Product Owner: “How many more people is it going to take to fix the road?”
Dev Team: "Well, there’s a ticket in the backlog to put out the underground fire. It’s been in the backlog for five years, and it’s a blocker for this “Fix Road” ticket.
Product Owner: “…so, can we fix the road first and then go back and put out the fire a little bit at a time as capacity allows over the next few sprints?”
Oof. I’ve been on projects that really could be described as “road maintenance in Centralia, PA.” Never again.
The same road 2 sprints later
Product Owner: “How many more people is it going to take to fix the road?”
Dev Team: "Well, there’s a ticket in the backlog to put out the underground fire. It’s been in the backlog for five years, and it’s a blocker for this “Fix Road” ticket.
Product Owner: “…so, can we fix the road first and then go back and put out the fire a little bit at a time as capacity allows over the next few sprints?”
Dev Team: “…”
This hurt me on a spiritual level