Agents of Agile was excited to have Raj Indugula, VP Technical Services Lithespeed present Be Ready, Be Done: The Art of Splitting User Stories

1. Be Ready, Be Done:
The Art of User Stories
raj.indugula@lithespeed.com
Raj Indugula

2. Your experience with slicing stories…
I’ve done it before
I understand the concepts,
but haven’t practiced much
It’s new to me
2

3. • Thinking in Stories
• Splitting Stories – Why
and How
• Q & A
3

4. Thinking
in Stories
1

5. What is a User Story?
Common to many agile methods Continue to be a point of
struggle
Light-weight expression of a user need focusing on user value
5

6. Popular User Story Format
Outlines a given user segment’s need and our value
proposition
As a …
I want to …
So that …
User Role, Persona (Who?)
Specifies the primary beneficiary,
others can also use.
Desired Function (What?)
End Result (Why?)
It’s merely a
thinking tool!
6

7. The 3 C’s of a User Story
Ron Jeffries
7

8. What
makes
a good
story?
INVEST
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
Bill Wake
8

9. Benefits
of small
stories
Discover what really needs to be
built
Validate assumptions quickly
Provide flexibility in planning
Reduce gold-plating
(some parts are not needed just
yet)
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10. Splitting
Stories
2

11. Planning with Stories: The Big Picture
Discussion
reminder
Adapted from ALM Summit3 - TechTalk
Goal /
Outcome
Big Rocks
Little
Rocks
11

12. For Horizontal Thinking…
Persistence
Domain Logic
User Interface

13. Slice Vertically
Database
Busin
ess
Logic
User
Interface
Database
13

14. StrategiesforSplitting
Stories 14

15. Useful when…
Initial story describes a
workflow or sequence of
steps
Key Questions
Can you take a thin slice
through the workflow first?
Can you do the beginning
and end of workflow first?
As a learner, I want to
register for a class
and pay for it using a
credit card so that I
am better informed
about Agile
As a learner I
can view
courses
As a customer
I can select the
course I want
to signup for
As a learner I
can review my
registration
As a learner I
can submit my
registration
15
Illustration inspired by Kent McDonald

16. Useful when…
Initial story encompasses
multiple operations (e.g.
“manage” or “configure”
something)
Key Questions
Can you split the
operations into separate
stories?
Are all these operations
necessary just yet?
As a training
provider, I want
to manage my
course offerings,
so that learners
can view them
…I can
upload my
course
catalog
…I can
add a
course
…I can edit
a course
…I can
delete a
course
16

17. Useful when…
Initial story impacts
multiple roles and the
impact is different for
each role
Key Questions
Can you identify the
various roles impacted?
Are all roles relevant right
now?
As a training
coordinator,
I want to
register a
learner for a
class
As a learner, I
want to register
for a course so
that…
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As a learner,
I want to
register for
a class

18. Useful when…
Initial story does
something to different
pieces of data
Key Questions
Can you split the story to
process one kind of data
first and enhance with
the other kinds later?
…view
course
name and
description
…view
course
agenda
view course
instructor
qualifications
As a learner, I
want to view
course
information, so
that...
18

19. Useful when…
Initial story has a simple
core functionality that
provides most of the
value
Key Questions
Could you split the story
to do that simple core
first and enhance it with
additional stories later?
As a learner, I want
to see my past
courses, so that…
…see all
my past
courses
…see
courses
completed
on a given
topic
…see
courses
completed
in the past 2
months
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20. Useful when…
There is significant effort
in doing the first story
even after applying
obvious split
Key Questions
Does it matter which one
we do first?
Can we group the other
stories, given the difficult
first story is done?
…pay with
one credit
card type
…pay with all
credit card
types (given
credit card
processing
functionality
is in place)
As a learner, I
want to pay for
my class with
Visa, American
Express, or
MasterCard, so
that…
20

21. Useful when…
Initial story is about
interacting with multiple
instances of something
Key Questions
Does working with
nothing or one thing make
it easier to get started?
Do we really need to deal
with multiple instances
right now?
As an online
shopper, I want to
delete items from
the shopping cart,
so that…
…delete
one item
at a time
…delete
collection
of items
from my
cart
21

22. Tease out the business rules, and examples that
clarify a user story
Rule Rule Rule
Story
Example
Example
Example
Question
Assumption
Example Mapping: Matt Wynne
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Acceptance
Criteria
Acceptance
Scenarios

23. Gojko Adzic
Workflow
Options

24. Useful when…
None of the patterns
seem feasible and team
is still baffled about
splitting the story
Key Questions
What are the key
uncertainties?
Spike:
Investigate
translation
capability
As a learner, I
want to see the
course offerings
in the language
of my choice so
that…
24
SPLIT LEARNING FROM EARNING

26. Who are the players?
3 Amigos
Business + Development + Testing
26

27. Evaluate Zone of Control & Sphere of
Influence
Deliverable (I Want…)
CONTROL INFLUENCE
CONTROLINFLUENCE
UserNeed(SoThat…)
Good stories
Fake,
Misleading
stories
Not
Actionable
Unrealistic
27Gojko Adzic

28. Ready & Done
Sprint
Ready In Process Done
þ Interaction Diagrams
q Prototypes
q Wireframes
þ Sample Data
þ Testable Examples
þ Acceptance Criteria
q State Diagrams
þ Small Enough
q Agreement from other
teams
q Dependency List
q Stakeholder signoff
þ Acceptance Criteria met
þ Cleared by QA
þ Accepted by PO
q Live for A/B Testing
q Final Deployment
q Training Script
þ Reviewed
þ Integrated
q Lightweight usability tested
þ Automated testing in place
þ User documentation created
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29. sum
m
ary
PREPARE
STORIES
W
ITH
INVEST
IN
MIND
SMALL
STORIES
HELP
DISCOVER
W
HAT
REALLY
NEEDS
TO
BE
BUILT
ACCEPTANCE
CRITERIA
VIA
RULES
&
EXAMPLES
FITTING
STORIES
INTO
YOUR
ITERATIONS
SHOULD
BE
A
CONSEQUENCE, NOT
CAUSE
SPLIT
STORIES
BASED
ON
PATTERNS
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NARROW
DOW
N
THE
USER
SEGMENT

30. Of course you can have your cake
and eat it too…
As long as it is a at a time!
30

31. References
Books
• Fifty Quick Ideas to improve your User Stories, Gojko Adzic
• User Story Mapping, Jeff Patton
• User Stories Applied, Mike Kohn
Articles
• http://agileforall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Story-Splitting-Cheat-Sheet.pdf
• http://www.slideshare.net/arsenalist/splitting-userstories
• http://idiacomputing.com/pub/UserStories.pdf
• http://www.slideshare.net/kentjmcdonald/21-story-splitting-patterns-49940134
• http://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/how-youll-probably-learn-to-split-features
• https://cucumber.io/blog/2015/12/08/example-mapping-introduction
• http://blog.agilistic.nl/8-useful-strategies-for-splitting-large-user-stories-and-a-cheatsheet/
Ask me for more!
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32. Thanks!
Raj Indugula
raj.indugula@lithespeed.com
Agile Coach, Trainer, Developer
20 years in industry; 13 years of Agile
Passionate about learning, can’t do without checklists, craves
whiteboards!

33. Contact Us
Email:
info@lithespeed.com
On the Web:
http://www.lithespeed.com
http://www.agileleadershipacademy.com
+1 703 745 9125
@LitheSpeed,
@AgileLeadAcad
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