User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn: Book Cover

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Mike Cohn, Kent Beck (Foreword by)

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Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Pub. Date: March 2004
ISBN-13: 9780321205681
Sales Rank: 35,212
268pp

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Synopsis

This guide describes user stories and explains how they can be used to articulate customer programming needs. It highlights both successful and unsuccessful implementations of the concept, and discusses its application for planning, managing, and testing software development projects. Cohn is a programmer and software project manager. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Biography

Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. With more than twenty years of experience, Mike has been a technology executive in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 40s, and is a founding member of the Agile Alliance. He frequently contributes to industry-related magazines and presents regularly at conferences. He is the author of User Stories Applied (Addison-Wesley, 2004).

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

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June 02, 2004: User Stories Demystified - As you leaf through Mike Cohn?s new book ?User Stories Applied?, the first thing you will experience is a dramatic sense of relief. A certain calm will come over you because at last you have in your hands a very clear, succinct, step-by-step view into the what, when, where, how, and why of user stories. Mike?s delivery of this material is richly simple in that he manages to sift through the many worries and controversies that surround the role of user stories in an agile project environment and takes us to the nuggets. At the same time, he sparks the fundamentals with a variety of suggestions for implementation based on his extensive experience. In various XP teams in which I have worked, an early challenge of the team had always been around the ability of the team to shift from requirements and design documents and detailed test plans to user stories. Writing them was tortuous; later interpretation of them felt fuzzy. With Mike?s guidance, we would have known not only how to write, estimate, prioritize, and test our stories, we would have also had ample guidance on who should be paying attention to what in each step of the stories? lifecycle. If you are beginning a new project, release, sprint, or iteration, don?t move another step without distributing Mike?s book across the team as pre-requisite reading. They?ll all thank you for it.

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

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May 03, 2004: Every agile methodology advocates iterative, story-driven (although they may call them features or backlog items) development and so one might assume that an entire book on user stories and iterative planning would be redundant-not so. Mike has added both a breadth and depth to the body of information on this subject as his obvious practical experience shines through. Both little tidbits, like constraining estimates to specific pre-defined values, and responses to frequently asked questions (for example the best contrasting of use cases versus stories that I've seen) give Mike's book significant value for anyone practicing agile development of any flavor. Every agile methodology advocates iterative, story-driven (although they may call them features or backlog items) development and so one might assume that an entire book on user stories and iterative planning would be redundant-not so. Mike has added both a breadth and depth to the body of information on this subject as his obvious practical experience shines through. Both little tidbits, like constraining estimates to specific pre-defined values, and responses to frequently asked questions (for example the best contrasting of use cases versus stories that I've seen) give Mike's book significant value for anyone practicing agile development of any flavor.

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From the Publisher

Agile requirements: discovering what your users really want. With this book, you will learn to:

Flexible, quick and practical requirements that work

Save time and develop better software that meets users' needs

Gathering user stories -- even when you can't talk to users

How user stories work, and how they differ from use cases, scenarios, and traditional requirements

Leveraging user stories as part of planning, scheduling, estimating, and testing

Ideal for Extreme Programming, Scrum, or any other agile methodology

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoroughly reviewed and eagerly anticipated by the agile community, User Stories Applied offers a requirements process that saves time, eliminates rework, and leads directly to better software.

The best way to build software that meets users' needs is to begin with "user stories": simple, clear, brief descriptions of functionality that will be valuable to real users. In User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn provides you with a front-to-back blueprint for writing these user stories and weaving them into your development lifecycle.

You'll learn what makes a great user story, and what makes a bad one. You'll discover practical ways to gather user stories, even when you can't speak with your users. Then, once you've compiled your user stories, Cohn shows how to organize them, prioritize them, and use them for planning, management, and testing.

User role modeling: understanding what users have in common,and where they differ

Gathering stories: user interviewing, questionnaires, observation, and workshops

Working with managers, trainers, salespeople and other "proxies"

Writing user stories for acceptance testing

Using stories to prioritize, set schedules, and estimate release costs

Includes end-of-chapter practice questions and exercises

User Stories Applied will be invaluable to every software developer, tester, analyst, and manager working with any agile method: XP, Scrum... or even your own home-grown approach.

