Our ONE Number:

• Cycle time should be below 3 days for your squad
  • The theory is that if cycle time is low, it is likely because the stories are appropriately sized. If they are appropriately sized, and the squadmates feel as they know exactly what is next best to work on, you are executing this role at a very high level.

Deliverables:

• Actionable stories/tasks

Details

• Usually, only one per squad per quarter
• Takes the epics/scopes and ensures that stories/tasks are decomposed in such a way that it will ensure the best flow for the squad.
• Usually a full stack engineer or a very technical product owner/manager. Stories can, but likely shouldn't need much work done to them after you have done your magic to them.

AKA

• Story backlog groomer

From our recent job description

You will take the slices of work (epics/scopes) and break them into specific, actionable stories/tasks so that we can ship as effectively as possible (which means the stories/tasks are as small and as clear as possible). Ultimately we want stories/tasks/PRs that help us with forecastability and understandability on a pursuit of continuous value delivery.

How we decompose and sequence the stories requires an understanding of the UI, backend, and the other "build" constraints. Though you’ll be doing your best if you’re getting help from your squad.

Success looks like:

• We use multiple metrics that help us measure the health of our delivery. One of them that helps us identify if we have bottlenecks is story cycle time. You’ll be successful if stories are a similar size and therefore have a relatively consistent cycle time.