So, you’ve started off applying Agile practices with a Scrum project, but it’s been much harder than they said it would be. Failed iterations early on, confused team members and stakeholders, low value items getting done… wasn’t this supposed to be easy and simple?

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of silence about what happens before iteration 1. “But isn’t everything supposed to happen after the first iteration? Doesn’t the Product Backlog just evolve on its own after starting the project?”

Yes, we could just get started with a number of user stories, and we would make some progress and get some things done. But is that really effective? Are we reaching the full potential of what could be created?

There are some key elements you should have in place before the first iteration. Let’s state (or re-state) to overall vision and purpose of the product. We need to truly understand the people who are going to use it, for now and for the future. And let’s analyze what can affect our outcome. These critical factors will inform the initial product backlog creation.

Having these important things will ensure a better start for your Agile project.