backlog
a lot of work, requests, or jobs that are waiting to be done
a quantity of work, tasks, orders, or other things that should already have been dealt with but have accumulated and remain unfinished
a list of tasks or ideas that a team may do later
a list or queue of tasks, ideas, requests, or features that are waiting to be considered, prioritized, or completed
to put work or a request on a waiting list for later
to place a task, request, or feature on a backlog, or to make it wait because there is too much other work to do
- Base: backlog
- Plural: backlogs
- Base: backlog
- 3rd Person Singular: backlogs
- Present Participle: backlogging
- Past: backlogged
add something to the backlog
1save task for later
to put an idea or task on the list for later
- That's a good suggestion; let's add it to the backlog.
- The product manager added three bug fixes to the backlog.
- We can't do this now, but we can add it to the backlog for next quarter.
- Please add this task to the backlog.
- They added my idea to the backlog.
backlog refinement
1review product backlog items
a meeting or activity where a team improves and prioritizes its backlog
- The team holds backlog refinement every Wednesday.
- During backlog refinement, we broke a large feature into smaller tasks.
- Good backlog refinement makes sprint planning much easier.
- We have backlog refinement today.
- Backlog refinement helps the team plan.
build up a backlog
1let work accumulate
to get more and more work waiting to be done
- A backlog built up while the office was closed.
- If we don't hire more staff, we'll build up a serious backlog of orders.
- The hospital has been building up a backlog of nonurgent procedures.
- A backlog built up during the holiday.
- I built up a backlog of homework.
clear the backlog
1finish pending work
to finish work that has been waiting
- The department brought in extra staff to clear the backlog.
- It could take months to clear the backlog of court cases.
- I spent Saturday clearing my backlog of unread emails.
- We need to clear the backlog this week.
- She cleared the backlog of messages.
order backlog
1unfilled customer orders
orders a company has received but not sent or completed yet
- The company reported a record order backlog at the end of the quarter.
- Supply problems increased the manufacturer's order backlog.
- Investors see the large order backlog as a sign of future revenue.
- The factory has a large order backlog.
- The order backlog grew this month.
product backlog
1prioritized product work list
a list of product tasks that a team may work on
- The product owner is responsible for keeping the product backlog up to date.
- Several customer requests were added to the product backlog.
- Before planning the next sprint, the team reviewed the product backlog.
- The product backlog has many new features.
- We reviewed the product backlog today.
sprint backlog
1current sprint work list
the tasks an Agile team plans to finish in one sprint
- The developers moved five items from the product backlog into the sprint backlog.
- The sprint backlog should not change too much once the sprint has started.
- At the daily stand-up, the team reviewed progress on the sprint backlog.
- The sprint backlog has ten tasks.
- We updated the sprint backlog.
work through the backlog
1handle pending items gradually
to do waiting tasks one after another
- Customer service is working through the backlog of complaints.
- After vacation, he spent two days working through the backlog in his inbox.
- The technicians are working through the backlog as quickly as they can.
- I am working through my backlog of emails.
- They worked through the backlog slowly.