The Secret Backlog
Submitted by Antony Marcano on Thu, 15/11/2007 - 13:49.
Time and time again... I see evidence of a 'secret backlog' on software teams.
When the requirements specification is hard to change... or we feel that writing a good user story and acceptance tests takes too much brain power, teams revert to using the bug-tracking system to drive change... Even waterfall teams do Agile, only they use the bug-tracking system as a secret backlog.
For this reason, at the start of every project... when I hear someone say "we need to add this project to our bug-tracking system", I always say - let's do that only when we absolutely need to... What this means is.. let's do that when that is the only way we have left to manage change because there is no better means available to us...
On the teams I've worked with that use User Stories and Acceptance Test Driven Development - this has rarely been the case.
When the requirements specification is hard to change... or we feel that writing a good user story and acceptance tests takes too much brain power, teams revert to using the bug-tracking system to drive change... Even waterfall teams do Agile, only they use the bug-tracking system as a secret backlog.
For this reason, at the start of every project... when I hear someone say "we need to add this project to our bug-tracking system", I always say - let's do that only when we absolutely need to... What this means is.. let's do that when that is the only way we have left to manage change because there is no better means available to us...
On the teams I've worked with that use User Stories and Acceptance Test Driven Development - this has rarely been the case.