Team Roadmap: A Collaborative Planning Tool
The Team Roadmap, a key output of the Quarterly Planning event, outlines potential placeholder stories for the next 5-6 sprints (Scrum) alongside Discovery and Design activities.
Swimlane Visualization:
Utilizing a two-lane roadmap helps visualize these activities:
- Development lane
- Discovery/Design lane
This visual representation aids the team in synchronizing relevant activities. For instance, if a user story requires UX/UI design before development, but the design effort is too large to be combined with the development as one user story, separate lanes can be used to sync these two activities. This ensures the design is complete before development begins, while still maintaining a collaborative approach throughout the entire process. Developers should be involved in the design process from the outset, and designers should stay involved until the user story is delivered.
Consider incorporating color coding on the Lean-Scrum Team Roadmap to represent different capabilities. Additionally, red dots can depict external dependencies.
Team Backlog: Prioritized Work Items
The Team Backlog is a prioritized list of work items the team needs to complete to achieve Strategic Objectives. User stories are the most common format, but the team might use different formats based on item size (Epics, Capabilities) or specific needs (Enabler Stories, Bugs, Sub-tasks). Regardless of format, backlog items should adhere to agreed-upon standards (see the Product Backlog Items section for suggestions).
Maintaining a Focused Backlog:
Many teams struggle with cluttered backlogs containing potential future items that may or may not be delivered. This can make it difficult to grasp the true pipeline and wastes time for Product Managers/Owners who constantly update and prioritize them. To promote a cleaner Team Backlog, we recommend creating Product Backlog Items only for placeholder stories on the Team Roadmap and stories for the next few sprints. All other potential backlog items can reside in the Product Ideas section until they are planned for delivery.
Characteristics of a Good Team Backlog
- Clean and Focused: Avoids including potential backlog items and product ideas.
- Standardized: Uses agreed-upon formats for all items.
- Comprehensive: Includes all types of deliverable team activities, such as UX/UI design stories and technical design tasks.
