Product Backlog Refinement with Structured Conversations

Product Backlog Refinement with
Structured Conversations
4 September 2018
Ellen Gottesdiener
www.ebgconsulting.com
www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
© 2018 by EBG Consulting, Inc.

© 2018 by EBG Consulting
www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
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@ellengott
Ellen Gottesdiener
#agilenyc

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Ellen Gottesdiener
CPO, Founder, CSM, CSPO, CPF
Ellen is an Agile Product Coach and CEO of EBG, focused on
helping product and development communities create valuable
outcomes through product agility. She is known in the agile
community as an instigator and innovator for collaborative
practices for agile product discovery and using skilled facilitation to
enable healthy teamwork and strong organizations.
twitter: @ellengott
blog: ebgconsulting.com/blog
linkedIn: ellengottesdiener
tips newsletter: www.ebgconsulting.com
EBG is a global leader in agile product requirements, backlog management, agile
business analysis, and collaborative practices for technology products. EBG helps
organizations amplify discovery to accelerate delivery.

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popcorn
please pop up!

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b. Long and boring
Our backlog refinement conversations are…(choose one)
a. Efficient and effective, most of the time
c.A free-for-all
d.What backlog refinement conversations?!??

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discover deliver

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Product Backlog items that will occupy the Development
Team for the upcoming Sprint are refined so that any one
item can reasonably be “Done” within the Sprint time-box.
Source: Scrum Guide, 2016 (bolded added by Ellen)
refinement
Product Backlog items that can be “Done” by the
Development Team within one Sprint are deemed “Ready”
for selection in a Sprint Planning.
Product Backlog items usually acquire this degree of
transparency through the above described refining activities.

www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com 10
Conditions that indicate that a
backlog item is completed,
accepted, and potentially shippable
“done”

Backlog item (e.g., a user story) has been developed, unit tested,
demo’ed and meets conditions of satisfaction
Post-deployment customer feedback prep’d
Item can be | is delivered to customer
‘done’
sample
Documentation | release notes approved
Code deployed to x server
No level x defects
Acceptance, integration tested

refinement: ready to get to “done”
refine
doneready
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refinementWhy
Who
Outcome
What

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Optimize collaboration
Prevent waste (of rework, unfinished work, delays)
Can double (or more) team’s velocity*
Enable getting to “done”
Enable smooth flow
* JCarsten Ruseng Jakobsen & Jeff Sutherland, SCRUM and CMMI - Going from Good to Great
Increases team domain knowledge
refinement (making ‘ready’) benefits

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As a concert goer
I want to use dining discounts
so I can enhance my concert
experience
refined and ready?

Environment
story w 7Ds
refined and ready?
ActionAs a Super Fan concert goer
concert-related dining discountsI need to search for
so I can enhance my concert experience
User
Control
Data
Only members can search for dining discounts
Only “active” dining discounts can be searched
Search query and result
Interface
iOS, Chrome v50
Quality
Attribute
Available 95% of time
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7 product dimensions
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functional
nonfunctional

holistic
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conversation
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structured conversation
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structured conversation &
7 product dimensions
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User
Interface
Action
Data
Control
EnvironmentQualityAttribute

conversing
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23

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Concerts4Me
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. At C4Me we are always looking
for ways to enhance our
concert goers’ experience.
Our newest initiative:
partner with restaurants who want
to connect with C4Me members
attending neighboring concerts.

SC & 7 product dimensions
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User Action Data Control Environment Interface
Quality
Attribute
Options Options Options Options Options Options Options
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore
confirm
evaluate
value
explore

© 2016 by EBG Consulting | www.ebgconsulting.com | www.DiscoverToDeliver.com
Discovery Board
7 Product Dimensions: Options
User Interface Action Data Control Environment
Quality
Attribute
Theme:
Persona:
1 2
discover deliver
Backlog
Plan
Vision:
Goals:
Product Partners
Value Considerations
Objectives:
Hypothesis:
Problems:
Dependencies: …
Risks: …
Costs: …
our
example
Download Discovery Board kit: http://www.discovertodeliver.com/visual-language.php

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Quality
Attribute
Download Discovery Board kit: http://www.discovertodeliver.com/visual-language.php
discovery board

