Podcasts about backlogs

Victor Wembanyama didn't make the Finals.Again.So what does that mean for basketball cards?This week on Talking Shop, Josh and Michael discuss the health of the basketball card market, whether Wemby can truly become the face of the hobby, and who could be next if collectors start looking elsewhere.Plus:

Bob Kerr returns to break down his Tax Notes article on the IRS's Centralized Authorization File, the decades-old system that processes Forms 2848 and 8821 almost entirely by hand, now buried under 7 million forms a year at roughly 500 staff years and $50 million to run. He, Roger, and Annie get into why the backlog keeps growing, how practitioners can get ahead of it by putting 8821s on file early, and why transcripts belong in your current-year filing, not just your representation work.SponsorsPadgett -  Contact Padgett or Email Jeff PhillipsGet NASBA Approved CPE or IRS Approved CELaunch the course on EarmarkCPE to get free CPE/CE for listening to this episode.Read Bob's Article https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-federal/practice-and-procedure/high-costs-irss-centralized-authorization-file-system/2026/04/06/7vjccChapters(00:00) - Welcome and Setup (02:36) - Why CAF Matters Now (06:54) - CAF Explained POA vs TIA (10:42) - Choosing 8821 vs 2848 (13:46) - Backlogs and Real Impacts (15:45) - Manual Processing Volume Surge (18:54) - Million Hours and 50M Cost (21:23) - Deadlines Snowball Effect (24:01) - CAF Volume Spiral (24:59) - Early Transcripts Benefits (28:33) - Client Use Cases (30:27) - Why IRS Can't Keep Up (39:13) - Train Clients and Set Expectations (43:33) - Transcripts Beyond Representation (44:32) - VITA Volunteering Insights (48:56) - Wrap Up and Thanks Follow the Federal Tax Updates Podcast on Social Mediatwitter.com/FedTaxPodfacebook.com/FedTaxPodlinkedin.com/showcase/fedtaxpodConnect with the Hosts on LinkedInRoger HarrisAnnie SchwabReviewLeave a review on Apple Podcasts or PodchaserSubscribeSubscribe to the Federal Tax Updates podcast in your favorite podcast app!This podcast is a production of Earmark MediaThe full transcript for this episode is available by clicking on the Transcript tab at the top of this pageAll content from this podcast by SmallBizPros, Inc. DBA PADGETT BUSINESS SERVICES is intended for informational purposes only.

Send us Fan MailTrav slides in with two Atari beats while Steve finally moves on from his time in the gaming Navy and sails away from Warboats. Top 5 games that were ruined by a single aspect. Brainiac finds his way back to the podium and Kergon completes his PolyQuest!Check out Steve's Warboats autopsy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zFY-axOaioGames this episodeThe Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC) – June 18Rogue Legacy 2 (PS5)Biomotor Unitron (Neo Geo Pocket Color)Adventure (2600)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (2600)Mina the Hollower (PS5)Wario Land 4 (GBA)Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order (PS5)Fossil Fighters (DS)X-Files Resist or Serve (PS2)Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Dr. Beckett discusses how grading backlogs, especially at PSA, hurt the hobby's liquidity and confidence more than pricing, noting long waits, submission shutdowns, and the impact on modern product timing. He reviews the current landscape (BGS improving, SGC positioned for vintage, CGC strong in TCG) and proposes “segmentation” with separate queues, pricing, and training lanes for TCG, modern, and vintage, arguing authenticity/alteration detection is the top priority. Beckett suggests operational fixes such as vouchers for customers willing to accept slower service, incentives for bulk/multiplicity submissions to speed grading, and loyalty points that can provide queue advantages while penalizing bad-faith submissions. He also highlights registries and pop reports as key infrastructure and suggests pre-screeners could offer labeled, non-binding raw grade estimates to avoid long grading limbo.   02:06 Backlogs and Hobby Impact 03:14 Separate Queues by Category 05:04 Training Lanes and Authenticity 08:04 Pricing and Voucher Ideas 09:53 BCCG Story and Bulk Efficiency 13:01 Queue Perks and Loyalty Points 14:31 Eye Appeal and Submitter Notes 15:50 Pre-Graders and Raw Reviews    

Updates regarding the Criminal Backlog Reduction Court disposing of roughly 100 matters, the expansion of virtual courts, and upcoming infrastructure upgrades.

Send us Fan MailTrav learns about Steve's disdain for pickles while Steve continues to flail around in Warboats. Lots of beaters this time around but Matt Kuo and Huge Muffin grab the gold over a three-way tie for runner-up! Top 5: Games that are one bad mechanic away from perfection.Games this episode007 First Light (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – May 27Mina the Hollower (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, PC) – May 29River City Saga: Journey to the West (PlayStation 5, Switch, PC) – June 4Rogue FlightMixtapeUnpackingLegend of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Game Gear)Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4)WWF Super WrestleMania (SNES)Mutation Nation (Arcade)Rogue Legacy 2Paw PatrolWarboats (https://www.truetrophies.com/event/warboats-2026/gamer/Blinkoom )ChibiRobo (GameCube)Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

France just passed a landmark law allowing the return of cultural artifacts taken from nations during the colonial era — a long-overdue step nearly a decade in the making.  Plus: all 50 U.S. states have now enacted rape kit reform, cutting the national backlog in half; violent crime in major American cities is falling faster than you might expect; and a new drug is doing something doctors have never been able to say about ALS — it's making some patients actually improve. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and Kaleidoscope. For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org Subscribe to our (FREE) Substack newsletter: https://theprogressnetwork.org/newsletter/ Watch the podcast on YouTube: / theprogressnetwork Follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk Follow Emma on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyemmavarv/

Si and Desi discuss a range of digital forensics topics, from writing forensic reports that juries can actually understand, to whether AI is coming for "button pusher" DFIR jobs. They explore plain language standards, the classic confusion between forensic "images" and pictures, and Brett Shavers' provocative blog post on AI and job security — leading into a wider discussion about the distinction between technicians and analysts in digital forensics. Si shares highlights from the Leica Geosystems Conference, including fascinating audio forensics research by Henry Vega on deriving vehicle speeds and weapon calibers from sound recordings, and Swedish police reconstructions of a mass shooting using audio evidence and Unreal Engine walkthroughs. The pair also explore the forensic challenges of AI-generated code, agentic processes on endpoints, and the security risks of consumer AI tools. #DFIR #DigitalForensics #AI #PrivacyParadox #AudioForensics 00:00 Welcome 00:34 Writing Clear Forensic Reports 01:20 Visual Timelines and Storytelling 06:52 Jargon Pitfalls and Glossaries 10:50 Old Media and Blu-Ray News 12:16 UPS Backups and Failing NAS 16:58 AI Will Replace Button Pushers 18:58 Technician vs Analyst Debate 25:54 Backlogs, Privacy and Evidence 34:39 Privacy Paradox and Distrust 42:45 AI Writes Podcast Intro 43:52 Copyright Lawsuit Talk 45:24 Claude vs ChatGPT Coding  48:48 Forensic Traces of AI 50:16 Agentic IR Attribution 53:43 Consumer Agents Security Risks 59:13 Leica Conference Highlights 01:01:09 Audio Forensics Breakthroughs 01:06:44 Image Forgery History 01:12:58 Chunnel Travel 01:17:36 Wrap-Up

