One Backlog for all or separated backlogs ?

[Marcelo Dos Anjos]

I believe this question has been asked before a while ago but I just would like to know if anybody has a different view.

I am involved in a project that has a lot of touchpoints.  These touchpoints are the digital team, IT, finance, marketing, fullfillent, etc..

Each team obviously has their different stories related to their area of the business.

First, if I create a single backlog and do a prioritazation exercise with the stakeholders, the stories will be all mixed with each other, e.g., IT and Finance, so people from IT will not need to see (and they don't care much) what Finance is doing.

Second, as a BA in a Agile environment, I represent the Product Owner.  Well, the Product Owner per se wants to have the product delivered regardless of what needs to be done.  

I will have in this case several product owners, one for IT, another one for the interface, one for the finance, etc...and each one of them will have their own priorities.

So, going back to my original question.  Is the correct thing to do a single Backlog and all stories together and running a sprint with all stories from different areas or separated backlogs, each one for a different team ?

Thanks

[Warren · Accepted solution]

Hi Marcelo

The golden rule is One product, one product backlog! Yes, you should have one backlog.

If you have multiple Product Owners, they will need to collaborate to prioritise. The customer wants the highest value item for the product, not the highest value item from IT.

You can set up multiple boards so that each "group" can see only their issues. Do this by using a field like Component (or a custom field), where you have a different component for each group.

[Marcelo Dos Anjos]

Thanks a lot for the feedback Warren.

Really appreciate your comments and I agree with your approach.  It does make sense.

Regards

Marcelo