One of the biggest challenges we have faced with Scrum is creating meaningful user stories for our backlog items. I recently came across an interesting article on "storycrafting".
Before
Need to get electronic patient signatures
After
Headline:
Get electronic patient signatures.
Story:
As a Nurse, I want to capture electronic patient signatures and related bar codes for better record keeping and billing.
Conditions of Satisfaction:
- Legal and financial disclosures are displayed.
- Bar codes captured (Patient ID, Items) and patient signature.
- Transaction is recorded.
via http://agile.techwell.com/articles/weekly/storycrafting-idea-action-face-unknowns
The before example represents the initial idea of the item and definitely lines up with the initial state of most of our PBIs. The after example includes a better title, user story, and acceptance criteria ("definition of done").
Schooenderwoert presents four questions to hone the idea into an item:
Question 1: If we never implement this story, who would miss it the most?
This question brings into focus the primary beneficiary of the user story, which allows the creation of the classic agile user story:
As a <role, beneficiary>, I want <capability> so that <benefit>.
Which could lead to:
As a nurse, I want to capture electronic patient signatures so that...
Question 2: How does this story benefit the beneficiary?
Begin with a list of the possible benefits for this item and come up with a short phrase that captures the primary benefit. In the example:
As a nurse, I want to capture electronic patient signatures and related bar codes for better record keeping and billing.
Question 3 (to the product owner): If the team came to you tomorrow saying, “The story is done. Will you sign-off?” what would prove to you that it is really completed?
The goal of this step is to produce a list of acceptance criteria that are written in the customer's language. Continuing the nurse example:
Conditions of satisfaction:
- Legal and financial disclosures are displayed.
- Bar codes (patient ID, Items) and patient signature captured.
- Transaction is recorded.
- Diagnosis code is captured.
- Each user data entry is validated.
Question 4: Are we done writing this story?
"We are done with writing this story when it is clear enough for the team to be able to estimate it. As mentioned, this does not mean every detail has to be spelled out. But, choices that affect the size of the work must be made."
This is a terrific read for product owners and interested agile team members and I recommend it.
References