Product Backlog
Product Release Backlog Ordering Technique: Factoring Business Value and Risk
16 January 2018
Agile Workflows
🔥 There's an updated version of this article. You can see it here.
Scrum is the most popular agile project development and delivery framework. In Scrum, the product release backlog (sometimes referred to as the product backlog) is a list of features, user stories, bugs to be fixed, and/or other requirements. The Product Owner is the ultimate holder of the backlog. The Product Owner prioritizes items, and different methods can be employed to help accomplish that work. This brief article focuses on the technique of factoring business value and risk.
Each item in the product release backlog would be rated as either high or low in two dimensions: business value and risk. It is suggested that high business value, high-risk items are worked on first. While that may seem counterintuitive, the earlier this work is done, the sooner the team will move to mitigate the issues and unknowns—leading to a higher quality product. If there's a failure, it will occur early and relatively inexpensively.
An ordering of priorities is illustrated above, and it follows:
1. High business value, high risk.
2. High business value, low risk.
3. Low business value, low risk.
4. Low business value, high risk.
Alternatively, other prioritization methods—such as the MoSCoW ranking model— may be used. MoSCoW will be highlighted in a subsequent article.
This content is an abridged excerpt from the award-winning book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, available in digital and print formats.
Agile Scrum is offered in ebook/Kindle format (ASIN: B01FZ0JIIY) in:
- 🇦🇺 Australia from Amazon.com.au
- 🇦🇹 Austria from Amazon.de
- 🇧🇪 Belgium from Amazon.fr
- 🇧🇷 Brazil from Amazon.com.br
- 🇨🇦 Canada from Amazon.ca
- 🇫🇷 France from Amazon.fr
- 🇩🇪 Germany from Amazon.de
- 🇮🇳 India from Amazon.in
- 🇮🇪 Ireland from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇮🇹 Italy from Amazon.it
- 🇯🇵 Japan from Amazon.co.jp
- 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein from Amazon.de
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg from Amazon.de
- 🇲🇽 Mexico from Amazon.com.mx
- 🇲🇨 Monaco from Amazon.fr
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands from Amazon.nl
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand from Amazon.com.au
- 🇸🇲 San Marino from Amazon.it
- 🇪🇸 Spain from Amazon.es
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland from Amazon.de
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇺🇸 United States of America from Amazon.com
- 🇻🇦 Vatican City from Amazon.it
Agile Scrum is sold in paperback (ISBN-13: 9781533370242) in:
- 🇦🇼 Aruba from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇦🇺 Australia from Amazon.com.au
- 🇦🇹 Austria from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇧🇸 Bahamas from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇧🇪 Belgium from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇨🇦 Canada from Amazon.ca
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇩🇰 Denmark from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇫🇯 Fiji from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇫🇮 Finland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇫🇷 France from Amazon.fr
- 🇩🇪 Germany from Amazon.de
- 🇬🇷 Greece from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇭🇺 Hungary from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇮🇸 Iceland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇮🇳 India from Amazon.in
- 🇮🇪 Ireland from Amazon.co.uk
- 🇮🇱 Israel from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇮🇹 Italy from Amazon.it
- 🇯🇲 Jamaica from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇯🇵 Japan from Amazon.co.jp
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇲🇽 Mexico from Amazon.com.mx
- 🇲🇨 Monaco from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands from bol.com
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand from Fishpond.co.nz, Amazon.com (via USA), and Booktopia.com.au (via Australia)
- 🇳🇴 Norway from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇵🇪 Peru from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇵🇭 Philippines from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇸🇬 Singapore from OpenTrolley Bookstore
- 🇿🇦 South Africa from Loot.co.za
- 🇰🇷 South Korea from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇪🇸 Spain from Amazon.es
- 🇸🇪 Sweden from Adlibris.com
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland from Bokus.com (via Sweden)
- 🇺🇦 Ukraine from The Book Depository (via UK/Australia)
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates from Amazon.ae
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom from Amazon.co.uk, Blackwell's, and The Book Depository
- 🇺🇸 United States of America from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AbeBooks, Books-a-Million, Diesel Bookstore (Santa Monica, California), Laguna Beach Books (Laguna Beach, California), Warwick’s (La Jolla, California), The Booksmith (San Francisco, California), University Press Books (Berkeley, California), Compass Books at SFO/Books Inc. (San Francisco, California), University of Arizona Bookstore (Tucson, Arizona), Strand Books (New York, New York), Hudson Booksellers (New York, New York), Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Savoy Bookshop & Café (Westerly, Rhode Island), Books & Books (Miami, Florida), and others
- 🇻🇳 Vietnam from U-buy.vn
Get your copy today!
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
Update: Video Channel for Agile Scrum
16 October 2018
Agile Workflows
Have you seen the updated video channel on Vimeo for Agile Scrum? It features six videos and you're invited to check them out!
