User Story Splitting
Post on 08-May-2015
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User Story Splitting
Or how to be the Ninja on splitting Stories, rather than fruit…
Your Sensei: Paul Boos
Master Shifu Reminds Us…
A story is a….
• Who | What | Why
• As a ____ I would like to ____ so that I can ____
• Role or Persona, ‘Function’, Biz Value
The Power of a Story in San参
Story W
BS Element
Test Cases
(via Acceptance Criteria)
Requirement
Dragon Stories (aka ‘Epics’)
• Stories that are horrendously large & scare us
• The amount of tasks feel like slaying a beast
• Larger than our iteration
• But even ‘Smaller than Dragon’ Stories may need to be split…
INVEST
I ndependent – minimize dependencies (to zero preferably)N egotiable – ability for Product Owner and Delivery Team to make trade-offsV aluable – fulfill end user needs/functionalityE stimable – understood well enough to be estimatedS mall – fit within a Sprint easilyT estable – have an ability to be verified that they work
Should I Split This Story?
• Does it meet the INVEST Criteria (with exception of Small)?
No – refactor story first*• Can it be completed in this Sprint?
No – time to split!• Will this story consume most of the Team’s
capacity?Yes – better to split than to be sorry…
* If a story isn’t small it may also be hard to be negotiable, so a story being both small and negotiable could be exceptions.
Don’tsplit a story on
Waterfall-like
Phases
Unless you like riding very, very large waves of failure…
Useful Considerations
• Story to– one role/persona (generally)
• Story to– one function/task of value
• Vertically slices most of the stack
Splitting Kata
• Workflow Steps Pattern• Operations Pattern• Business Rule Variations Pattern• Simple Complex Pattern• Variations in Data Pattern• Mock UI Pattern• Data Entry Methods Pattern• Hamburger Method• Defer Performance Pattern• Break Out a Spike Pattern
戻る
Workflow Steps Pattern
Look for steps in the workflow that chain different roles/personas together or very distinctly different functions that can be independently done.
Example: Content Authoring & Approval• As an author, I want to be able to submit my article. • As an editor, I would like to get notified when an article
has been submitted so that I can review it. • As an editor, I need to approve an article.• As an editor, I would like to be able to request more
information
Operations Pattern
Focus along Operations (think high level methods or CRUD type operations).
Example: As a shop keeper I want to manage the products being sold in my online store so that I can sell what people want to buy. This could be become:• As a shop keeper I want to add and remove products from
my online store so that I can sell what people want to buy.• As a shop keeper I want to edit product details in my online
store so that I can avoid recreating a product to fix a typo … (and so on)
Look for generic verbs such as “manage” or “adminster” which hints at multiple more detailed operations. (Sort of use-case like…)
Business Rules Variation Pattern
Find ways to split stories based on business rules deviations.
Example: • Payment currency must be specific to purchase location• Cash payment denomination amount must not be greater
than . . .• Payment change amount is calculated as . . .• Receipt bar code is designed using . . .
Warning: these variations could be articulating various acceptance criteria.
Simple Complex Pattern
Look for general stories that hide complexity, when the definition of the acceptance criteria uncovers varied ways to approach this, then you can split along this variance...
Example: • As a loan applicant, I want to calculate my mortgage
payments
Might be made more specific in ways such as …• … calculate payments manually• … using an online spreadsheet template• … using an online calculator
Variations in Data Pattern
Choose data objects that may have variations based on roles and actions.
Example: Suppose that there are data objects called Product, Payment, and Receipt. In this instance, the idea would be to focus on specific data types for each object type. So for Product, there might be data types such as Book, DVD, and Gift Card.
You can then work with the Product Owner to identify the data type or types with the highest business value and split the story accordingly.
Mock UI PatternCreate a pretotype/whiteboard of the UI when it is known to be complex; ID areas where related functionality is present and story out each area. Throw away the UI.Example: Enter a Valid Address:
Street:City: State:Zipcode:
Find House Value Comparisons:Select search radius:
5km 10km 25km GoReset
As a potential lendee,I want to have a correct address,So that my comparisons are correct.
As a potential lendee,I want to set the region,So I can see potential impacts to my comparisons.
As a potential lendee,I want to easily reset the data,So I can easily change comparisons.
Data Entry Methods Pattern
Examining various options for data entry at the UI can be done. Each option is essentially the same story and thus is a refactoring of a prior story. Great for identifying MVF options…
Example: As a user, I can search for flights between two destinations.
…using simple date input.…with a fancy calendar UI.
Hamburger Method
This method is similar to the prior Data Entry Methods Pattern. It’s useful when a team thinks more along technical tasks than user stories.
Example:
Simple Data
Widget
No Data Persistence
No Data Validation
Calendar Widget
Persist Data in File
JavaScript Validation
Pull Date from
user’s iCall
Persist Data in RDBMS
Persist Data in NoSQL DB
Enter Date
Store data
Validate Collected
data
Gojko Adzic
Defer Performance Pattern
Look for Opportunities to Defer Work for later (and thus refactor of the code).
“Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.”
– Agile Manifesto Principle #10
Example: Focus on user functionality 1st then various –’ilities’:
ScalabilityPerformance
Caution:“Continuous attention to technical excellence
and good design enhances agility.” – Agile Manifesto Principle #9
Break out a Spike Pattern
Often Stories are not necessarily complex, but just have many unknowns. Turn possible acceptance criteria into questions and investigate these.
Example: Suppose you didn’t understand how Paypal worked…Turn As a seller I want to collect payment with Paypal as it is universally accepted and this will increase how I get paid. into…Spike: How does Paypal work?
How do I know I have a successful payment?How do I know when a payment is unsuccessful and what options can I present to the buyer?
Once I answer these I can create a valid story (or set of stories).
Helpful Tips for Splitting Stories
Think in terms of what a user (role/persona) wants as inputs & outputs.• What does the user put in? What should or should not come
out?• What processing should give the output?• How can we test this?Think in terms of vertical slices.• What is the minimal version of this functionality? • Can you touch all the needed tiers of the system.Don’t worry about being 100% right…
IKIWISI!
Acceptance Criteria
Given context When event Then result
Be the…
Define boundaries of what is acceptable
Should be specific to story
Results = expectations
Identify specific non-functional requirements results
Acceptance Criteria Example
• A user cannot submit a form without completing all the mandatory fields
• Information from the form is stored in the registrations database
• Spam protection is working• Payment can be accepted as a credit card• An acknowledgment email is sent to the user after
submitting the form.
As a conference attendee, I want to be able to register online,
so I can register quickly and cut down on paperwork
(Bulet format)
Show RespectWork with your product owner!
Who else will you negotiate with..?
CardConversationConfirmation
EXERCISES
Establish Your Dojofor exercises 1 - 4
• Gather in groups of 2-4• Establish who will be the product owner• Brainstorm stories based on the core
epics or features presented• Ensure you have acceptance criteria• Be ready to discuss how you split your
stories• Feel free to go to a second level
Exercise 1
You are building an ecommerce site to sell your products.
Your Epic:Browse, Select, and Purchase Products from the site.
10 Minutes to create stories based on this Epic. Remember to ID some Acceptance Criteria!
We’ll discuss for 10 minutes
Exercise 2
You are building a system to manage content onto your website.
Your Epic:Manage Webpages, Images, and Video.
10 Minutes to create stories based on this Epic. Remember to ID some Acceptance Criteria!
We’ll discuss for 10 minutes
Exercise 3
You are building an exercise and diet iPhone application.
Your Epic:Generate Anyone’s Exercise Routine and Diet.
10 Minutes to create stories based on this Epic. Remember to ID some Acceptance Criteria!
We’ll discuss for 10 minutes
Exercise 4
Select your largest story for the next Sprint. Your REAL product owner and SMEs are available to answer questions.
Take 15 minutes to do the following:
Meet INVEST? Except for small, No = refactorCan we complete in this Sprint? No = splitWill it consume most of the Sprint in effort?
Yes = split
Take 5 minutes to decide on an approach.Take another 15 minutes to brainstorm stories based on that approach.Can you establish some acceptance criteria? 20 minutes to discuss
Gather the Bukefor exercises 4 - 5
• Review the stories everyone just created in the last exercise
• Select 2 stories you think are well constructed; be able to defend this in terms of INVEST
• We’ll use these for our next 2 exercises as one group to learn a bit about vertical slicing
Exercise 4: Walk the Code Dog
Take 15 minutes to…
Walk through the components of the system one by one that will change. Draw these out (on a flip chart or white board).
Did you touch all or most of the layers?
Exercise 5: Walk the Dog in the Component Park
Take 15 minutes to…
Draw the architecture of your system components on a flip chart or white board.
Now redraw your architecture without the connections between them. Using a story you have selected, connect the components as you need to touch them when you implement the story.
For Further Study
Great post on how most teams evolve through their story understandinghttp://www.jbrains.ca/permalink/how-youll-probably-learn-to-split-features
The Hamburger Method by Gojko Adzichttp://gojko.net/2012/01/23/splitting-user-stories-the-hamburger-method/
Walk the Dog Techniques for Vertical Storieshttp
://www.dhavalpanchal.com/walk-the-dog/ 15 ways to split an an Epic (3rd exercise from here)http
://blogs.collab.net/agile/15-ways-to-split-an-epic-a-team-exercise Beginner’s Guide to Acceptance Criteria (example)http://www.boost.co.nz/blog/agile/acceptance-criteria/
Derived from Phil Rogers slide deck on Patterns for Splitting User Stories.
You’re a TeamNo need to be a solo ninja
Let’s go slay some dragons!
Or better put, slice some stories!
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