Backlog Depression

Anyone familiar with SCRUM will be familiar with the concept of a product backlog – a list of things that need to be done.  Having a list of things to do is hardly a novel idea; I’m guessing that most of us already do this in our head.

The particular thing about a Product Backlog is that the items on it are prioritized and scored for effort – and (at least in the context of SCRUM) there’s the implication that we’ll do some and then re-evaluate what to do next.

In my mind is a mental product backlog of all the new (and not so new) technologies, frameworks, products, etc that I want to look at / use / experiment with / get familiar with.

The big snag is that it’s not always easy to find time to do this – hence a feeling of depression.  For every one thing I learn more about there are three things I want to add to my list.  On top of this, priorities constantly change.

It’s at times like this I fully appreciate how clients must sometimes feel – when the projects not getting quite the traction they want and the business imperatives they’re trying to juggle keep racketing up the pressure.