🍿 Book Trailer for "Agile Scrum": http://vimeo.com/178858753
🍿 Agile Has a Long and Colorful Heritage: http://vimeo.com/259429846
🍿 Ordering the Product Backlog: https://vimeo.com/236069563
🍿 Product Increment and a Minimum Viable Product Approach: https://vimeo.com/258176585
🍿 Technical Debt: https://vimeo.com/238528947
🍿 Produce Planning Cards™ Help Agile Teams Estimate Work: https://vimeo.com/261680776
Here's the link to the channel which includes all of the videos: http://bit.ly/ASG-CHANNEL.
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
© Copyright 2018 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
How to Order the Product Backlog by Factoring Business Value and Risk: Update for 2021
07 July 2021
Agile Workflows
Scrum is the most popular agile development and delivery framework. In Scrum, the product backlog — sometimes referred to as the product/service backlog or the product release backlog — is simply a list work to be done. It may contain features, bugs to be fixed, or other requirements; and entries may take the form of user stories or other formats. The Product Owner is the ultimate holder of the product backlog. He/she prioritizes items, and different methods can be employed to help accomplish that work. This concise article highlights the technique of factoring business value and risk.
Each item in the product backlog would be rated as either high or low in two dimensions: business value and risk. It is suggested that high business value, high-risk items are worked on first. While that may seem counterintuitive, the earlier that work is done, the sooner the team will move to mitigate the issues and unknowns—leading to a higher quality product. If there's a failure, it will occur early and relatively inexpensively.
An ordering of priorities is illustrated above, and it follows:
1. High business value, high risk.
2. High business value, low risk.
3. Low business value, low risk.
4. Low business value, high risk.
Alternatively, other prioritization methods—such as the MoSCoW ranking model—may be used.
This content is an abridged excerpt from the award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB has generated over one billion dollars of business value in aggregate for the organizations he has served. He is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker. His expertise spans project, program, portfolio, and PMO leadership inclusive of agile, traditional, and hybrid approaches. Content from Scott's books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), workshops, speaking engagements, and more have been featured and used by businesses, governments, and universities including Gartner, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the National Academy of Sciences, the United States Department of Energy, the United States Army, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Warsaw University of Technology, University of Waterloo, Loughborough University London, and others. He has spoken at conferences and other events around the world, including Australia, Brazil (scheduled for September 1, 2021), Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Thinkers360 named Scott a global top thought leader and influencer in four domains: Agile, Change Management, Digital Transformation, and GovTech. His full bio is available at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
The short URL for this article is: https://bit.ly/agile-pb
© Copyright 2021 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com.
Agile Project Management: Insights from AgileScrumGuide.com in ‘Managing Information Technology’
01 September 2024
Agile Workflows
Insights at AgileScrumGuide.com Appear in New Book on Tech Management
AgileScrumGuide.com offers details on Scott M. Graffius’ book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions, alongside additional unique information and resources on Agile and Scrum.
The Agile Project Management chapter of the new book, Managing Information Technology—Second Edition, references insights from Scott M. Graffius, published at AgileScrumGuide.com, on the PSPI and the MVP.
The references section of Managing Information Technology—Second Edition, which includes Graffius’ material on AgileScrumGuide.com, is shown below.
About Managing Information Technology—Second Edition
The following is a synopsis of the description for the book on Amazon. Taking the fundamental principles of IT service management and best practices in project management (including agile), Managing Information Technology—Second Edition offers a single, seamless reference for IT managers and professionals. It is highly practical, explaining how to apply these principles based on the extensive industry experience of the book’s authors, Francisco Castillo and Korina Monoso.
The book was published in 2024, and it is available in digital and print formats.
Visit the publisher’s website to learn more.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions book, and content on AgileScrumGuide.com, are copyright © Scott M. Graffius. Managing Information Technology—Second Edition cover image and content are the property of Springer, the editors, or the authors.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, SA, CSP-SM, CSP-PO, CSM, CSPO, SFE, ITIL, LSSGB is an agile project management practitioner, consultant, multi-award-winning author, and international keynote speaker. He is the Founder of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ and subsidiary Exceptional Agility™. He has generated over $1.9 billion of business value in aggregate for Global Fortune 500 businesses and other organizations he has served. Graffius and content from his books (Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change), talks, workshops, and more have been featured and used by businesses, professional associations, governments, and universities. Examples include Microsoft, Oracle, Broadcom, Cisco, Gartner, Project Management Institute, IEEE, Qantas, National Academy of Sciences, United States Department of Energy, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Yale University, Tufts University, and others. He has delighted audiences with dynamic and engaging talks and workshops on agile, project management, and technology leadership at 89 conferences and other events across 25 countries.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇪 Belgium
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle worldwide. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🌏 More countries
Let's Connect
Connect with AgileScrumGuide.com on:
And connect with agile project management practitioner, consultant, award-winning author, and international speaker Scott M. Graffius on:
© Copyright 2024 Scott M. Graffius, AgileScrumGuide.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius/AgileScrumGuide.com. .