1. USER STORIES &
DECOMPOSING
REQUIREMENTS

2. WHAT IS A USER STORY?
• A REGULAR STORY IS ABOUT SOME PERSONS, THEY ARE IN A
SITUATION, SOMETHING HAPPENS THAT IS INTERESTING, THEN THERE
IS AN OUTCOME AND AN END
• SOMETIMES THERE IS A MORAL OR SOME RATIONALE FOR IT ALL
• USER STORIES ARE STORIES ABOUT A USER OF OUR PRODUCT.
THERE IS A SITUATION, THE USER DOES SOMETHING AND THE
PRODUCT RESPONDS GIVING THE USER SOME RESULT (HOPEFULLY
OF VALUE FOR THE USER)

3. WHAT IS A USER STORY?
• A USER’S NEED
• A PLANNING ITEM
• A REQUIREMENT
• A (CHUNK OF) PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
• A COMMUNICATION TOOL
• A DISCUSSION OPENER

4. USER STORY FORMATS
FOCUS ON THE BUSINESS GOAL
•TITLE
•IN ORDER TO <BUSINESS GOAL>
•AS <A ROLE>
•I WANT <FUNCTIONALITY>

5. USER STORY FORMATS
FOCUS ON THE ROLE
•TITLE
•AS <A ROLE>
•IN ORDER TO <BUSINESS GOAL>
•I WANT <FUNCTIONALITY>

6. WHY USER STORIES?
• USER STORIES PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY BEING INTUITIVELY
UNDERSTANDABLE FOR ALL INVOLVED (USUALLY ALSO FOR
STAKEHOLDERS)
• HELP FOCUS ON THE USER AND VALUABLE BUSINESS OUTCOMES
• HELP START DISCUSSIONS – BUT ALSO HELP CAPTURE THEIR
OUTCOMES

7. GWT – GIVEN WHEN
THEN
• “GIVEN-WHEN-THEN” – PART OF THE BDD APPROACH, GAINING
POPULARITY AS ACCEPTANCE TESTING SO FORMULATED
REQUIREMENTS CAN BE AUTOMATED (JBEHAVE, RSPEC, CUCUMBER
ETC.).
• ALSO USEFUL WITHOUT BDD&TOOLS FOR DESCRIBING
REQUIREMENTS FOR SYSTEMS WITHOUT HUMAN USERS WHICH
USUALLY ARE STATE MACHINES RESPONDING TO EXTERNAL EVENTS

8. GIVEN WHEN THEN
DETAILS
• STRUCTURE:
• GIVEN <INITIAL CONTEXT>
• WHEN <ACTION / EVENT>
• THEN <OUTCOME>
• EXAMPLE:
• GIVEN I AM A PREMIUM USER AND I HAVE A HOTEL RESERVATION
• WHEN I CANCEL IT UP TO 4 DAYS BEFORE TRAVELING
• THEN I GET FULL REFUND

9. TYPES OF LARGE
STORIES
• COMPOUND STORIES - USUALLY MADE UP OF SEVERAL SMALLER
STORIES
• COMPLEX STORIES - USUALLY INHERENTLY LARGE STORIES,
OFTEN BECAUSE THERE IS SOME UNCERTAINTY ABOUT WHAT NEEDS
TO BE DONE.

10. BREAKING DOWN USER
STORIES
• CRUD – CREATE, READ, UPDATE, DELETE
• ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA – SEPARATELY POSITIVE SCENARIO, NEGATIVE
SCENARIO, EXCEPTIONS ETC.
• DECISION TREES – CONSIDER, THEN IMPLEMENT BRANCHES
• WORKFLOW STEPS – WORKFLOW SEQUENCE ONE BY ONE
• NONE, ONE, MANY – CONSIDER SEPARATELY SIZES
• EXTERNAL (INCREMENTAL) QUALITY – GRADUALLY IMPROVE UI,
PERFORMANCE ETC.
• “SPIKES” – TIME-BOXED EXPLORATION

11. SOURCES
• “GROWING AGILE” – BLOG POST ABOUT BREAKING DOWN
REQUIREMENTS
• HTTP://GROWINGAGILE.CO.ZA/2012/12/BREAKING-DOWN-USER-
STORIES/
• “PATTERNS FOR SPLITTING USER STORIES” – RICHARD LAWRENCE
• HTTP://WWW.RICHARDLAWRENCE.INFO/2009/10/28/PATTERNS-
FOR-SPLITTING-USER-STORIES/
• “USER STORIES APPLIED” – MIKE COHN, 2004 ISBN 978-0321205681

12. WWW.CODESPRINTERS.COM
THANK YOU
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