HoA #44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog—Allan Kelly

ABSTRACT

The backlog was a great idea until it wasn't. Many successful teams deliver backlog items daily, but their backlogs aren't getting any smaller. The never-ending backlog overshadows delivery success. Product discovery, dual-track agile, OKRs, etc., make it worse by accelerating backlog growth without taking any of the rotting items away.

Worst of all, doing the backlog distracts from delivering benefits to the customers and responding to change. So what are we to do?

In this presentation, Allan "Nuke the backlog" Kelly suggests you rethink the very idea of the backlog and rebuild your agile process around outcomes. You have nothing to lose by your burn-down charts.

MEET ALLAN KELLY

Allan Kelly advises and mentors managers and teams in using agile approaches and OKRs to accelerate delivery teams, meet deadlines, and execute against strategy. He believes these approaches benefit businesses and create more fulfilling work environments.

Allan is a keynote conference speaker and author of several books including Succeeding with OKRs in Agile, The Art of Agile Product Ownership and Business Patterns for Software Developers.

He blogs at allankelly.net and can be contacted there or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allankellynet/ .