Gaming hosts Ryan and Ace are staring down the ultimate enemy… their backlog. From must-play titles they somehow skipped to hidden gems buried under years of gaming hype, the guys break down the video games they need to get to—and why you probably should too. If your library is overflowing, this episode is your sign to stop waiting and start playing. We're debating what's actually worth your time in this relatable, laugh-filled dive into the ever-growing world of video games. Whether you're cleaning up your gaming backlog or adding even more to it (let's be honest), don't miss this episode of the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC Supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol' Jake, Gaius, Jigglepuf, Phelps and NorwegianGreaser, Dettmarp and Night Wizard63   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, PeopleWonder, Bobby S.   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: ⁠patreon.com/videogamerspod⁠ Join our Gaming Community: https://discord.gg/h2cHKAvSmu Follow us on Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠  Follow us on X:⁠ https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠  Subscribe to us on YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1⁠    Visit us on the web:⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dominique und Tim sprechen in dieser Folge über Product Portfolio Management (auch: Produktportfolio Management oder PPM) und nehmen dabei eine Perspektive ein, die viele aus ihrem Alltag sofort wiedererkennen: Du sitzt im Refinement für dein Produkt, verteidigst Prioritäten und versuchst, dein Team auf die nächsten Schritte auszurichten. Gleichzeitig weißt du, dass neben dir andere Produktteams an anderen Themen arbeiten, aber auf die gleichen Ressourcen zugreifen müssen. Genau in diesen Situationen zeigt sich, ob ein Produktportfolio wirklich aktiv gesteuert wird oder ob Produkte einfach nebeneinander existieren und sich gegenseitig ausbremsen bzw. um Ressourcen konkurrieren. Ein Produktportfolio entsteht nicht erst durch eine bewusste Entscheidung. Es ist in vielen Organisationen schlicht die Realität, sobald mehrere Produkte parallel entwickelt werden. Spannend wird es erst bei der Frage, wie bewusst damit umgegangen wird. Häufig bleibt jedes Produkt für sich optimiert, während die übergreifende Perspektive fehlt. Teams verbessern Features, Product Owner treiben ihre Backlogs voran und trotzdem bleibt unklar, ob die Gesamtorganisation ihre Ressourcen sinnvoll einsetzt. Genau hier beginnt Product Portfolio Management, weil es die Brücke zwischen Unternehmensstrategie und den einzelnen Produktentscheidungen schlägt. In der Praxis zeigt sich schnell ein typisches Muster. Ohne klares Product Portfolio Management entscheiden nicht Wirkung und Strategie, sondern Lautstärke, Hierarchie und Durchsetzungsfähigkeit von Einzelpersonen. Das Produkt mit den meisten (oder stäksten) Stakeholdern gewinnt Aufmerksamkeit, während andere Themen liegen bleiben. Diese Dynamik führt dazu, dass Organisationen zwar viel entwickeln, aber nicht unbedingt das, was sie wirklich voranbringt. Ein Produktportfolio braucht daher mehr als eine Liste von Produkten. Es braucht eine gemeinsame Richtung, in die bewusst gesteuert wird und aktive Entscheidungen wo Zeit, Budget und Energie eingesetzt werden. Besonders greifbar wird das, wenn man den Blick auf die eigene Organisation richtet. Auch kleinere Setups mit wenigen Angeboten stehen ständig vor der Entscheidung, worauf sie ihren Fokus legen. Zeit fließt in bestimmte Formate, andere Themen werden bewusst zurückgestellt. Diese Entscheidungen passieren nicht zufällig, sondern sind Ausdruck eines Produktportfolio Denkens, selbst wenn es nicht explizit so benannt wird. Für Product Owner und Produktmanager entsteht hier oft ein Spannungsfeld. Sie sehen das Potenzial ihres eigenen Produkts, stoßen aber an Grenzen, weil die Organisation an anderer Stelle bewusst investiert. Hierdurch wird deutlich, warum Product Portfolio Management mehr ist als ein theoretisches Konzept. Es beeinflusst ganz konkret, welche Ideen umgesetzt werden und welche liegen bleiben. Für dich als Produktverantwortliche oder Produktverantwortlicher bedeutet das, nicht nur dein eigenes Produkt im Blick zu haben. Du brauchst ein Verständnis dafür, wie dein Produkt in das gesamte Produktportfolio passt und welchen Beitrag es zur strategischen Ausrichtung leistet. Ohne diesen Blick bleibt viel Energie in lokalen Optimierungen stecken, während die eigentliche Wirkung auf Organisationsebene ausbleibt und ein globales Suboptimum entsteht. Folgende ältere Episoden wurden im Gespräch erwähnt: - Product Owner im skalierten Umfeld - Mit mehreren Product Roadmaps arbeiten? - Product Principles Wie bewusst wird bei euch entschieden, in welche Produkte ihr investiert und welche Themen ihr liegen lasst? Habt ihr Situationen erlebt in denen gutes oder schlecht Product Portfolio Management einen echten Unterschied gemacht hat? Teilt eure Geschichten und Erfahrungen doch mit uns und der Community. Hinterlasse gerne einen Kommentar unter dem Blog-Artikels auf unserer Website oder auf unserem Produktwerker LinkedIn-Beitrag.

Send us Fan MailTrav ruins a good notebook and Steve continues to ruin gaming for himself! Kergon put his sweet thumbs through hell and consequently made Trav's tongue dizzy. Top 5 games starting with the letter P!Games this episodeinKonbini: One Store. Many Stories (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC, Mac) – April 30Saros (PlayStation 5) – April 30 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City (Quest 3, PC) – April 30He-Man & the Masters of the Universe: Dragon Pearl of Destruction (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) – DELAYED UNTIL SUMMERTransference (PSVR)Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (PS3)The Knight Witch (PS5)Dead Island 2 (PS5)Gang Wars (Arcade)Mug Smashers (Arcade)Toy Story 3 (PSP)Resistance: Retribution (PSP)Walking Dead MiichoneResident Evil Requieum (PS5)Ys Oath of Felghana (PSP)Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Clement Manyathela speaks to Aaron Maluleka, MMC for Housing and Human Settlements, about the City of Tshwane’s recovery plan to address financial strain, infrastructure issues, and service delivery failures. Despite efforts, residents still face water outages, ageing infrastructure, and housing backlogs, raising concerns about its real impact. Tags: 702 Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa is broadcast on 702, a Johannesburg based talk radio station. Bongani makes sense of the news, interviews the key newsmakers of the day, and holds those in power to account on your behalf. The team bring you all you need to know to start your day Thank you for listening to a podcast from 702 Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 06:00 and 09:00 (SA Time) to Breakfast with Bongani Bingwa broadcast on 702: https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/36edSLV or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/zEcM35T Subscribe to the 702 Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio7See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Project management and bourbon have a lot in common. Complexity and balance with the goal of a memorable finish that doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth.In this week's episode, host Marc Brickley is joined by Moser's own Chris Eckstein to distill portfolio planning, stakeholder communication, risk management, and delivery cadences. They'll share tried-and-true practices and stories that will help teams deliver predictably and help them learn to enjoy the process. #ASCIIAnything #ProjectManagement #PMO #MoserConsulting 

The Department of Homeland Security has now been in a shutdown for more than two months. DHS officials are warning Congress about growing backlog of contracts, cancelled planning activities, and more impacts as the shutdown drags on. For the latest, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Beckett discusses COMC in a positive ramblings episode while reacting to COMC's fee increases and how higher per-card pick/pack “shipping” costs change the economics of low-dollar cards, encouraging more in-ecosystem vault/credit use and more careful buying, submitting, and pricing. He explains COMC's operational challenges as ingestion and shipping at massive scale, compares COMC's growth and criticism to Beckett's, and notes tensions between being a tech leader, serving collectors, and making money, including thumbnail/color limitations and a distraction toward auctions versus COMC's fixed-price “long tail” strength. He reflects on a shrinking personal time horizon and gradual selling, notes hockey hasn't performed as well for him on COMC, reports March as his best COMC month ever, and offers feedback on how COMC's March Madness promotion could have communicated standings better.   00:24 Why ComC Still Works Well 01:41 Fee Hikes and Shipping Reality 02:36 Adapting Strategy for Low-End Cards 03:18 Flipping vs Long-Term Selling 04:04 Portfolio Selling Wish List 06:28 Growth Pains and Security 08:04 Leadership and Company Vision 08:51 Fixed Price Focus vs Auctions 09:41 Backlogs and Long Tail Advantage 10:59 Hockey Over-Supplied Listings 12:12 Best Month Ever and March Madness    

Freedom of Information Act backlogs have been increasing across government for years. But the Trump administration's workforce cuts have deepened challenges for already strained federal FOIA offices. For more, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you've been coasting since COVID without recertifying your income-driven repayment plan, that grace period is officially over. We break down what recertification actually looks like right now and talk about recalculation, payment caps, the kinds of forbearances that help (or hurt) your progress toward forgiveness, and a weird glitch flagging people as Parent PLUS borrowers when they're not. You'll learn where to find your recert date, what to do when your loan servicer fumbles your file, and how to avoid common mistakes in a system that seems designed to trip you up, all while staying on track for PSLF or long-term forgiveness. Key moments: (04:02) Servicers pulling income 4 months before recertification dates — and sometimes applying new payments early (06:49) How to choose whether to recalculate, switch plans, or manually recertify in the IDR recertification portal (14:59) 626,000 pending IDR applications, and what to do if yours has been sitting for months (21:01) Payment caps and why denial letters aren't always bad (24:19) The Parent PLUS glitch making recertification impossible for some, and how to fix it   Resources mentioned:  StudentAid.gov for up-to-date recertification information and account access Like the show? There are several ways you can help! Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Amazon Music Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts  Subscribe to the newsletter Join SLP Insiders for student loan loopholes, SLP app and member community Feeling helpless when it comes to your student loans? Try our free student loan calculator Check out our refinancing bonuses we negotiated Book your custom student loan plan Get profession-specific financial planning Do you have a question about student loans? Leave us a voicemail here or email us at help@studentloanplanner.com and we might feature it in an upcoming show!  

