Example data. Fieldnote is a fictional company used to fill every board, so the examples tell one consistent story.
Fieldnote, Tuesday refinement, top of the activation backlog, the week after the March photo incident.
What the team took away
Two items sat in Needs context for the third week running, both about offline rules. That repetition, not the estimates, is what got a decision session booked with Tom.
How to run it
Preparation
Bring only the top of the backlog, six to ten items. Refining the whole backlog refines nothing.
Attach whatever already exists to each item: the research note, the screenshot, the ticket that caused it.
Have the Definition of Ready visible. Without it, 'ready' means whatever the loudest person says it means.
Timebox it and repeat it weekly. Refinement is a habit, not an event.
Agenda
5 min
Why this item For each item, the PM says the outcome it serves. An item with no outcome goes back to the backlog, not into the sprint.
25 min
Ask until it is boring The team asks questions until nobody has one left. Write every unanswered question on the item: those are the real blockers, and they are worth more than the estimate.
25 min
Slice Anything too big gets split by outcome, not by layer. 'Backend then frontend' is two items that deliver nothing on their own.
20 min
Acceptance criteria Write what has to be true for the item to be accepted, in the words of the person who will accept it.
15 min
Ready or not Check each item against the Definition of Ready out loud. Items that fail stay out. Letting one through is how the next sprint overruns.
Pitfalls
Turning it into design. The moment the team debates the solution, refinement stops and a design session starts without a designer.
Refining too far ahead. Anything past two sprints will change before it is built, and the work is wasted twice.
Letting an item in because the sprint needs filling. That item is the one that will be carried over.
Afterwards
Ready items go to sizing (Planning poker or T-shirt) then sprint planning. If the same questions keep blocking items, the gap is upstream: research or a story map.