Aglet

Triage a Product Research Question Backlog

A research backlog becomes noisy when questions are recorded without the decision they could change. Triage each question into an observable unknown, affected context, and evidence gap. Separate questions that guide discovery from questions that only satisfy curiosity or repeat existing learning.

Establish what is happening

  1. Name the decision

    Rewrite each question so an answer could change a product, service, or research choice. Identify the user situation and the assumption underneath it. Mark questions that ask for opinions about a proposed solution before the underlying task is understood.

  2. Map current evidence

    Attach research notes, support themes, behavioral traces, or prior findings that already bear on each question. Record source date and context. Note whether the gap is missing observation, conflicting evidence, unclear language, or an untested causal assumption.

  3. Set the next-round boundary

    List the participant group, method, time window, and evidence needed to answer the question. Remove duplicates and park questions that belong to a later phase. Keep dependencies visible when one answer is required before another question can be useful.

What to carry forward

The triage output is a bounded question list tied to decisions, assumptions, users, and evidence gaps. Stop when each item has a reason to exist in the next round. Keep unresolved wording or dependencies visible instead of disguising them as priorities.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

Create an account See the product workflow