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User
Users
interact with
the product

C4Me Members 
30
Dedicated
18
Super
Fans
20
Tag-Alongs
22
Soloists
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% of  
Less Engaged
More Engaged
More SocialLess Social

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Quality
Attribute
C4Me Member
Dedicated
Soloist
Super Fan
Tag Along
discovery board

The product
provides
capabilities
for users
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Action

Action
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Search for
Discount
Share with
Friends
Download
Discount
Connect
with
Restaurant
Provide
Feedback
Story Map
Shows sequence of tasks to accomplish goal
Tell a Friend

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discovery board
Quality
Attribute
C4Me Member Search for discount
Dedicated Download disct coupon
Soloist Tell a friend
Super Fan Connect w restaurant
Tag Along Share experience
Provide feedback

Data
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The product
includes
a repository
of data and
useful information

Data
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Data Model
Shows logical structure of data
and their relationships

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discovery board
Quality
Attribute
C4Me Member Search for discount Artist
Dedicated Download disct coupon C4Me Member
Soloist Tell a friend Concert
Super Fan Connect w restaurant Venue
Tag Along Share experience Restaurant
Provide feedback Dining Disct

Control
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The product
enforces
constraints

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Quality
Attribute
Anyone can search for C4Me
partner restaurants
Only C4Me members can search for
dining discounts
C4Me is not responsible for
enforcing the terms of the dining
discounts
Only “active” dining discounts can be
searched
Only C4Me members can download a
dining discount coupon
Provide feedback Dining Disct
discovery board

Environment
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The product
conforms to
physical properties
and technology
platforms

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discovery board
Quality
Attribute
partner restaurants
Facebook
dining discounts
iOS
discounts
Chrome v50 and up
searched
Safari
Android 4.1 and up
Provide feedback Dining Disct Android Wear device
Apple Watch

Interface
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The product
interfaces to
users, systems,
and devices

Interface
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Context Diagram
Illustrates interfaces
to/from product

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discovery board
Quality
Attribute
partner restaurants
Facebook
Search criteria
dining discounts
iOS
Search result
discounts
Chrome v50 and up
Selection
searched
Safari
Coupon
Android 4.1 and up Link to
restaurant site
Apple Watch

Quality Attribute
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The product has
certain properties
that qualify its
operation and
development

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quality attributes

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discovery board
Quality
Attribute
partner restaurants
Facebook
Search criteria Availability
dining discounts
iOS
Search result Performance
discounts
Chrome v50 and up
Selection Interoperability
searched
Safari
Coupon Usability
Android 4.1 and up Link to
restaurant site
Apple Watch

Environment
story w 7Ds
User
Control
Data
Interface
iOS, Chrome v50
Quality
Attribute
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your turn…
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assemble
50

Environment
story w 7Ds
refined and ready?
User
Control
Data
Interface
iOS, Chrome v50
Quality
Attribute
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structured conversation
confirm to learn
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möbius
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“An example would be handy
right about now”
Brian Marick, 2007

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As a Super Fan concert goer
confirm stories
example
a scenario that
contains actual
data values
scenario
an instance
of use
test
concrete,
unambiguous
accept. criteria

confirm w scenarios
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scenario: an instance of use
search for nearby restaurant…
search for locally owned restaurant
search by cuisine
As a Super Fan concert goer

given-when-then
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Story
Scenario
business rule(s)
Given
pre-condition(s), state
fixed data
context of system
When
action
input data
what will be tested
Then
observable outcome:
message, output data
post-condition, state
result

refinement: the whole story
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scenarios
user story
examples
tests
analysis models on Discovery Board
and
enabling
specification
R
executable

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let’s see
examples from real discovery sessions
(photos shared during live session)

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in sum…

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Engage all three product partners (customer, bus, tech).
Clarify—transparently and explicitly—value.
Discover options using the 7 Product Dimensions.
Use structured conversations.
Visualize (use models) to communicate.
Slice for value.
Confirm to learn: to verify and validate.
success w/ product backlog refinement

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What action can you to improve your
product backlog refinement conversations ?

www.ebgconsulting.com
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