The document discusses best practices for writing compelling user stories in agile development, emphasizing the importance of clarity and communication among product managers, developers, and stakeholders. It highlights common challenges such as rejected stories and the need for alignment with product vision, outcomes, and acceptance criteria. Recommendations include breaking down epics into valuable, independent stories and ensuring collaboration across teams to improve story quality and effectiveness.

1. HOW TO WRITE COMPELLING
USER STORIES
BALAJI RAJAGOPALAN

3. As A PERSONA
I WANT DESIRE
SO THAT OUTCOME
JACK & JILL
WATER
QUENCH THIRST
NOT TO COME DOWN TUMBLING

4. Common User story NIGHTMARES
# Story rejected in Sprint Planning by Dev Team
# Product Managers get feedback - Developers are not very clear of the story
# Developers complain of seeking out to the Product Manager often during the
sprint to get clarity on the User Story
# Business Complains – I don’t see every sprint outcome giving value !
# Stories broken down in Planning !
# How do I know if the story is complete !
# AS Product Manager – How much should I Write

5. DO WE INVEST IN USER STORY ?
BUSINESS TEAMS
EVERYONE CONCERNED
CUSTOMER / END USER
DEVELOPMENT TEAMS
DEVELOPMENT TEAMS
AGILE TEAMS

6. Sweet spot

7. VIABILITYOBJECTIVE
Break the EPIC to stories
Stories that are valuable – from a outcome perspective – can the story deliver
an outcome
Are the stories independent enough to be deployed
Alignment to Product Vision
FOCUS
Use cases
Horizontal Slicing and not vertical
How do we measure ! - OKRs
WHO
Product Manager , Business Representatives, Evangelists
EPIC
US1 US2 US3 US4
DON’T MISS
Acceptance Criteria

8. DESIRABILITYOBJECTIVE
Prototypes
Interaction designs
Use cases and interactions
FOCUS
UX over UI
WHO
Product Manager , UX / Designers, Evangelists
EPIC
US1 US2 US3 US4
DON’T MISS
Adding those prototypes to the stories
IF possible get the High Fidelity prototypes tested with customers
US 6
US7
US 5

9. FEASIBILITYOBJECTIVE
How to build the solution
Breaking the story further for a sprint ready size
Enhancing the Acceptance criteria
FOCUS
Solution over the problem
WHO
Product Manager , Development Team
EPIC
US1 US2 US3 US4
DON’T MISS
NFRs
Security aspects
US 6
US7
US 5
US 8 US 9
US10 US11

10. ITERATE

11. S1 S2
Backlog Groom
S3 S4
Ready for
Build
In Refine To RefineIn Build
1. Groom stories that are a minimum of 2
sprints away from development
2. Never write stories in Silos
3. By the time the story gets to planning
it should have been reviewed /
Modified / Updated / Estimated by
Business teams, End Users, UX and
Development teams
4. How much to write :- Who needs them
User stories are not just meant for
dev teams
5. Should be referable in future
GOOD PRACTICES

12. THANK YOU