A Better Backlog . . .

Jeff Patton

This post highlights an article I found at AgileProductDesign.com,  This is Jeff Patten's blog which is now on my must read list.

The post is called "The New User Story Backlog is a Map" and it's a good and thought provoking read:

http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/the_new_backlog.html

Here is the very short version:

1.  Prioritized backlogs work great for development teams that know exactly what needs to be built (that excludes all development teams that I know).

2.  Expand the prioritized backlog into a map - with high level activities on the left to right access and a prioritized backlog running down from each high-level activity.

Image from Jeff's Post

Thats it!  I'm looking to try this one on my first opportunity.  I think the payoff will be to have a team understand the entire product context much better than they would with a single prioritized backlog.

Read the post and let me know what you think.