Small is Beautiful

Talk on why user stories should be small, and techniques you can use to slice them.

Transcript

1. Small is Beautiful David Grant Sustainable Pace Ltd South Wales Agile Group
2. 1. Why are small user stories important? 2. How do we make user stories small? 3. Questions @seize_the_dave Outline
3. 1. Most benefit for product managers or product owners 2. Beginner to intermediate level @seize_the_dave Intended Audience
4. 1. It’s OK to ask questions, but please raise your hand 2. It’s OK to leave if this isn’t for you @seize_the_dave House Rules
5. Why are small stories important?
6. Thomas Edison, Inventor & Businessman “The real measure of success is the number of experiments that can be crowded into 24 hours”
7. Software product development is complex and uncertain @seize_the_dave
8. @seize_the_dave Need to learn incrementally by building and measuring
9. @seize_the_dave Tighten feedback loops pixabay.com/p-52691
10. More opportunities to change direction @seize_the_dave
11. Very few economies of scale in software @seize_the_dave
12. How do we slice user stories?
13. Techniques are bidirectional, but... @seize_the_dave
14. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” Proverb, Early 17th Century
15. @seize_the_dave The product backlog is not a replacement for a requirements document flickr.com/photos/wiertz/5624281846
16. Fundamentals
17. Narrow your customer segments @seize_the_dave
18. Use story headlines to facilitate slicing @seize_the_dave
19. Card, Conversation, Confirmation @seize_the_dave
20. @seize_the_dave Gradually increase complexity pixabay.com/p-1840480/
21. @seize_the_dave Legacy rewrite? Start with the outputs
22. High complexity? Build a walking skeleton, but don’t kid yourself @seize_the_dave
23. Slicing Patterns
24. @seize_the_dave Split on business rule variations
25. @seize_the_dave Split out major effort http://bit.ly/2tJB6LH
26. @seize_the_dave Split on variations in data
27. @seize_the_dave Simplify inputs
28. @seize_the_dave Defer non-functional requirements
29. @seize_the_dave Split learning from earning pixabay.com/p-2337525/
30. Manual or automated @seize_the_dave
31. @seize_the_dave Build or buy?
32. Batch or online @seize_the_dave
33. @seize_the_dave Single user or multi user? bit.ly/2tmQLyh
34. @seize_the_dave Use static or dynamic references
35. @seize_the_dave Ignore or handle errors
36. @seize_the_dave Transient or persistent data?
37. @seize_the_dave One or many?
38. @seize_the_dave Simplify outputs
39. @seize_the_dave Split out workflow steps http://bit.ly/2tGhKHN
40. How small is too small?
41. @seize_the_dave Technical stories are not user stories
42. @seize_the_dave Stories must have a tangible value
43. Problems
44. @seize_the_dave Large overheads for scheduling work, e.g. project sponsorship
45. @seize_the_dave Eliminate waste, align along products geograph.ie/photo/3939164
46. @seize_the_dave High transaction costs, e.g. deployment risk, functional silos
47. @seize_the_dave Cross-functional teams, continuous delivery
48. Useful resources
49. @seize_the_dave • 50 Quick Ideas to Improve Your User Stories (Gojko Adzic; David Evans) • User Story Mapping (Jeff Patton) • xp123.com (Bill Wake) • agileforall.com (Richard Lawrence)
50. @seize_the_dave
52. Thanks! Questions? @seize_the_dave or david@grant.org.uk https://speakerdeck.com/seize_the_dave/small-is-beautiful