Scaled Scrum — Choosing Product backlog item — PSM1

Kiran Kumar
3 min readMar 29, 2023

--

How are product backlog items chosen in scaled Scrum ?

1)The highest performing Development Team starts pulling items, and then it’s the next highest performer’s turn.

2)The teams provide the Product Owner with their capacity, and the Product Owner selects and provides an appropriate number of items to each team based on their capacity

3)The Product Owner provides each team with a set of items The items are provided to the team randomly

4)The Development Teams pull in items in agreement with the Product Owner

CREDIT FOR SCRUM.ORG FOR IMAGE

Answer :

The Development Teams pull in items in agreement with the Product Owner(A)

Explanation :

The Development Teams are self-organized and it’s their responsibility to select items from the Product Backlog. When there are multiple teams, all of them should do it together. They should also seek the acceptance of the Product Owner, since s/he should be able to have a history of items. Note: Scrum.org has recently published the Nexus Guide, which is a framework for scaled Scrum. Based on that, representatives from teams are mainly dealing with selecting items, while the rest of the team members are also available, specially for the second part of the Nexus Sprint Planning, when they create their own Sprint Backlogs. So, all developers are practically involved, directly or indirectly.

Indetail :

In Scaled Scrum, product backlog items are chosen through a collaborative process involving multiple teams and stakeholders. The following are the typical steps involved in selecting product backlog items in Scaled Scrum:

  1. Identify the overall goals and vision for the product: The first step is to establish the shared goals and vision for the product across all teams and stakeholders involved in the Scaled Scrum. This helps to ensure that everyone is aligned on the product direction and the desired outcomes.
  2. Prioritize the product backlog: Once the goals and vision have been established, the product backlog items are prioritized based on their value to the overall product goals. This prioritization is typically done by the Product Owner in collaboration with stakeholders and team members.
  3. Plan the sprint: Next, the teams plan the sprint by selecting the product backlog items that they will work on during the upcoming sprint. This is typically done during a Sprint Planning meeting, where the teams review the prioritized product backlog items and determine which ones they can commit to completing during the sprint.
  4. Collaborate and coordinate: Throughout the sprint, the teams collaborate and coordinate to ensure that they are working towards the shared goals and vision for the product. This may involve daily standup meetings, sprint reviews, and retrospectives to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working together effectively.
  5. Adapt as needed: Finally, the teams adapt as needed based on feedback and changes in the product backlog. This may involve reprioritizing backlog items, adding or removing items from the backlog, or adjusting the sprint plan to ensure that the teams are working on the most valuable items.

--

--

Kiran Kumar

Technophile with 10 years experience in IT industry | Java Lead cum Architect