What Looked Like a Backlog Problem

A few years ago, I was asked to help a team that was drowning in work.

The symptoms were obvious.

Too many requests.

Too many competing priorities.

A backlog that seemed to grow faster than the team could complete work. Everyone believed the problem was capacity and the wrong templates or processes. 

The conversation quickly turned to adding resources, increasing budgets, and finding ways to work faster.

But before discussing solutions, we stepped back and started asking questions.

• What work in the backlog directly supported organizational priorities?

• Who was making prioritization decisions?

• Were stakeholders aligned on what mattered most?

• What outcomes were we actually trying to achieve?

The more we listened, the clearer the picture became.

This wasn't really a backlog problem.

It was an alignment problem.

The backlog had become a collection point for every good idea, every stakeholder request, and every urgent issue.

Work was being added faster than decisions were being made.

Priorities were competing with one another.

Teams were working hard, but not always on the work that created the greatest value.

Once leadership aligned on priorities, many decisions became easier.

Some work moved forward.

Some work moved later.

Some work came off the list entirely.

And surprisingly, the backlog became much more manageable without adding significant resources.

Over the years, I've learned that what looks like a delivery problem is often a decision-making problem.

What looks like a capacity problem is often a prioritization problem.

And what looks like a backlog problem is often an alignment problem.

Before asking how to get more work done, it's worth asking:

Are we aligned on what matters most?

Because organizations rarely struggle from a lack of effort.

More often, they struggle from a lack of clarity.

What's a problem you've seen that turned out to have a completely different root cause?