Backlog Grooming Loop

Goal

Refine backlog

How to Run

Run this loop in your preferred coding environment using the kickoff prompt below. The agent will guide you through iterative refinement until top-priority items meet readiness criteria.

1. 01

   Open Your Coding Environment

   Launch Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or Gemini CLI with your project loaded.

2. 02

   Paste the Kickoff Prompt

   Copy and paste the provided kickoff prompt into your coding assistant to start the loop.

3. 03

   Follow Agent Guidance

   The agent will perform actions, run checks, and inspect results in a self-paced loop until conditions are met.

4. 04

   Complete Manual Tasks

   When prompted, manually review or update backlog items in your project management tool or codebase as needed.

Workflow Steps

1. 01

   Run Backlog Audit

   Execute command to list all backlog items with their current status and priority levels.

2. 02

   Identify Unclear Items

   Flag backlog entries that lack clear descriptions, acceptance criteria, or definitions of done.

3. 03

   Refine Descriptions

   Improve item descriptions for clarity, context, and scope definition.

4. 04

   Add Acceptance Criteria

   Create or update acceptance criteria for each refined backlog item.

5. 05

   Check Dependencies

   Identify and document dependencies between backlog items to inform prioritization.

6. 06

   Review Priority Order

   Validate that top items are correctly prioritized based on business impact and technical dependencies.

7. 07

   Estimate Effort

   Provide or refine effort estimates for top-priority items to aid sprint planning.

8. 08

   Validate Readiness

   Confirm top items meet INVEST criteria (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable).

Start the "Backlog Grooming Loop" loop.

Goal: Refine backlog
Max iterations: 10
Between iterations run: backlog audit
Exit when: Top items ready


Begin the backlog grooming process. First, run a backlog audit to list all current backlog items. Then identify the top 5 items that need refinement. For each item, improve the description for clarity, add missing acceptance criteria, check for dependencies, validate priority order, and provide effort estimates. Continue iterating through workflow steps until all top items are ready for development. Run the check command after each action to assess progress.

Self-pace this loop. After each iteration, run `backlog audit` and evaluate the output, and only continue if the exit condition is not met (Top items ready). Stop when the exit condition passes or 10 iterations are reached. Give a short status update each pass.