https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/backlog-refinement-single-team-scrum
14 Success Principles of the Product Backlog Refinement
Next Level Story Mapping: OKR Mapping
Job-to-Be-Done Canvas
6 common mistakes when using spikes
Introducing Example Mapping
Example mapping is a great way to have a discussion about your user stories and can be used to make refinement sessions more interactive.

Read all about it here: https://cucumber.io/blog/example-mapping-introduction/
Agile35 cards which will improve your backlog refinement process and engage every team member
This article describes an interesting card game that will help you improve your refinement process: https://hackernoon.com/35-cards-which-will-improve-your-backlog-refinement-process-and-engage-every-team-member-54f929fdd282
Liberating Structures and (distributed) Scrum Events
For an upcoming meetup I’m preparing a session on how to use LS for Scrum Events and especially events where the participants are distributed and joining the event remotely.
Here’s a brief overview of some LS that can be used for the different Scrum events. I’ve marked all structures with an * that I’ve used myself in a distributed setting.
Refinement / Planning
- *1-2-4-All (examples)
- WINFY – What I Need From You (examples)
- Improv Prototyping (examples)
- *Troika Consulting (examples)
- *TRIZ (examples)
- Ecocycle Planning (examples)
- *Nine Whys (examples)
- Wicked Questions
- Integrated~Autonomy
- *Min Specs
- *Conversation Café (examples)
- *Celebrity Interview
- Critical Uncertainties (examples)
- Panarchy
- P2P – Purpose-To-Practice
- Future~Present (examples)
Daily Scrum
- *1-2-4-All (examples)
- *W³ – What, So What, Now What (examples)
- Design StoryBoards
- *15% Solutions (examples)
- *Conversation Café (examples)
Sprint Review
- 10×10 Writing (examples)
- *1-2-4-All (examples)
- Shift & Share
- Wise Crowds
- Caravan (mash of Shift & Share with Wise Crowds)
- Gallery Walk (examples, examples)
- *UX Fishbowl (examples)
- *15% Solutions (examples)
- Troika Consulting (examples)
- *W³ – What, So What, Now What (examples)
- 25/10 Crowd Sourcing (examples)
- Ecocycle Planning (examples)
- Open Space Technology
- Min Specs (examples)
- Mad Tea (examples)
- Ecocycle Planning (examples)
Sprint Retrospective
- *1-2-4-All (examples)
- *W3 – What, So What, Now What (examples)
- *15% Solutions (examples)
- Troika Consulting (examples)
- *Appreciative Interviews (examples)
- Ecocycle Planning (examples)
- *TRIZ (examples)
- *Nine Whys (examples)
- DAD – Discovery & Action Dialogue
- Helping Heuristics
- *Conversation Café (examples)
- HSR – Heard, Seen, Respected
- Positive Gossip
- 25/10 Crowd Sourcing (examples)
- *Spiral Journal
- Myth Turning (examples)
- Critical Uncertainties (examples)
On the liberating Structures website you can find a design checklist for virtual meetings. Since the link is currently no longer working, you can find the document here:
How to: A Great Product Backlog Refinement Workshop
To conduct the workshop, follow these steps:
- In 30-minute cycles,
- The PO presents the next PBIs that aren’t Ready to the team. (up to 5 minutes)
- The Development Team decomposes into sub-teams of 3-4 people.
- Each sub-team selects one of the next PBIs and gets it Ready. (15-20 minutes)
- Use User Stories, 3 Cs, INVEST, your Definition of Ready, etc. to guide you.
- If Readiness is blocked by an impediment outside the Scrum team, the sub-team makes a concrete plan for what they will do to get the PBI Ready before the next Sprint Planning or Backlog Refinement meeting.
- Merge back into whole group, the full Scrum team.
- Sub-teams present their work to the whole group. (5-10 minutes)
- Take a break (5 minutes)
- Repeat
- Celebrate!
Read the original article here: https://kasperowski.com/how-to-a-great-product-backlog-refinement-workshop/
28 Product Backlog and Refinement Anti-Patterns
Scrum is a practical framework to build products, provided you identify in advance what to build. But even after a successful product discovery phase, you may struggle to make the right thing in the right way if your product backlog is not up to the job. Garbage in, garbage out – as the saying goes. The following article points at 28 of the most common product backlog anti-patterns – including the product backlog refinement process – that limit your Scrum team’s success.
Read the complete article here: https://age-of-product.com/28-product-backlog-anti-patterns/