Skip to main content

User Stories / Story Points

Image
By

User stories are one of the primary development artifacts for Scrum teams.  They are a short description of the feature as told from the perspective of the person (stakeholder) who desired some new capability from a current service, system or application.  Many Scrum teams have adopted the user story template developed by Mike Cohn, which identified who the end user is, what the end user wants and why in a single sentence.  This template is most often written like this:  "As a (type of user), I want (some goal) so that (some reason)."  Example: As an Incident Process Owner, I want to see a release of known errors in order to do appropriate service desk staff training. In this way team members are encouraged to think of their work from the perspective of who will use it, ensuring requirements get met and value is delivered. 

User stories are narrative texts that describe an interaction of the user and the service.  It focuses on the value that a user gains from utilizing the service.  A user story is a simile for the work being done.  They are often written on index cards or sticky notes and arranged on walls or tables to facilitate planning and discussion, the end result being collaboration and just in time definition over documentation.

A good user story uses the "INVEST" model:
  • Independent.  Reduced dependencies = easier to plan
  • Negotiable.  Details added via collaboration
  • Valuable.  Provides value to the customer
  • Estimable. Too big or too vague = not estimable
  • Small.  Can be done in less than a week by the team
  • Testable.  Good acceptance criteria

Story point is a subjective measure used by Scrum teams.  It is used to measure the work required to implement a story.  In simple terms it's a number that tells the team how hard the story is.  Hard could be related to complexity, unknowns and effort.  Teams can use a modified version of a Fibonacci sequence (https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/fibonacci-sequence.html) to help understand the amount of effort that any given story will entail.  Story points do not relate to hours, so if that will be a requirement (most of the time it is) then you shouldn't use story points within project management.

To gain knowledge and certifications in DevOps Foundation follow this link:  http://www.itsmacademy.com/dofnd/ 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Four Service Characteristics

By
Recently I came across several articles by researchers and experts that laid out definitions and characteristics of services. ITIL provides us with a definition that can help drive the creation of value-laden services: A means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve without the ownership of specific costs and risks. An area that ITIL is not so clear is in terms of service characteristics. Several researchers and experts put forth that services have four basic characteristics (IHIP): Intangibility—Services are the results of actions not things. They have no physical presence and represent a logical set of elements. One way to think of service is “work done for others.”  Heterogeneity—Also known as “variability”; services are unique items because of the mechanisms used to deliver services, which is people. Because the people element adds variability, the service is variable. This holds true, especially for the value proposition—not eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is the difference between Process Owner, Process Manager and Process Practitioner?

By
This article was originally published in 2015. With the Introduction of ITIL 4, some of the concepts have changed in ways that are described below. ITIL 4 has also introduced new roles, as explained in our blog ITIL 4 and the Evolving Role of Roles . Before we dive into the difference between these roles, let’s first look at a key update in ITIL 4 – the shift from processes to practices. ITIL 4 has evolved to focus on holistic practices vs. isolated processes. By definition, a practice is a set of organizational resources designed for performing work or accomplishing an objective. For example, the purpose of the incident management practice is to minimize the negative impact of incidents by restoring normal service operation as quickly as possible. All organizations recognize the need to allocate resources to the management of incidents and mature their capabilities in that area. In ITIL 4, each practice includes resources based on the four ...
1 comment
Read more

What Is A Service Offering?

By
The ITIL 4 Best Practice Guidance defines a “Service Offering” as a description of one or more services designed to address the needs of a target customer or group.   As a service provider, we can’t stop there!   We must know what the contracts of our service offering are and be able to put them into context as required by the customer.     Let’s explore the three elements that comprise a Service Offering. A “Service Offering” may include:     Goods, Access to Resources, and Service Actions 1. Goods – When we think of “Goods” within a service offering these are the items where ownership is transferred to the consumer and the consumer takes responsibility for the future use of these goods.   Example of goods that are being provided in the offering – If this is a hotel service then toiletries or chocolates are yours to take with you.   You the consumer own these and they are yours to take with you.      ...
Post a Comment
Read more