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Vertical Story Slicing Takes the Cake!
- 1. Presented by: Kim Poremski presents: Vertical Story Slicing Takes the Cake!
- 2. About Kim Poremski Celebrating 10 years of Agility!
- 3. Sound Familiar? Too big Carryover to next sprint Incomplete, dependent stories Equally important What’s the difference? Changing sprint cadence Too technical
- 4. INVEST in Good Stories
- 5. Advantages of INVEST Confusion and miscommunication Bottlenecks Unusable fragments of code Carryover to subsequent sprints (DoD) Multiple, innovative options Simplicity Full team ownership Shared understanding Story readiness Fast delivery of shippable increments Consistency and predictability MORALE! From delivery of specs to delivery of VALUE From solutions to goals
- 6. What is Vertical Story Slicing?
- 7. Story Slicing Patterns Workflow steps Simple/Complex Business Rule Variations Major effort Operations (CRUD) Variations in Data Variations in Interfaces/Platforms/Roles Defer System Qualities Happy vs. Unhappy Path, Use Cases/Scenarios
- 8. Slice by Workflow Steps Split features or stories into steps Add to cart Enter billing address Enter shipping address Enter payment information Review Order Process Order Tips: Start with beginning and end of workflow where the value is realized then enhance with middle steps Take a thin slice through the whole workflow
- 9. Slice by Simple/Complex Functionality Ship to a single address Ship to multiple locations
- 10. Slice by Business Rule Variations Process transactions in states that don’t collect sales tax Process transactions in states that do collect sales tax
- 11. Slice by Major Effort Create separate stories for each major piece of functionality focusing on the one that requires the most effort Add items to Shopping Cart Add Items to Wishlist Compare Similar Products
- 12. Slice by Operations Add item to cart View cart Update item in cart Remove item from cart
- 13. Slice by Variations in Data Show shipping dates for customers with membership Show shipping dates for customers without membership
- 14. Slice by Interfaces, Platforms, and Roles Mobile, tablet, PC IOS, Android Buyer/Seller; Requestor/Approver
- 15. Slice by System Qualities Performance Logging UI Browser compatibility Usability
- 16. Slice by Happy/Unhappy Paths, Use Cases, and Scenarios Pay with credit card Credit card expired Credit card declined Pay partial amount with credit card
- 17. Reduce, Reduce, Reduce! Can you simplify or reduce even further? Remember reducing fractions in grade school? No number, except 1, can be divided evenly into both the numerator and denominator 50/100 -> 25/50 -> 5/10 -> 1/2
- 18. But Wait, There’s More! Break out by workflow steps Enter billing address Enter shipping address Enter payment information Review Order Submit Order Break out by variations in data Billing address same as shipping address Billing address different than shipping address Break out by business rule variations Enter domestic billing address Enter international address or military base Break out by simple vs. complex Enter domestic billing address with no address validation Enter domestic billing address with basic address validation using zip code lookup table Enter domestic billing address that integrates with a 3rd party address validation service As a customer, I want to pay for my purchases online…
- 19. Story Slicing Clues Compound sentences UI as a guide Error handling Must haves/Nice to haves Technical voice
- 20. Story Slicing – Matching Game Instructions: For each statement below, write the letter that best describes the pattern to apply. • I want to create a quote for a customer on my laptop, my phone, or my iPad • I want to view a report of total dental claims for my employees by month and by year and I want to see the breakdown of routine dental claims vs. major restorative claims • I need to manage beneficiaries for my life insurance policy (hint: manage) • I want to run pre-defined reports and create ad-hoc reports • I want to automatically send files to a client and flag files that failed to send so the system can automatically retry sending them • In the new content management system, I need to create new templates, create content that I can save for later, publish content, and manage permissions for who sees content • The system will allow the user to initiate a new expense report, add expenses to the report, add receipts, and submit for approval • If the applicant is a smoker, the system should prompt to complete a tobacco addendum • The system needs to log all user events in transaction history A. Workflow steps B. Simple/Complex C. Business Rule Variations D. Major effort E. Operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) F. Variations in Data G. Variations in Interfaces/platforms/roles H. Defer System Qualities I. Happy vs. Unhappy Path
- 21. Story Slicing – Matching Game A. Workflow steps B. Simple/Complex A. Business Rule Variations B. Major effort C. Operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) D. Variations in Data E. Variations in Interfaces/platforms/roles F. Defer System Qualities G. Happy vs. Unhappy Path • I want to create a quote for a customer on my laptop, my phone, or my iPad • I want to view a report of total dental claims for my employees by month and by year and I want to see the breakdown of routine dental claims vs. major restorative claims • I need to manage beneficiaries for my life insurance policy (hint: manage) • I want to run pre-defined reports and create ad-hoc reports • I want to automatically send files to a client and flag files that failed to send so the system can automatically retry sending them • In the new content management system, I need to create new templates, create content that I can save for later, publish content, and manage permissions for who sees content • The system will allow the user to initiate a new expense report, add expenses to the report, add receipts, and submit for approval • If the applicant is a smoker, the system should prompt to complete a tobacco addendum • The system needs to log all user events in transaction history Instructions: For each statement below, write the letter that best describes the pattern to apply. G F E B I D A C H
- 22. Sources & Other Resources INVEST Criteria (Bill Wake) http://xp123.com/articles/invest-in-good-stories-and-smart-tasks/ The Hamburger Method (Gojko Adzic) https://gojko.net/2012/01/23/splitting-user-stories-the-hamburger-method/ Patterns for Splitting User Stories (Richard Lawrence) http://agileforall.com/patterns-for-splitting-user-stories/ Story Splitting Flowchart (Richard Lawrence) http://agileforall.com/new-story-splitting-resource Deeper Dive into Splitting Workflows (Richard Lawrence) https://agileforall.com/why-most-people-split-workflows-wrong/ 10 Useful Strategies for Breaking Down Stories (Christiaan Verwijs) http://blog.agilistic.nl/10-useful-strategies-for-breaking-down-large-user- stories-and-a-cheatsheet/
- 23. Delivering the right product, to the right market, at the right time, with the right process Expertise in helping organizations, teams, and individuals achieve their goals through: Software product management and collaborative road mapping Full lifecycle, Lean-Agile software development practices Organizational transformation and scaling Engaging certified and non-certified training workshops CSP Fast Pass: https://cspfastpass.com NEW! A-CSM, A-CSPO, CSP-SM, CSP-PO Broad ecosystem of partners and other experts spanning disciplines Skills transfer through coaching and mentoring About Applied Frameworks
Editor's Notes
- How many people have heard of VSS? How many Product Owners in the room? ScrumMasters? Dev Team members?
