User stories are one of the most visible artefacts of most agile methods and, as such, have generated large quantities of expert advice. In my experience, much of that advice is open to misinterpretation. In this session, we'll explore several classic pieces of advice, to see how misunderstandings can cause problems, despite the best intentions. The examples we'll look at are: - an acronym: INVEST, created by Bill Wake - a technique: relative estimation using story points, created by Ron Jeffries or Joseph Pelrine - a template: Connextra (As-A/I-Want/So-That), created by Rachel Davies Expert advice taken in good faith, that leads to bad outcomes, can cause us to become distrustful. It's time to reiterate that there is no magic formula, no silver bullet. At best, experts can lend you a framework within which to think, but their advice will never make thinking unnecessary.

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Seb Rose
User stories:
from good intentions to
bad advice

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Agenda
Good intentions
Examples:
•Template
•Acronym
•Technique
Bad outcomes
Q & A

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“Experts” have good intentions

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“Experts” have good intentions
Do we need experts?

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“Experts” have good intentions
Do we need experts?
Which experts do we trust?

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“Experts” have good intentions
Do we need experts?
Which experts do we trust?
How do we want expertise delivered?

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As a <role>
I want <goal/desire>
So that <benefit>
Template - Connextra

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Placeholder for a conversation

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Discussion

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Discussion
What’s the connection between user
stories and the Connextra template?

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Discussion
What’s the connection between user
stories and the Connextra template?

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Discussion
What’s the connection between user
stories and the Connextra template?
What challenges have you
experienced using the Connextra
template?

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“That’s not a real user story …”

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“That’s not a real user story …”
Too technical

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“That’s not a real user story …”
Too technical
Not shippable

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“That’s not a real user story …”
Too technical
Not shippable
Wrong format

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Confetti party

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Confetti party

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Confetti party
User stories are
NOT
requirements

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Confetti party
User stories are
NOT
requirementsUser stories areEPHEMERAL

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This template has
let us forget why
user stories were
invented

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Acronym

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Acronym

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I N V E S T
Acronym

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Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimatable
Small
Testable
I
N
V
E
S
T
Discussion

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Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimatable
Small
Testable
I
N
V
E
S
T
Discussion

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Interpretation
Independent
Valuable
and
Let’s try to define

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IndependentI
N
V
E
S
T

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Independent
Dependent

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Valuable
I
N
V
E
S
T

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What is value?

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Minimum marketable feature (MMF)?
What is value?

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Minimum marketable feature (MMF)?
What is value?
Potentially shippable increment?

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Minimum marketable feature (MMF)?
What is value?
Potentially shippable increment?
Demonstrable functionality?

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Minimum marketable feature (MMF)?
What is value?
Potentially shippable increment?
Demonstrable functionality?
How might these interact with
“Small”???

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Value is …

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anything that:
Value is …

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anything that:
Value is …
- increases knowledge

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anything that:
Value is …
- increases knowledge
- decreases risk

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anything that:
Value is …
- increases knowledge
- decreases risk
- generates useful feedback

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This acronym
leaves plenty of
room for
misinterpretation

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Technique -
story points

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- Have no units
- Are relative
- Are team specific
- Estimated by people doing the work
Story points - refresher

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Story points are relative

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120 cm
40 cm60 cm
100 cm
70 cm

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... these studies which have for a few years now
given rise to the claim that "research shows that
people are better at relative than absolute
estimation" do not in fact seem to square with
that claim.
http://guide.agilealliance.org/guide/relative.html

48. @sebrose http://smartbear.com
... these studies which have for a few years now
given rise to the claim that "research shows that
people are better at relative than absolute
estimation" do not in fact seem to square with
that claim.
This doesn't entail that relative estimation doesn't
work - only that it is not proven.
http://guide.agilealliance.org/guide/relative.html

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12 cm
4 cm
6 cm
10 cm
7 cm

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Is it small,
or just far away?

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This technique
continues to cause
massive
dysfunction

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Story points - apology

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I certainly deplore their misuse;
I think using them to predict “when we’ll be
done” is at best a weak idea;
I think tracking how actuals compare with
estimates is at best wasteful;
I think comparing teams on quality of
estimates or velocity is harmful.
Ron Jeffries
https://ronjeffries.com/articles/019-01ff/story-points/Index.html
Story points - apology

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https://estimation.lunarlogic.io/assets/cards-range-8fc41b2e3fd282125f4602a712020204.png
https://estimation.lunarlogic.io/

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Bad outcomes

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Bad outcomes
That doesn’t work here!

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No silver bullet
Not only are there no silver bullets
now in view, the very nature of
software makes it unlikely that there
will be any.
Frederick P. Brooks
"No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering,"
Computer, Vol. 20, No. 4 (April 1987) pp. 10-19

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Examples revisited

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Examples revisited

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Examples revisited

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Examples revisited

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Patterns can help us filter
•Name
•Problem
•Context
•Forces
•Solution
•Resulting Context
•Known Uses
•Related Patterns
•http://wiki.c2.com/?CanonicalForm

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Patterns can help us filter
•Name
•Problem
•Context
•Forces
•Solution
•Resulting Context
•Known Uses
•Related Patterns
•http://wiki.c2.com/?CanonicalForm
•Context
•Forces

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Takeaways

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Takeaways
Always consider
your context

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Takeaways
Concrete advice
is often
ambiguousAlways consider
your context

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Takeaways
Concrete advice
is often
ambiguousAlways consider
your context
Bad outcomes
don’t mean the
advice was bad

69. Seb Rose
Twitter: @sebrose
Blog: http:/cucumber.io/blog
E-mail: seb@smartbear.com http://bddbooks.com