By Jason Fried · world.hey.com · @jasonfried on X · LinkedIn
Jason Fried argues that teams don't need a prioritized backlog to know what to work on next. Choosing the next task is just a series of yes/no decisions, and those can be made as you go, using what you currently know. Backlog decisions reflect what someone believed in the past, which is often stale. Making decisions in the present draws on fresher information and so tends to be more accurate. The essay matters for product managers who feel pressure to maintain long ranked lists, because it questions whether those lists add value over current judgment.
01Key takeaways
- Decide what to work on next based on your current information rather than rankings made earlier.
- Recognize that a previously made decision is not inherently more accurate than a fresh one.
- Treat backlog items as possibly stale snapshots of what someone believed in the past.
- Use the information you have now to make yes/no choices as work progresses.
- Consider whether maintaining a ranked list is adding value or just preserving outdated judgment.
02Key sections
- The question about backlogs
- Fried notes that people often ask how he decides what to do next without a backlog. He frames the question as the starting point for his argument about real-time decision-making.
- Deciding forward, not backward
- He contrasts looking forward at what makes sense now with looking backward at decisions made earlier. He says both involve the same yes/no process, so the timing is the only real difference.
- Past decisions are not better
- Fried argues that earlier decisions aren't more accurate or substantial simply because they were made. They are mainly older and more likely to be outdated.
- Trust the present
- He concludes that people should put more faith in current judgment, since it reflects more information and sits closer to the work than past plans do.
03From the post
“Whenever I talk about working in real-time, making decisions as you go, figuring things out now rather than before, I get a question like this... "If you don't have a backlog, or deep sets of prioritized, ranked items, how do you decide what to do next?" My answer: The same way you do when your made your list. You make…”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.