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Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler...

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Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler
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Page 1: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories

Roman Pichlerromanpichler.com@romanpichler

Page 2: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Contact details:

+44 (0) 7974 [email protected]@romanpichler

www.romanpichler.comwww.allthingsproductowner.com

Page 3: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Story  Time

• A  user  story  describes  func3onality  that  is  valuable  to  a  user  or  a    customer.  

• It  tells  a  story  about  how  someone  uses  the  product.

3©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 3

Page 4: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

A  Sample  User  Story

o I won’t fall asleep or play with my iPhone.

o By the end of the talk, I can correctly answer three question about the subject.

o The talk should be no longer than 45 min.

Acceptance Criteria

As a conference visitor,I want to attend a talk to acquire new knowledge.

4©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 4

Page 5: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Focus  on  the  User

• Describe  the  product  from  the  perspec3ve  of  your  target  users  and  customers

• Use  user  roles  in  your  stories

• You  may  find  it  helpful  to  do  some  lightweight  modeling

5©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 5

Page 6: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Engage  in  a  Conversa3on

• Use  stories  to  facilitate  a  dialogue  between  the  team  and  the  users,  the  customers  and  the  other  stakeholders

• A  story  is  not  a  specifica3on  but  captures  the  essence  of  a  conversa3on  about  the  features  of  a  product

• This  encourages  crea3vity

6©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 6

Page 7: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Story  Wri3ng  is  Teamwork

• Collaborate  to  discover  and  describe  your  user  stories

• Leverage  the  crea3vity  and  knowledge  of  the  team  and  the  stakeholders  

• Have  regular  product  backlog  grooming  workshop  to  jointly  refine  your  user  stories

7©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 7

Page 8: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Keep  it  Simple

• Use  language  that  is  easy  to  understand– Avoid  confusing  and  ambiguous  terms– Use  ac3ve  voice

• Focus  on  what’s  important,  and  leave  out    non-­‐essen3al  informa3on– Rewrite  your  stories  to  improve  them– Wri3ng  is  an  inherently  itera3ve  process

8©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 8

Page 9: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Progressively  Refine  your  Stories

As an enterprise user, I want to compose an email

Compose email

As an enterprise user, I want to state a subject

State Subject

As an enterprise user, I want to state one or more recipients

State Recipient

As an enterprise user, I want to set the importance

Set Importance

As an enterprise user, I want to enter a recipient

Enter Recipient

As an enterprise user, I want to select one or more recipients from my contact list

Select Recipient

9©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 9

Page 10: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Use  Acceptance  Criteria

• Add  acceptance  criteria  to  your  user  stories  as  you  break  epics  into  detailed  stories

• Acceptance  criteria  complement  the  story’s  narra3ve,  state  when  the  story  is  complete,  and  ensure  that  it  is  testable

• My  rule  of  thumb:  Detailed  stories  should  have  three  to  five  acceptance  criteria

10©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 10

Page 11: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Group  Stories  into  Themes

• Each  theme  represents  a  product  capability  or  a  goal;  it  groups  related  stories  

• Themes  have  several  benefits– It  is  easier  to  check  for  completeness  and  consistency

– We  can  first  priori3se  the  themes,  then  the  stories– Find  the  right  stories  is  easier

11©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 11

Page 12: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Use  Paper  Cards

• Paper  cards  facilitate  collabora3on:  Everyone  can  grab  a  card  and  write  down  an  idea

• They  can  be  easily  grouped  on  the  table  or  wall  to  check  for  consistency  and  completeness

• If  you  have  to  use  an  electronic  tool,  print  out  stories  on  cards  for  your  story  wri3ng  workshops;  transfer  the  new  informa3on  back  into  the  tool

12©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 12

Page 13: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Visualise  your  Stories

• Stories  want  to  communicate– Put  them  up  on  the  wall  so  that  everyone  can  see  them

– Don’t  hide  them  on  a  network  drive  or  in  the  corporate  intranet  jungle!

• If  you  are  short  of  wall  space– Ask  yourself  if  all  your  stories  are  really  necessary  to  create  a  successful  product

– Consider  displaying  only  the  high  priority  ones  

13©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 13

Page 14: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Some  Things  aren’t  Stories

• Use  prototypes  or  sketches  to  capture  user  interface  requirements

• Use  constraint  cards  to  describe  opera3onal  quali3es

The system must answer any request in less than one second

• 10 000 concurrent read and write transactions take place

• Each transaction has a data size of 500 KB

• The system configuration is “small enterprise “

Performance Constraint Acceptance Criteria

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Page 15: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

Famous  Last  Words

“Storytelling  reveals  meaning  without  commi5ng  the  error  of  defining  it.”

Hannah  Arendt

15©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 15

Page 16: Writing Great User Stories - Roman Pichler · Ten Tips for Writing Great User Stories Roman Pichler romanpichler.com @romanpichler

More  Informa3on

Cohn,  Mike.  2004.  User  Stories  Applied:  For  Agile  So@ware  Development.  Addison-­‐Wesley

Jeffries,  Ron.  2001.  EssenCal  XP:  Card  ConversaCon,  ConfirmaCon.  xprogramming.com/ar3cles/expcardconversa3onconfirma3on/

Pichler,  Roman.  2010.  Agile  Product  Management  with  Scrum.  Addison-­‐Wesley

Pichler,  Roman.  2010.  Wri3ng  Good  User  Stories.                                                        www.romanpichler.com/blog/user-­‐stories/wri3ng-­‐good-­‐user-­‐stories/

Wake,  Bill.  2003.  INVEST  in  Good  Stories,  and  SMART  Tasks.  www.xp123.com/xplor/xp0308/index.shtml

16©  2011  Pichler  Consul3ng  Limited 16


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