STEP 05 · SEVEN STEPS
Build a backlog
20 April 20269 min read
A backlog isn't a to-do list. It's a living record of your beliefs about what matters — and a way to notice when those beliefs are wrong.
Most backlogs grow like weeds. Every stakeholder adds a row; nothing is ever removed; the list becomes a memorial to conversations the team meant to have but didn't. The result is a document that nobody trusts and everybody references.
A backlog with a shape
A useful backlog has three properties: every item traces to a bet in the strategy, every item has a test for success, and items that stop being true get removed — not rotted.
- Link each item to the strategic bet it serves. Orphans get cut.
- Write the success test at the moment you write the item, not when you estimate it.
- Schedule a quarterly prune. Items that aren't picked up in two quarters are almost never worth keeping.