Through my years at various companies, I have taken part in, and led, many different efforts at organizing a large team or department around a large – usually enormous – backlog. Things like SAFe, LeSS, and other methodologies try to codify this, providing patterns and best practices to tackle this challenge head on. My personal experience is that, while these methodologies help somewhat, they all still feel like something is missing.
In the past, I have often wondered if it can be done much more simply. The recent focus on #noestimates has reawakened my musings, and inspired me to write a bit about them. What if, instead of trying to play a min-max game with your team members, you simply tackle your backlog one item at a time, regardless of the size of your development team?