Escape the Backlog Black Hole: How I Help Product Owners Harvest Early Value

5 quick tips to deliver value, not tickets.

Is backlog administration the pinnacle of the Product Owner craft?

Is keeping the backlog full and resisting change to it the job of the Product Owner?

Should the Product Owner refine the backlog behind closed doors with stakeholders?

Should the Product Owner operate as a proxy for the Product Manager or the Business?

If you answered, “Yes,” to any of these questions, I’ve got some bad news. None of these match up with the desired activities for the Product Owner.

Why? Because Product Owners own the achievement of value on a Scrum Team. And none of those actions drive value.

Yet, this is precisely what many Product Owners do today. The role has become a pale shadow of what Scrum aims it to be.

Most organizations see the Product Owner as a junior role. It has the authority to maintain the backlog ticketing system. And not much else.

Many Product Owners today are like ticket chasers.

They chase down requirements from stakeholders. And when they capture them, it’s like they’ve found a treasure, and they add these to the backlog for safe keeping. You will often find piles of these prizes…er, requirements…in the backlog. I’ve seen Product Owners dragging around backlogs with two years worth of requests. Most of these won’t ever see the light of day.

Their backlogs are unwieldy, busting at the seams.

Then, the tasking begins.

They elaborate and break down the work into tasks and into tickets.

They assign out the tickets.

They track the tickets.

They report status.

It’s as if they have become some type of hybrid business analyst and project manager creature from the days of old. No ticket, no work. Everything lives and dies by the ticket.

The backlog is their baby. They see value in keeping it tidy, orderly, and full of stakeholder requirements. They work hard to ensure the work in the backlog gets delivered on time and within budget. And no changes make it in except by a stakeholder.

This is a classic output focus. Product Owners today take great pride in doing it well. And believe me, they are excellent at it.

But, this isn’t what we need out of Product Owners.

What we need from them is a relentless pursuit of value. They need to escape the seductive pull of the backlog black hole. The gravity of fake control sucks them toward the abyss of the output event horizon. Only reversing course to seek outcomes for their customers will break them free. Achieving impact for their business will catapult them at warp speed to the stars.

We need Product Owners to break free of output fixation to become value harvesters.

Will the true product leader please raise your hand?

Teams today thirst for product leadership.

Should it come from the Product Owner? The Business Owner? The Product Manager?

We’ve already established today’s Product Owners are too busy tending to their backlog to embody product leadership.

Business Owners seem like a solid choice since they know the domain. But they often don’t have experience emerging great software products. And their time is too limited because they have a business to run. So, they can’t lead the value pursuit.

How about Product Managers? Many in the product space will say the Product Owner role isn’t adequate because it isn’t a real Product Manager. But I’ve seen my share of Product Managers with an output focus as bad or worse than many of today’s Product Owners.

Product Manager is also an unfortunate name.

The name implies managing a product is possible, as if taming it can happen. Actually, Product Wrangler would be a better name. In product work, you’ve got to deal with unpredictable outcomes. And in my mind, a suit and tie with formal talk and a methodical approach isn’t right. You want ropes, hats, chaps, saddled horses, and lots of dust.

The work is messy and never tamed, no matter how hard you try.

So, we need a product leader, a wrangler, a value harvester.

We need someone who’s only satisfaction is in lassoing value fast.

Turns out, I’ve got five tips for making this happen based on my experience. I’ve worked with hundreds of Product Owners and Product Managers. The best among them are true product leaders. The behaviors below make them stand out. And you won’t find backlog administration anywhere in the list.

Let’s dive in.

Tip 1: We need Product Owners who know users and their needs better than backlogs.

Ditch the backlog.

No, seriously, get rid of it.

You don’t know the best next step in product work.

A full backlog ignores a key product truth: you don’t know what’s going to happen until it does.

Once you start filling up a backlog with all the steps to your destination, you are living a fiction. You should change your role to fortune-teller. Stop fooling yourself.

Nobody can tell the future in product work.

Instead, take one step toward your value goal. Let the result of the step you just took inform your next one.

You may be thinking, “So, what do I do if I’m not caring for the backlog all day?”

The answer is simple. Refocus your effort into knowing your users.

• Knowing your user tells you what to avoid.
• Knowing your user informs what you try next.
• Knowing your user tells you if what you did was useful.

Precision aiming with a tidy backlog is an illusion. A fiction. Favor reality instead.

Users give you reality. Backlogs don’t.

Tip 2: We need Product Owners who are stingy with saying, “Yes.”

Stakeholder: “We must include an AI Chatbot to help users find the information they need.”

Product Owner: “Is the content we feed to the AI accurate and up to date?”

Stakeholder: “Well, uh, no it’s not, but we promised we would have an AI search assistant in this release.”

Product Owner: “I understand, but shouldn’t we have content worth serving up first? And the habit of keeping it up to date? Isn’t having dependable content crucial before finding it fast?”

Stakeholder: “I suppose you are right. Let’s get the content right first.”

The art of saying, “No,” is a crucial skill. It’s an art.

Often, you can find a way to say, “No,” without saying it. You must lead the one requesting a feature to this conclusion based on evidence or logic. The best solution is getting _them _to say, “No,” or “Not now.”

• Bring user feedback into the decision.
• Discuss options to deliver good before delivering great.
• Outline the value in the basic use case before the fringe one.
• Run a lightweight experiment to confirm or invalidate the idea.
• Outline what you are working on now and discuss the benefit of finishing.

