Live online · Thursday, October 8 · 1:00 PM ET

How to deal with your backlog in the AI era.

Hint: it was never a resourcing problem. More developers didn't clear it, outsourcing moved it, and AI coding tools alone fill it faster. In 45 minutes, see how to make every backlog item something you can decide against.

  • The three facts every backlog item needs before prioritisation is honest
  • Where AI coding tools help backlog work, and where they fill the pile faster
  • A walkthrough of a backlog after an assessment: scoped, estimated, decidable
CloudGeometry

Free, 45 minutes plus live Q&A. Every registrant gets the recording and the one-page backlog scoring model. Built for business and product leaders.

Registration

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Thursday, October 8 · 1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT / 6:00 PM UK

Live online session: the argument, a walkthrough of a backlog after an assessment, and moderated Q&A. Registrants get the calendar invite, the recording, and the scoring one-pager.

📅 Oct 8 · 1 PM ET ⏱ 45 min + Q&A 📄 One-pager included

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We'll only use your details to send you the invite, the recording, and related session materials.

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The Premise

The backlog isn't work you haven't done. It's decisions you haven't been given enough information to make.

Almost nothing in a typical backlog carries what a decision needs: what an item costs to do, what it costs to ignore, and when ignoring stops being an option. Without those, prioritisation is theatre, the loudest stakeholder wins, and the riskiest items sink quietly to the bottom until one becomes an incident.

The backlog you have

  • Items age quietly until one becomes an emergency
  • Prioritisation by whoever argues loudest
  • Grooming means re-learning your own system every quarter
  • AI coding tools generate fixes faster into the same pile

The backlog you could have

  • Items arrive scoped and estimated, with the risk of ignoring them spelled out
  • A named person decides what moves, with cost and risk in front of them
  • Modernization opportunities stay visible, with traceability from intent to outcome
  • Every change that moves runs through governed gates with human sign-off
What You'll Learn

Six things you'll walk away with, in one session.

01

Why headcount never fixed it

What adding developers and outsourcing delivery actually did to the backlog, and what the real constraint has been all along.

02

The three facts every item needs

What it costs to do, what it costs to ignore, and when ignoring stops being an option. Prioritisation is honest once every item carries all three.

03

Where AI tools help, and where they hurt

The specific way AI coding tools make a backlog worse when they run without scoping and governance, and where they genuinely earn their keep.

04

What an assessed backlog looks like

How a System Assessment converts "known and ignorable" into scoped, estimated items, and what stays visible afterwards.

05

Who stays accountable

How a named person decides what moves, and how every change runs through governed gates with evidence produced as a by-product.

06

How to run this on your own backlog

The one-page scoring model registrants take away, ready to apply to your ten oldest backlog items this quarter.

The Format

Forty-five minutes, in four moves.

01 · The caseTalk

Why the backlog was never a resourcing problem

The failed fixes everyone has already funded: more developers, outsourcing, and now AI coding tools. Where the cost hides, and why prioritisation without cost and risk is theatre.

the landfillunpriced decisionsfaster shovels
02 · The walkthroughDemo

A backlog after an assessment

Scoped items, estimated effort, and the risk of ignoring each one, on a real-shaped estate. What "known and ignorable" looks like once it's been converted into something you can decide against.

scopedestimateddecidable
03 · The takeawayTool

The scoring model, handed over

The one-page model for pricing a backlog item: cost to do, cost to ignore, the date. Yours to run on your own backlog this quarter, with a worked example.

one-pager included
04 · The questionsLive Q&A

Moderated Q&A

Bring the item that's been in your backlog the longest. The session ends when the useful questions do.

45 minutes plus Q&A, live. Forward it to whoever owns the backlog conversation at your company. Can't make it? Register anyway, every registrant gets the recording.

The Takeaway

Leave with a tool, not just a talk.

Every registrant gets "How to Price a Backlog Item": a one-page scoring model built on the three facts, with a worked example. Run it on your ten oldest items this quarter and see how much of your backlog is decisions in disguise.

Included with registration

How to Price a Backlog Item

  1. Cost to do: scope it against the system it lands in, not in isolation
  2. Cost to ignore: the risk that compounds while it waits
  3. The date: when ignoring stops being an option
Your Host

Led by the person building the answer.

Nick Chase, Head of AI and Data at CloudGeometry
Nick Chase Head of AI & Data, CloudGeometry · Product Lead, AI-MSL

Head of AI & Data · Product Lead, AI-MSL

Nick Chase

Nick leads CloudGeometry's AI and data organization and is the product lead for AI-MSL. He spends his days on exactly the problem this session covers: turning software maintenance and modernization from a pile of undone work into governed, decidable change at enterprise scale.

Thursday, October 8 · 1:00 PM ET. 45 minutes plus live Q&A. Register and the calendar invite, recording, and one-pager come to you.
Who It's For

Built for the people whose plans lose to the backlog.

01
Business & Finance Leadership

CFOs, COOs, CEOs, operations leaders

The backlog is an unpriced risk register sitting under your engineering spend, and nobody can tell you what any of it costs.

You leave with

A way to see the backlog as cost and risk, and to know what visibility should cost you.

02
Product Leadership

CPOs, VPs of Product, product managers and owners

Every roadmap conversation starts with what didn't get done, and prioritisation goes to whoever argues loudest.

You leave with

The scoring model that makes prioritisation honest, ready for your next planning cycle.

03
Delivery & Transformation

The people funding AI adoption

You've been offered faster code generation as the answer, and the pile isn't shrinking.

You leave with

The test for where AI genuinely helps backlog work, and what to demand from any vendor selling it.

The Bottom Line
Nobody has a backlog problem. They have a pricing problem wearing a backlog costume.

Join us to see what your backlog looks like when every item arrives scoped, estimated, and ready to be decided against.

Save my seat

Looking for a sprint-planning tutorial or an AI coding tool comparison? This isn't that session. It's about what a backlog is, and who gets to decide.

CloudGeometry

About CloudGeometry. CloudGeometry is a strategic engineering partner helping enterprises adopt AI-powered software delivery with governance built in. AI-MSL, its platform and managed service, maintains, modernizes, and extends production software systems, with human sign-off at every lifecycle gate, full traceability of every change, and all code and assets remaining under client ownership and control.

How to Deal With Your Backlog in the AI Era · live online · Oct 8, 1pm ET

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