Let’s Talk About Your Backlogs “Idea Graveyard”
By Sonam Jain
Backlogs were initially created as a place for vetted ideas, not ideation. Yet, they have been heavily utilized as a sort of idea dump, with unresolved or brainstormed ideas wavering around until either lost or adopted. This system thus generates more confusion than clarity for Product Managers, as they dedicate more time into clearing the backlog of unnecessary items than they do understanding the important contents. In addition to the vast amount of ideas stored in this backlog, many also deal with a lack of clear descriptions as well as difficulty in prioritizing and organizing them. Coupled with all these issues, backlogs have become ineffective as well as inefficient in regards to maintaining an organized work environment. Problems companies may run into with backlogs include ideas which are excessive, poorly labelled, and disorganized.
The influx of ideas is a process that many companies find difficult to effectively keep track of and maintain. Product Managers everywhere are looking for ways to store their company recs, with most allowing their ideas and feedback to flow directly into their backlog. In a survey we ran, out of 114 product managers, an astonishing 56 said they were letting everyone drop ideas into their backlog. Creating tickets in a backlog has demonstrated itself as the most commonly used way to manage ideas, feedback, etc; however, it is not the most effective way. For companies to buy a seat for their employees to use these tools is incredibly expensive, so there seems to be little bang for your buck given the faulty nature of a backlog. Problems companies may run into with backlogs include ideas which are excessive, poorly labelled, and disorganized.
In order to combat the counter-productive tendencies of the backlog, many companies have released tools specifically designed to keep track of company ideation and information. Such tools include ProductBoard, Aha!, ProdPad, and our product, Incubie. These tools allow teams within companies to coordinate their activities and centralize the workflow to ensure productivity. Incubie consolidates these ideas from various channels and frees backlogs up from clutter, effectively allowing companies to deal with incoming ideas in a coherent manner.
Although its purpose was to organize approved requirements, backlogs have been used incorrectly as a space for ideation, and thus have become an inefficient roadblock to company productivity. Incubie seamlessly captures ideation internally from Slack, or automatically from external sources such as email, suggestion forms, or customer support tools. It is only after they have been reviewed internally and deemed worthy, that they are then sent to the source of truth, the backlog. To give Incubie a go, try it out for free today.