- Do any of these statements resonate with you and your team? “This story is too big to fit into a single sprint. Let’s complete development in this sprint and create a separate story to test in next sprint.” “We don’t have a set sprint cadence. Sometimes it’s 2 weeks, sometimes it’s 3 or 4 weeks depending on the size of the stories we have.” “We didn’t meet our sprint commitment (again). We need to carryover these stories to next sprint.” “I can’t complete story A because it’s dependent on functionality in story B to be finished.” “The Acceptance Criteria in Story A looks like the Acceptance Criteria in Story B! What’s the difference?” “I can’t prioritize these stories. They are all equally important.” “I can’t write requirements/accept/write test cases for this story/. It’s too technical.” To address these and similar issues, it’s important to remember the INVEST criteria.
- The INVEST acronym was intentionally invented by Bill Wake to assist teams in ensuring properly structured stories. Independent (vertically sliced, focused on the delta) Negotiable (statement of intent; enough info for the team to execute but fluid and flexible to account for new discoveries and innovation) Valuable (written in the voice of single Customer) Estimable (shared team understanding; not understood by a single engineer; full team must understand their role in completing the story) Small (fits within a single sprint, ideally shouldn’t take the full sprint) Testable (can be objectively validated; Product Owners shouldn’t accept stories on blind faith!)
- A vertical story slice is a cross-sectional slice through the layers that form the structure of the code base needed to provide a fully functional feature. The term “vertical” came from Bill Wake who used a layer cake analogy to describe a complex system. Vertical slicing is simple in theory but like Agile, difficult to master. Engineers tend to specialize in horizontal layers and they are accustomed to working in horizontal layers. Vertical slicing requires them to turn things on its head. Rarely do horizontal stories deliver value to the end customer. Entire Scrum teams need to understand vertical story slicing. Even skilled Product Owners accustomed to vertical story slicing, often meet with resistance from other Scrum team members who insist on making stories horizontal.
- Vertical story slicing is made simpler by applying known patterns.
- Workflow is an easy pattern to identify but the hardest pattern to employ because there are may ways to define what is valuable. An advanced approach to using the workflow pattern is taking a thin slice through the layers of the workflow, streamlining and eliminating steps to identify the quickest path to value. A beginner approach to using the workflow pattern is slicing by each workflow step, prioritizing each step, and focusing on splitting out by steps.
- Using this pattern, don’t tackle a more complex task until you have mastered an easier one.
- Business rules are an effective way to split stories. We may find we don’t need to enforce as many rules we thought. Start with less and add functionality as needed.
- With this approach, the functions are distinct but may leverage or build upon what is done for one. Don’t try to tackle everything at once. Pick one effort that will take the “hit” for the others that come after it and use those learnings to apply to subsequent efforts.
- CRUD functions (CREATE, READ, UPDATE, and DELETE) are a common way to define separate stories.
- Reports are an obvious way to employ the Variation in Data pattern. Look at the types of graphs being depicted, the columns in a table, and other views to distinguish patterns and add incremental value.
- Which interfaces, platforms, and roles are most needed/utilized? Create separate stories and prioritize accordingly using the discoveries to apply to subsequent stories.
- Creating separate stories for non-functional requirements does not diminish their importance, rather it allows teams to focus on early feedback, inspection and adaptation. There is no need to worry about optimizing performance if the goal is to simply complete a proof of concept for stakeholder feedback.
- Use cases can be translated into separate stories in the form of primary use cases (happy paths) and extended scenarios that often take the form of unhappy paths.
- Like fractions, stories can often be reduced by applying multiple patterns.
- Notice the multiple patterns applied in this example. In each case, scope was further limited by what is shown in red.
- Some common clues that vertical story slicing is likely needed: Compound sentences – look for “and”, “or”, “if” “then”, etc. Use the UI as a guide – could the tabs, buttons, sections of the screen, etc. represent valuable slices of functionality? Error handling – this is a straightforward approach that typically follows the happy/unhappy path pattern. Build functionality assuming that it will be used as designed, then layer on error handling, warning messages, etc. Must haves vs. nice to haves – not only should these be separate stories but will aid in backlog prioritization as well. Technical voice – if a story sounds too “technical”, there is a good chance it is horizontally sliced. What is the value that ultimately needs to be delivered? Rewrite the story in the voice of the customer and then apply patterns to slice the story.
- Match the patterns on the right to the sample requirements on the left. Write the appropriate letter in the blank.