The Infinite Backlog Engine Is Always Producing

AI does not just generate code. It generates permission.

The cost of proposing has collapsed. The cost of deciding has not. A planning meeting that used to produce three hard choices now produces fourteen polished options, several with generated rationale and tradeoff analysis. The meeting feels productive because there is plenty to discuss. Everyone leaves with more material and no clearer answer about what the team should actually do next.

The backlog swells. The roadmap becomes a museum of almost-good-enough priorities. Generated plans earn their place the same way generated code does: by surviving contact with a human who is responsible for the outcome.