Agency and consultancy guides
Practical answers for teams that review other people’s backlogs: running a client audit that holds up, presenting hard findings, pricing the work, and keeping fixed-bid engagements profitable.
Running client audits
How do I audit a client backlog?
A repeatable backlog audit method for agencies and consultancies: what to ask for, how to score every story instead of sampling, and how to turn the findings into a deliverable the client acts on.
How do I present requirements findings to a client?
How to deliver hard findings about a client's backlog without blaming their team: lead with aggregates, anonymize authors, pair every problem with a rewrite, and close with the follow-on plan.
What does a low-scoring story actually cost?
One story from vague to shipped defect: what a story that looks ready hides, what scoring flags in it, and why the agency absorbs the rework on a fixed bid. The guide to send a client who thinks thin requirements are survivable.
How do I audit a backlog when the project is already slipping?
The mid-flight audit, where you are the vendor and the delay is partly yours: score what remains rather than re-litigating delivered sprints, split the slip into named causes, and turn the findings into a re-baselined date.
Selling backlog audits
How do I price a backlog audit?
Pricing models for a productized backlog audit: fixed-fee tiers by backlog size, what to include in each tier, and how to anchor the price against the cost of the defects the audit prevents.
How do I protect fixed-bid margins from scope creep?
Scope creep on fixed-bid work starts in the requirements, not the change requests. How agencies and consultancies catch vague, oversized stories before signing, and put evidence behind every scope conversation.
How do I estimate work from a backlog I didn't write?
Split an inherited backlog three ways before you price it: what you can size, what needs one question answered, and what cannot be sized as written. How to quote each bucket and present the split as rigour rather than hedging.
New to the program?
Start with how a project works to see the engagement flow end to end, or read the setup and workflow reference for concepts, credits, and uploads.