James sits down with investigative journalist Gina Barton, host and creator of the USA Today true crime podcast Untested, to talk about a case that illustrates the real-world consequences of untested rape kits. In this episode of Untested, Detective Annie Harrison learns that a man she is investigating for rape in Michigan has also been accused hundreds of miles away. The evidence existed. The reports were filed. But delays and gaps in the system allowed years to pass before patterns came into focus. This conversation looks at how evidence can sit on shelves, how survivors are left waiting, and how one detective refused to let the case go quiet. Listen to Untested wherever you get podcasts. To read the companion piece and the full investigation, in addition to listening to the podcast: https://usatoday.com/rapekit Check out the full catalog and everything Dakota Spotlight: https://dakotaspotlight.com/ Get all episodes early, ad-free, and more. Subscribe to Spotlight PLUS: https://dakotaspotlight.com/spotlight-plus/ Sign up for the Dakota Spotlight newsletter: https://dakotaspotlight.com/newsletter/ Email: dakotaspotlight@gmail.com Facebook: https://facebook.com/groups/dakotaspotlight YouTube: https://youtube.com/@dakotaspotlightpodcast4800 X/Twitter: https://x.com/DakotaSpotlight Instagram: https://instagram.com/dakotaspotlight TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@dakotaspotlight Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dakotaspotlight.bsky.social Proudly produced by Six Horse Media: info@sixhorsemedia.com Advertise your podcast or brand in Dakota Spotlight episodes: info@sixhorsemedia.com All content in this podcast, including audio, interviews, and soundscapes, is the property of Six Horse Media. Any unauthorized use, reproduction, or rebroadcast of this material without the express written consent of Six Horse Media is strictly prohibited. For permissions or inquiries, please contact info@sixhorsemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alpha Hour Exhortation - Episode 1187

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox welcomes Tim Khamzin, Founder & CEO of Vivox AI, to discuss building explainable, trusted AI agents for financial crime compliance teams. Tim describes his background in banking operations automation, including large-scale digital transformation and the development of compliance products, and explains how large language models since 2023–2024 enable the automation of unstructured compliance work without extensive model training. He outlines key challenges in AML/KYC operations—15% of bank headcount tied to compliance, heavy manual repetitive investigations across multiple systems, and cultural resistance to adopting technology. Tim emphasizes “explainability” through consistent, repeatable investigations with audit logs and screenshots that mirror human workflows, and “trust” through transparency, compliant vendor choices, and clear communication of limitations. Tim introduces Vivox compliance analyst, “Rachel,” a platform of collaborating agents that supports onboarding, customer due diligence, and false-positive reduction, improved via structured human feedback (thumbs up/down) to learn firm-specific standards. He explains how Vivox stays aligned with evolving regulations by engaging with bodies such as the UK FCA and tracking frameworks such as the EU AI Act and Singapore guidance, with a focus on auditability and explainability. Tim predicts most compliance work will shift to AI agents, with humans handling complex cases and a new role of “compliance engineer” emerging to configure and evaluate agents, alongside industry consolidation and operating-system-style vendor platforms. Key highlights: From Banking Automation to Founding Vivox AI: The Opportunity in LLMs What's Broken Today: Manual Investigations, Backlogs, and Culture Gaps Explainable + Trusted AI: Audit Trails, Screenshots, and Transparency Regulators' Top AI Concerns: Black Box, Bias, and 99% Accuracy Inside ‘Rachel': The AI Compliance Analyst & Human-in-the-Loop Feedback The Future: Compliance Engineers, Agent “Operating Systems,” and Consolidation Resources: Tim Khamzin on LinkedIn Vivox AI Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Send us a textA week of ice, a sunlit detour to Punta Cana, and a quiet house made one reality impossible to ignore: the most fun we had came from old games and honest play, not the latest headline. We crack into the Ashes of Creation collapse—Kickstarter millions, paid beta access, cosmetics sold before a finished product, and a hard stop that left players chasing refunds. It's a case study in why MMOs are brutal to build, how server bills and live ops never sleep, and what happens when communication fades while promises grow.We zoom out to the bigger picture: AAA hype fatigue, early access burnout, and the growing presence of AI in game development. Used right, AI can speed up drafts and prototypes; used wrong, it strips voice and leaves us with efficient emptiness. We trade notes on the projects that still deliver—Wolfenstein's crisp design, community-driven mod triumphs like Fallout London, and remakes that pop for a week and then vanish. The pattern is clear: passion-led work with thoughtful scope sticks longer than marketing sizzle or corporate roadmaps.So where does the joy go? Backlogs, fighting games that always play clean, and a return to TCGs where the meta evolves and the community matters: Digimon, One Piece, and a fresh dive into Gundam. We talk practical trust signals for new releases, why MMO budgets break studios, and how to support the creators who actually ship. The takeaway is simple—let excitement be earned. Play what holds up, tip the builders who care, and save your hype for the rare game that refuses to be turned off.If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who's burned by broken launches, and leave a review with your most replayed game of the year. We'll read our favorites on the next episode. https://www.carolinaotakus.com/

Using AI to Go From User Insight to Better Backlogs - Mike CohnAI is rapidly changing how product teams work—but the biggest opportunity isn't replacing product thinking. It's reducing the friction between understanding users and turning those insights into high-quality backlog items.To make the ideas concrete, I use a consistent example throughout: a team building software for valet-attended parking garages, initially selling to independent operations like boutique hotels. Each step builds on the previous one, showing how AI outputs can feed naturally into your existing agile practices.With a straightforward prompt, AI can help you build a detailed persona—including hopes, concerns, emotional triggers, and decision criteria. In my example, the persona that emerged was a garage owner/operator with high staff turnover, contract-renewal anxiety, and a strong desire for predictable labor costs. Several of these insights are things I might have missed or deprioritized on my own.Understanding a persona's aspirations—not just their functional needs—turns out to be especially valuable. Once a persona exists, you can ask AI to role-play that person and let you interview them. This is not a replacement for real user interviews, but it's a great way to explore assumptions, test questions, and uncover gaps in your thinking.AI is also excellent at preparing interview guides for real users who match a persona. With the right prompt, it can generate a structured guide that covers: Opening context (confidentiality, purpose, time commitment)Current workflows and pain pointsDesired future state and success criteriaConstraints (including regulatory or operational)Thoughtful wrap-up questionsLooking at the results, I was struck by how much better prepared I could have been for many interviews over the years if I'd had this kind of support. Once you're ready to move into backlog work, AI can help generate user stories and job stories that follow well-established agile guidance.By being explicit in the prompt—format, INVEST criteria, and output rules—you can get clean, ready-to-use stories that are easy to import into a backlog tool. AI can also correctly choose between user stories and job stories depending on whether the situation or the role is more important.In the valet parking example, this resulted in stories about vehicle handoff tracking, damage-claim protection, wait-time monitoring, staff accountability, and remote visibility into operations. I prefer to add acceptance criteria as a separate step, and AI handles this easily. You can ask for: A simple bullet list (great for user reviews), orGherkin (given-when-then) format for more formal specificationYou can even convert between formats later. Either way, this step quickly raises clarity and testability. AI isn't just for generating content—it's also useful for critique.With a structured prompt, AI can evaluate user and job stories against the INVEST criteria, identify only what's missing, explain why, and suggest a focused improvement. This works whether the stories were written by AI or by you.Over time, you can even build a library of good and bad examples to further improve the quality of feedback you get. AI won't replace talking to users, making judgment calls, or exercising product sense. What it can do is help teams move faster from vague ideas to concrete artifacts, surface blind spots, and raise the baseline quality of their work—especially when time or experience is limited.Used well, AI becomes a tireless collaborator: one that remembers persona details, never gets impatient with rewrites, and can move effortlessly from big-picture thinking to precise backlog items.The key mindset shift is this: don't ask whether AI can replace parts of product discovery or backlog refinement. Ask how it can help you arrive better prepared for the conversations that still matter most.

Alright FINE we will play ONE of the many games that we have purchased but never playedTake the audience survey (this information may be given to advertisers): Click hereSupport us on Patreon: https://shorturl.at/jlyD7Tell us what you're playing: https://forms.gle/TZG6Mp1GY6jpPxtZ9JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/eQjmAwjGy2Suggest an episode topic: https://forms.gle/oL91YyhafHJCEMhz6Check out our website: fakegamergirls.comInsta: https://www.instagram.com/fakegamergirlspod/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fakegamergirlspodThank you Emilio Cedeno for our incredible cover art! Thank you cetra for our theme music! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode 152 of Nintendo Therapy, a show about the latest Nintendo news, rumors, and a celebration of all things Nintendo.This week, we kick off Year of the Backlog with Kevin finally completing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater from the Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol. 1. Rather than immediately moving on, the conversation turns into a deep appreciation of why Snake Eater still stands as one of the greatest games ever made. We talk about its tight but content-rich design, incredible immersion, unforgettable boss fights, and the emotional weight of Snake and The Boss. It's a masterclass in prequel storytelling, showing how Big Boss's transformation feels earned in a way few franchises ever pull off.On the Nintendo front, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance joins the GameCube Classics lineup, giving fans another reason to revisit (or finally experience) one of the most beloved entries in the series. We also run through the biggest January 2026 Switch and Switch 2 releases, including major updates, new editions, and long-awaited ports.Harrison leads a discussion on the recent spike in Nintendo 3DS prices, exploring why interest in the system is rising again and how renewed demand for dual-screen experiences could influence Nintendo's future hardware decisions. That leads into a fascinating conversation about voice recognition on Switch 2, sparked by new software from Hitachi. We imagine how voice mechanics could be used in classic Nintendo games and remakes, from Hey You, Pikachu and Nintendogs to Animal Crossing, Brain Age, Luigi's Mansion, and more.The episode's Spotlight focuses on Streets of Rage (#50) and Streets of Rage 2 (#49). We break down why Sega's gritty beat 'em up series still holds up decades later, how it stacks up against Final Fight, and why Streets of Rage 2 is often considered the high point of the genre. From iconic characters and co-op chaos to Yuzo Koshiro's legendary soundtracks, this spotlight is a full-on love letter to one of the most influential brawler series of the '90s.All that and more in Episode 152 of Nintendo Therapy.

