Step 3 - Get the most out of the Backlog page

Learn how to use the Backlog page including filters, grouping and more.

The Backlog page is a powerful place in Shortcut to help you better sort, manage and prioritize work before it properly makes its way into a Workflow. You can filter the page so you are seeing the work that is the most important to you. You can also Group by State, Custom Field, Team, and more to create the views that you need.

Reviewing new entries

A key process in managing a backlog is creating a process for reviewing new entries. Having a dedicated person or people to complete this on a regular basis helps ensure that the backlog doesn’t get messy and overwhelming.

One way to make this process easier is to use Workflow States to make it clear what has been reviewed. For example, you could have Unreviewed and Reviewed or Planned and Unplanned states so that the reviewer can easily demonstrate the Story has been looked at. It is easy to update the State and this can even be done in line on the Backlog page. 

Workflow States

One way to make this process easier is to use Workflow States to make it clear what has been reviewed. For example, you could have Unreviewed and Reviewed or Planned and Unplanned states so that the reviewer can easily demonstrate the Story has been looked at. It is easy to update the State and this can even be done in line on the Backlog page. 

Labels & Advanced Custom Fields

Another way to create a review process is to use Custom Fields or Labels. With this strategy, you can create a Label such as Reviewed or Unreviewed.  This strategy makes sense if you have decided to stick to a simple Backlog States such as one Backlog state, however, there can be more human error remembering to add or remove a Label or Field than update a Workflow state.

Now you can sort this page by Labels so you could view everything reviewed or could use labels to find unreviewed Stories.

Similarly, you could use Advanced Custom Fields to create similar options such as Reviewed and Unreviewed.

Scheduling Work

Scheduling Stories to be worked on is another main function of the Backlog. Let’s look at how grouping and filtering can make scheduling an easy process. 

Adding Stories to Iterations

Adding Stories to upcoming Iterations is a great use of the Backlog page. There are a number of ways you could do this but this is a popular way to filter things down. Filter the page by Epic so you can see the work in the Backlog for the work you are focusing on. Then click Iteration to sort by the Iterations. Now we have a clear view from here of what work still needs to be assigned to an Iteration. Then you can click in-line to update the Iteration or can select multiple Stories and bulk edit to add them to an Iteration.

Adding Priority

The best way to show priority is to use the Priority Custom Field. As part of the review process, we recommend assigning Priority. That way you can Group by priority and quickly go through to see what items should be worked on next.

This works well for Bugs. You can sort by Story type, Bug and now it is clear to everyone what needs to be picked up first and what Bugs still need to be assigned a priority.