Decomposing Product Backlog Items

Every product has a goal that is achieved over time through incremental iterations. A Product Owner is responsible for formulating the product vision, prioritizing items to get the most value out of them, anticipating client demands, and understanding the market. The product goal is broken down into smaller components that still provide a usable, demonstrable solution. This phenomenon is known as Vertically splitting stories, a topic on which I’ve already published an article. Which focuses on delivering small pieces to the end customer and eventually completing the overall product. The benefit is that the client is not kept waiting for the final product and may begin extracting value from each incremental iteration right away.

Following the vertical splitting of stories, the Development Team decides what can be delivered and plans the Sprint accordingly. The team’s next most common question is, “How will the chosen work get done?”

Scrum Guide: How will the chosen work get done?

For each selected Product Backlog item, the Developers plan the work necessary to create an Increment that meets the Definition of Done. This is often done by decomposing Product Backlog items into smaller work items of one day or less. How this is done is at the sole discretion of the Developers. No one…