Information is crucial to run a software project and that’s where artifacts come into play. The three artifacts that Scrum teams use are,
- Product backlog
- Sprint backlog
- Increment
Product Backlog
Product Backlog is a list of everything needed in the product. It can be managed via spreadsheet, database entries or software. The Product Owner is responsible for refining the product backlog, staying up-to-date on company or market needs as well as adding, removing or reordering backlog items.
Components of the Product Backlog
There are 4 components that each requirement in the Product Backlog contains,
- Order – The priority or importance of the requirement
- Description – Detail of the requirement
- Estimate – How much time/money or any other unit of estimate will it take to deliver the requirement
- Value – What is the value that the requirement provides
Sprint Backlog
Sprint Backlog is a list of everything to be built during the sprint. Sprint Backlog is created during sprint planning session. Note that Sprint Backlog can evolve based on what the team learns during the course of the sprint.
Component of the Sprint Backlog
Sprint Goal – The scrum team comes up with a sprint goal or the objective of the sprint. This goal can be met once the team completes the sprint items
Sprint Items – Sprint Items are decided in the first part of the sprint planning session. This is where the team decides what can be achieved in the sprint
Sprint Plan – The second part of the sprint planning session is where the team determines how the selected items will get done by further decomposing the items into tasks
This might remind you of decomposition in the Work Breakdown Structure but the team does not create the entire WBS here. The team first decomposes only the items that will get built first and finish decomposing as they go along the way.
Increment
Scrum is ‘incremental’ which basically means the project is broken down into chunks and each of these chunks are delivered one after the other. Each of these chunks is thus an increment. Note that an increment is a working software (shippable product) demonstrated to the user at the sprint review. It also includes all items previously delivered during previous sprints.
Thus the product increment is the sum of all the backlog items that are completed during this sprint and all of the previous sprints.
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