By cost: Look at the list of cost estimates and drill into anything that's particularly expensive.

By length of engagement: Start by building things people need in the first week, and then build things that are needed later on if the usage is high enough.

By customer type or use case: List which requirements you need for each, then look for a list that's short and mostly a subset of things you need for your higher priority use case.

One thing you should not do is cut out polish.

Here are some different approaches for splitting a product into multiple releases: By risk tolerance and friendliness: Start by releasing to users who can tolerate the most bugs, missing functionality, and UI hurdles so you can start getting feedback before all the polish is added.

Don't think of the spec as something that's just for other people. Use the writing process to organize your thoughts, plan ahead, anticipate risks, and to clarify your thinking overall.

It is the PM's responsibility to build and maintain the backlog. Backlog grooming (or backlog refinement) refers to keeping the backlog up-to-date, prioritized, and actionable. For example, the PM needs to make sure that the items at the top of the backlog have the necessary design work done and enough details so the work is ready to pick up.

This depends on the team, but there are two main approaches—each with their pros and cons: Designers work one sprint ahead of engineering.

Always start with the goals: Taking a few minutes at the beginning of each piece of work to get everyone on the same page about why you're doing it and what you're hoping to accomplish can make a huge difference in your success. Frequently revisiting the goals not only keeps people on track, it helps morale as well!