This presentation was give by Dave Grant from the SWAG South Wales Agile Group

1. Small is Beautiful
David Grant
Sustainable Pace Ltd
South Wales Agile Group

2. 1. Why are small user stories important?
2. How do we make user stories small?
3. Questions
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Outline

3. 1. Most benefit for product managers or product owners
2. Beginner to intermediate level
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Intended Audience

4. 1. It’s OK to ask questions, but please raise your hand
2. It’s OK to leave if this isn’t for you
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House Rules

5. Why are small
stories important?

6. Thomas Edison, Inventor & Businessman
“The real measure of success is the
number of experiments that can be
crowded into 24 hours”

7. Software product development
is complex and uncertain
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8. @seize_the_dave
Need to learn incrementally by
building and measuring

9. @seize_the_dave
Tighten
feedback
loops
pixabay.com/p-52691

10. More opportunities to
change direction
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11. Very few economies of
scale in software
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12. How do we slice
user stories?

13. Techniques are
bidirectional, but...
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14. “An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure”
Proverb, Early 17th Century

15. @seize_the_dave
The product
backlog is not a
replacement for a
requirements
document
flickr.com/photos/wiertz/5624281846

16. Fundamentals

17. Narrow your
customer segments
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18. Use story headlines
to facilitate slicing
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19. Card, Conversation,
Confirmation
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20. @seize_the_dave
Gradually
increase
complexity
pixabay.com/p-1840480/

21. @seize_the_dave
Legacy rewrite? Start
with the outputs

22. High complexity? Build a
walking skeleton, but
don’t kid yourself
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23. Slicing Patterns

24. @seize_the_dave
Split on business rule
variations

25. @seize_the_dave
Split out
major
effort
http://bit.ly/2tJB6LH

26. @seize_the_dave
Split on variations in
data

27. @seize_the_dave
Simplify inputs

28. @seize_the_dave
Defer non-functional
requirements

29. @seize_the_dave
Split learning
from earning
pixabay.com/p-2337525/

30. Manual or
automated
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31. @seize_the_dave
Build or buy?

32. Batch or online
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33. @seize_the_dave
Single user or
multi user?
bit.ly/2tmQLyh

34. @seize_the_dave
Use static or
dynamic references

35. @seize_the_dave
Ignore or handle
errors

36. @seize_the_dave
Transient or
persistent data?

37. @seize_the_dave
One or many?

38. @seize_the_dave
Simplify outputs

39. @seize_the_dave
Split out
workflow
steps
http://bit.ly/2tGhKHN

40. How small is too
small?

41. @seize_the_dave
Technical stories are
not user stories

42. @seize_the_dave
Stories must have a
tangible value

43. Problems

44. @seize_the_dave
Large overheads for
scheduling work, e.g.
project sponsorship

45. @seize_the_dave
Eliminate
waste, align
along
products
geograph.ie/photo/3939164

46. @seize_the_dave
High transaction costs,
e.g. deployment risk,
functional silos

47. @seize_the_dave
Cross-functional teams,
continuous delivery

48. Useful resources

49. @seize_the_dave
● 50 Quick Ideas to Improve Your User
Stories (Gojko Adzic; David Evans)
● User Story Mapping (Jeff Patton)
● xp123.com (Bill Wake)
● agileforall.com (Richard Lawrence)

50. @seize_the_dave

52. Thanks! Questions?
@seize_the_dave or david@grant.org.uk
https://speakerdeck.com/seize_the_dave/small-is-beautiful