Backlog management

A backlog is a prioritized list of everything needed to build the product. Unlike a requirements document, the backlog continuously evolves based on user feedback, market changes, and new insights about the product.

The product owner maintains the backlog, ensuring items are clearly described, prioritized, and valuable to users. Backlog refinement involves breaking large items into smaller ones, adding acceptance criteria (to be marked completed), and estimating effort (amount of work, complexity, and time needed). This activity typically takes up to 10% of the team's time during a sprint.

Prioritization uses factors like business value, risk, dependencies, and effort required. Higher priority items need more detail, while lower priority items can stay high-level until needed.

The backlog should be accessible to all stakeholders but only the product owner has authority to change priorities. Items can be added at any time, but they must be refined before entering a sprint.