Marginal Economics | Glossary

Definition

Marginal Economics deals with ‘Margins’ and the next chunk of money that is supposed to be justified by the investment that it generates. When Marginal Economics are applied, all work that has been performed on the product till the decision point is dignified as “sunk cost”, which overall, is not considered in determining further spending decisions.

Marginal thinking in general, is discouraged in Agile. Stockpiling costs/ resources is not recommended in this field. The process in general is considered more inclined towards full value, instead of margins.

Further Reading

  •  “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit”(book), by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck

Backlog Grooming | Glossary

 

Definition

Backlog grooming occurs when the Product Owner and the rest of the team review and prioritize items on the Backlog. This is a regular activity and can be in the form of an officially scheduled meeting, or ongoing activity. The list of activities that occur during the refinement of this backlog include:

  • Removing non-relevant user stories
  • Building new user stories
  • Prioritizing the user stories
  • Estimating user stories
  • Correcting said estimates with newly discovered information
  • Dividing high-priority user stories that are too coarse to fit in an iteration

Further Reading

  • For more on Backlog grooming , read here and  here.