10 Easy Ways To Break Up by Dipesh Pala

By Dipesh Pala

Agile NZ 2015 2 September 2015

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10 EASY WAYS TO BREAK UP

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Why are real life break ups so difficult? @

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Why are real life break ups so difficult?

Risky

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Risky

Dependency

Once upon a time… @

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Risky

Dependency

Complex


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Risky

Dependency

Complex

Expensive


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Risky

Dependency

Complex

Expensive

Lack of Confidence

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Risky

Dependency

Complex

Expensive

Lack of Confidence

Not knowing When or How to Break Up!

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Break Up Difficulty Real Life User Stories

Risky

Dependency

Complex

Expensive

Lack of Confidence

Not knowing When or How to Break Up

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Three C’s by Ron Jeffries

CARD

CONVERSATION

CONFIRMATION

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User Story Card

This is an invitation to have a

Conversation

that will result in

Confirmation

of the requirements

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I NVE ST

Bill Wake’s INVEST Model

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

E G O T I A B L E

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

E G O T I A B L E

A L U A B L E

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

E G O T I A B L E

A L U A B L E

S T I M A B L E

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

E G O T I A B L E

A L U A B L E

S T I M A B L E

M A L L

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I NVE ST

N D E P E N D E N T

E G O T I A B L E

A L U A B L E

S T I M A B L E

M A L L

E S T A B L E

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DIFFICULTIES

EXCUSES

Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Complex

Does the story describe a workflow?

Take a thin slice through the

workflow and enhance it later

Break Up Tip #1

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Calculate the Total Payment Amount...

Original User Story

Suggested split by slicing the workflow:

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Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Complex

Does this story have a simple

core that provides most of

the value?

Split the story to do the simplest

option first and enhance it

later

Break Up Tip #2

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Suggested split by simple / complex variations

Original User Story

Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Complex

Does this story have a Complex User Interface?

Split the story to do a simple UI first and enhance

later

Break Up Tip #3

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Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Complex

Does the story include multiple

operations?

Separate the operations into separate stories

Break Up Tip #4

Suggested split by separate operations

Original User Story @

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Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Expensive Does this

story become expensive due to

non-functional requirements?

Split the story to just make it work first and

enhance it later

Break Up Tip #5

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If you can’t fly, Run. If you can’t run, Walk.

If you can’t walk, Crawl.

But, by all means keep moving.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Small wins are something people can experience pretty regularly if the work is chunked down to manageable pieces.”

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Suggested split by deferring Performance or Quality

Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Expensive

Does this story refer to multiple

users doing similar things at the same time?

Split the story to handle single user first and enhance

it later

Break Up Tip #6

Suggested split by Single / Multiple users

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Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story is too

Expensive

Does this story have a major

effort regardless of how it is split?

Split the story so that most of

the value comes from the first split

Break Up Tip #7

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20% Result

20% Effort

80% Result

80% Effort

Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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This story has too many dependencies

Does this story have a variety of business logic?

Split the story to do a subset of

rules first, and enhance it later

Break Up Tip #8


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Original User Story

Suggested split by business logic

Opportunity

Consideration

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Does this story refer to data

from multiple sources?

Split the story to handle data from one source first

and enhance later

Break Up Tip #9

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Opportunity

Consideration

Excuse @

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Does this story need any

investigation prior to being

started?

Split the story so that the

research is done first, with action

later

Break Up Tip #10


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T h e l o n g e s t j o u r n e y s t a r t s w i t h a s m a l l s t e p . . .

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Q & O

References • http://www.richardlawrence.info/2009/10/28/patterns-for-splitting-user-stories

• http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/user-stories

• http://www.agileforall.com/2010/05/03/new-to-agile-remember-a-user-story-is-more-

than-a-card

• http://xprogramming.com/articles/expcardconversationconfirmation

• http://xp123.com/articles/invest-in-good-stories-and-smart-tasks

• Cohn, Mike. 2004. User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development. Boston, MA:

Addison-Wesley.

• Jeffries, Ron. 2001, August. “Essential XP: Card, Conversation, and Confirmation.” XP

Magazine.

• All images collected through Google

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Thank You Contact details

Dipesh Pala Agile Capability Leader

IBM Asia Pacific

[email protected]

@DipeshPala

au.linkedin.com/in/dipeshpala

slideshare.net/DipeshPala

http://www.slideshare.net/DipeshPala

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Thanks for listening…

Dipesh Pala

IBM

10 Easy Ways To Break Up by Dipesh Pala

Presentations & Public Speaking