How to Define, Prioritize and Refine User Stories using the Product Backlog Building Canvas

“This book helps teams that are pursuing backlog success to determine exactly how to build a cross functional, successful, and realistic backlog that delivers value, collects evidence, and updates the prioritization and the work being done in each Sprint, objectively and in a customer-centered way.” - Jeff Gothelf

Many software teams describe desired product capabilities as a product backlog: a list of user stories. These stories capture who needs the work, what the work is, and why it’s needed. Too often teams expect a product owner to be the sole source of the backlog, but anyone could (and should) write user stories. A Product Backlog Building Canvas supports this by providing a simple process to develop user stories, starting with describing personas for product users and the activities they do. These activities yield features: their interactions with the product. Features are broken down into backlog items, which can then be formulated into user stories from the background of personas and activities.

By incorporating the Product Backlog Building Canvas into your product development flow, and by following the steps presented in this book, you and your team will be able to:

• Develop a shared understanding of the product needs.

• Facilitate the writing of user stories.

• Structure the granularity of backlog items.

• Prioritize the items of greatest importance to the product and to the customer.

• Improve teamwork and collaboration.