5163b1fc-ff2c-4a99-8593-06d0e6666ecd

[giscus[bot]]

5163b1fc-ff2c-4a99-8593-06d0e6666ecd

use AI to manage and refine you backlog

https://www.ssw.com.au/rules/use-ai-manage-backlog/

[adamcogan]

Should more devs be using AI for backlog refinement? If not, why not?

-a
www.adamcogan.com

[JimmyChenSSW]

Not a dev, I think the best way to use AI on backlogs could be when creating them, instead of retrospectively.

Is it possible that AI can help create backlogs in a better way? Such as assessing the priority, verifying the duplicates or breaking down big items. Then let backlog do the backlog thing.

[TobyChurches]

Yes!! I absolutely think that we should be using it - AI can take care of alot of the boiler plate PBI content - However it is not a direct substitute for a Human review. We should always be checking it and making sure that it aligns with the requirements and is clear for the Dev to work on

[rubycogan]

Yes! A great tool, saving time and money that improves both the customer and dev's experience. I wonder if there should be more of an emphasis in this rule on checking AI's work after it has done a refinement..?

[amankumarrr]

Yes, it helps filter out vague content and duplicates, which saves time and effort required to manually go through each item. However, a human review should still be in place to validate the results before they are added to the backlog

[vladislav-kir]

Using AI to find duplicate issues is useful, but I think using ai for that a symptom of the issue that the backlog is too messy. Maybe using AI to properly create issues is a better idea than using it retrospectively

[GordonBeeming]

Should more devs be using AI for backlog refinement? If not, why not?

Maybe - Like all AI, it's tough, because if you don't know what you're doing/looking at already, you'd just "go with the AI", but having a deeper understanding, you're able to use AI to move quicker which is where the value is... not in being lazy

In saying that, I've added a GitHub copilot chat mode to our project, and we'll refine it more as we go to be the ultimate assistant 🙂

[wicksipedia]

💯 you should be the pilot and not the copilot

[marinagerber]

O wow, even as a non dev I think this is Brilliant! it's like filtering and grouping magic! great video

[0xharkirat]

• This is so useful.
• Like Gert, I also didn't know that this thing exists.
• Also, I like the very simple & minimalistic TUI (Terminal User Interface) of Claude Code.
• We can setup the workflow with more context to our repos and then then managing backlog would be more better.

[calumjs]

In my user group I mentioned that I found some limitations of GitHub MCP server to search, because the search function can only do substrings. And listing everything is not a good option when you have a big backlog. So I created a custom MCP server to index all issues in a vector database so you can do a similarity search on it. https://youtu.be/NXY80p4k6Ac?si=LlNFb68GWHotKZj4&t=3395
Makes it way easier to identify duplicates.

I also think it's good practice to create a project and give it extra context e.g. upload the spec review & estimates document, etc.

[miichaelsmedley]

I didn't know this exists and now will use it. I also Like Calums addition.

[Ben0189]

Useful tools, thanks for sharing👍🏻

[steven0x51]

Very positively agree to use AI for backlog refinement assistance, but I'm not 100% trust it

[jimmidier]

This could save tons of time of team members gather together scrolling in the sea of PBIs so yes we should use it more often but with careful review on the result

[danielmackay]

Awesome rule guys! I also spend a lot of time in refinement, and agree with the backlog pain. I'm keen to try this out with Copilot CLI, instead of Claude.