What goes into the backlog
- All data requirements
- All business use cases
- All journeys
- All audiences
- All integrations
- All tags, events, schemas, sources and destinations
When the backlog is created
It appears in different forms across the program: during pre-planning and discovery as a list of use cases to solve, during build as a dependency-tracked scrum backlog, and later for migration and support. In every phase the goal is the same — steer the project with objective tracking.
Dependency tracker template
| Item | Description | Depends on | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business requirements | Finalise use cases and requirements | None | High |
| Schema design | Create XDM schemas | Business requirements | High |
| Identity strategy | Define identity namespaces | Schema design | High |
| Dataset creation | Create profile and event datasets | Schema design | High |
| Data ingestion | Ingest batch, streaming and SDK data | Dataset creation | High |
| Profile stitching | Unified profile creation | Data ingestion | High |
| Consent mapping | Integrate OneTrust or other consent data | Schema design | High |
| Governance | Apply data usage labels and access controls | Consent mapping | Medium |
| Segmentation | Create real-time and batch audiences | Profile stitching | High |
| AJO journeys | Create templates, events and journeys | Segmentation | High |
| Destinations | Configure email and advertising destinations | Segmentation | Medium |
| Activation | Export audiences to destinations | Destinations | High |
| CJA setup | Connections and data views | Data ingestion | Medium |
| QA validation | End-to-end testing | All previous items | High |
| Go-live | Final approvals and launch | QA validation | High |
The critical path
Frequently asked questions
Who owns the MarTech backlog?
Usually a product owner or delivery lead, with the solution architect owning technical dependencies.
Should consent be early or late in the backlog?
Early. Consent mapping depends only on schema design and must be in place before audiences and journeys go live.
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