Agile process: Difference about backlog and todo

Question

I'm using ZenHub for task management. In ZenHub, I see 5 columns as displayed below:

So, I decided to move all the issues to Backlog. After that, I have a question: what are differences between To Do and In Progress ? Because all tasks in Backlog must be done. And when I want to do a task, why shouldn't I move directly through In Progress ?

Answer 1

You can see here a simple definition of backlog in Agile Project management:

A backlog is a list of features or technical tasks which the team maintains and which, at a given moment, are known to be necessary and sufficient to complete a project or a release

There are three different backlog types being them the following:


Product backlog

According to Scrum in the Wikipedia, its definition is:

The product backlog comprises an ordered list of requirements that a scrum team maintains for a product. It consists of features, bug fixes, non-functional requirements, etc.—whatever must be done to successfully deliver a viable product. The product owner orders the product backlog items (PBIs) based on considerations such as risk, business value, dependencies, and date needed.

Or in other words, all of the tasks needed to be done to finalize the product.

Sprint backlog

The sprint backlog is the list of work the development team must address during the next sprint.

In Scrum (for example) you develop in sprints. Usually sprints have the duration of 2 weeks. And for each sprint you should pick a set of tasks from the backlog that you think you will conclude in the duration of the sprint.

Release Backlog

The goal of a given release is to deliver a subset of the product backlog, known as the release backlog.

Usually you develop your product by releases. First you determine which tasks go to each release, so you can release earlier versions of the product for the client to test and suggest modifications, without too much time and resources spent.

With that in mind, your `To Do` should be probably interpreted as the sprint backlog and your `backlog` the product backlog. Or you can use your `To Do` as a release backlog for instance if you don't develop by sprints.

Answer 2

In the column ToDo you should put the tasks that you want to work on within the current time segment. So you plan to get done with it within this segment.

All the rest of your tasks, you would work on in another time segment. This is my understanding about agile working processes.

If you don't work with time segments and just take the next important one when your current task is done, you should put the tasks there in the backlog, that are not ready enough to work on. For example if there are open questions to answer before starting with it.

I hope, this will help you.