I Don’t Care What The User Story Says
Posted in Development, Management on February 26th, 2010 by Martin Schapendonk – Be the first to comment
User Stories are a nifty concept to convey “what needs to be done” in an agile environment, where not all analysis and design activities have been done before coding has started.
User stories need to be clear and concise, and everybody (Product Owner and Team) should have a basic understanding of the story during the Sprint Planning. Just enough info to determine the approximate size of the beast.
After the Sprint Planning, there will be (should be) LOTS of conversation and confirmation. By definition. Because the requirement is still only briefly analyzed, it is a false expectation to be able to understand and code a user story right after Sprint Planning (of course, it happens, but it shouldn’t be the standard).
I sometimes come across teams that look back and conclude that they didn’t deliver what was expected and propose to be “more clear in the wording and details of the user stories”. Don’t try to go that path. It’s a slippery slope, and before you know it, you’ll be back reviewing detailed designs. You might say it’s an anti-pattern of agile.
I don’t care what the user story says.
Make sure everybody has a basic understanding at first and work together to deliver what’s expected. That’s my preferred strategy if you adhere to agile principles.
Photo taken from koalazymonkey’s photostream under Creative Commons license.
