Fast‑moving startups can’t afford waste. They rely on small teams, scarce resources, and short sprints to deliver value quickly. Yet even with the best intentions, product backlogs can become chaotic — filled with outdated tasks, vague ideas, and unprioritized requests. When that happens, planning turns into guesswork and teams lose momentum. That’s why founders, product managers, and design leads need a clear answer to what is backlog grooming and why it matters. In the first part of this article I’ll explain the practice, then share the lessons we’ve learned at Parallel while helping young product teams keep their work focused.
What is backlog grooming?
Backlog grooming — often called backlog refinement, story time, pre‑planning or backlog management — is a recurring session where the product owner, product manager, developers, QA and sometimes stakeholders review the entire backlog. The group rewrites vague items to be clear, deletes obsolete work, and breaks large efforts into smaller tasks. Atlassian explains that grooming (refinement) is the regular updating of the product backlog to keep it current. Wudpecker’s 2024 guide stresses that this activity is iterative and involves the whole scrum team, who make sure backlog items are organized and ready for the next sprint. In short, the purpose of grooming is to have a constantly prioritized inventory of work that the team can pull from without wasting time on rework or guesswork.
Alternate names and why the term changed
Originally many teams used the phrase “backlog grooming.” In 2011 the Scrum Guide even included grooming as a formal activity. Over time practitioners realised that the word carried unhelpful connotations and was unclear for newcomers. Aha!’s 2024 release‑management guide explains that most agile organisations now use “backlog refinement,” “pre‑planning,” or “story time” instead.
Many Reddit users also remark that people prefer to say refinement because it better reflects the ongoing nature of the work and feels more respectful. The shift in language hasn’t changed the underlying practice; it simply clarifies that the goal is to refine and prioritise work rather than “groom” it.
How grooming supports agile and product management
In agile development, the backlog contains user stories, feature requests, bug fixes, and technical tasks. Without regular refinement, this list can balloon into a cluttered dump of ideas. Aha! explains that refinement ensures each item is relevant, detailed, and estimated. Atlassian adds that an up‑to‑date backlog prevents teams from working on outdated tasks or wasting resources. For young startups the benefits are tangible:
- Prepares stories for sprint planning: Clear, sized items make sprint planning quick and let developers focus on delivery.
- Improves prioritisation: Regularly evaluate items based on customer value so the team builds the right things.
- Supports workflow: Keep work manageable and reduce waste by pruning low‑value tasks.
- Enhances collaboration: Open discussions among product, design, and engineering build a shared direction.
At Parallel we’ve watched early‑stage SaaS teams collect lots of vague features. After we introduced weekly refinement, they dropped about 30% of these and broke the rest into small stories, cutting planning time in half and speeding delivery.
Core activities in a typical session
Backlog grooming isn’t a free‑for‑all. It follows a set of activities designed to keep the backlog healthy. According to Atlassian, grooming sessions involve deciding which user stories to pursue in the next sprint, pruning irrelevant stories, adding new items based on changing needs, estimating timelines, and dividing large stories into smaller tasks. Aha! emphasises rewriting items for clarity, deleting obsolete ones, and reassessing priorities. Here’s what usually happens:
- Review and remove: Examine each backlog item and delete anything outdated or irrelevant.
- Add and clarify: Capture new insights, write clear stories with acceptance criteria, and link them to product goals.
- Split large tasks: Break down epics into smaller slices that fit comfortably into a sprint.
- Estimate effort: Assign rough estimates using story points or other techniques; let those who will do the work provide the numbers.
- Prioritise: Reorder based on value, risk and effort; use score‑based methods to keep the highest‑value items at the top.
The DEEP model
Scrum practitioners often use the DEEP acronym to define a healthy backlog: Detailed appropriately, Emergent, Estimated, and Prioritise. It reminds teams to write clear stories, let the backlog change with new insights, give each item a size, and keep high‑value items on top. At Parallel we check items against DEEP and refine anything that falls short.
Grooming vs sprint planning
Backlog grooming and sprint planning are related but distinct activities. Grooming is an ongoing session to review and prepare the entire backlog, while sprint planning is a time‑boxed meeting at the start of each sprint where the team picks ready items and decides how to deliver them.
To help visualise the difference, here’s a simple table. Keep in mind that tables should contain short phrases rather than full sentences:
Best practices for effective sessions
No two teams run refinement in exactly the same way, but certain habits lead to better outcomes. Once you understand what is backlog grooming, you can apply the following guidelines. Here are practices we follow at Parallel, supported by industry sources and experience:
1) Schedule regular sessions
Consistency matters. Many teams hold a weekly one‑hour refinement session or a mid‑sprint check‑in. Wudpecker explains that sessions usually run 30–60 minutes. Keeping the agenda short and knowing what is backlog grooming prevents these meetings from drifting into sprint planning.