Send us a textIn the girthiest episode yet, Trav and Steve review the year that was and preview the all new 2026 Polykill Challenge and have some fun along the way.2026 Games Coming: https://gameinformer.com/2026  2025 Bingo Challenge Stats2026 Polykill Challenge Sheet & Polyquest Challenge Trailer narrated by Uncle Doug's own, Kev!Games this episodePromise Mascot AgencyDragon's Crown (Vita)Tom & Jerry (GB)Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Switch)WWF Superstars (GB)WWF Superstars 2 (GB)Kid Chameleon (Gen)Retro City Rampage DX (Vita)Ghost Trick Phantom DetectiveWorld of Final FantasyShantae and the Seven Sirens (Switch)Fatal Frame III (PS2)Hogwarts Legacy (PS5)Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

The Yard of Hard Drives Episode: Throwing Hands with Backlogs, The Literal Yard, Drives Cast Out, The Grind of Pain, Survivorship Bias, The Success and the Failure, The Arcane Nature of Repair, The Realization of Entropy, The River Styx.I find myself staring down many, many hard drives left in the yard, and try to find value and rescue in what I can get. It's going fine! But it's noisy.

Download the “65 Investment Terms You MUST Know to Reach Your Financial Goals” for FREE by going to https://TodaysMarketExplained.com/  In this episode of Today's Market Explained, hosts Brian Kasal and Chris Reardon break down the shifting dynamics beneath today's market highs. While headline indexes remain near record levels, leadership is clearly rotating — and understanding where capital is moving is critical for investors, founders, and business owners planning for 2026.The discussion covers equity performance across asset classes, sector rotations away from overextended tech stocks, the resurgence of M&A activity, and what mixed economic signals really mean for future growth. Brian and Chris also explore how AI-driven optimism is colliding with real-world supply constraints — and why that matters for valuations.

In this week's episode of The Game Deflators Podcast, John and Ryan bring a packed agenda to the table. The duo kicks things off with fresh updates from their ongoing Strixhaven D&D campaign, sharing the latest twists, character antics, and how the story is evolving. Looking ahead, they set their New Games Resolutions for 2026, laying out the titles they're determined to play, backlog goals, and what they hope to accomplish as gamers in the new year. The conversation then shifts to the 2025 Game Awards, where John and Ryan break down the highlights of the show, their favorite (and least favorite) trailers, and whether the event lived up to the hype. Adding a more analytical angle, the hosts dive into a new Boston Consulting Group report on gamer purchasing habits, exploring what the data says about how players are spending, and what it could mean for the industry moving forward. Finally, they wrap things up with a retro spotlight: a review of Batman Returns for the SNES, revisiting the beat 'em up classic to see if it still holds up today.   00:00 Introduction to the Game Deflators Podcast 01:17 Recent Game Pickups and D&D Updates 03:36 D&D Campaign Adventures and Challenges 10:58 Future Campaign Plans and Game Mechanics 19:39 Current Gaming Experiences and New Game Resolutions 27:48 Nostalgia in Collectibles and Blind Boxes 28:21 Exploring Metal Gear Solid: A Legendary Experience 34:19 New Game Resolutions and Game Picks 38:08 Game Awards Highlights and Reactions 49:17 Exciting Game Trailers and Anticipations 56:43 The Changing Landscape of Gaming Purchases 01:01:03 Backlogs and Gaming Habits 01:04:31 Inflation vs. Deflation: Game Pricing Discussion   Want more Game Deflators content? Find us at www.thegamedeflators.com     Find us on Social Media Twitter @GameDeflators Instagram @TheGameDeflators Facebook @TheGameDeflators YouTube @The Game Deflators   Permission for intro and outro music provided by Matthew Huffaker http://www.youtube.com/user/teknoaxe 2_25_18 

