Product Backlog in Scrum

Let’s talk about product backlog is Scrum.

The first thing we should mention is that Scrum projects don’t have strict plan of work like Waterfall projects. The tasks of the Scrum project are defined by the customer. They can change during the process of project realization.

The product backlog in Scrum is formulated by the Product Owner. This person is the customer or his representative in the team. He gathers the user stories that contain all necessary information on the functionality of the future product. After that he prioritizes the stories in the Scrum product backlog. The stories that describe more important functionality are usually prioritized higher than other stories. After that the team takes the user stories from the product backlog and turns them into items of the sprint backlog.

The team is able to reprioritize user stories in the product backlog. It is necessary because the developers can forecast their workflow; hence, they know how much time they need to perform certain tasks.

As the user stories are placed into the sprint backlog, they cannot be reprioritized until the sprint is finished. From this moment they are no longer user stories. They are tasks that should be performed during the sprint.