By now many of us have had plenty of time to clean and tidy up our homes. But have you given your product backlog and task tracking software as much attention? To keep your digital tools organized, it is important to avoid hoarding on to inefficient processes. By removing the clutter in your product backlog, you can keep your teams focused. It’s time to spark joy by cleaning up your planning tools! Join Johan Karlsson — our Agile and backlog expert — to learn how to: -Apply digital minimalism to your tracking and planning. -Organize your work by category. -Motivate teams by transitioning to a cleaner way of working. TRY HANSOFT FREE

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How to Spark Joy in Your Product Backlog
JOHAN KARLSSON | APRIL 2020

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Johan Karlsson
jkarlsson@perforce.com
Senior Consultant, Hansoft
Perforce Software

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Your Backlog Over Time
Tasks, spikes,
bugs, sub-tasks
etc….
See Pawel Brodzinski Options, Options, Options: http://brodzinski.com/2013/09/options-options-options.html
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
User story
Feature 1
Feature 2
Feature 3
Feature 4
Business Epic

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1. What does the ideal backlog look like?
2. Discard as much as possible.
3. Tidy up what remains into useful categories.
4. Spice up the remaining high-priority items.
5. Involve your team – and focus on discarding again.
How to Start the Tidying Up Process
Product Owner
Entire Team

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What Is the Ideal Backlog?
💡
Great Idea
📝
Backlog
🧑💻
Development
📦
Delivered Product
Cheap to Change Expensive to Change

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• Minimal in size.
• Focused on driving product success.
• Clear ownership.
• Up-to-date, evolving with new insights and feedback.
• Includes all work to be done on the product.
• What else?
What Is the Ideal Backlog?
Task 1
Have a centralized product backlog tool.

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• A good idea is to copy/move everything to a ”cleanup” area.
• It can look overwhelming to start.
• Stat reviewing — what is not relevant?
• Items not touched in a long time?
• Items too large to ever be done?
• Dreams, hopes, and items way to far into the future?
• Items where the value is clear?
Before it Gets Better…
Task 2
Discard as much as possible.

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Tidy Up By Category
Priority / Timeline / Urgency
Expedite / Ongoing
Bugs
Smaller Features
Bigger Features
Refactoring / Technical Debt
ABC
Other
Task 3
Categorize.

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How to Structure Your Backlog

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Do Your Backlog Items Spark Joy?
😹
• Visualize: Add images, emojis, etc.
• Sell It: Think about how the backlog item will be
marketed to your customers and use similar wording.
• Specific: Use fewer words.
Task 4
Spice up every high-priority item.

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Involve Your Team
• Start involving your team!
• How does the team feel when you show them a
backlog item? Does it excite them? Use this input
when updating priorities.
• Focus on process improvements with the team.
• This can help you avoid ending up in the same situation. Task 5
Discard Again – With the Team!

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1. What does the ideal backlog look like?
2. Discard as much as possible.
3. Tidy up what remains into useful categories.
4. Spice up the remaining high-priority items.
5. Involve the team – and focus on discarding again.
How to Start the Tidying Up Process

14. Questions?
Thank You For Attending