ADDISON-WESLEY PROFESSIONAL

Boston, MA 02116

awprofessional.com

ISBN: 0-321-20568-5

Table of Contents
Forewords & Introductions

	Foreword	xv
	Acknowledgments	xvii
	Introduction	xix
Part I	Getting Started	1
Chapter 1	An Overview	3
	What Is a User Story?	4
	Where Are the Details?	5
	"How Long Does It Have to Be?"	7
	The Customer Team	8
	What Will the Process Be Like?	8
	Planning Releases and Iterations	10
	What Are Acceptance Tests?	12
	Why Change?	13
	Summary	15
	Questions	15
Chapter 2	Writing Stories	17
	Independent	17
	Negotiable	18
	Valuable to Purchasers or Users	20
	Estimatable	22
	Small	23
	Testable	27
	Summary	28
	Developer Responsibilities	28
	Customer Responsibilities	28
	Questions	29
Chapter 3	User Role Modeling	31
	User Roles	31
	Role Modeling Steps	33
	Two Additional Techniques	37
	What If I Have On-Site Users?	39
	Summary	40
	Developer Responsibilities	40
	Customer Responsibilities	41
	Questions	41
Chapter 4	Gathering Stories	43
	Elicitation and Capture Should Be Illicit	43
	A Little Is Enough, or Is It?	44
	Techniques	45
	User Interviews	45
	Questionnaires	47
	Observation	48
	Story-Writing Workshops	49
	Summary	52
	Developer Responsibilities	53
	Customer Responsibilities	53
	Questions	53
Chapter 5	Working with User Proxies	55
	The Users' Manager	55
	A Development Manager	57
	Salespersons	57
	Domain Experts	58
	The Marketing Group	59
	Former Users	59
	Customers	59
	Trainers and Technical Support	61
	Business or Systems Analysts	61
	What to Do When Working with a User Proxy	61
	Can You Do It Yourself?	63
	Constituting the Customer Team	63
	Summary	64
	Developer Responsibilities	65
	Customer Responsibilities	65
	Questions	66
Chapter 6	Acceptance Testing User Stories	67
	Write Tests Before Coding	68
	The Customer Specifies the Tests	69
	Testing Is Part of the Process	69
	How Many Tests Are Too Many?	70
	The Framework for Integrated Test	70
	Types of Testing	72
	Summary	73
	Developer Responsibilities	73
	Customer Responsibilities	73
	Questions	74
Chapter 7	Guidelines for Good Stories	75
	Start with Goal Stories	75
	Slice the Cake	75
	Write Closed Stories	76
	Put Constraints on Cards	77
	Size the Story to the Horizon	78
	Keep the UI Out as Long as Possible	79
	Some Things Aren't Stories	80
	Include User Roles in the Stories	80
	Write for One User	81
	Write in Active Voice	81
	Customer Writes	81
	Don't Number Story Cards	82
	Don't Forget the Purpose	82
	Summary	82
	Questions	83
Part II	Estimating and Planning	85
Chapter 8	Estimating User Stories	87
	Story Points	87
	Estimate as a Team	88
	Estimating	88
	Triangulate	90
	Using Story Points	91
	What If We Pair Program?	92
	Some Reminders	93
	Summary	94
	Developer Responsibilities	94
	Customer Responsibilities	95
	Questions	95
Chapter 9	Planning a Release	97
	When Do We Want the Release?	98
	What Would You Like in It?	98
	Prioritizing the Stories	99
	Mixed Priorities	100
	Risky Stories	101
	Prioritizing Infrastructural Needs	101
	Selecting an Iteration Length	103
	From Story Points to Expected Duration	103
	The Initial Velocity	104
	Creating the Release Plan	105
	Summary	106
	Developer Responsibilities	106
	Customer Responsibilities	107
	Questions	107
Chapter 10	Planning an Iteration	109
	Iteration Planning Overview	109
	Discussing the Stories	110
	Disaggregating into Tasks	111
	Accepting Responsibility	113
	Estimate and Confirm	113
	Summary	115
	Developer Responsibilities	115
	Customer Responsibilities	116
	Questions	116
Chapter 11	Measuring and Monitoring Velocity	117
	Measuring Velocity	117
	Planned and Actual Velocity	119
	Iteration Burndown Charts	121
	Burndown Charts During an Iteration	123
	Summary	126
	Developer Responsibilities	127
	Customer Responsibilities	127
	Questions	127
Part III	Frequently Discussed Topics	131
Chapter 12	What Stories Are Not	133
	User Stories Aren't IEEE 830	133
	User Stories Are Not Use Cases	137
	User Stories Aren't Scenarios	141
	Summary	143
	Questions	143
Chapter 13	Why User Stories?	145
	Verbal Communication	145
	User Stories Are Comprehensible	148
	User Stories Are the Right Size for Planning	148
	User Stories Work for Iterative Development	149
	Stories Encourage Deferring Detail	150
	Stories Support Opportunistic Development	151
	User Stories Encourage Participatory Design	152
	Stories Build Up Tacit Knowledge	153
