A Program Backlog Story with Patterns: Expanding the Magic Backlog Pattern Collection

Abstract

This paper extends our Magic Backlog Patterns collection with three additional patterns for managing the work of a program- or rather how to deal with coordinating the work of projects which are part of a larger program and where there may be dependencies and shared deployment. While teams within a program may work fairly independently, their work still needs to be coordinated to produce a product. These three patterns, which represent alternative strategies for structuring the backlog of work, are introduced through a story of the correspondence of a business analyst as her hypothetical program moves through different backlog management strategies.