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Backlog Rescue

Your backlog, cleaned up and ready to ship from.

From £1,800 · 1–2 weeks · Fixed scope

Who it's for

  • Teams whose Linear / Jira / YouTrack / Notion has become a graveyard
  • Founders who've been writing tickets in Slack DMs for six months
  • Agencies with five clients and no consistent way to track work across them
  • Product teams that have outgrown their original ticket structure

Who it's not for

  • Teams that don't yet have anything to put in a backlog — start with Product Clarity Sprint instead
  • Companies wanting a full process transformation — start with the retainer

What you get

  • Audit. What's in there, what's stale, what's duplicated, what's actually a priority.
  • Restructured backlog. Clean taxonomy — types, labels, priority tiers, status flow. Reflects how you actually work, not a textbook.
  • Ticket cleanup. Stale items archived. Duplicates merged. Vague items either sharpened or moved to a parking lot.
  • Top-of-backlog ready to ship. The next two weeks of work has clear acceptance criteria and is ready for the team to pick up.
  • Operating guide. A one-page doc on how to use the new system so it doesn't drift back into chaos.

Typical outcomes

  • A backlog the team actually opens
  • Faster sprint planning — usually 30 to 60 minutes instead of two hours
  • Clearer handoff between product, design, and engineering
  • Stakeholders can see what's coming without asking

How it works

  1. 1

    Days 1–2 — Audit

    Read access to current system. Walk-through call with whoever owns product. Look at the last three months of completed and abandoned work.

  2. 2

    Days 3–7 — Restructure

    Taxonomy designed. New structure built in a sandbox or branch. Stale items reviewed for archive.

  3. 3

    Days 8–10 — Cleanup

    Migration to the new structure. Top-of-backlog sharpened with acceptance criteria.

  4. 4

    Day 10 — Handover

    Walk-through with the team. Operating guide delivered. 14 days of follow-up support to handle questions as the team uses it.

Pricing

Single team or product

£1,800

Multi-team or multi-product workspace

from £2,800

Add acceptance criteria for top 20 tickets

+£600

Most engagements convert into a Fractional PO Retainer once the backlog is in shape.

Tools I work with

Linear Jira YouTrack Notion ClickUp Asana GitHub Projects Trello Airtable

Backlog Rescue — ready to start?

Book a free 30-minute discovery call. No pitch deck, no proposal until we've talked.

Book a discovery call