BONUS: Swimming in Tech Debt — Practical Techniques to Keep Your Team from Drowning in Its Codebase In this fascinating conversation, veteran software engineer and author Lou Franco shares hard-won lessons from decades at startups, Trello, and Atlassian. We explore his book "Swimming in Tech Debt," diving deep into the 8 Questions framework for evaluating tech debt decisions, personal practices that compound over time, team-level strategies for systematic improvement, and leadership approaches that balance velocity with sustainability. Lou reveals why tech debt is often the result of success, how to navigate the spectrum between ignoring debt and rewriting too much, and practical techniques individuals, teams, and leaders can use starting today. The Exit Interview That Changed Everything "We didn't go slower by paying tech debt. We went actually faster, because we were constantly in that code, and now we didn't have to run into problems." — Lou Franco   Lou's understanding of tech debt crystallized during an exit interview at Atalasoft, a small startup where he'd spent years. An engineer leaving the company confronted him: "You guys don't care about tech debt." Lou had been focused on shipping features, believing that paying tech debt would slow them down. But this engineer told a different story — when they finally fixed their terrible build and installation system, they actually sped up. They were constantly touching that code, and removing the friction made everything easier. This moment revealed a fundamental truth: tech debt isn't just about code quality or engineering pride. It's about velocity, momentum, and the ability to move fast sustainably. Lou carried this lesson through his career at Trello (where he learned the dangers of rewriting too much) and Atlassian (where he saw enterprise-scale tech debt management). These experiences became the foundation for "Swimming in Tech Debt." Tech Debt Is the Result of Success "Tech debt is often the result of success. Unsuccessful projects don't have tech debt." — Lou Franco   This reframes the entire conversation about tech debt. Failed products don't accumulate debt — they disappear before it matters. Tech debt emerges when your code survives long enough to outlive its original assumptions, when your user base grows beyond initial expectations, when your team scales faster than your architecture anticipated. At Atalasoft, they built for 10 users and got 100. At Trello, mobile usage exploded beyond their web-first assumptions. Success creates tech debt by changing the context in which code operates. This means tech debt conversations should happen at different intensities depending on where you are in the product lifecycle. Early startups pursuing product-market fit should minimize tech debt investments — move fast, learn, potentially throw away the code. Growth-stage companies need balanced approaches. Mature products benefit significantly from tech debt investments because operational efficiency compounds over years. Understanding this lifecycle perspective helps teams make appropriate decisions rather than applying one-size-fits-all rules. The 8 Questions Framework for Tech Debt Decisions "Those 8 questions guide you to what you should do. If it's risky, has regressions, and you don't even know if it's gonna work, this is when you're gonna do a project spike." — Lou Franco   Lou introduces a systematic framework for evaluating whether to pay tech debt, inspired by Bob Moesta's push-pull forces from product management. The 8 questions create a complete picture:   Visibility — Will people outside the team understand what we're doing? Alignment — Does this match our engineering values and target architecture? Resistance — How hard is this code to work with right now? Volatility — How often do we touch this code? Regression Risk — What's the chance we'll introduce new problems? Project Size — How big is this to fix? Estimate Risk — How uncertain are we about the effort required? Outcome Uncertainty — How confident are we the fix will actually improve things?   High volatility and high resistance with low regression risk? Pay the debt now. High regression risk with no tests? Write tests first, then reassess. Uncertain outcomes on a big project? Do a spike or proof of concept. The framework prevents both extremes — ignoring costly debt and undertaking risky rewrites without proper preparation. Personal Practices That Compound Daily "When I sit down at my desk, the first thing I do is I pay a little tech debt. I'm looking at code, I'm about to change it, do I even understand it? Am I having some kind of resistance to it? Put in a little helpful comment, maybe a little refactoring." — Lou Franco   Lou shares personal habits that create compounding improvements over time. Start each coding session by paying a small amount of tech debt in the area you're about to work — add a clarifying comment, extract a confusing variable, improve a function name. This warms you up, reduces friction for your actual work, and leaves the code slightly better than you found it. The clean-as-you-go philosophy means tech debt never accumulates faster than you can manage it. But Lou's most powerful practice comes at the end of each session: mutation testing by hand. Before finishing for the day, deliberately break something — change a plus to minus, a less-than to less-than-or-equal. See if tests catch it. Often they don't, revealing gaps in test coverage. The key insight: don't fix it immediately. Leave that failing test as the bridge to tomorrow's coding session. It connects today's momentum to tomorrow's work, ensuring you always start with context and purpose rather than cold-starting each day. Mutation Testing: Breaking Things on Purpose "Before I'm done working on a coding session, I break something on purpose. I'll change a plus to a minus, a less than to a less than equals, and see if tests break. A lot of times tests don't break. Now you've found a problem in your test." — Lou Franco   Manual mutation testing — deliberately breaking code to verify tests catch the break — reveals a critical gap in most test suites. You can have 100% code coverage and still have untested behavior. A line of code that's executed during tests isn't necessarily tested — the test might not actually verify what that line does. By changing operators, flipping booleans, or altering constants, you discover whether your tests protect against actual logic errors or just exercise code paths. Lou recommends doing this manually as part of your daily practice, but automated tools exist for systematic discovery: Stryker (for JavaScript, C#, Scala) and MutMut (for Python) can mutate your entire codebase and report which mutations survive uncaught. This isn't just about test quality — it's about understanding what your code actually does and building confidence that changes won't introduce subtle bugs. Team-Level Practices: Budgets, Backlogs, and Target Architecture "Create a target architecture document — where would we be if we started over today? Every PR is an opportunity to move slightly toward that target." — Lou Franco   At the team level, Lou advocates for three interconnected practices. First, create a target architecture document that describes where you'd be if starting fresh today — not a detailed design, but architectural patterns, technology choices, and structural principles that represent current best practices. This isn't a rewrite plan; it's a North Star. Every pull request becomes an opportunity to move incrementally toward that target when touching relevant code. Second, establish a budget split between PM-led feature work and engineering-led tech debt work — perhaps 80/20 or whatever ratio fits your product lifecycle stage. This creates predictable capacity for tech debt without requiring constant negotiation. Third, hold quarterly tech debt backlog meetings separate from sprint planning. Treat this backlog like PMs treat product discovery — explore options, estimate impacts, prioritize based on the 8 Questions framework. Some items fit in sprints; others require dedicated engineers for a quarter or two. This systematic approach prevents tech debt from being perpetually deprioritized while avoiding the opposite extreme of engineers disappearing into six-month "improvement" projects with no visible progress. The Atlassian Five-Alarm Fire "The Atlassian CTO's 'five-alarm fire' — stopping all feature development to focus on reliability. I reduced sync errors by 75% during that initiative." — Lou Franco   Lou shares a powerful example of leadership-driven tech debt management at scale. The Atlassian CTO called a "five-alarm fire" — halting all feature development across the company to focus exclusively on reliability and tech debt. This wasn't panic; it was strategic recognition that accumulated debt threatened the business. Lou worked on reducing sync errors, achieving a 75% reduction during this focused period. The initiative demonstrated several leadership principles: willingness to make hard calls that stop revenue-generating feature work, clear communication of why reliability matters strategically, trust that teams will use the time wisely, and commitment to see it through despite pressure to resume features. This level of intervention is rare and shouldn't be frequent, but it shows what's possible when leadership truly prioritizes tech debt. More commonly, leaders should express product lifecycle constraints (startup urgency vs. mature product stability), give teams autonomy to find appropriate projects within those constraints, and require accountability through visible metrics and dashboards that show progress. The Rewrite Trap: Why Big Rewrites Usually Fail "A system that took 10 years to write has implicit knowledge that can't be replicated in 6 months. I'm mostly gonna advocate for piecemeal migrations along the way, reducing the size of the problem over time." — Lou Franco   Lou lived through Trello's iOS navigation rewrite — a classic example of throwing away working code to start fresh, only to discover all the edge cases, implicit behaviors, and user expectations baked into the "old" system. A codebase that evolved over several years contains implicit knowledge — user workflows, edge case handling, performance optimizations, and subtle behaviors that users rely on even if they never explicitly requested them. Attempting to rewrite this in six months inevitably misses critical details. Lou strongly advocates for piecemeal migrations instead. The Trello "Decaffeinate Project" exemplifies this approach — migrating from CoffeeScript to TypeScript incrementally, with public dashboards showing the percentage remaining, interoperable technologies allowing gradual transition, and the ability to pause or reverse if needed. Keep both systems running in parallel during migrations. Use runtime observability to verify new code behaves identically to old code. Reduce the problem size steadily over months rather than attempting big-bang replacements. The only exception: sometimes keeping parallel systems requires scaffolding that creates its own complexity, so evaluate whether piecemeal migration is actually simpler or if you're better off living with the current system. Making Tech Debt Visible Through Dashboards "Put up a dashboard, showing it happen. Make invisible internal improvements visible through metrics engineering leadership understands." — Lou Franco   One of tech debt's biggest challenges is invisibility — non-technical stakeholders can't see the improvement from refactoring or test coverage. Lou learned to make tech debt work visible through dashboards and metrics. The Decaffeinate Project tracked percentage of CoffeeScript files remaining, providing a clear progress indicator anyone could understand. When reducing sync errors, Lou created dashboards showing error rates declining over time. These visualizations serve multiple purposes: they demonstrate value to leadership, create accountability for engineering teams, build momentum as progress becomes visible, and help teams celebrate wins that would otherwise go unnoticed. The key is choosing metrics that matter to the business — error rates, page load times, deployment frequency, mean time to recovery — rather than pure code quality metrics like cyclomatic complexity that don't translate outside engineering. Connect tech debt work to customer experience, reliability, or developer productivity in ways leadership can see and value. Onboarding as a Tech Debt Opportunity "Unit testing is a really great way to learn a system. It's like an executable specification that's helping you prove that you understand the system." — Lou Franco   Lou identifies onboarding as an underutilized opportunity for tech debt reduction. When new engineers join, they need to learn the codebase. Rather than just reading code or shadowing, Lou suggests having them write unit tests in areas they're learning. This serves dual purposes: tests are executable specifications that prove understanding of system behavior, and they create safety nets in areas that likely lack coverage (otherwise, why would new engineers be confused by the code?). The new engineer gets hands-on learning, the team gets better test coverage, and everyone wins. This practice also surfaces confusing code — if new engineers struggle to understand what to test, that's a signal the code needs clarifying comments, better naming, or refactoring. Make onboarding a systematic tech debt reduction opportunity rather than passive knowledge transfer. Leadership's Role: Constraints, Autonomy, and Accountability "Leadership needs to express the constraints. Tell the team what you're feeling about tech debt at a high level, and what you think generally is the appropriate amount of time to be spent on it. Then give them autonomy." — Lou Franco   Lou distills leadership's role in tech debt management to three elements. First, express constraints — communicate where you believe the product is in its lifecycle (early startup, rapid growth, mature cash cow) and what that means for tech debt tolerance. Are we pursuing product-market fit where code might be thrown away? Are we scaling a proven product where reliability matters? Are we maintaining a stable system where operational efficiency pays dividends? These constraints help teams make appropriate trade-offs. Second, give autonomy — once constraints are clear, trust teams to identify specific tech debt projects that fit those constraints. Engineers understand the codebase's pain points better than leaders do. Third, require accountability — teams must make their work visible through dashboards, metrics, and regular updates. Autonomy without accountability becomes invisible engineering projects that might not deliver value. Accountability without autonomy becomes micromanagement that wastes engineering judgment. The balance creates space for teams to make smart decisions while keeping leadership informed and confident in the investment. AI and the Future of Tech Debt "I really do AI-assisted software engineering. And by that, I mean I 100% review every single line of that code. I write the tests, and all the code is as I would have written it, it's just a lot faster. Developers are still responsible for it. Read the code." — Lou Franco   Lou has a chapter about AI in his book, addressing the elephant in the room: will AI-generated code create massive tech debt? His answer is nuanced. AI can accelerate development tremendously if used correctly — Lou uses it extensively but reviews every single line, writes all tests himself, and ensures the code matches what he would have written manually. The problem emerges with "vibe coders" — non-developers using AI to generate code they don't understand, creating unmaintainable messes that become someone else's problem. Developers remain responsible for all code, regardless of how it's generated. This means you must read and understand AI-generated code, not blindly accept it. Lou also raises supply chain security concerns — dependencies can contain malicious code, and AI might introduce vulnerabilities developers miss. His recommendation: stay six months behind on dependency updates, let others discover the problems first, and consider separate sandboxed development machines to limit security exposure. AI is a powerful tool, but it doesn't eliminate the need for engineering judgment, testing discipline, or code review practices. The Style Guide Beyond Formatting "Have a style guide that goes beyond formatting to include target architecture. This is the kind of code we want to write going forward." — Lou Franco   Lou advocates for style guides that extend beyond tabs-versus-spaces formatting rules to include architectural guidance. Document patterns you want to move toward: how should components be structured, what state management approaches do we prefer, how should we handle errors, what testing patterns should we follow? This creates a shared understanding of the target architecture without requiring a massive design document. When reviewing pull requests, teams can reference the style guide to explain why certain approaches align with where the codebase is headed versus perpetuating old patterns. This makes tech debt conversations less personal and more objective — it's not about criticizing someone's code, it's about aligning with team standards and strategic direction. The style guide becomes a living document that evolves as the team learns and technology changes, capturing collective wisdom about what good code looks like in your specific context. Recommended Resources Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include:  Steve Blank's Four Steps To Epiphany The podcast episode with Bernie Maloney where we discuss the critical difference between "enterprise" and "startup". And Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm, and Dealing with Darwin.   About Lou Franco   Lou Franco is a veteran software engineer and author of Swimming in Tech Debt. With decades of experience at startups, as well as Trello, and Atlassian, he's seen both sides of debt—as coder and leader. Today, he advises teams on engineering practices, helping them turn messy codebases into momentum.   You can link with Lou Franco on LinkedIn and learn more at LouFranco.com.

