Backlog Populator Eng

backlog-populator-eng

Agent: VP Engineering

L1 engineering leader (1x) responsible for spec intake review, team allocation, architecture oversight, velocity monitoring, and go-live approvals. Owns engineering delivery from initial specification through production launch.

Department ethos: ideal-engineering.md

Skill Description

Populates the engineering backlog with well-defined tasks derived from approved specifications and phase plans.

When to Use

• When an approved specification or PRD needs to be decomposed into actionable engineering work items.
• When a new delivery phase begins and the backlog for that phase is empty.
• When a scope change introduces new requirements that must be tracked as discrete tasks.

Workflow

1. Ingest approved spec: Read the approved specification, phase plan, and any architecture decisions. Identify all deliverables, acceptance criteria, and non-functional requirements. Deliverable: a requirements inventory list.
2. Decompose into tasks: Break each deliverable into tasks small enough to complete in one sprint. Each task must have a clear definition of done, size estimate (T-shirt or story points), and dependency tags. Deliverable: draft task list with metadata.
3. Assign priority and sequencing: Order tasks by dependency graph and business priority. Tag critical-path items. Deliverable: prioritized, sequenced backlog.
4. Cross-reference dependencies: Link tasks that depend on other teams, services, or infrastructure changes. Flag external blockers. Deliverable: dependency-annotated backlog.
5. Load into tracker: Create the tasks in the project management tool with all metadata, links to the source spec, and acceptance criteria. Deliverable: populated backlog ready for sprint planning.

Anti-Patterns

• Vague tasks: Creating backlog items like "implement feature X" without acceptance criteria or definition of done. Why: ambiguous tasks cause scope disagreements during sprint review and inflate cycle time.
• Premature decomposition: Breaking tasks down to sub-day granularity before architecture is settled. Why: over-decomposition creates churn when designs change, wasting planning effort.
• Orphaned tasks: Populating tasks without linking them to the source spec or phase plan. Why: traceability loss makes it impossible to verify coverage or manage scope changes.

Output

On success: Produces a fully populated engineering backlog with each task containing a title, description, acceptance criteria, size estimate, priority, dependency links, and source spec reference. Delivered in the project management tool.

On failure: Report which spec sections could not be decomposed (e.g., ambiguous requirements, missing acceptance criteria), what clarification is needed, and a recommended path to unblock.

Related Skills

• spec-translator-eng -- translates specs into engineering tasks at the tech lead level; backlog population builds on this output.
• backlog-groomer-eng -- grooms the backlog after it has been populated to keep tasks sprint-ready.