Proverbs
Scope the backlog
Bound each ask, park the rest by name, and label the expensive work as expensive.
The first law is a portfolio skill for stewards: the backlog is where unbounded asks go to breed. Every item gets edges: what done looks like, what is explicitly out, and, crucially, what it costs. The expensive item is not the enemy; the unlabeled expensive item is, because it hides among the cheap ones until someone innocently pulls it and loses a month.
Parking is a first-class verb. Work that is real but not now gets named, labeled with why it waits and what it costs, and set down where it can be found. That is different from deleting it and different from letting it haunt the active list. A backlog you can trust is one where everything visible is intended.
How to practice it
Edges on every item.
Done-looks-like and out-of-scope, written on the ticket. Unbounded items breed surprise work.
Price before you queue.
A rough cost label changes every prioritization that follows. Expensive-and-unlabeled is how months vanish.
Park by name.
Deferred work gets an explicit shelf: what it is, why it waits, what it will cost. Haunting is not a status.
Cut scope out loud.
When the plan shrinks, say what was dropped and why. Silent scope cuts resurface as expectations.