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User Stories Applied : For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

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Mike Cohn
March 2004, Addison-Wesley Pub Co, Paperback, 304 pages, ISBN 0321205685

Instructor-led, virtual, and self-paced training for Business Analysts What Do Business Analysts Do?
How to Elicit (Gather), Write, and Analyze Requirements
How to Prepare and Facilitate Requirements Workshops
How to Initiate Requirements Gathering with User Stories
How to Model, Analyze, and Improve Business Processes
How to Model, Analyze, and Improve Business Data
All About Use Cases
How to Test an Application using Business Requirements
How to Discover Business and Stakeholder Requirements
How to Manage Changing Requirements
e-Learning, virtual workshops and webinars Try our new Virtual Workshops and e-Coaching
for today's Business System Analysts (BA's) and Subject Matter Experts (SME's)

Summary
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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

 
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BA books: Table of Contents
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Foreword.


Acknowledgments.


Introduction.

I: GETTING STARTED.

1: An Overview.

What Is a User Story?

Where Are the Details?

“How Long Does It Have to Be?”

The Customer Team.

What Will the Process Be Like?

Planning Releases and Iterations.

What Are Acceptance Tests?

Why Change?

Summary.

Questions.

2: Writing Stories.

Independent.

Negotiable.

Valuable to Purchasers or Users.

Estimatable.

Small.

Testable.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

3: User Role Modeling.

User Roles.

Role Modeling Steps.

Two Additional Techniques.

What If I Have On-Site Users?

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

4: Gathering Stories.

Elicitation and Capture Should Be Illicit.

A Little Is Enough, or Is It?

Techniques.

User Interviews.

Questionnaires.

Observation.

Story-Writing Workshops.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

5: Working with User Proxies.

The Users' Manager.

A Development Manager.

Salespersons.

Domain Experts.

The Marketing Group.

Former Users.

Customers.

Trainers and Technical Support.

Business or Systems Analysts.

What to Do When Working with a User Proxy.

Can You Do It Yourself?

Constituting the Customer Team.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

6: Acceptance Testing User Stories.

Write Tests Before Coding.

The Customer Specifies the Tests.

Testing Is Part of the Process.

How Many Tests Are Too Many?

The Framework for Integrated Test.

Types of Testing.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

7: Guidelines for Good Stories.

Start with Goal Stories.

Slice the Cake.

Write Closed Stories.

Put Constraints on Cards.

Size the Story to the Horizon.

Keep the UI Out as Long as Possible.

Some Things Aren't Stories.

Include User Roles in the Stories.

Write for One User.

Write in Active Voice.

Customer Writes.

Don't Number Story Cards.

Don't Forget the Purpose.

Summary.

Questions.

II: ESTIMATING AND PLANNING.

8: Estimating User Stories.

Story Points.

Estimate as a Team.

Estimating.

Triangulate.

Using Story Points.

What If We Pair Program?

Some Reminders.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

9: Planning a Release.

When Do We Want the Release?

What Would You Like in It?

Prioritizing the Stories.

Mixed Priorities.

Risky Stories.

Prioritizing Infrastructural Needs.

Selecting an Iteration Length.

From Story Points to Expected Duration.

The Initial Velocity.

Creating the Release Plan.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

10: Planning an Iteration.

Iteration Planning Overview.

Discussing the Stories.

Disaggregating into Tasks.

Accepting Responsibility.

Estimate and Confirm.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

11: Measuring and Monitoring Velocity.

Measuring Velocity.

Planned and Actual Velocity.

Iteration Burndown Charts.

Burndown Charts During an Iteration.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

III: FREQUENTLY DISCUSSED TOPICS.

12: What Stories Are Not.

User Stories Aren't IEEE 830.

User Stories Are Not Use Cases.

User Stories Aren't Scenarios.

Summary.

Questions.

13: Why User Stories?

Verbal Communication.

User Stories Are Comprehensible.

User Stories Are the Right Size for Planning.

User Stories Work for Iterative Development.

Stories Encourage Deferring Detail.

Stories Support Opportunistic Development.

User Stories Encourage Participatory Design.

Stories Build Up Tacit Knowledge.

Why Not Stories?

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

14: A Catalog of Story Smells.

Stories Are Too Small.

Interdependent Stories.

