[recroad]

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.

[bonecrusher2102]

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.

[switchbak]

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.