slicing-pbislisted

# Slicing Product Backlog Items ## Determine the task | Task | Workflow | |---|---| | **Splitting a large PBI** into smaller ones | → [Splitting workflow](#workflow-splitting-a-pbi) | | **Reviewing existing PBIs** for quality | → [Review workflow](#workflow-reviewing-pbis) | | **Writing new PBIs** from requirements | → [Writing workflow](#workflow-writing-new-pbis) | ## Quality characteristics (priority order) Apply these in order — when they conflict, higher-ranked characteristics take precedence. | # | Characteristic | Test | |---|---|---| | 1 | **Valuable** | Can a stakeholder observe the value this delivers? | | 2 | **Completable** | Is there a binary pass/fail condition for "done"? | | 3 | **Negotiable** | Is the implementation approach open for the team to adjust? | | 4 | **Independent** | Can this PBI be released without waiting for another? | | 5 | **Commensurate** | Is this PBI roughly the same size as the others in the backlog? | | 6 | **Small** | Can this be completed within a single sprint? | When characteristics conflict: prefer value over smallness, independence over smallness, completability over negotiability. Stop splitting when further division would break a higher-ranked characteristic. ## The splitting meta-pattern All splitting techniques follow one pattern: 1. **Find the core complexity.** What part is most likely to surprise the team? (Human preferences, external integrations, variable business rules.) 2. **Identify the variations.** What are t