The document outlines the Business Story Method by Gerrard Consulting, which aims to enhance the delivery process by bridging communication gaps in project management, particularly between business and IT domains. It emphasizes the importance of structured requirements, traceability, and user involvement through workshops and prototypes to ensure clarity and accuracy in testing and development. The method promotes increased delivery success, reduced re-work, and improved confidence in project timelines by utilizing a consistent business language and collaborative approaches.

1. OverviewBusiness Story MethodGerrard Consulting LimitedPO Box 347MaidenheadBerkshireSL6 2GUTel: +44 (0) 1628 639173Fax: +44 (0) 1628 630398Web: gerrardconsulting.comAssuranceImprovementOutsourcingSlide 1Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting

2. Key challengesIncreasing Delivery SuccessReducing the Cost of Re-WorkIncreasing Confidence in TimelinesIntelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 2

3. The delivery process Business DomainTrainingBusiness GoalsAcceptanceAcceptance TestsRequirementsIT DomainTestSpecifyA mystery to the Business - waterfall, agile or somewhere in between?BuildDesignDevelopment ProcessCommunications hot spotsIntelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 3

4. Business DomainThe delivery process TrainingBusiness GoalsAcceptanceAcceptance TestsRequirementsExtended Timeline? - Some re-work inevitable as change is constantIT DomainTestSpecifyBuildDesignDevelopment ProcessIntelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 4

5. Story Management challenge in Agile Requirements are captured as stories, implemented into development “sprints” Test Driven development (TDD) essentially documents the requirements as unit testsBut, many “agile” teams don’t use TDD and throw stories away, so where is the traceability and documentation?Many teams don’t have sufficient user involvement to drive the stories through to representative developmentTypically, there is no record of how decisions were madeSlide 5Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingExisting tools don’t help with these management challenges

6. Range of development approachesMost projects fit somewhere in betweenWaterfallAgileWhere Stories Are MeaningfulStories have universal value as examples of features in use; regardless of the development approach

7. Stories won’t work where they are regarded as ‘throwaway’ in Agile projects (or anywhere)Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 6

8. Bridging the Communications Gap We take your requirements; expand into Stories (identify features); and illustrate by Scenarios (real life examples)We bring these to life via workshop prototyping sessions which ensures the requirements are complete and that the scenarios are fully representative and are signed offThe Scenarios become test scripts to determine that the requirements have been metThe test scripts will last the life of the system, not just one projectDelivered via our structured Business Story Method supported by our hosted service Business Story ManagerIntelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 7

9. Story Management for Agile Same structured English language for Stories and ScenariosManages which Stories/Scenarios are included within each SprintSupported by our hosted service MaelscrumIntelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance© 2010 Gerrard ConsultingSlide 8

10. Business Story Method - OverviewExecutionPlanningAnalysisTest the RequirementsRefineRequirementsCollate RequirementsProcesses, Stories, ScenariosProcedures from ScenariosTest DetailingExecution ManagementDictionary of business terms and data items

11. Approved Business Stories

12. Approved Acceptance Criteria

13. Approved Stories and Scenarios

14. Procedures map to business processes

15. Assured process and feature coverage

16. Test data requirements

17. Test scripts from procedures

18. Test schedule