- Are we ready with the stories for the upcoming sprint?
- Sure, we’ve just discussed them at the Refinement session an hour ago.
- Wait, do you mean at the Grooming?
- Um… I guess… at what?
- Forget about it… So what with those stories again?
This Very Question
Every time I start working with a new team, we inevitably come across this very question. What do we call those sessions when we present requirements to the team, review the feedback, and prioritize the backlog? Do we call them Refinements or Groomings?
I know what you are about to say - look up what the Scrum Guide says, Sergey!
Well, I did, and yes it says "Backlog Refinement"! But I've been curious to find out why there are two camps and also why some folks use Refinement and others use Grooming.
Recent Survey
A few weeks ago I asked the BA community - what you and your team call these sessions: Groomings or Refinements? Here are the results:
Out of three BAs, one goes to the grooming session once or twice a week.
The other two go to refinement sessions.
They essentially do the same thing, but they call it differently. Why?
Back In The Old Days
Photo by Mart Production from Pexels
Backlog Grooming as a term was initially introduced in the very first edition of the Scrum Guide and then clarified with more details in the second edition:
Then, Things Changed
When a newer and updated edition of Scrum Guide came out in 2013, it mentioned the practice of Backlog Refinement instead of previously used "grooming". Here's a brief update summary from the Scrum Revisions page :
And here's the definition of Backlog Refinement in the 2013 edition of the Scrum Guide:
Here Come The British
In recent years, the word "Grooming" has been associated with certain illegal activities - google yourself for it. For one reason or another, it's more so in the UK rather than in the US. Anyways, my British colleagues told me not to use this word and I won't! And by the way, there is a similar attitude toward this word in some other European countries.
My Thoughts?
I use "Backlog Refinement" all the time, for a very simple reason - because Scrum Guide tells me so. Just as it tells me to use Sprint Reviews and not Sprint Demos for example, that's as simple as that. If my team follows Scrum then we adhere to what Scrum Guide recommends and don't reinvent the wheel or use our own jargon.
And frankly, when someone mentions grooming, I can't help but think about pet grooming, blame me for that!
Photo by Gustavo Fring from Pexels.
So What Then?
Look, as long as you get what you want from those meetings, you embrace collaboration, inclusion, and focus on problem-solving - I don't mind what you call those sessions. My point though is that I'd rather stick to what Scrum Guide recommends, which is "Backlog Refinement", and won't introduce anything that may be controversial for team members or the client.
Learn More
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