Team Backlog

While building trust gives teams the ability to reconfigure and “do the right thing,” it is also necessary to make sure that team members know what the right thing is. Team members must all work toward the same goal, and in volatile, complex environments that goal is changeable.

- General Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams [1]

Definition: The Team Backlog is a Kanban system that is used to capture and manage the user stories and enablers intended to enhance the solution.

What is the team backlog?

The team backlog holds all the work a team might need to enhance the solution. It contains user stories, enablers, and work items, such as improvement stories that may have been identified during Retrospectives or Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events. This includes stories originating from features in the ART backlog and those from the team’s local context.

The team backlog contains all the work the Agile Team needs to do to deliver on their goals and develop the area of the product or solution they are responsible for. It is a list of desired work items rather than commitments, and items can be estimated (which is preferred) or left unestimated. There are no specific deadlines for completion. This gives the team flexibility to decide what to implement and when. All team members are encouraged to contribute stories to the team backlog. The Product Owner (PO) is responsible for managing the backlog and assists the team in working with multiple stakeholders, each of whom may have different opinions on what is most important.