Agile Refine Backlog

When the user asks to tidy, groom, or review the product backlog — not to plan a specific sprint (use sprint-planner for that) but to keep the backlog healthy: pruning stale captures, clarifying vague ones, moving items between next and deferred, or filing new ideas as they come up.

1. List both buckets to get a full picture before changing anything:

   ./projects/ores.compass/compass.sh list --type capture --sort path | grep next
   ./projects/ores.compass/compass.sh list --type capture --sort path | grep deferred
   

   Note the total count — next should stay manageable (≤ 20 is a useful heuristic). A crowded next bucket signals drift; a sparse one may mean work is being under-captured.

2. Read each capture in the target bucket. For each one assess:
   • Validity — is the idea still relevant? If the work was done in a past sprint or the need has gone away, mark ABANDONED and commit.
   • Clarity — is the #+title and #+description specific enough that someone could act on it without back-channel context? If not, sharpen both in place.
   • Bucket fit — does this item belong in next/ (candidate for the next version) or deferred/ (longer-horizon)? Move by renaming the file path; the :ID: stays unchanged so existing links keep working.
   • Duplicates — if two captures describe the same idea, merge them: keep the richer one, absorb the other's notes, mark the absorbed one ABANDONED.

3. File new captures as they surface during the review. Use the agile-product-owner skill's codegen step to scaffold each one:

   projects/ores.compass/compass.sh capture --note "<idea text>"
   

4. Re-prioritise by moving files between next/ and deferred/:

   git mv doc/agile/product_backlog/next/<slug>.org \
          doc/agile/product_backlog/deferred/<slug>.org
   

5. Commit the full sweep in one atomic commit per bucket (or one combined commit if the changes are small):

   git add doc/agile/product_backlog/
   git commit -m "[agile] Backlog refinement — next bucket housekeeping"
   

• How do I refine the backlog? — the human-readable checklist for this skill's procedure.
• How do I create a new doc? — codegen invocations for new captures.

• Product backlog — the next/deferred structure and its invariants.
• Capture — the document type contract.
• Document types — full frontmatter contract for all types.
• Agile product owner — atomic operations (file, promote, scaffold) this skill orchestrates.
• Sprint planner — use instead when the goal is to select stories for a specific sprint.