In the fourth episode of the “5 Wishes for 2025” series, Vasco Duarte takes on a common yet overlooked productivity killer: the monster backlog. With humor, relatable analogies, and practical advice, Vasco shares how organizations can turn their overwhelming backlogs into powerful tools for focus and impact.

“Your backlog should be like your fridge, not your basement – keep only what you’ll use soon, not what you might need someday!”

Vasco opens by comparing bloated backlogs to storage boxes filled with old cables and chargers: seemingly useful but rarely touched. Sharing the story of Juha, a leader overwhelmed by a five-year backlog of epics, Vasco highlights how backlogs can grow out of control, becoming a source of stress rather than a tool for productivity.

“Your backlog should only contain work for the next 2-3 sprints. That’s it!”

Vasco introduces a game-changing rule of thumb:

• Short-Term Focus: Limit the backlog to items that can be completed within the next 2-3 sprints.

• Medium-Term Planning: Use a problem-centric roadmap to outline key issues to tackle in the next 6-9 months, and a technology strategy to align on longer term tech priorities (more on that in an upcoming episode)

• Long-Term Vision: Create a clear vision document to connect today’s work to future goals.

By managing backlogs with these three distinct timelines, teams can regain clarity and focus without sacrificing strategic alignment.

“Think of it as three zoom levels on your product map – focus on what you need today, tomorrow, and the distant future.”

Vasco explains how a problem-centric roadmap helps teams prioritize medium-term goals by focusing on the most critical customer problems. Combined with a clear long-term vision, this roadmap empowers teams to align their efforts without being overwhelmed by irrelevant details.

“At conferences, I’ve met teams with 10-year-old backlog items – that’s like keeping your Y2K plans ‘just in case’!”

Vasco shares surprising stories of teams with decade-old backlog items. These “zombie tasks” highlight the need for a system to prevent backlogs from growing unchecked. Without proper management, backlogs can cause anxiety and hinder teams from delivering value.

“Let’s turn our backlogs back into the focusing tools they were meant to be.”

Vasco’s fourth wish for 2025 is to see teams use backlogs as powerful prioritization tools, not bottomless pits of forgotten ideas. By embracing a short-term backlog, medium-term roadmap, and long-term vision, teams can stay focused, aligned, and productive.

“Want to learn how real teams are taming their monster backlogs? Join us in Tallinn!”

Vasco invites listeners to the Global Agile Summit 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia, where teams will share practical strategies for managing backlogs effectively. Holiday listeners can snag a 75% discounted Super Early Bird ticket at GlobalAgileSummit.com.

About Vasco Duarte

Vasco Duarte is a thought leader in the Agile space, co-founder of Agile Finland, and host of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, which has over 10 million downloads. Author of NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating, Vasco is a sought-after speaker and consultant helping organizations embrace Agile practices to achieve business success.

You can link with Vasco Duarte on LinkedIn.

In the third episode of the “5 Wishes for 2025” series, Vasco Duarte takes aim at one of the most common anti-patterns in software development: the obsession with managing tasks instead of discovering what truly works.

He calls on teams to shift their mindset from backlog management to running experiments, creating a culture of learning and rapid innovation.

“Managing a backlog is like planning a road trip by focusing on the gas stops instead of the destination.”

Vasco reflects on how teams often lose sight of their goals, becoming bogged down in task management instead of pursuing real customer value. He humorously compares this approach to being a “backlog secretary,” organizing tasks while forgetting why the project began in the first place.

His solution? A radical shift from task obsession to a learning-first approach driven by rapid experiments.

“Why wait for weeks to learn something you could test in a day?”

Vasco shares real-world success stories of teams embracing a rapid experimentation mindset:

• The Skeptical Client: In just 48 hours, this team launched two market experiments and gained actionable feedback.

• The Experiment-First Startup: Meeting twice weekly to design and run experiments, this startup learns more in a week than most teams do in a month.

These examples showcase how rapid testing leads to faster learning and greater customer impact.

“Or as I like to call it, the ‘Question-Experiment-Insight’ cycle – it’s like having a GPS for product development.”

