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by bonecrusher2102 875 days ago
I appreciate the sentiment here, but this is not my experience. I talk to our customers almost every day, and for this reason, we have all kinds of well-vetted features and improvements in our backlog. There's always more to do than you have time for; the difference is whether or not your backlog is directly informed and refined by customer feedback.
2 comments
recroad 875 days ago
Author here. Appreciate your perspective. I find large backlogs get stale quickly, and what was important three months ago is often not the case as context has changed. If I have a good ear to the ground I've discovered that there's usually something more valuable that can be delivered, and the way I've discovered is through talking to people.

Your point about "directly informed and refined by customer feedback" is well-taken, but in my experience a large backlog is rarely that, but more a dumping ground that seems daunting. Of course it depends on who is managing it and how, but more often than not I've seen PMs succumb to big backlogs rather than make it a well-vetted list maintained proactively like you have stated.

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bonecrusher2102 875 days ago
That's fair enough I think! I totally agree that larger backlogs tend toward staleness. Just like a good shrub, they need care, feeding, and trimming :)

By the way, I enjoyed the article! It's a good share, and appreciate the perspective.

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switchbak 875 days ago
I think the key is that the more vague and further out the ideas, the fewer details we should try to capture.

Dumping details into something that we can’t understand yet seems like it smacks of a way to manage anxiety. Kind of like an inverse form of procrastination.

It’s easy to believe that we can just think our way out of problems, but sometimes we need to build small things, solicit feedback and iterate. And that can be uncomfortable if there’s something impeding that.

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nerdponx 875 days ago
Yeah I'm not sure I follow the logic here. The only reason I have anything to work on at all is because we've talked to customers.

I think maybe the implication is that if your backlog is big, it's a "smell" that you're over-planning. I don't think that's true, but I guess the sentiment is good.

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