Briefle words · Product & specs
Blocker
An unresolved issue, often outside the team's control, that stops work from moving forward until someone acts.
Say it to an AI
Build a two-sprint backlog for these five stories with a Notes column that calls out every dependency and blocker: which story it needs first, plus any other team, vendor or approval, with owner and date. Sequence the sprints so nothing is scheduled before what it depends on.
How an expert would brief the stronger version of “Rental marketplace backlog”.
See it
Try it as a puzzle →A peer-to-peer camera gear rental marketplace plans five stories across its next two sprints.
Why: A names the Payments team's PAY-311 webhook, the ID vendor's API keys and Legal's sign-off, each with an owner or date.
More ways experts use it
Add an Open questions table to the free-cancellation spec: each question gets a named owner and a needed-by date, and mark which ones are blockers for engineering. Don't leave any question unassigned.
Cancellation spec: open questions · Product & specs
Related words
Room 3 · User stories
Learn “Blocker” in a five-minute lesson