a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

Not all surprises in product development are true unknowns

TL;DR; Many surprises in product development are due to poor backlog management rather than true unknowns. Regularly reviewing and categorizing past surprises helps teams improve their backlog and anticipate issues. Development managers should ensure their teams use backlog refinement to build foresight and reduce avoidable disruptions.

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Not all surprises in product development are true unknowns. Many are just the result of bad backlog management.

Teams often get blindsided by last-minute changes, unexpected dependencies, or hidden complexities. But here’s the reality: Most of these “surprises” could have been anticipated with better refinement.

Refinement isn’t just about breaking down work—it’s about building foresight. If your team is constantly caught off guard, your backlog isn’t doing its job.

Also published on: LinkedIn
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