breaking down stories - concept to sprint ready

MAY2011

©PlayUp Interactive EntertainmentBreaking Down Stories Concept to Sprint Ready

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PlayUPSocial games and live sport

Breaking Down Stories

Concept to Sprint Ready

Reginald de Silva

MAY2011


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What is a Story?

A Story describes a particular user feature or function in a manner that business representatives and technical team members can understand.

Stories:• Describe features or functionality that is testable and has business value • Express requirements in simple terms and can be estimated, measured and tracked• Communicates between all parties• Not too small• Not too big – i.e. can be completed within one sprint• May also be non-functional• Are used by the entire project team including business Subject Matter Experts

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Story Attributes

The acronym "INVEST" can remind you that good stories are:I - Independent N - NegotiableV – Valuable (can also mean Vertical) E - Estimable (or Estimatable)S - Small T – Testable

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Why are Stories important?

• Communication• Planning - short and long• Seeing the “Big Picture” with some granularity

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The 3 C’s

Stories are more than words...

• Card – story text• Conversation – discuss the details• Confirmation – record acceptance tests

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User Roles

• Broaden the scope from looking at one user• Allows users to vary by:

What they use the software for How they use the software Background Familiarity with the software / computers

• Used extensively in usage-centred design

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Why Story index cards?

• You can’t fit much text onto an index card! • Tactile qualities get everyone involved

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Story Cards

Story cards are used for:• Sprint planning• Estimation sessions• Product or Project Backlog and Sprint story card wall

Cards might include:• Story ID• Story Title• Estimate• Business priority

User creates a new customer record

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Story-01

M

User creates a customer record

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Story-02

M

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Story Conventions

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A process that I like to follow to help articulate scenarios...

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Backlog

• Each project will have a backlog – a prioritised and estimated list of remaining work (story cards) to be done

• Over the course of the project, the backlog is re-prioritised so that the team always works on the most valuable feature next

• Stories can also be added and removed from the backlog

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A process that I like to follow to help build the Backlog...

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Another process that I like to follow to help build the Backlog...

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... And another process that I like to follow to help build the Backlog...

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... And another process that I like to follow to help build the Backlog...

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Story format and content that I like...• Story name is the business narrative

• Scenarios are used to describe key behaviours and business value

• Scenarios are used for acceptance

• Files such as UI mock ups, UI prototypes and spreadsheets are attached

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Story Example

• A Story describes a valuable feature in a manner that both business and IT team members can understand.

• Stories are written in clear, concise acceptance criteria scenarios and focus on business value!

As a sales assistantI want to create a new customer record So that I can invoice the customer and contact them as required

Scenario 1: New customer record created

Given the sales assistant is logged in to the customer databaseAnd has selected to create a new record

When the create a customer record form is displayed

Then the sales assistant can enter the customers first nameAnd can enter the customers surnameAnd can enter the customers contact phone numberAnd can enter the customers mailing address And can enter the customers email addressAnd can save the record

Social games and live sportReady for Sprint In Development In Testing Done

User creates a customer record

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Story-1

User views a customer record

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Story-2

User edits a customer record

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Story-3

User deletes a customer record

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Story-4

Provides visibility of sprint progressProvides visibility of sprint progress Stories move across the wall from left to rightStories move across the wall from left to right

Story Card Wall

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Story estimation

Story complexity and effort is estimated using “Story points” Relative estimation using a scale such as:• Fibonacci - 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8• 1, 2, 4, 8, 16• 1, 2, 3• T-shirt sizes – S, M, L, XL• etc.

Estimation is team based...• Team discusses requirements for each story• Developers and Testers provide an individual points estimate for each story• Estimates are discussed until team consensus is reached

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Velocity

The team’s throughput for an iteration is called its ‘Velocity’.

A team’s velocity takes into account what has been achieved previously, team size, experience levels and planned leave.

Velocity is usually measured using burn-up/burn-down charts:

Sprint Sprint

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Sprint planning

At the beginning of each sprint, the team plans for the next sprint:• Team discusses planned velocity (throughput)• Business representatives advise on priority • IT team members advise on technical risk• Team agrees on stories to be delivered

breaking down stories - concept to sprint ready

Technology

playup social games

live sport story example

live sport story format

live sport story attributes

live sport story conventions

live sport backlog

live sport velocity

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