2) Invite the right people
Effective refinement involves the product owner or product manager, the scrum master (or project manager), engineers, quality assurance, and occasionally a stakeholder who represents customer needs. Wudpecker describes the roles: the product owner leads, clarifies details, and prioritises; the development team contributes technical insight and estimates; the scrum master facilitates. Adding design and research voices can also ensure that user experience is considered early. Understanding what is backlog grooming clarifies why everyone is in the room.
3) Use a Definition of Ready and DEEP
A Definition of Ready (DoR) is a checklist that determines when a story is ready for sprint planning. Atlassian highlights using a DoR along with the DEEP model to prioritise the backlog. At Parallel our DoR includes: clear description, acceptance criteria, rough estimate, dependencies identified, and validated user problem. If any item fails, we either refine it or remove it from the top of the backlog. Knowing what is backlog grooming ensures that teams apply the DoR consistently instead of skipping it.
4) Run story workshops
Sometimes the best way to refine a story is to step away from screens. Story workshops let teams sketch workflows, map user flows, and talk through details on a whiteboard, building shared understanding faster than editing tickets alone.
5) Let the team size stories
Estimates should not come from a single authority. Encourage developers to use planning poker or other collaborative sizing methods. This reduces bias and ensures that those doing the work provide the estimate. Quiet voices are important, too; create space for everyone to speak. When people understand what is backlog grooming, they are more likely to join estimation.
6) Avoid merging grooming with planning
Combining refinement and planning into one meeting might seem efficient, but it often leads to long, unfocused sessions. When grooming happens ahead of planning, the team enters sprint planning with a clear backlog. This results in shorter discussions, fewer surprises, and more committed sprints. Many teams we’ve worked with at Parallel have reported a 40% reduction in planning time after they separated the two rituals. It deserves its own slot.
Real‑world perspectives
Not all guidance comes from textbooks. On forums such as Reddit, many practitioners prefer the word “refinement” because “grooming” feels wrong. They describe a mid‑sprint cadence: split top stories, ensure each meets the DoR, and size them using planning poker to keep the backlog ready.
We see similar patterns at Parallel. Founders worry that refinement will slow them down, but those who adopt a regular cadence report better direction and smoother releases. In one project a cross‑functional group met mid‑week and used paper story maps to refine the top items; this practice cut cycle time and improved delivery. Understanding what is backlog grooming reveals the value of this routine.
Workflow optimisation and team dynamics
A well‑groomed backlog does more than prepare tasks; it streamlines the entire workflow. Teams avoid spending time on low‑value work, minimise context switching, and reduce waste. Aha! explains that refinement leads to greater efficiency and increases the value delivered to customers. The act of reviewing and reordering tasks helps spot dependencies and risks early, which can be addressed before they disrupt development. Recognising this activity helps everyone see that it’s about improving the flow of work, not paperwork.
Backlog sessions also improve team dynamics. When designers, developers, and product owners discuss stories together, they share perspectives and build trust. Misunderstandings surface early, and the group collectively decides what is feasible. This collaboration builds a sense of ownership and reduces friction during implementation. In our experience, teams that include customer success or support representatives during refinement sessions gain deeper insight into user pain points and design better solutions.
Closing thoughts
Effective backlog refinement is not bureaucracy; it saves startups from wasting time. By understanding what is backlog grooming, founders and product managers can create a disciplined rhythm that keeps the backlog clean. Use short, regular sessions to review items and reorder based on impact—that’s the essence of what is backlog grooming. Separate grooming from planning and invite cross‑functional voices while using tools like DEEP and DoR. Viewing the backlog as a living product, not a static list, helps your team move faster. In practice this pays off by reducing planning time and improving clarity.
FAQ
1) Why is it no longer called backlog grooming?
Over time, the word “grooming” developed negative associations and felt vague. Many agile teams prefer “refinement” because it describes the ongoing work of improving and clarifying backlog items. Aha! points out that most organisations now use the term backlog refinement or story time. The practice remains the same, but the new name is clearer and more respectful.
2) How does backlog grooming differ from sprint planning?
Backlog grooming is a recurring session where the team reviews the entire backlog, rewrites unclear items, splits large tasks, estimates them, and prioritises them for future sprints. Sprint planning, on the other hand, is a specific meeting held at the start of each sprint to select ready items and commit to delivering them. Grooming prepares the backlog so that planning can be efficient and focused.
3) What is the backlog grooming phase?
There isn’t a single phase called backlog grooming. Refinement is a recurring activity that happens regularly throughout a project. The team gathers to review, update, and prioritise items so the backlog remains manageable and ready for the next sprint. It’s not a one‑time event but an ongoing habit.
4) What is this activity called now?
Most teams refer to it as backlog refinement. Other names include pre‑planning, story time, or backlog management. The new terms avoid the negative connotations of “grooming” and emphasise the collaborative work of refining backlog items.
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