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Overview
Overview
Backlogs may not be the most exciting subject! They are, however, an important part of the way an Agile team work. We’ll explore here:
What is a backlog?
Why do you need one?
How do you keep it “healthy”?
Who has a role in helping achieve that?
Introduction
Introduction
Think of a backlog as a filing cabinet storing everything you want/need to do, or a drawer in a desk - you pull tasks from this “store” when you’re ready to work on them and pin them to a noticeboard. Having a place to store, review and prioritise work, as well as a way to visually group work, enables teams to take control over what they work on, when they work on it, what’s coming up next and manage expectations around when it will be delivered. Having all that in one cabinet/drawer and noticeboard, as well as keeping it tidy and uncomplicated, can only help the speed you get through work.
What’s a Backlog?
What’s a Backlog?
A backlog is a list of work you are not currently working on, but will need to work on soon or at some point in the future. Imagine building a house and listing out everything that needs to be done - from groundwork to finishing decorations and landscaping. There will be some things you’re working on now, some things that are lined up to be worked on next and others that will need doing, a bit further down the line.
Why do you need one?
Why do you need one?
A backlog keeps everything in one place and makes it easy for the team to review potential next work, capture work that needs to be circled back to at some point and understand how many tasks will be required to complete areas of work, which can also help with managing stakeholder expectations. It’s getting everything out of your cabinet/drawer and laying it out in a logical order so that you can work on the right things next - and pinning them to the top, or on a noticeboard. It’s also about having a place to store things you think of that need doing, but just not right; like chucking post-it notes as reminders on your desk.
How do you keep it “healthy”?
How do you keep it “healthy”?
Thinking about our house building example; to achieve the build, there are areas that can be grouped together to be worked on (for example, building the structural shell), or themes relating to the type of work (electrics, plastering, decorating etc.). It’s up to you how/if you group things together, but it can make things easier to visualise. So laying all your work out from your cabinet/drawer and grouping tasks together.
It’s really important that the list is reviewed periodically so that there’s nothing in the backlog that needs to be closed (as a duplicate, no longer required, not able to get to etc), that any new priorities are reflected in it and, especially, that the work is in a prioritised order to make it simple to know what to work on next.
Who has a role in helping achieve that?
Who has a role in helping achieve that?
The Product Owner role is key to a healthy backlog, but it’s not all on them - every member of the team has a role to play. Stakeholders will chat with Product Owners and as a result, work is raised for the backlog. Off the back of those discussions and after demos, things are likely to change - that’s the essence of working in an agile way after all! Taking our house building example, once the internal walls are in place and ‘demoed’ to the stakeholder, rooms may be deemed bigger or smaller than expected and a ticket raised in the backlog to modify the layout.
To help achieve what your business needs, your Product Owner will work with the team to identify what can be delivered (perhaps in a timeboxed period). Group these ‘next’ tasks together at the top of the backlog, ready to be started when the current jobs are done.
The team also have an important role to play in maintaining a healthy backlog (as well as a quality product). If the final product is not 100% to the team’s normal standards (and there can be a variety of reasons why this happened), then teams must take the responsibility on themselves to raise and highlight this to the Product Owner and make sure this is circled back round to. In software teams, we call this technical debt and our teams champion getting this work prioritised to make sure quality does not dip and risks are minimised.
The team must also champion the areas of work they want to be included in the backlog. This allows them to seek creative solutions, test their knowledge and skills and helps them feel like they have a valuable contribution to make.
Summary
Summary
A healthy backlog enables teams to see all their work in one place, group things together where needed, manage stakeholder expectations and understand what needs working on next. All the team have a responsibility to keep it ‘healthy’, ranging from new features to cleaning up debt to maintain quality standards.
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