When you need it
Use this backlog when a product or digital project has more potential improvements than can be delivered immediately and the team needs a controlled, prioritized view of user needs, outcomes, acceptance, and dependencies.
XLSX /
AI tools and documents for engineering and project management.
Product Backlog
Maintain a prioritised list of product needs with acceptance criteria and delivery status.
How to use this templateThis Excel template contains prepared working sheets and completion notes on a separate sheet. Enter your project data and review the completed workbook before use.
The form prepares a separate brief; it does not fill the Word or Excel file.
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Only selected pages are shown. This is not the complete template. The full editable Word or Excel file is supplied with purchase.
Learning
How to use this template
What it helps you decide
It connects proposed work with the user problem and decision rationale, helping the product owner select useful increments while keeping unresolved items, competing priorities, and release expectations visible to the delivery team.
How to complete it
- Assign Item ID and describe User / need and Outcome / item, ensuring each proposed item explains a practical user benefit or required product outcome.
- Define Acceptance criteria and Priority / rationale, then record Size / unit and Dependency using the team's agreed estimation basis and known delivery constraints.
- Assign Owner, Target release, and Status, reviewing priorities as evidence changes and avoiding a release commitment before the relevant product decision has been made.
Who prepares and reviews it
The product owner typically maintains priorities with users, engineering specialists, designers, and developers contributing detail and estimates. Acceptance and release authorities follow actual project arrangements, while the team helps refine items into feasible delivery work.
A mistake to avoid
Prioritizing items by the loudest request without recording user need and rationale can fill releases with features that do not solve the main delivery problem.
Illustrative example
Illustrative example: a site-inspection application backlog includes offline photo capture and a new dashboard. User evidence shows unreliable connectivity is preventing complete records, so the product owner prioritizes offline capture. Acceptance criteria describe observable behaviour, while the dashboard remains visible for a later release decision.
Document contents
- Item ID
- User / need
- Outcome / item
- Acceptance criteria
- Priority / rationale
- Size / unit
- Dependency
- Owner
- Target release
- Status
Required inputs
- Project name, location, company, document number and revision
- Actual project scope, source records and responsible roles
Practical tools.
Professional judgment.
Confirm the adopted edition, local amendments, National Annex where relevant, and contract requirements.
Prepare project brief