When teams focus on delivering small units of work, they lower risk and make it easier to steer the project. Stories (or “user stories”) are a way to do this: a story is a description of a capability or quality improvement a user or customer wants, understood by the whole team.
Start Here
These items can get you started on user stories.
Read: “What Is a User Story?” – an introduction to user stories – START HERE
Read: “User Story Vocabulary: Problem, Solution, or Widget?” – what are our stories about?
Video: “The INVEST Model for User Stories” – characteristics of good user stories (on Industrial Logic’s blog)
Read: “INVEST in Good Stories, and SMART Tasks” – characteristics of good user stories
Read: “As a Developer… Is Not a User Story” – on Industrial Logic’s blog
Example Stories
Most companies won’t share their stories, but I can share examples from my personal projects.
Read: “User Story Examples” – stories for a time management system, in a “verb phrase” style
Read: “Stories for SideReel.com” – courtesy of William Pietri
Read: “Scalable Story Examples” – stories in Role-Action-Context style
Read: “Examples of User Stories 2020” – stories in assorted styles
Scalable Stories
I used the word “Small” in the INVEST acronym, but now I tend to use the word “scalable” instead. I encourage teams to start with very small (but still end-to-end) stories, then “intensify” them.
Read: “Small – Scalable – Stories in the INVEST Model”
Read: “Intensifying Stories: Running with the Winners” – a number of ways to intensify stories
Job Aid: “Intensifying Stories Job Aid” – a summary
Read: “Intensifying Stories Through Prediction” – better capabilities when the system can make predictions
Read: “Intensifying Stories With Limited Input” – features with relatively little input or output
Read: “Scalable Story Examples” – examples
Splitting Stories
Sometimes stories are just too big, and you want ideas for how to split them.
Read: “Twenty Ways to Split Stories“
Job Aid: “Ways to Split Stories – Summary Sheet“
Read: “Slicing Functionality: Alternate Paths” – by Bill Wake, Joseph Leddy, and Kent Beck
Read: “Is Trigger vs Response a Good Story Split?“
Whole Stories for Whole Teams – on Industrial Logic’s blog
More INVEST
I’ve written a number of deeper dives on the INVEST model. Most of these are included in the ebook offered above.
Read: “Independent Stories in the INVEST Model“
Read: “Negotiable Stories in the INVEST Model“
Read: “Valuable Stories in the INVEST Model“
Read: “Estimable Stories in the INVEST Model“
Read: “Small – Scalable – Stories in the INVEST Model”
Read: “Testable Stories in the INVEST Model“
Read: “All You Need is INVEST? No!“
The Rest of the Stories
Tag: stories – all articles on xp123.com tagged as being about user stories