Claude Skill
The Backlog Keep-Check
One workflow from your product manager operating system. Paste your stale backlog and your strategy. Keep what plainly still matters, and get the rest ranked for your call.
Want the skill?
Install & use
Every stale item read against your written strategy. Only a confident keep is automatic; everything else comes back ranked, most likely to matter first. Nothing is ever deleted.
- 1
Download the file. Don't unzip it.
- 2
Open Claude Code and start a new session.
Install this skill for me. Then tell me, in plain English, what it does and what I should say to start using it. - 3
Drag the file straight into the message box.
- 4
Paste the line below, and press enter. Claude does the rest.
That is the whole install on Claude Code and Cowork. In a browser or the desktop app Claude can't reach your files, so use Settings, Customize, Skills, Add, Upload skill instead.
How it works
Pruning that never happens
Items from three strategies ago sit next to this quarter's work. Pruning them means reading each one against a strategy you hold in your head, so it keeps slipping.
This skill reads each item against the strategy you paste, keeps what plainly serves it, and ranks the rest for you. It never closes or deletes anything.
Use it
Four steps, every time.
- 1.Open a new chat.
- 2.Paste the backlog items and your strategy, including what you are not doing.
- 3.Type backlog keep-check and press enter.
- 4.Start at the top of Your call.
What comes back
From the made-up example in the download, with real output:
Kept automatically (5)
0.95 Create and send invoices from the mobile web app
Your call (25), most likely to matter first
0.89 Year-end export in the format accountants ask for
0.04 Payroll run for employeesOptional: bigger batches with Jev
With no key, the skill works in your Claude chat for up to about 150 rows. For thousands of rows, or a check you run every month, add your own OpenRouter key and the skill sends each row to Jev, a decision model from TypeSafe that answers with a probability instead of writing text.
Every row you run that way goes to OpenRouter and on to TypeSafe, on an endpoint marked alpha, with a proprietary model. In our test it cost about 2 to 3 US cents per 1,000 rows. The skill shows you the estimate and sends nothing until you say yes. Check your company's data policy before you send customer text.
Questions people ask
- What is The Backlog Keep-Check?
- The Backlog Keep-Check is a free Claude skill and one workflow of a product manager's operating system. It reads stale backlog items against the team's written strategy, keeps the items that plainly still serve it, and ranks the rest for the product manager to decide.
- Will it delete or close backlog items?
- No. It has no connection to your backlog tool and only keeping is automatic. A low score moves an item down your list. You decide what to close, in your own tool.
- Is my data sent anywhere?
- Not unless you add a key. With no key, the skill runs inside your own Claude conversation, under the same data settings as the rest of your Claude account. With your own OpenRouter key, every row you choose to run is sent to OpenRouter and on to TypeSafe, who run Jev, on an endpoint marked alpha with a proprietary model. The skill shows the row count and cost first and sends nothing until you agree. Check your company's policy before sending customer text.
- What does it cost?
- The skill is free. With no key there is nothing else to pay. With your own OpenRouter key you pay OpenRouter directly for Jev: in our test that came to about 2 to 3 US cents per 1,000 rows, more if your context is long. The skill prints an estimate before it sends anything.
- Is The Backlog Keep-Check free?
- Yes. The download asks for your name and email, and you also get the weekly Product System newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from at any time.