Aspe improved user_story_writing_techniques_ppt

Hands-On to Better

Agile Requirements

Introduction and Agenda

‣  Steve Davis, Davisbase Consulting

‣  11 years of Agile Experience

‣  5 years of Agile Training and Coaching Experience

‣  Work with teams from many industries

‣  Agenda

‣  What are User Stories?

‣  Why User Stories are used?

‣  The components of a good User Story

‣  Wrap up and Q&A

Copyright 2012 Davisbase Consulting LLC. Distribution without express permission is forbidden

What Are User Stories?

•  User Story

•  Avery high-level deﬁnition of a requirement, containing just
enough information so that the developers can produce a
reasonable estimate of the effort to implement it (Kent
Beck)

•  A promise for a discussion

•  Usually stated in this format:

•  As a <user role> I want <functionality> so that
desired beneﬁt


User Story Example

As a patient, I want to access
test results online, so that I A small piece of business
can get them at my value that can be delivered
convenience without calling
my doctor. in an iteration

•  Ron Jeffries defines user stories as consisting of three parts:

•  Card: The description of the need

•  Conversation: The conversation to follow that will cover the details

•  Confirmation: The tests that confirm the story s satisfactory completion


Agile Requirements
Focus on the Customer - User Stories

•  Agilerequirements are written
As an instructor,
from a customer s perspective, in I want to post my presentation
plain language to minimize the online
so that I do not need to send it.
barrier to customer involvement.

•  Understandingthe why can be as
important as the what.

As a patient,
I want to access test results
online,
•  Information gems exist in knowing so that I can get them at my
why our customers want what convenience without calling my
doctor.
they ask for.


Agile Requirements

Who

As an instructor,
I want to post my presentation
What

online
so that I do not need to send
it.
Why

Who

As a patient,
I want to access test results
What

online,
so that I can get them at my
convenience without calling
Why

my doctor.


Agile Requirements

Traditional Requirements!
Agile Requirements!
(no “why” included)!

As an instructor,
I want to post my presentation
Ability for user to post a
online
presentation online.
so that I do not need to send
it.


Why User Stories?

•  User
Stories allow the team to capture the requested features
without investing long periods of time deﬁning details that may
change during development.

•  Userstories are not meant to represent all of the information
the team will need in order to develop the feature.

•  Theyare simply placeholders for a future conversation where
the team will deﬁne the deep detail necessary to develop the
feature.


LEAN

Continuous, Just In Time
PRINCIPLE

Requirements Elaboration
Parts Warehouse

Manufacturing

!
Shock Absorber

Need new

Shock

?
Absorber

X 1,000,000’s

NEW Shock Absorber

X Just what we
Just In Time Inventory Meant:

need right now

Best Available Parts | No Risk of Waste


User Stories Are Created at the
Beginning of an Agile Project

PRODUCT BACKLOG

All User High-level requirements that will require additional detail for development

Stories

User stories are estimated and prioritized to drive a release plan

Example: Product will need user stories A - O completed before releasing


Additional Detail Is Gathered,
But Only Right Before Its Needed

PRODUCT BACKLOG

All User High-level requirements that will require additional detail for development

Stories

User stories are estimated and prioritized to drive a release plan

Example: Product will need user stories A - O completed before releasing

ITERATION 1

ITERATION 2

ITERATION 3

ITERATION 4

ITERATION 5

Story A Story D Story H Story J Story M
DETAILED REQS

DETAILED REQS

DETAILED REQS

DETAILED REQS

DETAILED REQS

Story B Story E Story I Story K Story N
Story C Story F Story L Story O
Story G

A, B, C

D, E, F, G

H, I

J, K, L

M, N, O


What are the components
of a good user story?

•  INVEST acronym (Bill Wake)

•  Independent

•  Negotiable

•  Valuable

•  Estimable

•  Sized appropriately

•  Testable


UserINVEST
Stories

As a patient, I want to access test
results online, so that I can get
Independent
them at my convenience without
calling my doctor.
• Avoid dependencies with other
stories whenever possible
• Ableto deliver as a product
increment independently
As a patient, I want to login to my
online account so that I can see
my account information securely.