Backlogs in the nation's immigration courts have reached record levels in recent years, with nearly 4 million removals cases pending—adding new pressures to longstanding challenges that have overwhelmed the courts. With it now taking an average of four years for an asylum applicant to get a hearing, the delays are undermining the goals of both the U.S. asylum and immigration enforcement systems. This discussion draws on an MPI policy brief that examines how the immigration courts have reached a point of crisis, with panelists focusing on how the courts have been shaped by the policies of the current administration and its predecessor. The conversation also touched upon the administrative and legislative reforms that are urgently needed to transform the system, key among them increased funding for the courts, commensurate with the historic spending on immigration enforcement included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.    Speakers:  Kathleen Bush-Joseph, Policy Analyst, MPI Muzaffar Chishti, Senior Fellow, MPI Chiqui Sanchez Kennedy, Executive Director, Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project Kyra S. Lilien, Former Immigration Judge, Concord Immigration Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S. Department of Justice Moderator: Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program, MPI   Report available at https://bit.ly/immig-courts More information at www.migrationpolicy.org 

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/rTuIIrp5h4M In this episode, I look at the November Services PMI report and explain why a sharp drop in New Orders—despite overall growth—sends a mixed message about the economy's true momentum. Also in this episode:

December begins with a decided risk-off mood in financial markets, led by more painful liquidations in crypto. Bitcoin starts off the month with a nearly 7% drop to what would be a new recent low. Why? Economic woes continue to dominate concerns. Starting with Chicago, ISM's regional business barometer put up its largest single month decline in new orders in more than two years. Backlogs crashed by nearly 22 points to the lowest since March 2009. Its employment index fell to the worst since May 2009, with not a single respondent saying it had increased employment last month. Eurodollar University's Money & Macro Analysis---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What if your gold could actually pay you every month… in MORE gold?That's exactly what Monetary Metals does. You still own your gold, fully insured in your name, but instead of sitting idle, it earns real yield paid in physical gold. No selling. No trading. Just more gold every month.Check it out here: https://monetary-metals.com/snider------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Eurodollar University's AFTER BLACK FRIDAY SALEGet our DDA+ subscription including the DDA, a membership, and the Daily Briefing for one ultra-low price. Not only that, we'll also include the Substack One Big Weekly Theme subscription to. Huge value and huge savings. https://https://www.eurodollar.university/black-friday-2025---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ISM Chicago Business Barometer November 2025https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N7xXT_P4Z_g7u0dJYI_kOYkSk1fcvLcQ/viewISM Manufacturing November 2025https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/november/S&P Global Press Releaseshttps://www.pmi.spglobal.com/public/release/pressreleasesBloomberg Small Businesses Turn to Lending Startups as Tariff Costs Mounthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-15/tariffs-drive-small-importers-to-costly-loans-as-lending-startups-surgeBloomberg First Brands' Blowup Puts Trade Finance in Spotlighthttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-19/first-brands-blowup-puts-trade-finance-in-spotlight-jnj-jpm-ubs-jefhttps://www.eurodollar.universityTwitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_EDU

As the House gets ready for a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein case files, more emails have been released between former Prince Andrew, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The government is now open, but there's a slew of backlogs at federal agencies. Another high-profile Democrat has been accused by the Trump administration of mortgage fraud. A mosque has been torched and defaced by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Plus, we have an update on the Hyundai workers deported from Georgia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Send us a textTrav moves on from Steve and courts another podcast host, this one an exotic european. Top 5 games that haunt our backlogs! Congrats to our food-based Polykillers Burgerchamp and Huge Muffin!Find Vayar on Kindled Across the Sea!Games this episodeDragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (October 30 - PS5, Xbox X|S, Switch 1 & 2, PC)Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (October 30 - PS4 & 5, XboxOne & X|S, Switch 1 & 2, PC)1000xResist (November 4 - PS5, Xbox X|S)Of Lies and Rain (November 4- Quest 2 & 3, Steam, PSVR2)Lumines Arise (November 11 - PS5, PSVR2, PC)Presentiment of Death (PSVR2)Ratshaker (PS5)Dead Cells (PS4)2Xtreme (PS on PS5)2Xtreme (PS on PS4)Operation Wolf Returns: First Mission (PS5)The Playroom VR (PSVR)Drums Rock (PSVR2)Swordsman VR (PSVR)Doom (Jaguar)Pumpkin Jack (Switch)Argus (Famicom)Man of Medan (PS4)Aragami 2Syphon FilterMervils: A VR AdventureSilent Hill fRetrorealms: Ash vs. Evil DeadFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Tariffs Harm Consumers, Reduce Hiring, and Cause Customs Backlogs. Veronique De Rugy explains how tariffs are costing American consumers and businesses over 80% of the expense, leading to higher prices and reduced corporate margins. The tariff policy is harming the job market, causing 40% of CEOs to pause hiring and investments. Customs authorities are overwhelmed by the volume of small packages now requiring assessment, causing significant backlogs and lost goods for consumers. Special interests are expanding the tariff application to derivative products, such as peanut butter packaged in metal containers. 1931

Hey everyone! thanks for watching this episode of FSP! we take a look at our backlogs... what games do we most regret not playing this generation?The passing of a legend.. Tomonobu ItagakiThe #rogxboxally launches today! the reception seems mostly positive but there is still a lot of confusion from gamers on what this device is... #gaming #gamingpodcast Thanks everyone for watching our content.. for more info follow on X at @FunSpecluationFor more info on these awesome batteries check the link below!Affiliate link! Any Purchases help to support the channel!https://mupoer.com/?ref=FUNSPECULATIONsave $3 with coupon code FUNSPECULATION328Restream 2.0 is here! https://try.restream.io/studio-FunJoin our Discord!! https://discord.gg/qGq8wkhVJgFun Speculation Merch here!https://my-store-11567836.creator-spring.com/Channel Membership link here! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQAcuLpUYsuNltjRkrAGQkQ/joinMusic all created by Judzilla Music https://twitter.com/JudzillaUK https://www.youtube.com/@JudzillaMusicPong Soul also on www.youtube.com/@LivingSplitScreen @PongSoul on X3Bit https://www.youtube.com/@PixEcho/featured @ithreebit on xJasper also on www.youtube.com/c/LoreMasterJasper@LoreJasper on xFuzzy Belvedere also on www.youtube.com/FuzzyBelvedere@Fuzzy_Belvedere on xKaitlin also on www.tiktok.com/@kaitlin_fancy@Kaitlinx0615 on xPsychonauts @Psychonauts8 on XGamePassDad https://www.youtube.com/gamepassdad @gamepassdad on xTurn your videos into live streams with Restream https://restre.am/ANIm

The full crew has returned! Restoring TSG to it's former glory, Taylor rejoins the crew to chat about the pains of moving, strategies on clearing the ole' backlog, and when to know it's time to quit a game that you just aren't vibing with. Other topics include Alien: Isolation, Battlefield 6 Beta, Mafia: The Old Country, and the disappointment of DOOM: The Dark Ages. Enjoy!

