Backlog Management

Definition

Backlog Management is the practice of maintaining, refining, and prioritizing a list of work items in adaptive projects. The product backlog contains all known user stories, features, and technical work for the product. The sprint backlog is the subset selected for the current iteration. Backlog refinement (grooming) is an ongoing process of adding detail, re-estimating, and re-prioritizing items to keep the backlog ready for sprint planning. The product owner owns backlog prioritization.

Related concepts

• Adaptive Development Approach
• Inverted Triangle
• Scope Domain
• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Exam angle

• Product owner controls priority: the development team does NOT decide what to build next — that is exclusively the product owner’s responsibility
• Backlog is not fixed: it changes continuously as the product evolves, market changes, or new information emerges — a backlog is always a living artifact
• Sprint backlog vs. product backlog: sprint backlog = committed work for one sprint (team owns it); product backlog = entire future scope (product owner owns it)

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