With the requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria established in Meeting 2, the next step is to determine what should be worked on first, what dependencies need to be addressed, and how much effort the work may require.
Meeting 3 focuses on backlog grooming and prioritization. Participants will review the requirements developed during the previous session, validate them with the appropriate stakeholders, and organize them into a structured product backlog. The team will also identify dependencies, assumptions, risks, and unanswered questions that could affect delivery.
Participants will practice estimating relative effort and evaluating requirements against business priorities. Through collaborative discussion, the team will determine which items should receive the highest priority and ensure the backlog is sufficiently refined to support the upcoming solution design phase.
The goal is to move from a collection of requirements to a clear, organized, estimated, and prioritized body of work that the delivery team can use to guide solution development.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Validate and approve requirements before they move into implementation.
- Organize and refine requirements into a structured product backlog.
- Identify dependencies, assumptions, risks, and open questions that may affect delivery.
- Apply relative estimation techniques to understand the effort associated with backlog items.
- Evaluate and prioritize requirements based on business needs and value.
- Prepare a backlog that is sufficiently refined to support solution design and development.
Session Activities
Validate & Approve Requirements
Review the requirements and user stories developed in Meeting 2 to confirm that they accurately reflect the identified business needs.
Organize and Refine the Product Backlog
Structure backlog items, clarify requirements, and ensure the work is sufficiently detailed for the delivery team.
Identify Dependencies, Assumptions, and Open Questions
Capture factors that may influence delivery and identify information that still needs to be resolved.
Estimate Relative Effort
Work as a team to estimate the relative effort associated with backlog items.
Prioritize Requirements
Evaluate requirements and determine their order of priority based on business needs and intended value.
Deliverables & Roles
| Deliverable | Primary Role |
|---|---|
| Approved Requirements Package | Product Owner (PO) |
| Structured & Refined Product Backlog | Business Analyst (BA) |
| Dependency & Open Questions Tracker | Project Manager / Business Analyst (PM/BA) |
| Risks, Assumptions & Open Questions Log | Business Analyst (BA) |
| Estimated Product Backlog | Project Team |
| Prioritized Backlog | Product Owner (PO) |
What Participants Will Take Away
Participants will leave Meeting 3 with an approved requirements package and a structured, estimated, and prioritized backlog. They will also have a clearer view of dependencies, assumptions, risks, and unresolved questions that need to be considered before the team moves into Meeting 4: Solution Design + Prototyping.