# Triage Backlog > Triage BACKLOG items for continued validity — verify each item's claim against the current tree and rule it keep / already-delivered / partially-delivered / duplicate / retire, with evidence per verdict. Use when the user asks to triage the backlog, check whether an item is still valid or still required, find stale / redundant / already-done backlog items, verify the backlog against HEAD, or invokes /tandem:triage-backlog. Operates as PM hat. Upstream of refine-backlog — judges whether an item deserves refinement at all; never runs DoR, never promotes to ready. - Skill: `data-ai-xyz/triage-backlog` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add data-ai-xyz/triage-backlog` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/data-ai-xyz/triage-backlog/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Product & Planning - Author: DATA-AI-XYZ (https://skillmd.com/u/data-ai-xyz) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/data-ai-xyz/triage-backlog --- # Tandem: triage-backlog (PM hat) Operate as **PM hat**. The user wants to know which BACKLOG items are still worth holding — not whether they are *ready* (that is `/tandem:refine-backlog`'s DoR gate), but whether they are still *true*: does the claim still reproduce at HEAD, did a later epic already deliver it, does another item say the same thing, has the premise evaporated? Operating principle: **a triage that kills items is worth more than one that promotes them; only work carrying a real testable claim earns a story.** Status fields lag reality — the known failure modes are items silently completed by later epics, and items *partially* delivered under their own name without the file being updated. ## triage-backlog vs refine-backlog (do not blur) | | `triage-backlog` (this skill) | `refine-backlog` | |---|---|---| | Question | Is this item still valid / required? | Is this item ready to work? | | Checks against | The current tree, git history, ADRs, sibling items | The SOP §6 DoR checklist | | Can flip status to | `done` / `duplicate` / `wontfix` / `archived` (terminal, evidence-gated) | `ready` | | Never does | Runs DoR, promotes, writes stories | Digs git history / probes for delivery evidence (its Premise check resolves frontmatter only) | Triage runs **first**. Its survivors are refine-backlog's input. ## Inputs needed - Either: - One or more BACKLOG paths (`_00-Project-Management/11-Backlog/BACKLOG-NNNN-.md`). - A scope: "the whole backlog", "everything not-started", "items older than N days", "EPIC-NN's intake items". - If the user supplied nothing, default to **every `not-started` BACKLOG item** — a full-corpus triage is the normal cadence, not the exception. ## Load into context Use `Read` / `Glob` to detect existence. Treat missing files as "not present" rather than throwing. - **Target item(s)** — end-to-end, including tranche checklists and acceptance sections. - **The tree at HEAD** — the artefacts, scripts, or behaviours each item's claim names. The claim decides what to open; do not skip this because the item "looks obviously open". - **Git history** — `git log --oneline -- ` for evidence that work shipped after the item was captured. - **ADR folder** — `_00-Project-Management/40-Decisions/` for decisions that supersede or invalidate an item's premise. - **Sibling backlog items** — for duplicate/merge detection across the corpus. - **SOP** — `_00-Project-Management/90-Standards/SOP.md` §15 (sunset rule). - **Most recent prior triage report** — glob `_00-Project-Management/41-Reports/audits/backlog-triage-*.md`; re-verify, never inherit, its verdicts. - **Project root `CLAUDE.md`** — for project-specific overrides. ## Verdict set (closed — one per item) - **STILL-VALID** — the claim reproduces at HEAD. Status unchanged. - **ALREADY-DELIVERED** — the work shipped. Under the item's own claim → propose `done`; under a different artefact's name → propose `duplicate` with the superseding artefact named. - **PARTIAL** — a named tranche shipped, remainder stands. Annotate delivered-vs-remaining *in the item file*; status stays `not-started`. - **DUPLICATE / MERGE-CANDIDATE** — another open item carries the same claim. Propose `duplicate` on the weaker item, or record a merge group ("one decision, not several stories"). - **OBSOLETE** — the premise no longer exists (feature removed, decision reversed, envelope re-pinned). Propose `wontfix` or `archived` per SOP §15. - **DECISION-ONLY** — needs an operator ruling, not code. Surface the decision; take no action silently. - **TRIGGER-GATED** — the item's own text defers it behind a named trigger. Verify the trigger has not fired; leave. - **PRODUCT-BET** — PRD-level scope, not story-level. Route toward `/tandem:draft-prd` or an epic split; do not story-ify. ## Task 1. Resolve the target set. Read each item end-to-end. 2. Per item, extract the **testable claim** — what the item asserts is broken, missing, or needed. An item with no extractable claim is itself a finding (OBSOLETE or DECISION-ONLY). 