Agilists employ user stories to capture requirements and drive the planning process for iterative and incremental delivery of software. Traditionalists with experience in “big requirements up front” often struggle with the brevity of user stories and how to best communicate requirements. Fadi Stephan explains the basic concepts of user stories, explores the benefits of employing user stories to represent customer requirements, and discusses the attributes of a good user story. He takes a deep dive into common anti-patterns and mistakes that teams make when writing user stories so you can learn to identify and avoid these mistakes. Along the way, determine the right size for a user story, learn how to properly split a user story, and discover different boundaries for prioritizing stories. Understand when a story is ready for development—and how to decompose a story that is not ready. Leave with new insights on how to write effective user stories.
Fadi Stephan
Excella Consulting
A Certified Scrum Trainer and agile coach, Fadi Stephan leads Washington DC-based Excella Consulting’s software development service area. Fadi has more than fifteen years of professional experience as a product manager, project manager, software developer, ScrumMaster, and consultant at both Federal agencies and businesses—from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Since 2006, Fadi’s focus has been on building high-performing organizations and teams that strive to deliver value early and maximize ROI. He founded the DC Software Craftsmanship User Group and organized the DC Scrum User Group.
Speaker Presentations
Thursday, June 11, 2015 - 11:30am
Product Definition
The Art of Storytelling: User Story Smells and Anti-Patterns