The purpose of scrum is to develop product, often software and other ancillary products based on items in the backlog. In order to talk about this work we use lots of different terms when talking about backlog items, such as capability, feature, story, task, and so on. In this chapter we will define the terms that we use in this book, and have some discussion about the differences and nuances.
In particular, we will discuss the following terms: capability, chore, story, epic, and task. There tend to be natural comparisons and pairings in this set; for example, capability versus chore, stories versus epic, and story versus task. Each of these issues will be discussed as we go along.
But first, a quick review of fully know about Backlog Items, or PBIs. Basically a backlog items is anything the lives on the backlog; it can represent work to be done, issues to be discussed, or problems that we have. In any case, a backlog items is a token for future conversations, that progress from the moment we know about the backlog item until the work it represents has either been completed or discarded.
Short for “Product Backlog Item” – its original name. We keep the “P” because we love Three Letter Acronyms (TLAs).
This was derived from the use of stories, and we think it is a universal concept.
Our Glossary of Agile Terms