Nearly half of all US passport renewals are now happening online through a platform the State Department launched less than a year ago. Before its launch, the paper based process for renewing a passport remained largely unchanged since the 1970s the department is also increasing its passport adjudicator workforce to avoid backlogs and delays for more on all of this federal news networks. Jory Heckman spoke with the acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Matt Pierce.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send us a textTrav and Steve prepare to celebrate the podcast's 10 year anniversary, Trav is turning 40, and Steve is still Dragon Questing! Top 5 non-traditional RPG Battle Mechanics round out the show!MYT is back on the Polykiller winner circle!Track us down on Monday August 18th 9pm Eastern, 8 Central. https://www.twitch.tv/polymedianetwork !Games this episodeDrag x Drive (Switch 2) – August 14Off (Switch, PC) – August 15Mafia: The Old Country (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – August 83D Ultra Pinball ThrillrideTime Flies428: Shibuya ScramblePuzzle Bobble (Wonderswan)Horse Racing (Intellivision)A Fisherman's TaleHot Shots GolfDragon Quest VIIIMetroid Prime 2Binding of Isaac Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

In this episode of The Gaming Duo, Rob (@ridicrob) and Kelvin (@foxphotons) tackle the ever-growing problem every gamer faces: the backlog. Why do we keep adding games we never finish? Is it our fault, or is modern gaming to blame? We break it all down and share our own plans to finally take control of our game libraries.We also dive into the major reveal of Battlefield 6. After years of ups and downs, is this the return to form fans have been waiting for? We give our full thoughts on the multiplayer gameplay trailer and what it means for the series.Plus, we react to the official Darksiders 4 announcement and what excites us about seeing all four Horsemen together at last.Like, review, and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Join our Discord to talk games and backlog battles with us!

Send us a textTrav finally knocks a big one off the backlog and Steve takes on the new Donkey Kong. Is it good? Top 5 games that start with the letter "M".Brainiac is sipping tea in the PK winners circle AGAIN!Games this episodeWheel World (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – July 23Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) – July 31Norn9: Var Commons2XtremeTony Hawk's Pro SkaterAsura's WrathCastlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate (3DS)The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ (Switch)Wild Arms 3 (PS2)Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2)Mario Kart World (Switch 2)Dragon Quest VIII428: Shibuya ScrambleCursed Mountain (Wii)Find more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

The construction industry is facing the longest backlog of work in history, with contractors booked through 2027. In this episode, Luke Powers, founder and CEO of Gear Flow, explains why procurement is the missing link, and how digitizing it can save contractors millions. We cover the true cost of downtime ($234 per minute!), why independents thrive, and how AI will shape the future of construction workflows.

Dylan and Kirklin breakdown the Ghost of Yotei showcase, talk about the games they've been playing and share their gaming backlogs and how they manage them.Ad-Free version: https://www.patreon.com/GeekVerseQuests0:00:00 intro0:02:20 What Kirklin's been playing0:17:20 Dragon Quest0:29:30 Ghost of Yotei0:59:00 Our gaming backlogsLinksDylan on Twitter @DylanMussDylan on Backloggd backloggd.com/u/Rapatika/Taylor on Twitter @TaylorTheFieldKirklin on Twitter @kirklinpatzerTravis on Twitter @TravisBSnellhttps://www.youtube.com/c/GeekVersePodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/geekverse-podcast--4201268/support.

Send us a textTrav and Steve get together and talk about the most unnecessary mechanics in video games.Games this episodeDeath Stranding 2: On The Beach (PlayStation 5) – June 26Ruffy and the Riverside (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC) – June 26Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One) – June 24Diddy Kong Racing DSBilly the WizardWolfenstein: The New OrderPursuit ForceGround Zero: Texas428 Shibuya ScrambleDragon Quest VIIICastlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of FateWild Arms 3Trav's comedy travterry.comFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Send us a textTrav fights bears in his neighborhood and Steve gets a Switch 2! Brainiac takes home the gold! Top 5 announcements from SGF!Standup dates: travterry.comGames this episodeFBC: Firebreak (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – June 17Maximum Football (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC) – June 17Dig Dig Dino (Playdate)Fulcrum Defender (Playdate)Mario Kart WorldTMNT 3: Mutant Nightmare (DS)Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome TourDiddy Kong RacingElden Ring: NightreignWild Arms 3Pursuit ForceFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Send us a textTrav is on a Wii kick and Steve finally plays one of the best roguelikes ever made. Brainiac is a maniac and Top 5 monkeys round it out.Games this episodeTo a T (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC) – May 28Elden Ring: Nightreign (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC) – May 30Lost Soul Aside (PlayStation 5, PC) – May 30Mario Kart World (Switch 2) – June 5Hidden AgendaThe Aquatic Adventures of the Last HumanThe American DreamBubsy: The Woolies Strike BackAry and the Secret of SeasonsSkydiving ExtremeJu-on: The GrudgeNinja Five-OUniracersRogue Legacy 2Wild Arms 3Cursed MountainFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

Backlogs. We all have them. But, how do you clear them and then prevent them from happening again? That's what we're looking at today.  You can subscribe to this podcast on:  Podbean | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | TUNEIN Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Linkedin Getting Things Done With Linda Geerdink Get Your Copy Of Your Time, Your Way: Time Well Managed, Life Well Lived The Time Sector System 5th Year Anniversary The Working With… Weekly Newsletter Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl's YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes Subscribe to my Substack  The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page Script | 367 Hello, and welcome to episode 368 of the Your Time, Your Way Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development, and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein, and I am your host of this show. Organising your work, creating lists of things to do, and managing your projects in your notes are all good common-sense productivity practices. However, none of these are going to be helpful if you have huge backlogs of admin, messages, and emails creating what I call a low-level anxiety buzz.  You're going to be stressed and distracted and in no place to be at your very best.  What's more, this can become a chronic problem if those backlogs are growing. This is when critical things are going to get missed.  I'm often surprised to get an email from someone asking me if they can have a discount code for an early-bird discount that expired three or four weeks previously. I mean, come on. If it's taking you three to four weeks to get to an email—even if you consider it to be a low-value email—there's a serious problem in your system. (Or more likely, you don't have a system at all.)  So this week, I want to share with you a few ideas that can help you regain control of these backlogs and, more importantly, prevent them from happening again.  So, with that said, let me hand you over to the Mystery Podcast Voice for this week's question.  This week's question comes from Wyatt. Wyatt asks, hi Carl, how would you help someone who is backlogged beyond belief. I've got over 3,000 emails in my inbox, and my team are still waiting for me to finish their appraisals from last year! I feel so stuck. Please help.  Hi Wyatt. Thank you for your question.  Sorry to hear you feel swamped. I know it can be a horrible place to be.  Before we begin, let me explain the three types of backlogs we all have to deal with. The first is the growing backlog. This one is the worst because it's getting bigger and unless you take action immediately, it's going to overwhelm you. These kinds of backlogs will always be your priority. The next type of backlog is the static backlog. It's not growing, but it's there and it's on your mind. It needs to be dealt with, but the urgency isn't as big as a growing backlog.  And then there's the shrinking backlog. These are the best because if they are shrinking, they'll soon disappear altogether.  Now, one of the most common areas of our work that backlogs is our email. The last statistics I saw show that on average, people are getting 90+ emails a day.  If you need an average of 30 seconds to deal with each email—which I know is low—that's around forty-five minutes to deal with them.  Do you have forty-five minutes today to deal with your email?  Remember, that's a small amount of time for each email. It's likely you'll need more than thirty seconds for most of those mails.  Now the good news. If you're starting with a backlog of over 3,000 emails, many of those emails will no longer require a response. The moment's passed. What I would suggest is you take any emails older than a month, and move then to a folder called “Old In-box”. While my instinct it to tell you to delete them, I've never come across anyone courageous enough to do it.  Although, if you think about it. Deleting them gives you a perfect excuse if someone follows you up—“sorry, I don't seem to be able to find your email. Could you resend it?” Doing this means you've cut your list by a large margin. What's left can be processed. Email is a two step process. Just like we used to do with regular letters. Open your post box, take out the mail and sort it between letters you need to read or respond to and throw away or file anything you don't need to act on.  And by the way, nobody left their mail in the mail box. Why do we do that with email?  With email, it's the same process. Clear your inbox. As you clear ask yourself two questions: What is it? What do I need to do with it? If you need to read or reply to an email, then move it to a folder called “Action This Day”. If you don't need to do anything with it, either delete or archive it.  This is the processing stage. All you are doing is processing. You are not replying or reading. That comes later. This means, with practice, you'll be able to process an individual email in a second or two—ten tops.  Now, towards the end of the day, set aside some time for clearing your actionable emails. Try to do this as late in the day as possible. This prevents what is called email ping pong.  If you reply in the morning, you're going to get a reply in the afternoon. If you reply in the afternoon, even if you do get a reply, you can leave it until tomorrow to respond. Genius, yes? There are two additional things here. The first is to reverse the order of the mails in your action this day folder. This puts the oldest at the top. If you're responding to your mails once a day, you want to be working from the oldest first.  That way, no one will be waiting more than 24 hours or so for a reply from you.  The second is to follow this process every day.  I require around forty-five minutes a day for dealing with my actionable email. If I skip a day, then tomorrow I will need ninety minutes. I don't have ninety minutes to spend on emails. If I do skip a day, I've got a backlog building. Not good.  So, it's an everyday thing if you want to prevent your email from becoming backlogged.  And remember that one is greater than zero. In other words, if you don't have a great deal of time available today, still do some of your actionable mail. That keeps you in touch with what's going on in your mail box and it's surprising how much you can get done in twenty minutes.  Now, let's move on to your appraisals. You mention that your team is still waiting for their appraisals from last year. That suggests it's an annual event rather than a quarterly event. Either way, the same principle works.  For this kind of task, you need to be scheduling time for doing it. Often, with staff appraisals, you need a week to hold one-to-ones with your team before you can write anything. So, if you begin the appraisals in October, I would suggest you go into your calendar now and set up those appointments.  I know we are a good four months away from October, but by getting them in your calendar now, it's one less task to deal with and you're not going to be going back and forth trying to get these appointments scheduled into one week. You'll end up wasting time negotiating the best time. Do it now.  Then, schedule the third week in October to write your appraisals. Depending on how long, on average, this work takes, you could block a whole day—or two if you need it—to spend writing appraisals.  Getting it on your calendar means you are less likely to allow anything else to take that time away.  To deal with last year's appraisals, it's the same process. If you have not completed the one-to-ones, schedule those for next week. Make it a non-negotiable part of your week.  Then go into your calendar and block time out for writing the appraisals.  For things like this there's an element of intentionality. Things don't get done until you intentionally set aside time to do it and then get started.  Agin, this is two steps. First set aside time—that's the easy bit—then sit down and do it—that's the hard part.  Yet, as long as you begin, once you're in the flow and you know nothing else is coming up to tear you away from doing the work, you will get it done.  Clearing backlogs is one thing. Preventing backlogs from occurring is another.  Email is a good example, if you are not following the process every day, a backlog will occur. This is not something you can wish away. It doesn't go away. It's the same with Teams and Slack messages.  If you're getting a lot of notifications from these channels of communication, you're not going to get a lot done if you're responding to these messages moment they come in. It will exhaust you because of the constant cognitive load switching.  I find dealing with messages is best done between sessions of work.  Let me explain. We know about the sleep cycle—where you sleep in cycles of 90 minutes. Well, it turns out you are also awake in 90-minute cycles.  What this means is you can focus on a piece of work for around 90 minutes. After which your brain will tire, and you will need a distraction. That could be a toilet break, or the desire to get up and refresh your coffee or water.  This is your brain telling you that you need a break.  Now, if you use that to your advantage, you could schedule your focused work sessions around 90-minute blocks. For example, your first, and most important block, could be set for 9:30 to 11:00 am. Then you make sure you have a 30-minute gap before you allow anything else that requires a degree of focus.  In that thirty minutes, you could get up and go to the bathroom, refresh your water and deal with your messages. The longest anyone will be waiting for your response would be 90 minutes.  No demanding boss or client can complain at that. I know, I've dealt with some very bad, demanding bosses and clients in my time. They can be trained.  If you were to stick with these ideas and processes, I can promise you that you will get a lot more important work done, reduce your backlogs and feel a lot less exhausted at the end of the day.  You're in effect working with your brain instead of against it.  Preventing backlogs really comes down to how you structure your day. Most people are not doing that. They have no structure, so they are working on the latest and loudest thing. The problem is that the latest and loudest thing is often not the most important thing.  However, if you set aside time each day for dealing with your communications—say an hour and respect that time—and perhaps a further thirty minutes for dealing with your admin—another area that can become backlogged—you will prevent backlogs from happening.  If you run your day by the seat of your trousers, then, yes, you will have huge, growing backlogs. Responding to your email is rarely urgent, so it gets left behind on busy days. And that means you require double the amount of time tomorrow. And what happens if tomorrow is a busy day?  I hope that has helped, Wyatt. Thank you for your question and thank you to you too for listening. It just remains for me to wish you all a very very productive week.  

