Firstly, the Product Backlog in its simplest form is a list of features to work on. Prioritising the Product Backlog features is then the responsibility of the Product Owner. The decision is based on the current Product Vision Statement and Goals. The product vision places the product goals into a central part of the development team ethos. The vision is, therefore, providing clarity to the direction in which the product is going. Prioritising the features then enables the ordered list to form the product roadmap for project planning.
Project Planning and the Product Roadmap
The Product Roadmap is essentially planning how to achieve the Product Vision. Moreover, it is describing how the product will align with Stakeholder Requirements. The roadmap then enables the organization to plan the Product Development and coordinate product releases with related Products. As a result of the incremental development of an agile project, the product roadmap may evolve as the Product evolves and Stakeholder Requirements change. Incremental development requires features to be broken down into smaller User Stories and Tasks that are based on the User Requirements.
Only the highest priority features that will be addressed next should be broken down. Doing this minimizes the risks of spending Effort breaking down the features into User Stories only for it to be removed from scope at a later stage of the Project.
Project Planning for the Future
Firstly the Product Vision describes what the product will look like in the future. The product vision also describes how the product is likely to function. The vision creates a shared goal for the development team to work towards and provides the foundations for the project plan. Communicating the product vision should be done throughout the organization, thus ensuring that the company shares a global vision for the product.
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