The one tactic you should avoid is defaulting to saying, “Yes.”

Tip 3: We need Product Owners who engage everyone in the value pursuit.

Product decisions deserve more than one person’s brainpower.

I often encounter siloed beliefs about the roles on a Scrum Team and who should focus on value. Many think the Product Owner is the only one who cares for value. The Developers focus on feasibility. The Scrum Master focuses on flow.

But value is everyone’s job.

We need all the great minds focused on delivering the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. Value is a team goal, not an individual’s goal. Without this unifiying target, your team becomes divided and moves in opposing directions.

The best Product Owners I’ve worked with infect the team and its community with a value virus. 

True product leaders engage everyone in the pursuit of value.

• They don’t talk to stakeholders and users behind closed doors.
• They don’t select what comes next alone.
• They don’t make decisions in a vacuum.

But…

• They do bring the team together with stakeholders and users to understand needs.
• They do determine the best next step based on evidence with the team and stakeholders.
• They do decide based on input from all minds in the team and its community.

Product Leaders make value a team pursuit.

Tip 4: We need Product Owners who aren’t satisfied until achieving value.

Too many Product Owners have fallen victim to the feature factory.

I’ve seen these Product Owners stuff the backlog full of tickets. Then, they pressure the team to devour them as fast as possible. It’s a never-ending hamster wheel. The value of what’s delivered? It never gets a second thought.

The misstep is in mistaking value for task completion.

Let’s explore what caring about value actually looks like.

• First, you need a working, usable feature to solve your users’ problem.
• Second, see what users think. Are they using it? Do they keep using it?
• Third, inspect if it is achieving the expected impact to your business.

Notice, value is only possible after you have a working, usable feature.

• Completing all your tasks by a deadline isn’t value achievement.
• Performing detailed user research isn’t value achievement.
• Designing the perfect solution isn’t value achievement.
• Coding clean and scalable isn’t value achievement.
• Testing and fixing defects isn’t value achievement.

Claim victory only by delighting users in a way that works for your business.

Tip 5: We need Product Owners who start small and harvest early value.

Long, drawn-out, big-bang releases delay and often kill value.

Remember, if a user can’t use a feature, you can’t determine if it’s valuable. You can’t get feedback to improve it. You can’t start realizing value for the user or for the business.

A batch of completed, but unreleased features is worthless.

And you’ve likely overbuilt that pile of features to perfection.

You worked with stakeholders to dream up every possible bell and whistle. It uses all the latest technology, complete with AI. The user experience and visual design is a work of art.

But all your users needed was a simple form with a submit button.

It doesn’t hurt to think big, but you must act and start small.

1. Get to know your users and their pain.
2. Start with a simple, modest solution.
3. See if it works and understand where it falls short.
4. Enhance until your users love it, and it works for your business.
5. Then, stop, even if short of your initial grand vision.

This is the lean approach to deliver solutions without excess that earn value sooner.

The best thing? Users can start using the solution as you improve it. Your business can start saving on costs or bringing in cash. Value flows as you build. It’s not held hostage.

Capture early value and you will become a value harvester.

Don’t let your inner voice hold you back from trying these tips.

I know these tips can run counter to your intuition and your gut. It’s difficult to step outside of convention. We all want to fit in.

Here are some of the common “yeah-but’s” that arise with the move from an output to outcome focus and how to handle them.

• “We can’t just ignore and not manage the backlog.” While we all need a basic level of backlog organization, I’ve found it’s best to keep backlogs small and light. I include the big problems to solve now, next, and later. Then, I focus on achieving value for the _now _focus. Remember, managing the backlog can become a black hole; don’t get sucked into it.
• ”My stakeholders will demand a detailed plan and roadmap.” Believe me, I know how stakeholders push for predictability. I’ve even had some ridicule me as weak and careless for not trying to predict the unpredictable. But what they actually want is early value. Explain to them (and show them by real value harvesting) how your approach does this. Once they start reaping regular value, the plan and roadmap demands will evaporate.
• ”Saying ‘No’ to stakeholders could damage relationships (and my career).”  I hear you. Saying “No,” can be challenging. I’ve struggled with this myself. But it can build credibility if you follow it up by bringing stakeholders along on the journey. Show them what your users are saying and what they need. Co-create a path to customer delight that matters. They will soon not worry about the unvalidated idea that you rejected.
• “Working with the entire team on value might slow down decision-making.” While it’s true that involving more people takes more time upfront, it pays off in spades. I’ve seen firsthand how teamwork saves months of painful downstream course corrections. Better alignment leads to fewer missteps. More minds create stronger decisions. Different perspectives catch oversights early and improve innovation. You spend some extra time and effort now, and in return, you reap sooner, better rewards.

When your inner voice chimes in, remind yourself to stay the course.

The pursuit of value deserves determination, not distraction.

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Anyone can add needs to the backlog. That’s a task, not a role. And it shouldn’t be anyone’s sole focus.

Instead, be a product leader. Shift to delighting your users in a way that works for your business. Do this early. Do this often.

1. Know your users.
2. Be stingy with “Yes.”
3. Engage all in the value chase.
4. Don’t rest until you realize value.
5. Start small and harvest value early.

Do these five steps and your love affair with your backlog will soon be a distant memory.

Say, “Good riddance,” to backlog administration. And say, “Hello,” to value.

Good luck, value harvester.

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