What is a Sprint Backlog ? A short definition

I have been talking about the Product Backlog which is the repository of all the feature requirements, architectural work, and design changes required to be done by the team, and is owned by the Product Owner, typically from the Product Management team. However, there is another term called the “Sprint Backlog”. In this post, we will briefly talk about the Sprint Backlog, and its definition, and the next few posts will start to define the term in more detail.

The Sprint Backlog is the actual execution plan of a specific Sprint, and is owned by the Product team, and not by the Product Owner. It details the breakdown of the specific tasks that are planned for the current Sprint, and involves breaking down the features defined in the Product Backlog down into tasks, with these tasks being short bites of between 5 and 16 hours of work for each task. Once these tasks are defined, anybody can pick up specific tasks to implement, and indeed, the assignment of tasks is done by the Product team themselves. It is the team that sets the priority for the Sprint Backlog.