The Data Backlog Nobody Prioritizes

Every sprint planning I sit in ends with the same item: the data fix.

It goes like this. Features arrive with a customer and a date attached, and bugs come with an angry user. The data ticket says “fix revenue model double-counting refunds”, and nobody in the room can say what another two weeks of waiting costs.

So it slides. Nobody objects, because nobody owns the argument for it.

The engineers usually know it matters. They just don’t have the standing to push it above a feature the CEO asked for. And the people who’d feel the bad number, finance or the board, aren’t in sprint planning.

What I’ve seen work:

• Put the cost on the ticket in business terms. “Revenue is overstated by about 3% every month” moves faster than “model bug”.
• Make arguing for data work in planning one person’s job. A tech lead, a PM, sometimes a fractional lead. Anyone works, as long as it’s theirs.

Some of those tickets can wait. Someone just has to say so out loud.

Who in your sprint planning would speak up for the data ticket?