Standing service issue-backlog-kept-groomed-monthly · revised 12 October 2026
Standing service
Keep your issue backlog groomed each month, with proposals only
Each month new and untouched issues are sorted into keep, possible duplicate, needs information or proposed stale. Duplicates are linked, questions drafted, and nothing is closed for you.
This starts a conversation by email. Nothing is charged, and nothing is read or run, until we have agreed scope, access and terms with you in writing.
The responsibility you hand over
A backlog sorted once starts to rot at once: new duplicates arrive, requests wait for details nobody asked for, and old issues go quiet. Automatic stale bots close issues on a timer, which can damage trust and discard context.
Who it’s for: A team that has sorted its backlog once and does not want it to rot again.
Usually starts when: The sorted backlog is growing stale again, or new duplicates keep appearing.
The result: Each month, issues created or untouched for the agreed number of days are sorted into the same four states, duplicates are linked, questions are drafted and a summary shows backlog size by state. We propose; you decide and close.
What stays true, and what we do about it
No response-time guarantee is published for this new service. A target for sending each month's sheet is agreed in writing before it starts.
The service runs once a month after the month closes. It is not a pager and has no round-the-clock cover.
What must remain true
- Every issue in the monthly window has exactly one state and the evidence for it, checked by script
- No issue is closed, edited or commented on by us
What we watch
- A read-only export of issues created or untouched in the window
- Your stale rule and label list
When something happens
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| When | What we do |
|---|---|
| A month closes. | We send the sheet, the duplicates view, the closure batch and the summary. |
| The backlog has never been sorted. | We offer the one-off sweep to set the first states. Linked job: Sort my issue backlog once |
| Proposals have gone unanswered for a month. | We say so in the summary and send fewer proposals until someone answers. |
We do on our own
- Read the export and assign states
- Link duplicates and draft questions
- Prepare the closure batch for your approval
We ask you first
- Any change to the stale rule or the states
- Wider access to the tracker
- Anything that writes to the tracker
We escalate to you when
- Proposals go unanswered two months running
- An issue holds what looks like personal data or a secret
- The backlog shrinks only because items are closed without review
How you know it held. Each month the sheet counts issues by state, and the count matches the export row count; your reviewer re-checks 20 rows chosen by script.
How we keep it true
This service is never finished. Each month's summary shows whether what it watches stayed true, and it continues until you end it.
Sort your issue backlog once, without closing anything you want to keep Job Optional
Every issue in scope ends in one recorded state: keep, possible duplicate, needs information or proposed stale. Nothing is closed without your sign-off, and you get a reopen list.
Bought separately, once
The one-off sweep that sorts the whole backlog and sets the first states.
What is included, and what is not
- The monthly sheet
- The closure batch and reopen list
- A one-page summary of backlog size and age by state
Included
- One tracker and up to 150 issues a month, from a read-only export
- One state per issue in the window, with evidence
- Duplicates linked with both texts, and one drafted question per needs-information issue
- A summary of backlog size and age by state, and a closure batch for you to approve
Not included
- Closing, editing or commenting on issues
- Customer tickets with personal data
- Prioritising or estimating issues
- Fixing issues
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
Each month every issue in the window has one state and an evidence field, with no row missing.
Evidence: The script count of export rows against sheet rows.
The backlog age and size figures in the summary match the tracker's own counts for the same date.
Evidence: The summary and your own tracker counts.
Your reviewer checks 20 rows chosen by script with a fixed seed, 5 from each state where the sheet has that many, and agrees on at least 18 of the 20 (the true rate is then at least 71% with 95% confidence, for rows like these). A proposed-stale row for an issue with activity inside your stale window, or a duplicate row whose two issues are about different problems, fails the whole check.
Evidence: The 20 rows, the seed and your reviewer's verdicts.
Nothing was closed, edited or commented on in your tracker by us.
Evidence: Your tracker's own activity log.
Sign-off. You read each sheet and tell us whether the rule and states still suit you. A month counts as delivered when you have received the sheet and the summary.
If it fails. If the export is missing or changed shape we say so and do not guess. If the service is not working for you, you can end it at the end of any month.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- One tracker that can export issues with dates and comment history
- No customer personal data, or a written agreement we can contract for
- A named person who reviews the monthly sample
- A first sweep done, by us or by you, so the states are agreed
We stop and tell you if
- Proposals go unanswered two months running
- The export loses dates or comment history
- Issues start to hold customer personal data we cannot contract for
What could go wrong
The service reads exports and reports. Nothing changes in your tracker unless you close issues from a batch, and the reopen list undoes that. Ending the service changes nothing.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Proposals pile up unanswered and the sheet becomes noise. | The service sends fewer proposals while the last batch is unanswered, and stops after two months. |
| A false duplicate link hides a real issue. | Duplicates are possible matches with both texts shown, and a person decides. |
| Instructions hidden in issue text steer the model. | Ticket and issue text is analysed offline: the model gets the text and returns rows a script validates, with no tools, no network and no secrets, so a hidden instruction cannot run a command or send data. It could still skew a row, so a script validates every row and your reviewer re-checks a sample. |
A separate automated reviewer checks the work before hand-over. A named person on your side reviews a sample each month and decides every closure. No human supervisor is included unless your agreement names one, and at launch the work is largely automated.
Questions
Will you close old issues?
No. We propose a batch and you close it. A reopen list undoes it.
Do I need the one-off sweep first?
Yes, or a first sort you did yourself, so the states are agreed. The sweep is offered separately.
Does this change our tracker?
No. We read a monthly export and never receive write access.
Also part of
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The tracker and how many issues are created a month
- Your stale rule in days
- No issue text, customer data or logins in the first enquiry
Later, once you agree
- A monthly read-only export with personal data removed
- Your stale rule and label list
- The name of the person who reviews the sample
You keep the tracker and decide every closure; we never get write access and work from a read-only monthly export. Our automated agents read the files you send in a sandbox; we make no "no training" or "no storage" promise here, and the agreement names the model provider, country, retention and training status before anything is shared. The model gets the issue text and returns rows with no tools, no network and no secrets, so a hidden instruction cannot run a command or send data; it could still skew a row, so a script validates every row and your reviewer re-checks a sample.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “issue-backlog-kept-groomed-monthly” as the subject.