Planning User Stories: Writing effective stories

Effective Stories In agile, having effective user stories can mean all the difference. Developers could end up with unnecessary rework if their conversations with the product owner was lacking. The challenging part in writing effective user stories is figuring when they are considered bad. This can be rough because even small projects can require dozens of user stories. Luckily there is an easy way in agile to figuring out challenges with user stories by using what is called INVEST.

Bill Wake created the acronym INVEST; a list of common challenges that are likely to occur when creating user stories. The I in INVEST stands for independently valued user stories. The N stands for negotiable where the developers negotiates with the product owner to decide on the best possible way for delivering a value in the user story. The V stands for valuable. This represents the customer's value for the user story. The E stands for estimateable. Simply put, the user story can be estimated by the developers. The S stands for small. User stories have to small enough where the value is understandable. The T stands for testable. This makes sure that user stories are not too subjective.

By understanding Bill Wake's INVEST, user stories should now effectively describe what the agile team is to build and deliver to the customer. An effective user story will contain a value that helps prioritize the team's work. The user story's focus is on the who, what, and why. It is not on the how. More importantly, the user story should be compelling. Only by practicing and following the criteria will the user story created by either the product owner or the developers be effective.

To summarize effective user stories, these tips should be considered. The first one is to understand the customer value. Understanding customer value can help place a value for the user story. Secondly, know the customer. By knowing the customer or user, it makes developing process easier. Lastly, keep it succinct. A user story should be brief but clear enough to understand what it entails. Overall, effective stories can determine the success of any given project as they are the requirements.

Work Cited

"Agile at Work: Planning with Agile User Stories" Lynda.com - from LinkedIn, https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Starting-user-roles/175074/387212-4.html Accessed 10 Nov. 2017.

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