What is a product backlog?

• A. A budget plan for the product
• B. A list of prioritized tasks for a sprint within a project
• C. A risk register
• D. A user acceptance criteria list

Answer: (B)

In Agile, the product backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product. It’s owned by the product owner and continuously refined, with items described (often as user stories) and accompanied by estimates and priorities. The backlog represents all potential work—new features, enhancements, bug fixes, and other tasks—and is arranged from highest to lowest value or urgency.

Items on the backlog are detailed enough to understand what’s required and to help decide what to build next. As understanding grows, items are clarified, split into smaller pieces, or re-prioritized. When a sprint starts, the team pulls the highest-priority items from the product backlog into the sprint backlog and commits to delivering them in that sprint.

This differs from a budget plan or risk register, which track costs and risks, respectively. It also isn’t a simple list of acceptance criteria for a single item; acceptance criteria belong to individual backlog items, helping define when that item is considered complete. The product backlog, then, is the living foundation that guides what the team works on over time.