Your Backlog Is Not a Plan. It Is a Pile of Unmade Decisions.
Most backlogs are storage. A plan is the small subset of work you have actually committed to delivering, in order, against a goal.
A backlog with two hundred items is not a sign of richness. It is a sign that nobody has been willing to say no out loud.
Storage vs commitment
The backlog is storage. The plan is the small ordered list at the top that the team has agreed to actually finish. Mixing the two is the most common Product Owner mistake — and it is the one that quietly destroys credibility with the development team.
The test
If you cannot point at the next five items and explain, in one sentence each, what business decision they unlock, you do not have a plan. You have a wishlist.
How to fix it this week
- Take the top ten items. For each, write the decision it supports.
- Anything you cannot write a decision for goes out of the top ten.
- Re-rank what remains.
- Tell the team the new top three out loud.
Written by Kristóf Frey
Kristóf Frey works with teams on delivery rescue, Product Ownership, business analysis, and practical digital operations. He writes about making work visible enough to manage.
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