5 Common Mistakes When Building a Product Backlog and How to Fix Them Effectively

Introduction

Avoiding common Product Backlog mistakes is essential for any Agile or Scrum team aiming to deliver real value. The Product Backlog acts as the product’s strategic guide—not just a task list, but a tool that aligns business goals, user needs, and development priorities. When the Backlog is poorly structured, it often leads to misunderstandings, wasted effort, and teams focusing on low‑value items.

In this article, we break down the 5 most common Product Backlog mistakes and how Business Analysts (BAs) can avoid them with practical, real‑world solutions.

1. Vague or unclear User Stories

Why this is a problem:
A vague User Story like “Improve the dashboard” does not specify the user, the action, or the value. This pushes the development team to make assumptions, which often leads to incorrect implementation.

Bad example:
“Improve the flight booking application.”

Good example:
“As a customer, I want to search for flights by price so I can choose options that fit my budget.”

How to fix it:

• Use the standard User Story format:
  “As a [user], I want [action], so that [value].”
• Add more details in the description section—e.g., “Display flight list with price filter from low to high.”
• Attach mockups or wireframes when possible.

Tip:
Practice writing 5 User Stories for a familiar app like a food delivery application.

2. Lack of prioritisation

Why this is a problem:
When the Backlog contains hundreds of User Stories without clear prioritisation, the Scrum team won’t know which tasks deliver the highest value. This may result in focusing on low-impact features while delaying critical ones.

Bad example:
The team prioritises “UI animations” instead of “Online payment integration,” which is essential for users.

Effective prioritisation methods:

1. MoSCoW Method:
   • Must-have
   • Should-have
   • Could-have
   • Won’t-have
2. WSJF (Weighted Shortest Job First): Prioritises based on business value, urgency, risks, and effort.
3. Review priorities regularly during Backlog Refinement.
4. Always position the highest-value Stories at the top of the Backlog.

Tip: Try ranking 10 sample User Stories using MoSCoW.

3. Mixing features with tasks

Why this is a problem:
A feature describes what the user needs, while a task describes how the development team implements it. Mixing the two makes the Product Backlog confusing and decreases transparency.

Bad example (task inside Product Backlog):
“Create flight search API.”

Good example (feature):
“As a customer, I want to search for flights by date so I can choose the right travel schedule.”

How to fix it:

• Product Backlog should contain only Product Backlog Items (PBIs) such as Epics, User Stories, and bugs.
• The development team should break these into tasks during Sprint Planning.
• Use tools like Jira to maintain a clear separation between the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog.

Tip: Always ask: “What value does this item deliver to the user?”

4. Not involving stakeholders early enough

Why this is a problem:
Creating a Product Backlog without involving stakeholders often results in incorrect requirements, missing information, or misalignment. This leads to surprises later—or worse, rework and conflicts.

Example:
The BA adds “Cash-on-delivery payment” without consulting the business team, and later discovers the company does not support this payment method.

How to fix it:

1. Schedule regular Backlog Refinement sessions with stakeholders.
2. Invite the right participants:
   • Business team → validates business value
   • Technical team → validates feasibility
   • End users → validates real needs
3. Use requirement workshops to gather early insights.

Tip:
Try running a mock refinement session with friends to practice discussing User Stories for a movie-ticket booking app.

5. Missing Acceptance Criteria

Why this is a problem:
Acceptance Criteria define what conditions must be met for a User Story to be considered “Done.” Without them, the development team may deliver something incomplete or different from the intended outcome.

Bad example:
“View order history.”

Good example:

• Acceptance Criteria:
  • Display list of orders with dates, total amount, and status.
  • Allow filtering by month.

How to fix it:

1. Write clear, testable Acceptance Criteria when creating User Stories.
2. Review them with both stakeholders and the development team.
3. Use the Given–When–Then format if needed.

Tip: Write 3 User Stories with at least 2–3 Acceptance Criteria each (e.g., for food search feature).

Real Example: Building the Product Backlog for a Food Delivery App

Imagine you’re a BA Fresher/Intern working on a food delivery app.

1. Clear User Story

User Story: “As a customer, I want to filter dishes by category so I can easily find my favorite food.”

Description: Display dishes grouped by categories such as Pizza, Sushi, Rice.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Display dishes based on the selected category.
• Response time is under 2 seconds.

2. Prioritise the Backlog

Using the MoSCoW method:

• Must-have: Choose dishes & checkout
• Should-have: Filter dishes by category
• Could-have: UI animations when selecting dishes

3. Separate features from tasks

• Product Backlog item: “Filter dishes by category”
• Sprint tasks:
  • Build an API to fetch dishes
  • Design UI

4. Discuss with stakeholders

Invite

• Business → confirm value of category filtering
• Technical team → estimate API development
• UX/UI → refine design

5. Refine continuously

• Update the Backlog weekly with new User Stories, such as:
  • “View dish ratings”
  • “Recommend dishes based on user history”

Conclusion

A well-structured Product Backlog helps the Scrum team stay focused, minimise rework, and accelerate delivery. Avoiding these five common mistakes—and applying the best practices listed above—will help BAs, especially Freshers, build a more effective and value-driven Backlog.