Agile Backlog Management Case Study
Part of the Business Analyst Roadmap
In short
Show you can take a fuzzy product idea and turn it into an ordered backlog a team could start building on Monday. Epics, stories, criteria and the reasoning behind the order.
Document how you'd structure and manage a product backlog for a hypothetical initiative — epics, user stories, prioritization reasoning — showcasing Phase 7's Agile BA skills.
Think of it like this
Mum's fridge list
The fridge door has notes: buy milk, pay electricity bill, fix the tap, plan Diwali shopping. Milk is today, the bill is due Friday, Diwali can wait. A backlog is that list, with clear reasons for the order.
Watch it happen
From product goal to sprint-ready stories
1/5Start with the product goal: members can book gym slots without calling the front desk.
The big ideas
What you need to know
Epics to stories
Show the hierarchy clearly. Each story should fit in one sprint and deliver something testable.
Acceptance criteria
Every top story gets Given/When/Then criteria, so it's ready for development.
Explain your priority
Use MoSCoW, value vs effort, or WSJF, and write a sentence per story on why it sits where it does.
Show it in a real tool
Screenshots from Jira's free plan, Trello or a Sheets board make the case study feel real.
See it in code
Walk through the code
1Story: As a gym member, I want to book a slot,2 so that I don't wait for a free machine.3 4Scenario: Booking an available slot5 Given the 7 am slot has 3 places left6 When I book the 7 am slot7 Then I see a booking confirmation8 And the slot shows 2 places left1/3The user story: who, what and why.
One sprint-ready story with its acceptance criteria. Show two or three like this in your case study, not twenty.
Save yourself the pain
Common mistakes
Oops
Writing 60 stories with no order.
Do this instead
Show 15 to 25 well-written stories, clearly ordered, with reasons for the top ones.
Oops
Stories that are really tasks, like 'Create database table'.
Do this instead
Write from the user's view and keep technical tasks under the story.
Your mission
Milestone 1: epics and top stories
Quick check
Which story should usually come first in a new booking app's backlog?
Go deeper
- 1Break a feature idea into an epic with 5-8 well-formed user stories.
- 2Show your prioritization reasoning (MoSCoW or similar) for the backlog order.
- 3Include acceptance criteria for at least 2-3 stories to show full-depth thinking.
More projects at this stop
End-to-End Requirements Case Study
Process Improvement Case Study
Business Case & ROI Analysis Project
Data Analysis & Dashboard Project
Stakeholder Management Case Study
Portfolio Website or Document Showcase
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