Backlog Management Tips - Go DEEP

DEEP backlog iceburg

A well-managed backlog is the key to any successful agile delivery. DEEP is one of my favourite mnemonics for explaining the characteristics of a good backlog

Detailed Appropriately 

Items at the top of the backlog should be broken down and more refined so they are ready to start being developed. The items further down will not need so much detail.

I like to think of a good initial backlog being large boulders of work at the bottom (Epics if you like) with them gradually being broken down as you traverse up the backlog to the top where they are pebbles. This is as small as you want to go as breaking them down further into tiny pebbles or grains of sand will not add any additional benefits.

Emergent

As items come closer to being ready for development the team should focus on these to uncover the necessary details. This emergent approach means the focus can be on preparing items as they are needed. This allows the whole team to focus on the current and upcoming deliverables and not waste time analysing items that might never be played. There is always a risk that new knowledge might changes prioritises or cause the team to pivot so you want to minimise time spent on future work that might become stale or irrelevant.

Estimatable

A good backlog will allow a team to use relative sizing or another form of estimation to keep track on the backlog. These measures can be used to generate burn ups and the much needed tracking of scope. These charts can then help the team know how they are traveling and spot the inevitable scope creep. Often a trigger point for a refinement session to re-prioritise and focus on where the real value lies.

Prioritized

Backlog must be ranked in order. This is so the team knows what to focus on next and have the conversations around value to ensure the most important items are being worked on first. Having a backlog forces the cards to be ranked against each other rather than just Must or Could as used in MoSCoW, which enables the team to focus on individual cards and not get lost trying to analysis whole swathes of requirements at once.