Vasco introduces a three-step approach to running experiments:

1. Start with a Concrete Goal: Define measurable business targets using a Business Value Equation.

2. Create a Metrics Tree: Break down goals into daily metrics that track progress.

3. Experiment, Experiment, Experiment: Test new features, tweaks, and ideas quickly to gain insights and adjust course.

He highlights a team’s transformation from a “feature factory” to “experiment mode,” where the Product Owner posed questions and the team creatively solved them. This cycle drives meaningful insights instead of aimless task completion.

“A backlog full of tasks is like a restaurant full of recipes – it means nothing until you know what your customers actually want to eat!”

Vasco’s third wish for 2025 is a world where teams prioritize learning over task management. By embracing the “Question-Experiment-Insight” cycle, teams can focus on solving customer problems and creating real value.

This mindset shift transforms teams from task managers into product scientists, driving faster, smarter innovation.

“Want to learn how real teams are running experiments and making an impact? Join us in Tallinn!”

Vasco invites listeners to the Global Agile Summit 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia, where teams will share stories about adopting rapid experimentation. Holiday listeners can snag a special “White Wednesday” deal: a 75% discount on tickets. Visit GlobalAgileSummit.com to claim your Super Early Bird ticket.

About Vasco Duarte

Vasco Duarte is a thought leader in the Agile space, co-founder of Agile Finland, and host of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, which has over 10 million downloads. Author of NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating, Vasco is a sought-after speaker and consultant helping organizations embrace Agile practices to achieve business success.

You can link with Vasco Duarte on LinkedIn.

In the second episode of the “5 Wishes for 2025” series, Vasco Duarte tackles one of the most persistent and damaging divides in software development: the wall between Product and Engineering teams. Through stories, metaphors, and real-world examples, Vasco challenges the status quo and paints a vision for seamless collaboration that drives innovation and value.

“It’s like having the ingredients and the recipe in separate rooms – how are you supposed to cook something amazing?”

Vasco begins by highlighting the invisible barriers that still exist between Product and Engineering teams in many organizations. These divisions stifle innovation and slow progress. Drawing parallels to outdated structures, Vasco recounts the struggle to integrate Product Owners into Scrum teams and how that barely scratched the surface of the larger issue.

He calls for a broader perspective: aligning the creative potential of engineering with the customer insights of product management to unlock real innovation.

“Not the mad scientist kind, but real, product-focused experiments that bring technical innovation and product leadership together.”

Vasco shares the success story of a client who created a dedicated experiments team. By combining technical expertise with clear product direction, they delivered rapid, value-driven results. This approach demonstrates the power of collaboration in turning ideas into impactful solutions.

“For the first time, Product and Engineering co-created a plan that aligned with strategic goals – no more top-down directives or forced OKRs!”

Another client reimagined their product planning process after attending a workshop. Instead of cascading initiatives from the top, they worked collaboratively from the ground up. This innovative approach allowed them to align with company goals while fostering ownership and creativity across teams.

“It’s like they turned the wall between Product and Engineering into a large living room where everyone works together.”

Vasco highlights an inspiring case from Berlin, where a company merged technical and product leadership into a single CTPO (Chief Technical and Product Officer) role. This structure bridges the gap, ensuring that both technical possibilities and customer needs are seamlessly aligned.

Catch Vasco’s interview with this trailblazing CTPO in the show notes to explore how this innovative approach is reshaping their organization.

“Product and Engineering are like coffee and milk – different, but together they make something special.”

Vasco’s vision for 2025 is a world where Product and Engineering work side-by-side in shared spaces of collaboration and value creation. He calls for a shift from siloed teams to integrated partnerships where both groups speak the same language – the language of value and impact.

The companies that embrace this shift will be the leaders of tomorrow, delivering innovation at the speed of market change.

“Innovation flows as freely as coffee at a developer conference when Product and Engineering collaborate.”

Vasco invites listeners to experience this transformation firsthand at the Global Agile Summit 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia. The summit will showcase real-world examples of organizations successfully adopting flow-based software delivery.

For holiday listeners, Vasco has a special gift: a Super Early Bird ticket with a 75% discount. Visit GlobalAgileSummit.com to grab your ticket and see what the future of software development looks like.

About Vasco Duarte

Vasco Duarte is a thought leader in the Agile space, co-founder of Agile Finland, and host of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, which has over 10 million downloads. Author of NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating, Vasco is a sought-after speaker and consultant helping organizations embrace Agile practices to achieve business success.

You can link with Vasco Duarte on LinkedIn.