tinyhumansai Backlog Grooming
A backlog nobody trims is a list of things the team has agreed not to do. This is the pass that keeps it honest.
When to use
- The weekly review.
- Before any prioritization call, so the call is made over a real list.
Steps
- Dedupe — merge items describing one problem, and say in the survivor what was folded into it.
- Split — anything that cannot finish in one pass is a theme, not an item.
- Age out — close what has had no signal in months, with the reason and the date. Close, never delete.
- Ready — apply [[Definition of ready]] and record which criterion each unready item fails, and who can supply the missing piece.
Output
A short pass report — in, merged, aged out, newly ready, and the two or three items stuck on something only a human can supply. Not a dump of the list.