit In the middle of the weeks of the sprint.
• The entire team should be involved in grooming.
• Regular backlog grooming helps the PO establish a cadence for working on stories.