PBL Grooming

[Moe Ismail]

During the Grooming session, is it a must to groom the whole product backlog or we can groom the highest priority stories ?

[Dalvinder Matharu]

During Grooming well you will groom the stories that are of highest priority fully while the others will be given some attention such that there is some meat added to the bones.

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Moe Ismail <moe...@gmail.com> wrote:

During the Grooming session, is it a must to groom the whole product backlog or we can groom the highest priority stories ?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Scrum Alliance - transforming the world of work." group.
To post to this group, send email to scruma...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to scrumallianc...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/scrumalliance?hl=en.

[Chet Hendrickson]

Hello Moe,

Think of grooming as Sprint Planning Meeting prep time.  Since you would like to have about 2 1/2 sprints worth of stories ready to be scheduled, you will need to focus your efforts on large stories that are likely to yield those schedulable.  My experience would suggest that these are going to be found in large stories of any apparent values.  In fact, I would expect to find several large stories that once the small very valuable bits have been discovered will have very little value at all.

chet

 
Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 3:58:49 PM, you wrote:

During the Grooming session, is it a must to groom the whole product backlog or we can groom the highest priority stories ?

-- 
Best regards,
 Chet Hendrickson                          mailto:li...@hendricksonxp.com
 Check out our upcoming CSM Plus courses @
http://hendricksonxp.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=28

[Michael James]

On Aug 2, 2011, at 12:58 PM, Moe Ismail wrote:

> During the Grooming session, is it a must to groom the whole product backlog or we can groom the highest priority stories ?

As everyone responded, there's not much point in grooming the low priority PBIs because life will change before you get to them.

I'm working on some elearning modules while home taking care of our new baby. Here are two modules that will be in beta test for another few days, after which they won't be free. Please redistribute if you like, and send feedback offline.

Backlog Refinement Meeting: http://goo.gl/pjtv7
Sprint Planning Meeting: http://goo.gl/9YEXm

I'm planning to keep intro module free, now accessible here:
http://ScrumTrainingSeries.com

--mj

[Gmail Moe]

I usually do the grooming for one coming sprint and for the high priority user stories. I think doing for 2 sprints is somehow too much specially if you have more than 2 weeks sprint duration.

[Chet Hendrickson]

Hello Moe,

I think this is an area where you should get the best available advice and then do what works best for you.  You want to make sure that the dev team is never surprised by a story and that you don't do things in the Sprint Planning meeting that could have been done in grooming. 

You should pay attention and adjust, or something like that.

chet  

mj4s...@gmail.com> wrote:

http://goo.gl/pjtv7  
>> Sprint Planning Meeting: http://goo.gl/9YEXm

.

-- 
Best regards,
 Chet Hendrickson                          

mailto:li...@hendricksonxp.com

[Gmail Moe]

I totally agree with you, and appreciate you valuable feedback.

[Björn Jensen]

Hi,
I would say: it depends. It depends on the goal of your product backlog. First of all set a timebox for this session. Remember the DEEP characteristics of the backlog itself and start with the item on top and go stepwise downwards. If the timebox is over and you groomed as much as needed to go for the next sprint: fine. If the timebox is over and you have less a sprint could cover: decide if another timebox is needed and when to do it. If the whole backlog is done before the timebox is over: fine as well. Maybe we are near releasing the software and there's not so much left to do...maybe the next items to work on are not given so the PO has to talk to the stakeholders about the next items (but I would say that it's a little late to do this ;)

Does it help?

Best,
Björn
Viele Grüße / Best regards

Björn Jensen
Twitter: @mirouhh
Java User Group Hamburg (web: http://www.jughh.org)
Android User Group Hamburg (web: http://groups.google.de/group/android-user-group-hamburg/)
JetBrains Development Academy (web: http://www.jetbrains.com/devnet/academy/experts/)
Agile Design Camp (web: http://agiledesigncamp.org)

Am 02.08.2011 um 22:03 schrieb rajesh parikh:

> My preference will be only for highest priority stories and not complete PB.

[Paul Goddard]

I don't ignore lower priority items when it comes to backlog grooming.
Agreed that you would spend a much higher percentage of time looking
at the higher priority items, as those need to be ready for the next
sprint planning.

I try to do some brief triangulation and verification using the entire
backlog, if only to ensure our relative estimation still hold true.
This can help reassure a product owner if they are constantly
revisiting the release plan each sprint, as well as helping the team
envision the product as a whole.

Regards,
Paul.

On Aug 3, 2:27 pm, Björn Jensen <miro...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> I would say: it depends. It depends on the goal of your product backlog. First of all set a timebox for this session. Remember the DEEP characteristics of the backlog itself and start with the item on top and go stepwise downwards. If the timebox is over and you groomed as much as needed to go for the next sprint: fine. If the timebox is over and you have less a sprint could cover: decide if another timebox is needed and when to do it. If the whole backlog is done before the timebox is over: fine as well. Maybe we are near releasing the software and there's not so much left to do...maybe the next items to work on are not given so the PO has to talk to the stakeholders about the next items (but I would say that it's a little late to do this ;)
>
> Does it help?
>
> Best,
> Björn
> Viele Grüße / Best regards
>
> Björn Jensen
> Twitter: @mirouhh
> Java User Group Hamburg (web:http://www.jughh.org)
> Android User Group Hamburg (web:http://groups.google.de/group/android-user-group-hamburg/)
> JetBrains Development Academy (web:http://www.jetbrains.com/devnet/academy/experts/)
> Agile Design Camp (web:http://agiledesigncamp.org)
>
> Am 02.08.2011 um 22:03 schrieb rajesh parikh:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > My preference will be only for highest priority stories and not complete PB.
>