Whenever I start a new project or come in during a hectic time to help salvage a deliverable – there is always a backlog. Generating the backlog can be a daunting exercise, but worth the effort. Once I have a backlog, I feel in control and the chaos begins to quell.

In your everyday life, you too should keep a backlog. Here is how I do it;

1. Always carry a notebook

2. Start each day marking a new page with today’s date

3. Flip to yesterday’s notes and copy every task with an empty checkbox next to it, to the new empty page (today)

4. As the day progresses and you go to meetings, do your work, or get interrupted to do something…jot it down in today’s page and put an empty checkbox next to it. If you get it done during the day, awesome. Mark it complete.

Keep carrying and writing every task to each new day until it is complete. Maybe one day, you will have an empty backlog and your sprint will be complete!