To Do List = Personal Backlog

Wow, I have been very negligent in my blogging in recent weeks. I guess when you have a new baby and a 3 year old running around, it wrecks havoc on your free time. This means that no matter what I do, my to do list keeps growing bigger and bigger.

I've had "update blog" almost every day on my to do list, but like a good product owner, I have been constantly prioritizing and re-prioritizing my to do list. Though "update blog" is a task on my to do list, it seems to keep getting pushed closer to the bottom of the list, after tasks like "buy diapers", "do laundry", and "get some sleep".

When you think about it, this to do list is really a personal backlog. Also, since I am not running personal iterations, it's more like a backlog for an iteration-less process, maybe like Kanban.

And yes, I did say task and not user stories. Zero chance I'm writing full user stories on my personal backlog. Nor do I have owner, or reviewer, acceptance criteria on my backlog (though I'm sure my wife would like this in many of the tasks around the home). Also note that the only status is Done or Not Done.

Hmm, full user stories may be interesting:

• 
  
  As someone who is supposed to write on his blog, I really should write on my blog, so that the guys at work aren't like "Dude, what's up with you not updating your blog"
  • Acceptance Criteria: I'm not paying $20 dollars a week for missing all my blog entries (actually, we never did really implement that, which is a good thing)
    
  • Story Points: 13
    
  
  
• 
  
  As a sleep deprived adult about to go insane, I would like to get more sleep at night, so that I don't go postal at work
  • Acceptance Criteria: I wake up fresh and alive and ready to take over the world
    
  • Story Points: infinity
    
  
  

Actually, today I put together some notes in regards to an analogy between Agile and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and so a real user story on my backlog is:

• 
  
  As a reader of my blog, I want a well-written blog entry that creates a compelling analogy between Agile and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, so that I can be entertained for hours based on a single blog post….
  • Acceptance Criteria: Blog is on my blog site
    
  • Story Points: 8
    
  • Priority: Medium
    
  • 
    
    Due Date: COB 6/15 (I'm taking a 3 day weekend vacation starting tomorrow)

That's it for today. When you next see my blog entry, it may be my mixed martial arts entry, or the blog that I started weeks ago regarding my APLN DC panel discussion and still have not yet finished.