1. The Scrum Guide (2020):
"The Product Backlog is an emergent
ordered list of what is needed to improve the product. It is the single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team." (Schwaber
K.
& Sutherland
J.
2020
p. 11). This establishes the Product Backlog as the plan.
"Product Backlog refinement is the act of breaking down and further defining Product Backlog items into smaller more precise items. This is an ongoing activity to add details
estimates
and order to them." (Schwaber
K.
& Sutherland
J.
2020
p. 12). This confirms the continuous nature of updates.
2. Peer-reviewed Academic Publication:
Hohl
P.
et al. (2018). Backlog Refinement in Large-Scale Agile System Development. In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming - Workshops. "The PBL [Product Backlog] is a living artifact that is continuously updated based on the changing reality of the project." (p. 1
Section 1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98339-71
3. University Courseware:
University of Virginia
Darden School of Business: In the course "Agile Development in Practice
" the Product Backlog is described as the "dynamic
ordered list of work to be done
" which serves as the project's plan and is expected to evolve over time. (Course materials on Agile artifacts).