Need an example of a real backlog task or how elaborate must it be?

I'd like to know whether a task must be self contained.

Our tasks mostly contain a couple of sentences.

To understand what you are to do you should:

• Read the requirements document for several related back log items.


• Know how system currently works and understand how it differs from what is required.

In other words: newcomer or the person who was absent at the planning meeting will require a sufficient amount of time just to comprehend the task.

In addition such way of keeping backlog does not tell much about system evolution and looks more like a primitive contextually conditioned to-do list.