Backlog
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
The backlog is the master to-do list for a product — every feature, bug, and idea that hasn't been built yet, prioritised by importance. It's always growing, always being refined. The top items are crystal clear; the bottom items are rough ideas for someday.
Real Talk
A product backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be done in a product — features, bug fixes, technical debt, and research tasks. The Product Owner prioritises it. Items at the top are well-defined and ready for sprint planning; lower items may be rough epics.
When You'll Hear This
"Add it to the backlog and we'll prioritise it next quarter." / "The backlog has 300 items — time for a grooming session."
Related Terms
Epic
An epic is a big chunk of work that's too large to finish in one sprint, so it gets broken down into smaller user stories.
Issue
An issue is GitHub's word for a ticket — a filed report about a bug, feature request, or question.
Kanban
Kanban is a visual workflow system where tasks move through columns — To Do, In Progress, Done. Unlike Scrum with fixed sprints, Kanban is continuous flow.
Sprint
A sprint is a fixed time-box — usually 1-2 weeks — where a team commits to completing a specific set of tasks.
Ticket
A ticket is a single unit of work in a project management tool — it could be a bug to fix, a feature to build, or a task to complete.
User Story
A user story is a tiny description of a feature from the user's perspective, written in plain English: 'As a user, I want to reset my password, so that I c...