	Why Not Stories?	153
	Summary	154
	Developer Responsibilities	155
	Customer Responsibilities	155
	Questions	155
Chapter 14	A Catalog of Story Smells	157
	Stories Are Too Small	157
	Interdependent Stories	157
	Goldplating	158
	Too Many Details	159
	Including User Interface Detail Too Soon	159
	Thinking Too Far Ahead	160
	Splitting Too Many Stories	160
	Customer Has Trouble Prioritizing	161
	Customer Won't Write and Prioritize the Stories	162
	Summary	162
	Developer Responsibilities	163
	Customer Responsibilities	163
	Questions	163
Chapter 15	Using Stories with Scrum	165
	Scrum Is Iterative and Incremental	165
	The Basics of Scrum	166
	The Scrum Team	166
	The Product Backlog	167
	The Sprint Planning Meeting	168
	The Sprint Review Meeting	170
	The Daily Scrum Meeting	171
	Adding Stories to Scrum	173
	A Case Study	174
	Summary	175
	Questions	176
Chapter 16	Additional Topics	177
	Handling NonFunctional Requirements	177
	Paper or Software?	179
	User Stories and the User Interface	181
	Retaining the Stories	184
	Stories for Bugs	185
	Summary	186
	Developer Responsibilities	186
	Customer Responsibilities	187
	Questions	187
Part IV	An Example	189
Chapter 17	The User Roles	191
	The Project	191
	Identifying the Customer	191
	Identifying Some Initial Roles	192
	Consolidating and Narrowing	193
	Role Modeling	195
	Adding Personas	197
Chapter 18	The Stories	199
	Stories for Teresa	199
	Stories for Captain Ron	202
	Stories for a Novice Sailor	203
	Stories for a Non-Sailing Gift Buyer	204
	Stories for a Report Viewer	204
	Some Administration Stories	205
	Wrapping Up	206
Chapter 19	Estimating the Stories	209
	The First Story	210
	Advanced Search	212
	Rating and Reviewing	213
	Accounts	214
	Finishing the Estimates	215
	All the Estimates	216
Chapter 20	The Release Plan	219
	Estimating Velocity	219
	Prioritizing the Stories	220
	The Finished Release Plan	221
Chapter 21	The Acceptance Tests	223
	The Search Tests	223
	Shopping Cart Tests	224
	Buying Books	225
	User Accounts	226
	Administration	227
	Testing the Constraints	228
	A Final Story	229
Part V	Appendices	231
Appendix A	An Overview of Extreme Programming	233
	Roles	233
	The Twelve Practices	234
	XP's Values	240
	The Principles of XP	241
	Summary	242
Appendix B	Answers to Questions	245
	Chapter 1, An Overview	245
	Chapter 2, Writing Stories	246
	Chapter 3, User Role Modeling	247
	Chapter 4, Gathering Stories	248
	Chapter 5, Working with User Proxies	249
	Chapter 6, Acceptance Testing User Stories	249
	Chapter 7, Guidelines for Good Stories	249
	Chapter 8, Estimating User Stories	251
	Chapter 9, Planning a Release	251
	Chapter 10, Planning an Iteration	252
	Chapter 11, Measuring and Monitoring Velocity	252
	Chapter 12, What Stories Are Not	253
	Chapter 13, Why User Stories?	254
	Chapter 14, A Catalog of Story Smells	255
	Chapter 15, Using Stories with Scrum	255
	Chapter 16, Additional Topics	256
	References	259
	Index	263

Forewords & Introductions

Thoroughly reviewed and eagerly anticipated by the agile community, User Stories Applied offers a requirements process that saves time, eliminates rework, and leads directly to better software. A great way to build software that meets users' needs is to begin with "user stories": simple, clear, brief descriptions of functionality that will be valuable to real users. In User Stories Applied, Mike Conn provides you with a front-to-back blueprint for writing these user stories and weaving them into your development life cycle. You'll learn what makes a great user story, and what makes a bad one. You'll discover practical way to gather user stories, even when you can't speak with your users. Then, once you've compiled your user stories, Cohn shows how to organize them, prioritize them, and use them for planning, management, and testing.

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Mike Cohn, Kent Beck (Foreword by)

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Mike Cohn, Kent Beck (Foreword by)

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Synopsis

Biography

Customer Reviews

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Developmentby Anonymous

From the Publisher

Product Details

Table of Contents

Forewords & Introductions

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