Product Backlog Refinement

Question

When does the development team participate in product backlog refinement?

only during refinement meeting planned by the product owner.
as part 1 of the sprint planning meeting never.
it is the sole responsibility of the product owner to refine the product backlog

Please provide your answer with reason.

Anu Viswan · Answer

I would suggest you do it atleast once a week, especially during the early sprints. Remember that most often, no user story is fully defined until the development begins as there could be still unknowns (of varying importance). The clarity of the User Story increases on discusses it. Also, progress made on another User story could bring more clarity on the some of the existing User Stories in the backlog, which makes it important to visit them regularly. As the clarity of the backlog items get better, the grooming could be reduced to atleast once a sprint. Regarding the third point you mentioned - No, the Product Owner is accountable for the Backlog and is responsible for maintaining it, but it is the responsibility of the entire team to work towards refining them.

Salman Beg · Answer

Basically it completely depends upon Product Owner. In my scrum team, we do every day 30 minutes except friday. Sometimes we take extra time if there is any holiday. But i saw in other scrum team they do alternative days. There is no set of rule exists so based on product owner it depends how they conduct these meetings. Thanks