Why the backlog never gets groomed

The spreadsheet went stale in three weeks. The shared workspace was not opened again after the second planning session. The scoring rubric was scored once and never touched. The backlog was declared bankrupt in a meeting that ended with a sigh.

Every team recognises that arc. The interesting question is not why it happens. It is why the same teams try it again, in a new tool, expecting a different result.

Why grooming always loses

Grooming is maintenance. Maintenance is what you do when nothing is on fire. On a small team something is on fire most of the time, so most of the time grooming loses. After two or three rounds of losing, the backlog stops being groomed, and a list nobody tends is a list nobody trusts.

The fix is to remove the need to groom

Three things together do it:

1. Order the list and draw a line. Above the line is what the team is doing. There is nothing to groom there, because it is the work.
2. Let the bottom age out. Anything below the line that has not moved in thirty days disappears on its own. The graveyard maintains itself.
3. Give the order one keeper. One person moves things. When everyone can reorder, nobody does, and the order quietly stops being true.

A list that is ordered, capped by a line, and cleans up its own bottom does not need a person to keep it current. That is why it does not die.