What is the primary goal of backlog refinement in an agile setup?

The primary goal of backlog refinement in an agile setup is to prioritize items based on business value. Backlog refinement, also known as backlog grooming, is a continuous process where the product backlog is reviewed and adjusted. This involves clarifying backlog items, breaking larger items into smaller, more manageable tasks, and ensuring that the items at the top of the backlog are well understood and ready for development.

Prioritization based on business value ensures that the team focuses on delivering the most valuable features and functionality first, maximizing the return on investment for stakeholders. This aligns with agile principles, which emphasize delivering working products that meet customer needs as efficiently as possible. By prioritizing work in this manner, the team can respond more effectively to changing requirements and deliver value incrementally.

In contrast, while ensuring that all team members have the same understanding of the backlog is important for collaboration and clarity, it is a part of the wider process but not the main goal. Similarly, while eliminating non-essential features can be part of managing the backlog, the core focus of refinement is on prioritization. Obtaining sign-off from stakeholders is not a typical goal of backlog refinement as agile emphasizes collaboration rather than formal approvals.