3. **Verify the claim against HEAD**, not against the item's own prose: open the named files, run the named probes where runnable, check git history for delivery, check ADRs for supersession. Record one line of evidence per verdict (commit hash, file:line, probe output, ADR id). 4. Check the item against its **siblings** for duplicate claims and merge groups. 5. Apply the **sunset lens** (SOP §15): `not-started` > 90 days with no movement and no live trigger → propose retirement, not perpetual holding. 6. Assemble the verdict table (see Output rules) and show it **before** touching any file. 7. Apply changes per the status-flip rules below. 8. Write the triage report to `_00-Project-Management/41-Reports/audits/backlog-triage-.md` (frontmatter: `title:`, `type: report`, `generated_at:`): verdict summary table, partials with delivered-vs-remaining, merge groups, decisions owed to the operator, and the post-triage shortlist of items that *earn* refinement — each with priority, estimate, and any known DoR gaps, **not** silently promoted. 9. Run `npm run pm:lint`; if any item file changed, regenerate the dashboard (`npm run pm:dash`) and add a MONITOR revision-history line. ## Status-flip rules (evidence-gated, never silent) - **Annotations are free**: PARTIAL delivered-vs-remaining notes, stale-title corrections, and trigger records may be written directly into item files during the pass. - **Terminal flips are gated**: flipping to `done` / `duplicate` / `wontfix` / `archived` requires the evidence line in the verdict table AND operator confirmation from that table — never flip terminal status in the same breath as discovering the evidence. - A `duplicate` flip MUST name the superseding artefact in the item body (one sentence, e.g. "Superseded by STORY-NN.M.PP") or a `superseded_by:` field — validator W6 flags a bare `duplicate` (and a bare `wontfix`). - Terminal flips set `completed_at` atomically in the same edit as the `status:` flip. Never touch `started_at`. - Status enum is closed (`not-started | ready | in-progress | in-review | done | blocked | wontfix | duplicate | archived`) — do not invent triage states in frontmatter; verdicts live in the report, statuses in the enum. ## Output rules - Verdict table first, files second. Columns: Item · Verdict · Evidence · Proposed action. - **Never promote.** No verdict here flips anything to `ready` — route survivors to refine-backlog. - **Never re-file killed claims.** An item ruled ALREADY-DELIVERED or OBSOLETE does not get a fresh BACKLOG entry restating it. - Prefer merges over multiplication: where 2–3 items share a root cause, record one merge group rather than three refinement candidates. - A worked full-corpus example (72 items, four parallel verification passes, verdict counts, merge groups, shortlist-with-gaps) lives at `_00-Project-Management/41-Reports/audits/backlog-triage-2026-08-28.md` — match its report shape when in doubt. ## Non-negotiable rules from CLAUDE.md - Frontmatter timestamps — terminal flips set `completed_at` in the same edit; nothing else changes timestamps. - Status enum — closed 9 values; verdicts are report vocabulary, not new statuses. - Bug-auto-raise — if verifying a claim exposes a live defect (not just a stale item), file the BUG in the same response. - Dashboard currency — any artefact change ends with `pm:lint` clean and `pm:dash` regenerated. ## End-of-session summary (always emit) - Items triaged: N (of M in scope) - Verdicts: STILL-VALID x · ALREADY-DELIVERED x · PARTIAL x · DUPLICATE x · OBSOLETE x · DECISION-ONLY x · TRIGGER-GATED x · PRODUCT-BET x - Terminal flips applied (with evidence): list, or "none — awaiting operator confirmation" - Merge groups recorded: list - Decisions owed to the operator: list - Report written: `41-Reports/audits/backlog-triage-.md` - Refinement shortlist (with DoR gaps): top 3–5 items ## Next command Next: `/tandem:refine-backlog` — run the DoR gate over the shortlist survivors. Or, if the triage surfaced PRD-level scope: `/tandem:draft-prd`.