©2009 improving enterprises, inc. improving user stories

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Improving User Stories

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Anita Shankar

Me

I love working for

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

You will learn:

• Tricks & Traps When Writing User Stories

• Characteristics of ‘bad’ user stories

• How To Make Sure ‘Big Things’ Don’t Get Missed

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Customer

Bad Good

User

Actor

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Program Actor

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Just the right size

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Demonstrable

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Quantifiable and Testable

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Value

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

For the business

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Communication

<Getting things done

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

User Story Sample

Format Example

As a < role >

I want to < do something >

So that < business value >

As an administrator

I want to deactivate an account

so that the account owner can no longer log in or receive email notifications

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Characteristics User Story

short narrative

small piece of functionality

business value

fosters collaboration and communication

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Characteristics of Bad User Stories

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We’ve already discussed these…

Vague ‘user’ rather than specific actor

Too big

Refers to development (or analysis, design and/or testing)

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Parroting

Example: I want to locate previous food order lists

so that I can see all the lists that I have.

Improvement: As a customer ordering food,

I want to see my saved food order lists

so that I can reuse the list for future orders, making ordering faster and more accurate.

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Excessive So That

Example: As a Manny’s food service customer

I need to save my list

so that later I can save a copy, print, or email the list for other uses.

Real (or additional) requirement hidden in So That

So That too complex

So That has multiple parts

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Improvement: As a Manny’s food service customer,

I need to save, copy, print, and email my list

so that I can edit it again, check a received shipment against a printed list, and send the list to a restaurant.

?

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Making sure you don’t miss something

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Personas

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Auditors, Accountants, and information consumers

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©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Outside Review

©2009 Improving Enterprises, Inc.

Thank You

Anita Shankar – anita.shankar@improvingenterprises.com