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Project Management vocabulary · Agile & Scrum

Backlog

Meaning in project management, with examples

/ˈbæklɔːɡ/nounCore term

In project management, backlog means: An ordered list of all the work that might be done on a product, such as features, fixes and improvements, with the most important items at the top.

In Turkish: iş listesi, ürün iş listesi, backlog

How it is used

In Scrum there is a product backlog and, for each sprint, a sprint backlog. Items are added to, prioritised in, refined in and pulled from the backlog. The regular clean-up session is called backlog refinement or grooming.

Example sentences

  1. Good idea, but it's not urgent. Let's add it to the backlog and discuss it in refinement.

  2. The backlog has more than 200 items, so we need to remove the ones nobody will ever build.

Common collocations

  • product backlog
  • sprint backlog
  • backlog refinement
  • add to the backlog
  • prioritise the backlog
  • product ownerIn Scrum, the person responsible for getting the most value from the product, mainly by managing and ordering the product backlog and representing the needs of users and the business.
  • user storyA short, simple description of a feature from the point of view of the person who will use it, often written as: As a [user], I want [something] so that [benefit].
  • sprint planningThe meeting at the start of each sprint where the Scrum team agrees on a sprint goal, chooses the backlog items it will deliver and plans how to do the work.
  • scrumA popular agile framework in which a small team delivers work in fixed cycles called sprints, with set roles such as product owner and scrum master and regular events like planning and reviews.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Agile & Scrum

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