UserINVEST
Stories

As a patient, I want to access test
results online, so that I can get
them at my convenience without
Negotiable
calling my doctor. • Storiesare NOT a contract,
break them up or add additional
stories or information if necessary
• Too much detail up front gives
As a patient, I want to
access all past test results online, the impression that more
so that I can get them at my discussion later is not necessary
convenience without calling my
doctor.


UserINVEST
Stories

Valuable
• Should show value to:
•  Users
•  Customers
•  Stakeholders
• Theagile team needs to maintain awareness of the
subjective nature of value


UserINVEST
Stories

Estimable

•  Enough detail to allow the team to estimate, at a high-
level, the size of work to deliver story

•  Challenges estimating if...

•  The story is too big

•  There is insufﬁcient information about the story

•  We lack of domain knowledge


UserINVEST
Stories

Small
• Small enough to be completed in a

TIME
single iteration if possible
• Small for the near future
• Larger stories are okay further out
(Epics)


UserINVEST
Stories

As a retiree, I want to see a
Testable
summary of my investment accounts
on one screen so that I can decide
• Acceptancecriteria stated in where to focus my attention
customer terms
• Automate whenever possible
• We want to know up front - what
will it take for this to be accepted?
•  All investment accounts linked to
the user profileAccount number,
name, total value today displayed


What to Watch Out For

•  Mike Cohn s Catalog of Story Smells

•  Stories that are too small

•  Stories too big....too many being split later

•  Interdependent stories

•  Goldplating

•  Too much detail

•  Interface detail too soon

•  Thinking too far ahead

•  Lack of customer participation, writing and prioritizing


Epics

•  Epicsare User Stories that cannot be completed in a single
iteration.

•  The
larger the User Story, the more unknowns exist and the
more difﬁcult it is for a team to accurately estimate.

•  When epics are discovered, teams should work to break the
User Story down to it s smaller components which are then
estimated.


Breaking Down Epics

•  Breaking down this epic...

As a student, I want to setup a
product wish list so that my
family can buy me the things
that I want.

•  What are some of the ways we could break this down?

Ability to add or remove items Ability to limit access to

s??
selected family members

Ot
Ability to change quantities
her Automatically remove items that
Ability to select occasion for gift have been purchased

Other Kinds of User Stories

•  Systems Stories, Foundational Stories

As the store product
inventory database, I
want hourly updates to
ensure the online store
only displays products in
inventory


Other Kinds of User Stories: Spikes

SPIKE: As a developer, I want to
research product recommendation
algorithm’s so that we can
intelligently recommend products
based on past purchases.

Spikes do not result in end-user demonstrable
software, therefore every Spike should include
acceptance criteria.


Other Kinds of User Stories

•  Constraints[Not truly a user story, should not be sized or
prioritized and should be documented outside of the product
backlog]

As a customer, I want to the
system to offer access from
smart phones so that I don’t
have to be at a computer to
order.

‣  Other types of constraints: performance, design, security,
data handling, and platform.


Things to Remember...

•  Write stories that are demonstrable at the end of the iteration

•  Decompose larger stories to reduce risk

•  Ensurethat you have your product owner s participation in
writing and prioritizing your user stories

•  Captureand document spikes, constraints, and system stories
as you discover them


Your Call To Action

‣  Find experts that can point you
in the right direction if you need
help or guidance. Get training if
you need it.

‣  Share what you learn about the
approach with those teams
around you.

‣  It takes time to get good at
anything, Agile is no exception,
but the rewards are well worth
the effort.


Your Questions, My Answers
Note: For those questions we do not have time to answer during the webinar,
I will be providing a written response.


Aspe improved user_story_writing_techniques_ppt

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (9)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (15)

Similar to Aspe improved user_story_writing_techniques_ppt

Similar to Aspe improved user_story_writing_techniques_ppt (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Aspe improved user_story_writing_techniques_ppt