Skill: backlog-grooming

Skill: backlog-grooming

Purpose

Facilitate a structured backlog grooming session to ensure the top items are well-defined, estimated, and ready for the next sprint.

When to Use

• 2–3 days before sprint planning
• When backlog items lack acceptance criteria or estimates
• When the team is unsure what to pick next sprint

Framework: Backlog Grooming Session

Step 1 — Pre-Grooming Preparation

Before the session:

• Filter backlog to top 20–30 items by priority
• Remove duplicates and stale items (no activity in 90+ days)
• Ensure each item has at minimum: title, description, priority

Step 2 — For Each Item, Check the 3 R's

Ready — Is the item ready for development?

• Clear description of what needs to be built
• Acceptance criteria defined (Given/When/Then)
• Dependencies identified
• Design/mockups available (if needed)
• Estimated (story points or T-shirt size)

Right — Is the priority right?

• Does it align with the sprint goal?
• Is the business value clear?

Realistic — Is the scope realistic for one sprint?

• If > 8 story points → split the story

Step 3 — Grooming Output Table

#	Item Title	Ready?	Size (SP)	Priority	Action Needed
1	Login with SSO	✅ Yes	5	P1	Ready for sprint
2	Export to CSV	⚠️ Partial	3	P2	Needs AC written
3	Dashboard redesign	❌ No	13	P1	Split into 3 stories

Step 4 — Items to Split

For any item > 8 SP, suggest splits:

Original: "Dashboard redesign" (13 SP) → Story 1: Dashboard layout and navigation (5 SP) → Story 2: Widget data integration (5 SP) → Story 3: Filters and date range (3 SP)

Step 5 — Grooming Health Check

• % of top 10 items marked Ready: target > 80%
• Average SP of items: target < 8
• Items with no AC: must be fixed before sprint planning

Output Format

1. Grooming output table
2. Items to split with suggested breakdown
3. Action list before sprint planning
4. Suggested next command: /sprint-health or /velocity-analysis