Product Owners and others responsible for creating and maintaining the Product Backlog often focus on functional items.

With good engagement in the Backlog Management process from the Development Team and Architects, technical and architectural items also find their way into the Product Backlog.

But what about the human-centric items related to accessibility, inclusivity, internationalization and sustainability?

Through the talk and with the help of several supporting examples and a short exercise, I would like to highlight the importance of addressing these aspects in the Product Backlog. The examples will include examples of good and bad backlog items and design decisions.

I will also share some tips on how Product Owners and supporting roles can work these aspects into the Backlog Management process. These will include some ideas from Design Thinking but will not be limited to that.

What would a dream Agile team look like? A small, collocated, cross-functional, self-organizing feature team?

Not always. There are several considerations that go into forming a team and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

While the above described team attributes may help us be agile, there may be other conflicting goals which may nudge us in a different direction.

For anyone trying to design and set up a team, it is important to be aware of the many possibilities and the many goals that may influence team configurations.

Through this talk and with the aid of some hands-on exercises, we will aim to throw light on various aspects of team formation and the pros and cons of the choices we make.