Send us a textTrav busts out his VR while Steve decides to dig into his backlog graveyard to resurrect some ol' unbeatens. Kergon is a terrorist.Congrats to Kerg, Brains, and Burgers.Games this episodeClair Obscur: Expedition 33 - (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S) - 4/24Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - April 17Nubby's Number FactoryThe Solitaire ConspiracyYakuza: Like a DragonGuacamelee Super Turbo Championship EditionFar Cry Blood DragonKiller FrequencyAttack on TitanPocketBike RacerBlue PrinceAry and the Secret of SeasonsMonster TaleGo! Go! KokopoloSplit FictionOctopath TravelerFind more shows at polymedianetwork.com, BlueSky: Trav, Steve, Polykill, Polymedia twitch.tv/blinkoom, Send us an email polykillpodcast@gmail.com, Check out our patreon at Patreon.com/polykill How to be a Polykiller: Beat a game, take a screenshot, post it on BlueSky or Polymedia Discord, use #justbeatit, write a review and be sure to include @Polykill. Beat the most, become Polykiller. Beat any, have your Skeet potentially read on the show! Check out the Bonus Beats episodes on Patreon for more beat-skeet coverage!

BONUS: Keeping Backlogs Lean With The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework with Kent McDonald In this BONUS episode, we explore the art of backlog management with product management expert Kent McDonald. As someone with decades of experience in software product development, Kent shares practical strategies for keeping backlogs lean, meaningful, and focused on outcomes that truly matter. Learn how to escape the trap of bloated backlogs and implement a Now-Next-Later-Never approach that will transform your product management practice. The Problem with Bloated Backlogs "Some teams use backlogs as 'long term storage' devices." Product backlogs often become unwieldy and difficult to manage because teams view them as a permanent repository for every idea that comes along. Kent explains that this "storage mentality" is one of the primary reasons backlogs grow out of control. Another common mistake is diving in too early and splitting items before they're actually ready to be worked on, which multiplies the backlog size unnecessarily. These practices lead to confusion, lost focus, and ultimately decrease a team's ability to deliver value efficiently. The Now-Next-Later-Never Roadmap Framework "You want to group things together on roughly categories of when you will attack it." Kent walks us through the practical implementation of a Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap approach that keeps things manageable. This framework provides a simple but powerful way to organize initiatives based on their priority and timing. Instead of maintaining an endless list of requirements, teams can group work into these four buckets, making it easier to communicate priorities both internally and with stakeholders. Kent emphasizes that these roadmap items should be described in terms of outcomes rather than features, helping everyone stay focused on the value being delivered rather than specific implementations. For more on the origin of the Now-Next-Later roadmap practice, see this article by Janna Bastow. Making "Now" Work in Practice "We only split items in the 'now' column." When implementing the Now-Next-Later-Never approach, the "Now" column is where the magic happens. Kent advises: Only split items that are in the "Now" column into actionable tasks Express roadmap items in terms of outcomes or customer problems to solve Limit the number of items in the "Now" column to maintain focus List outcomes rather than detailed features to avoid having a large number of items Kent explains that the "Later" and "Never" columns serve an important purpose in setting expectations with stakeholders about what won't be worked on immediately or at all. Managing the Movement Between Roadmap Categories "Items can move back and forth, to facilitate expectation setting." The Now-Next-Later-Never roadmap isn't static. Kent provides practical advice on how to manage the flow of items between categories: Revisit the roadmap regularly, ideally monthly Consider reviewing the roadmap during sprint review sessions Use this format when communicating with stakeholders for clearer expectation setting Hold strong on the "Now" items to maintain focus and avoid constant reprioritization This approach creates a dynamic but controlled environment where priorities can evolve without creating chaos or confusion. Dealing with Backlog Bloat "Create a 'museum', a set of items you can look at, but don't look at every day." For teams struggling with already-bloated backlogs, Kent offers bold but effective advice: Create a "museum" for items you want to preserve but don't need to see daily Consider deleting your old backlog and starting fresh Begin by asking: "What are the main outcomes we're trying to achieve?" Focus on getting to a smaller set of bigger items, then sequence them appropriately These approaches help teams overcome the fear of "losing" work while refocusing on what truly matters. Maintaining a Lean Backlog "Backlog items don't age well." Kent's team maintains an impressively lean backlog of just 23 items across three brand websites. He shares the routines and guardrails that prevent backlog bloat from creeping back in: Create a filter to control what gets into the backlog in the first place Keep the Product Owner just slightly ahead of the development team Avoid the anti-pattern of trying to keep all developers busy all the time Remember that backlog items don't age well and lose relevance over time These practices ensure the team stays focused on delivering current value rather than managing an ever-growing list of aging requirements. About Kent McDonald With decades in software product development, Kent is a go-to expert in product management, and agile strategy. He is a seasoned consultant and author of three books on agility, he helps teams cut through clutter to focus on what truly matters. When not optimizing workflows, he's exploring National Parks (52/63) or grooving to some jazz tunes. You can link with Kent McDonald on LinkedIn, or follow Kent McDonaldn on Substack.