Deborah Bolles posed the question Are you using any type of tools for managing your product backlog and I posted this response.

This is a question that comes up regularly on forums and within organisations and the answer is usually quite varied as in this case - presumably because everyone has their own requirements, experience and preference for these tools.

Therefore the context is key - but what ever the context its worth bearing in mind the Agile Manifesto and in particular the statement "Individuals and interactions over processes and tools". This reminds us that the role of people within the team and the way they work together and communicate should hold our attention foremost. By supplying tools and processes be sure that it helps the team rather than giving them extra tasks or obstructing their progress.

What I have found is that for a team who are located in the same room – tools only hinder the work effort. In distributed team situations – I’m still quite confident that tools should not necessarily be required in the long run. So I would concede that they are useful in the initial stages while the teams strive to acclimatise to the challenges of being far apart – but I believe there should be a program of maturity that involves the gradual reduction of dependency upon those tools as the teams become more efficient over time.

In addition to the above I would also point out that the product backlog isn't much more than a list - and is only going to be as complicated as you make it. I'm in the process of developing a tool that is balanced against the Agile Manifesto's edict and you can try it out and use it for free at CardConversationConfirmation.com.