They are written from the perspective of an end user or user of a system, and may be recorded on index cards, Post-it notes, or digitally in project management software. Depending on the project, user stories may be written by different stakeholders like client, user, manager, or development team. User stories are a type of boundary object. They facilitate sensemaking and communication; and may help software teams document their understanding of the system and its context.
Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with new product development, business justification, planning, verification, forecasting, pricing, product launch, and marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Similarly, product lifecycle management (PLM) integrates people, data, processes and business systems. It provides product information for companies and their extended supply chain enterprise.
Estimating and Forecasting is the process of making predictions of the future based on past and present data and most commonly by analysis of trends. It involves predicting some variable of interest at some specified future date, may refer to formal statistical methods or to less formal judgmental methods. Risk and uncertainty are central to estimating and forecasting, where one of the variables is the degree of uncertainty while another is the validity of the data that is being predicted on.
A backlog is a list of tasks required to support a larger strategic plan. For example, a product development context contains a prioritized list of items. The product team agrees to work on these projects next. Typical items on a product backlog include user stories, changes to existing functionality, and bug fixes. One key component that gives a backlog meaning is the prioritized items. Therefore, the items ranked highest on the list represent the team’s most important or urgent items to complete.
There are many ways to approach feature prioritization, but regardless of approach, it's important to prioritize features because you have limited time and money and too many potential features. Sitting down and figuring out which features to work on and at what point of your schedule is absolutely necessary to prevent delays and a poorly executed product. As you begin building the product and gathering customer insights from tests or interviews, there may be instances where it makes more sense to pivot from the initial product strategy. The key is that your strategy is always defined so you know what to prioritize at any point in time.
Product Analytics allow each feature of a product to be estimated, measured and tracked against a desired revenue forecast. KPIs and Metrics allow companies to monitor product success, while Data Analysis allows organizations to identify and quantify specific user behaviors in order to validate product hypothesis. Finally, A/B Testing allows organizations to try out possible solutions with test users before rolling out to the entire user base. Product analytics shows companies their customers' behaviors -- specifically what users actually do instead of what they say they do. Understanding the customer and their needs is essential to building effective and beneficial products.
The purpose of sprint planning is to define what can be delivered in the sprint and how that work will be achieved. Sprint planning is done in collaboration with the whole scrum team.