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Product Backlogs Are Not Backlogs
A product backlog isn’t a backlog; it’s a wish list with deadlines you may never keep.
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I cancelled a project today and deleted the entire backlog.
No, scratch that.
I deleted the entire wish list. I had no backlog, only a list of options.
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When I ask Claude for the definition of “backlog” in one small paragraph, it says,
“A backlog is a prioritized list of work yet to be done — features, tasks, fixes, or requirements — that a team draws from to decide what to tackle next. In agile contexts, it’s the single, ordered source of truth for everything the team might build, with the most valuable or urgent items floating to the top and the vaguer “someday maybe” stuff sinking to the bottom.”
It’s practically the same as the definition that ChatGPT gave me a while ago:
“In project management, particularly Agile methodologies, a backlog is a prioritized list of tasks, features, user stories, and other items that need to be completed. It serves as a dynamic to-do list for a project, capturing and organizing the work identified for the project but not yet accomplished.”
The official dictionaries say,
“Backlog - an accumulation of tasks unperformed or materials not processed” (Merriam Webster)
“Backlog - a large number of things that you should have done before and must do now” (Cambridge)
“Backlog - an accumulation or buildup, especially of unfilled orders, unconsumed products, or unfinished work.” (Wiktionary)
Each definition shows that a backlog is a list of work that you must do. You must fulfill all customer orders for a web shop. You must complete all tasks of a visa or immigration process. You must clean out the garbage bags you’ve accumulated under the stairs. And yes, if you use Scrum, you commit to finishing all tasks on your Sprint Backlog. These are all true backlogs: collections of things you still need to do.
None of this applies to product backlogs.
Technically, a product backlog mostly consists of ideas. Only the top part can be called a backlog. Only the part where you’ve committed yourself to completing the items should be called a backlog.
My long list of places still to see before I die is a bucket list, not a backlog.
The interesting films and TV shows I collect on IMDb are a watchlist, not a backlog.
The many rows of unread books on my bookcase are my tsundoku list, not a backlog.
The ideas I have for our new kitchen (before I see the vendor’s cost estimate) are an options list, not a backlog.
In fact, all the upgrades and repairs I keep track of for our house (because entropy is a bitch) is a wish list, not a backlog.
Most of what people call a product backlog is actually not a backlog: it’s just a collection of ideas and options for features, objectives, stories, etc. You’re not really responsible for completing them all and ticking them off your list until the list is empty. Because watchlists, wish lists, bucket lists, and option lists are never empty. They always refill with new ideas faster than you can clear them out.
When you’re able to politely or hesitantly say, “No, we’re not going to do this,” to many of the items on your list, you don’t have a list of “tasks unperformed.” You don’t have a list of “things that you should have done before.” You don’t have “a collection of unfinished work.” You don’t have a product backlog.
Call me conservative. Call me a linguistic prude. But referring to a list of features a “product backlog” was a very bad idea from the start. (And which language-agnostic idiot did that, anyway?) It gives other people (usually your customers) the impression that you’re still going to do all of that. Because you call it a backlog, it means you’re going to clear it all, right? That’s what real backlogs are for! But you and I know that you’re never going to see the end of that “backlog.”
You may be interested to read what Claude added as a remark:
The word “backlog” carries a promise. Whether it’s a stack of webshop orders, a queue