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Software Engineering vocabulary · Agile and Team Workflow

Backlog refinement

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, backlog refinement means: Regular work in which the product owner and the team review upcoming backlog items, clarify them, split large ones and estimate them so they are ready for a sprint.

In Turkish: backlog iyileştirme, iş listesi düzenleme

How it is used

Often a weekly one-hour meeting. It used to be called backlog grooming; refinement is now the preferred word. A good refinement session ends with the top of the backlog ready, so sprint planning goes quickly.

Example sentences

  1. Let's discuss the search stories in backlog refinement on Thursday.

  2. We skipped backlog refinement last week, and sprint planning took three hours.

Common collocations

  • backlog refinement session
  • hold backlog refinement
  • refinement meeting
  • backlog grooming
  • backlogThe ordered list of work a team has not started yet, such as features, bugs and improvements, with the most important items at the top.
  • user storyA short description of a feature from the user's point of view, often written as 'As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [reason]'.
  • story pointA unit that agile teams use to estimate how much effort a task needs, based on its size, complexity and uncertainty rather than on hours.
  • sprintA fixed period, usually one or two weeks, in which a team commits to finishing a chosen set of work items.
  • product ownerIn Scrum, the person accountable for the product backlog: deciding its order, making items clear and making sure the team works on the most valuable things.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Agile and Team Workflow

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