Use the project backlog

The project backlog is a flexible way to manage tasks that are part of your project but not yet committed to the scheduled plan. Common in Agile project management, the backlog allows teams to capture and organize potential future work without impacting the current schedule.

What is the backlog?

In Fusion, backlog tasks are simply project tasks that are not linked to any endpoint—meaning they are not part of the scheduled network. These tasks:

  • Are not included in the schedule

  • Do not affect buffer consumption

  • Are not included in the calculated critical chain

By keeping these tasks in the backlog, you maintain flexibility to commit to them later when the timing is right.

For a broader overview of Agile workflows in Fusion, see Agile project management.

How to identify backlog tasks

Backlog tasks are marked with a backlog icon throughout the application. You'll see this icon:

How to create backlog tasks

You can add tasks to the backlog in a few ways:

  • Create a new project task without linking it to any other task in the network.

  • Remove a task’s successor links so that it no longer leads to any endpoint.

    • You can remove links using the Task Links view (available from the task action menu)

    • Or visually, by deleting links inside the Network Diagram

As long as a task—or chain of tasks—does not eventually connect to a downstream endpoint, it will remain in the backlog.

You can move tasks in and out of the backlog simply by adding or removing links that connect them to the scheduled network. However, endpoints cannot be moved to the backlog. If you want to move an entire task chain to the backlog, including the endpoint, you’ll need to delete the endpoint—its predecessor tasks will move to the backlog as long as they don’t also link to another endpoint. You can optionally replace the endpoint with a backlog task. The Network Diagram is the easiest place to make these changes.

How backlog status works

A task is considered part of the backlog if it is not connected to any endpoint—meaning there is no downstream path from that task to a project endpoint.

Tasks can still have predecessors that are not in the backlog. For example, if a predecessor is also linked elsewhere into the main network (i.e., it connects to a task that eventually leads to an endpoint), that predecessor is considered part of the scheduled network—even if it also links to a backlog task.

This means:

  • A task is in the backlog if it does not feed into an endpoint, directly or indirectly.

  • A chain of tasks will all be in the backlog if none of them connect to an endpoint.

  • But a task can still be in the backlog even if its predecessor is scheduled, as long as its own path does not eventually lead to an endpoint.

To move a task or chain of tasks out of the backlog, simply add a link from the last task in the chain to a task that leads to an endpoint.

Why use a backlog?

The backlog is ideal for:

  • Agile or iterative planning where priorities shift frequently

  • Capturing optional or future work without cluttering the current schedule

  • Brainstorming ideas or building out task templates before committing them

  • Holding scope items that may be added in a later phase

See also

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