Enjoy the full slide deck from David Hawks' presentation, User Stories Suck, from Agile 2018. The current Epic and User Story process is stale and needs to go. David Hawks presented a new discovery centered model driven by Objectives, Hypothesis, and Experiments.

1. User Stories Suck

2. David Hawks
Agile Trainer and Coach
CEO of Agile Velocity
@austinagile
david@agilevelocity.com
AgileVelocity.com
Accelerate Agility
Transformation | Training | Coaching

3. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIALAGILE VELOCITY ACCELERATE AGILITY
THE PATH TO AGILITY™
The Agile Velocity transformation framework

4. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIALAGILE VELOCITY ACCELERATE AGILITY 4
Align Learn Predict Accelerate Adapt
Alignment around Why
Change
Agile Leadership Mindset Create Focus Optimize the Whole Business Agility
Org Change Plan
Empower Teams - Transfer
Ownership
Reduce Complexity Internal Coaching Capacity
Product Learning over
Delivery
Readiness for the
Transformation
Facilitate the Change Ability to Forecast
Clear Value Purpose
Establish Foundational
Practices
Establish Predictable
Cadence of Delivery
Release Continuously Customer Centered
Team Agreements
Establish Continuous
Improvement Culture
Shorten Quality Feedback
Loop
Reduce Cycle Time
Experiment Driven
Development
Create Visibility
OrganizationalLevelTeamLevel THE PATH TO AGILITY™
The Agile Velocity transformation framework

5. Agile =
Shorten the
Feedback
Loop
But, to Who?

6. Delivery Focus
• Agile
• Scrum
• Predictability
• Velocity
• Test Automation
• Continuous Integration
• User Stories
PD-2

7. Build
Feedback?
Idea
Product
PD-2

8. Idea
Product

9. How do you
know you are
building the
right thing?
PD-2

10. When do you
find out if you
are right?
PD-2

11. How long is the
Release cycle? (From
Concept to
Customer)
How many features
are released
together?
How is success
determined?
Your
Product
Today
Your Reality
PD-3

13. Debrief In the
Video
What was
the
impact?
How long is the
Release cycle? (From
Concept to
Customer)
How many features
are released
together?
How is success
determined?
Your
Product
Today
PD-3

14. It is a
Requirement
Dammit!

15. 64% of the
features we build in
the software
industry are Rarely
or Never Used!

16. Discovery
• Lean Startup
• User Story Mapping
• Design Thinking
• Lean UX
• Experiment Driven
PD-4

17. Build
Idea
Product
Measure
Learn
Data
PD-4

18. Idea
Product
Data

19. Build
Idea
Product
Measure
Learn
Data
The Goal is to
Shorten the
Learning Cycle

20. © Copyright Agile Velocity, LLC All Rights Reserved
Objective
Objective: _____________________
• Key Result 1: ________________
• Key Result 2: ________________
• Key Result 3: ________________
PD-7

21. Turn your Requirement
into a Hypothesis
If we do X then Y% of customers will
behave in way Z

22. © Copyright Agile Velocity, LLC All Rights Reserved
Hypothesis
If we do _____________,
then ___________% of customers
will behave ___________
PD-7

23. Identify the riskiest
assumption for your
current product.
How could you validate
(or invalidate) it quicker?

24. Sort the
Assumptions
?
?
?
?
High Risk
Low Risk

25. © Copyright Agile Velocity, LLC All Rights Reserved
Experiment
Build the absolute minimum required to test your
hypothesis, as fast as possible
• Measure real behavior
• Don’t just confirm, learn
• Include ways to capture surprises
PD-7

26. © Copyright Agile Velocity, LLC All Rights Reserved
Experiment
We believe that [doing this/building this
feature/creating this experience]
for [these people/personas]
will achieve [this outcome].
We will know this is true when we see [this
market feedback, quantitative measure, or
qualitative insight]
PD-7

27. What tools and
techniques do you
use to validate ideas
before beginning
development?
PD-8

28. Experimentation
Objective
Explore baked-in assumptions and
define them as testable hypotheses
• “10% of all free version users will convert to paid.”
• “If we provide this feature, then 25% more will buy our service.”
• “Non-gluten recipes take more than 30 minutes to find.”
• “90% of parents want an easy way to share photos.”
Experiments
Design smallest
experiment(s) to test
the highest-priority
hypothesis
Hypotheses
Define the business
goal
PD-5

29. Practice
Round
ACTIVITY:
• Each table is given a sheet containing a question or scenario.
• Collaborate and achieve consensus on an answer.
After 3 minutes, shift to next table where a new sheet awaits staying
within your color.

30. Types of Experiments
MVP
Concierge MVP
Sprint PSPI
User Observation
A/B Test
Wizard of Oz
Paper Prototype

31. Paper Prototyping

32. Explainer Video

33. Facade

34. DeliveryDiscovery

35. What ways can you
shorten the
feedback loop in
your product
lifecycle?
PD-9

36. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIALAGILE VELOCITY ACCELERATE AGILITY
THE PATH TO AGILITY™
The Agile Velocity transformation framework

37. PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIALAGILE VELOCITY ACCELERATE AGILITY
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David Hawks
CEO
david@agilevelocity.com
@austinagile

38. AGILE VELOCITY
ALL THINGS AGILE
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ABOUT AGILE VELOCITY
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39. © Copyright Agile Velocity, LLC All Rights Reserved
Sources
• Gothelf, Jeff (2013-02-22). Lean UX: Applying
Lean Principles to Improve User Experience (p.
20). O'Reilly Media
• Moves the Needle, Brant Cooper