On July 30, in the format of Tech Hangout internal meetings Dmitriy Velykoivanenko and Galina Kostetskaya, Engineering Managers at Innovecs, told the crowd about SCRUM User Stories and showed User Story Examples *TECH HANGOUT COMMUNITY was found in 2012 by the developers for the developers for knowledge and experience sharing. Such meetings are the part of Innovecs Educational Project that actively develops sphere of internal trainings and knowledge exchange program among professionals. This Initiative was born within the walls of Innovecs and has proved to be extremely popular and high-demand. In a short period of time it gained its own Facebook group with more than 100 members, blog with more than 40 posts and constant quarterly external meeting of Tech hangout community with more than 80 participants. The concept of the event proposes a 30-minute report on the topic previously defined, and the discussion in a roundtable session format. Join to discuss - https://www.facebook.com/groups/techhangout/

1. SCRUM: Story Time!
Dmitry Velykoivanenko, Galina Kostetskaya!
Engineering Managers!
30/07/2014

2. Today’s agenda
• What is a User Story?!
• How to write a User Story?!
• What is a Story Point?!
• How to estimate a Story?!
• Practice: Silent Grouping Technique!
• Q&A
2© Copyright Innovecs 2012

3. Story
3© Copyright Innovecs 2014

4. User Story
A User Story is one or more sentences in
the everyday or business language of the
end user or user of a system that captures
what a user does or needs to do as part of
his or her job function.
4© Copyright Innovecs 2012

5. Format
5© Copyright Innovecs 2012
As a <role>,
! ! I want <goal/desire> !
! ! ! ! ! so that <benefit>.

6. Example
As
an
admin,
I
want
to
be
able
to
delete
pesky
peasants’
accounts
from
my
precious
blog
so
that
only
the
best
remain.
6© Copyright Innovecs 2012
As
a
user,
I
want
to
be
able
to
hit
people
over
the
internet
so
that
I
can
show
them
how
I
feel.
As
a
user,
I
want
to
be
able
to
register
so
that
I
don’t
need
to
enter
my
data
every
time
I
visit
the
website.

7. INVEST
7© Copyright Innovecs 2012
I! Independent! !
N! Negotiable! !
V! Valuable! !
E! Estimable! !
S! Scalable (small sized)!
T! Testable!

8. Benefits
8© Copyright Innovecs 2012
• Extreme brevity: can be done in weeks or days;!
• Allows discussion of requirements throughout the
project lifetime;!
• Needing very little maintenance;!
• Being considered only at the time of use;!
• Allowing the breaking of projects into small increments;!
• Suitability for projects which have volatile or poorly
understood requirements;!
• Making it easier to estimate development effort;!
• Maintaining a close customer contact;

9. Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance criteria define the
boundaries of a user story, and are
used to confirm when a story is
completed and working as intended.
9© Copyright Innovecs 2012

10. Acceptance Criteria
A user cannot submit a form without completing all the mandatory fields
10© Copyright Innovecs 2012
Information from the form is stored in the registrations database
Protection against spam is working!
Payment can be made via credit card!
An acknowledgment email is sent to the user after submitting the form.

11. Example
11© Copyright Innovecs 2012
Story:
As
a
user,
I
want
to
be
able
to
hit
people
over
the
internet
so
that
I
can
show
them
how
I
feel.
Acceptance
Criteria:
Users
should
have
a
button
they
can
press
to
hit
people;
The
people
hit
should
feel
pain
when
they
are
hit;
The
button
should
be
named
“Hit
people”
with
giant
red
letters;
The
users
should
not
be
able
to
hit
the
admin;

12. Advice
12© Copyright Innovecs 2012
1. Start with the Users!
2. Use Personas to Discover the Right Stories!
3. Write Stories Collaboratively!
4. Keep your Stories Simple and Short!
5. Start with Epics!
6. Decompose your Stories until they are Ready!
7. Add Acceptance Criteria!
8. Use Paper Cards!
9. Keep your Stories Visible and Accessible!
10. Don’t Solely Rely on User Stories!

13. Definition of Ready
13© Copyright Innovecs 2012
A
“ready”
item
should
be
clear,
feasible
and
testable

14. ESTIMATIONS
14© Copyright Innovecs 2012

15. I HATE ESTIMATIONS
15© Copyright Innovecs 2012

16. “5 months??? I am sure it can be
done in 1! Just do it FASTER!”

17. 17© Copyright Innovecs 2012

18. Why we can’t get rid of !
estimations*!
18© Copyright Innovecs 2012
The main thing which happens during the estimation
process is the development of the common
understanding of the user story.
* besides nasty clients

19. Surprise time
19© Copyright Innovecs 2012
Customers don’t really care about the hours, as their final
goal is to get cost and timing. If you provide them cost
and timing – they don’t care how you estimate – in store
points, hours or bananas.
* besides nasty clients

20. Uncertainty
20© Copyright Innovecs 2012

21. Real life
21© Copyright Innovecs 2012

22. Infinite time estimation meeting
22© Copyright Innovecs 2012

23. Prepare
23© Copyright Innovecs 2012
1.Groom the backlog!
2.Decompose complex user stories!
3.Collaborate early!
4.Print information!
5.Have PO at hand!
6.No laptops!
7.Required participation !
8.Bribes are ok!
* besides nasty clients

24. Real life
24© Copyright Innovecs 2012
afterbefore

25. Story point
25© Copyright Innovecs 2012
effort required to implement a story

26. Estimation points
26© Copyright Innovecs 2012

27. Process
27© Copyright Innovecs 2012
->!
2h

28. Planning poker
28© Copyright Innovecs 2012

29. Practice time
29© Copyright Innovecs 2012

30. The Silent Grouping Technique
30© Copyright Innovecs 2012
Preparation Lay the ground rules; set
expectations
Round 1: Individual Placement Quickly get an initial size estimate
for all of the user stories
Round 2: Group Placement Give everyone an opportunity to
(silently) provide input to all user
stories
Discussion and Reflection Resolve any disputes; reflect on
experience; gain consensus
before moving on; discuss insights

31. Q&A time!

32. Thank you!!
!
Dmitry Velykoivanenko!
Galina Kostetskaya!
!
Engineering Managers!
!