The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad The Haunted Backlog — When Old Stories Won’t Die
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Oct 27, 2025 Dive into the spooky world of backlogs as old stories refuse to die. Discover how unresolved items sap team productivity and find out what a haunted backlog truly looks like. Learn why vague acceptance criteria can keep projects stuck in limbo, and explore a five-step plan to exorcise these ghostly tasks. Regularly scheduled 'cemetery sweeps' can help keep focus sharp. Plus, actionable takeaways remind you not to let backlog items linger. Embrace the challenge and keep your workflow agile!
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The Never-Ending Epic
- Lee Henson describes a team haunted by a three-month-old epic that resurfaces every sprint with small change requests.
- The epic never satisfies everyone and becomes a grab-bag for unclear requests and sneaked-in technical debt.
Why Old Stories Linger
- Old backlog items persist when acceptance criteria are unclear and nobody asks clarifying questions.
- Stakeholder attachment and repurposing epics for technical debt also prolong their life.
Five-Step Exorcism For Backlogs
- Triage backlog ghosts by asking why they still exist and what goal they serve.
- Reframe them into outcome-focused goals, timebox experiments, assign an owner, and then retire or archive them.