Practice : Experiment Backlogs
Purpose and Strategic Importance
Experiment Backlogs organise hypotheses and experiments in the same way product backlogs organise features. They ensure discovery is structured, visible, and prioritised alongside delivery work.
Without experiment backlogs, discovery remains ad hoc, fragmented, and undervalued compared to shipping features.
Description of the Practice
- Experiments are logged as backlog items with hypotheses, methods, and success criteria.
- Backlog items are prioritised by risk, value, and strategic alignment.
- Provides visibility of discovery progress.
How to Practise It (Playbook)
1. Getting Started
- Introduce a lightweight template for experiments.
- Populate backlog with assumptions surfaced in discovery.
- Review backlog regularly alongside delivery items.
2. Scaling and Maturing
- Integrate experiment backlog into product planning cycles.
- Use digital tools (Jira, Trello, Airtable) for visibility.
- Celebrate learnings from experiments as much as features.
3. Team Behaviours to Encourage
- Equal value placed on discovery and delivery.
- Transparency in assumptions and learnings.
- Courage to discard ideas when disproven.
4. Watch Out For…
- Experiment backlog ignored in favour of delivery backlog.
- Poorly defined hypotheses that are untestable.
- Running experiments without measuring results.
5. Signals of Success
- Qualitative: Experiment learnings are referenced in roadmap discussions.
- Quantitative: Increase in validated learning outcomes tracked.