[teampractices] heterogeneous and hierarchical backlogs, shaving and exploding epics

[Joel Aufrecht]

Hi,

Here are four very idiosyncratic terms that I came up with while discussing
Epics and Backlogs with Kevin.  I found them very helpful but I'm sure
there are existing, more common names for these out there.  A quick
googling didn't reveal anything exactly relevant and before I invested more
time in looking for standard terminology I thought I'd ask here.

1) Heterogeneous vs hierarchical product backlogs

A hierarchical product backlog is one with a stack-ranked list of stories
and also a stack-ranked list of Epics (and maybe a stack-ranked list of
Sagas or Themes or Features as well).  In this backlog, each Story is part
of an Epic.

A heterogeneous product backlog is one stack-ranked list comprising a mix
of Stories and Epics, each completely independent.

A homogeneous product backlog is one stack-ranked list of Stories, which is
what vanilla Scrum starts with, but in practice this is rarely adequate for
a project of any size.  It is, however, best practice for a _sprint_
backlog.

2) Shaving vs Exploding Epics
To shave an epic is to identify a Story within the scope of work of an
Epic, create that as an independent Story, and then rewrite the Epic to
exclude that scope.  To explode an Epic is to move the entire scope of work
into a series of Stories and then close the Epic.  Both of these methods
are appropriate in a heterogeneous product backlog, where they prevent
double-counting scope.  In a hierarchical backlog, the scope of work of the
original Epic must be preserved, so the equivalent to shave is "partial
work breakdown to the story level" and to explode, "full work breakdown to
the story level".

Thoughts?  What terms have you seen for these concepts?


*Joel Aufrecht*
Team Practices Group
Wikimedia Foundation
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