Ordering for Impact: Create Focus and Flexibility in your Product Backlog

While many think of ordering as simply prioritizing items, effective ordering goes beyond grouping tasks into high, medium, or low. True ordering means creating a clear, single-ranked list that guides your team’s next move. Let’s explore why ordering matters and how impact your Scrum team.

Why “Order” and Not “Priority”?

The word "priority" can imply categorization—grouping items into categories like high, medium, or low. While this can be helpful in some contexts, it often lacks the clarity needed in a Product Backlog. Ordering, on the other hand, implies a single, ranked list without creating multiple priorities. Each item has a specific position, providing absolute clarity on what’s next. This clarity is crucial for teams and Product Owners to ensure focus and maximization of value delivery.

Avoiding Calculation-Only Ordering

In some organizations, Product Owners rely solely on calculations to decide the order of backlog items. While calculations can be useful, they’re only one input into the ordering process. Human judgment and context are equally important, as every item in your Product Backlog represents assumed value until it’s validated. Relying entirely on numbers removes the essential nuance of judgment that comes from a deep understanding of the product and the customer.

Finding the Sweet Spot

A well-ordered backlog strikes a balance between stability and responsiveness. A static backlog, where items remain in the same order for long periods, can become stale and hinder the team’s ability to adapt. Conversely, frequent reordering, especially close to Sprint Planning (or during a Sprint), can lead to unnecessary thrashing for the team.

Using Product Goals and Sprint Goals can help create themes in the backlog, giving the team and stakeholders a clear area of focus and help the team work towards specific outcomes that have a meaningful impact on the organization. This approach enables you to focus on one area, deliver value, and then move on to the next.

Sharing Ordering Decisions Transparently

Transparent ordering decisions are essential for maintaining alignment with stakeholders. A great place to discuss ordering is during backlog refinement sessions or Sprint Reviews. These conversations allow you to share the reasoning behind the ordering and avoid surprises.

Effective ordering isn’t about simply ranking items based on calculations or gut feeling; it’s about creating a transparent list that balances stability with responsiveness and provides the team focus on achieving product outcomes.