Goldplating.

Too Many Details.

Including User Interface Detail Too Soon.

Thinking Too Far Ahead.

Splitting Too Many Stories.

Customer Has Trouble Prioritizing.

Customer Won't Write and Prioritize the Stories.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

15: Using Stories with Scrum.

Scrum Is Iterative and Incremental.

The Basics of Scrum.

The Scrum Team.

The Product Backlog.

The Sprint Planning Meeting.

The Sprint Review Meeting.

The Daily Scrum Meeting.

Adding Stories to Scrum.

A Case Study.

Summary.

Questions.

16: Additional Topics.

Handling NonFunctional Requirements.

Paper or Software?

User Stories and the User Interface.

Retaining the Stories.

Stories for Bugs.

Summary.

Developer Responsibilities.

Customer Responsibilities.

Questions.

IV: AN EXAMPLE.

17: The User Roles.

The Project.

Identifying the Customer.

Identifying Some Initial Roles.

Consolidating and Narrowing.

Role Modeling.

Adding Personas.

18: The Stories.

Stories for Teresa.

Stories for Captain Ron.

Stories for a Novice Sailor.

Stories for a Non-Sailing Gift Buyer.

Stories for a Report Viewer.

Some Administration Stories.

Wrapping Up.

19: Estimating the Stories.

The First Story.

Advanced Search.

Rating and Reviewing.

Accounts.

Finishing the Estimates.

All the Estimates.

20: The Release Plan.

Estimating Velocity.

Prioritizing the Stories.

The Finished Release Plan.

21: The Acceptance Tests.

The Search Tests.

Shopping Cart Tests.

Buying Books.

User Accounts.

Administration.

Testing the Constraints.

A Final Story.

V: APPENDICES.

Appendix A: An Overview of Extreme Programming.

Roles.

The Twelve Practices.

XP's Values.

The Principles of XP.

Summary.

Appendix B: Answers to Questions.

Chapter 1, An Overview.

Chapter 2, Writing Stories.

Chapter 3, User Role Modeling.

Chapter 4, Gathering Stories.

Chapter 5, Working with User Proxies.

Chapter 6, Acceptance Testing User Stories.

Chapter 7, Guidelines for Good Stories.

Chapter 8, Estimating User Stories.

Chapter 9, Planning a Release.

Chapter 10, Planning an Iteration.

Chapter 11, Measuring and Monitoring Velocity.

Chapter 12, What Stories Are Not.

Chapter 13, Why User Stories?

Chapter 14, A Catalog of Story Smells.

Chapter 15, Using Stories with Scrum.

Chapter 16, Additional Topics.

References.

Index.
 
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Business System Analysis Books: Reviews
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Review-Date: 2/26/2011 Rating: 5 Summary: Great, practical advice for business and programmers alike

I highly recommend this book for those people/firms that have implemented or are looking to implement a development process basthen user stories. Cohn offers practical advice and examples for both business users (customers) and programmers alike. The book reminds me of Beck‘s XP Explained in this sense.
Many examples are given about how to write good stories–including what to do about bug stories and techniques to use for breaking down large stories into manageable pieces. We have begun to use this book in all of our teams to improve our process.


Review-Date: 9/8/2010 Rating: 5 Summary: Book review

My feelings from reading this book are very positive.
The book is easy readable. The chapters are separated into small pieces which was very convenient to me. What are User Stories and how to write them is explained at the very beginning. I was pleased by the techniques how to work with User Stories and how to use them to get maximum information needed for performing a good development and finally deliver outstanding software. The theoretical parts in the book are enriched by examples from the real world and maybe it seems to only me but the examples are definitely not tedious as I know from another books. I was also pleased that the author tends to SCRUM methodology although the User Stories are originated from XP (Extreme Programming).
If may I evaluate the book, I give it five stars.


Review-Date: 5/14/2010 Rating: 5 Summary: Best agile how–to....accessible for consumption by all audiences

A ‘must‘ for any product manager or product owner. There are many books out there, but if you only get one, let it be this one! Cuts to the chase, contains all that is necessary, with lots of helpful examples. Mike Cohn‘s ‘Agile Estimating and Planning‘ is great too!


Review-Date: 10/22/2009 Rating: 5 Summary: Better in One Chapter

This book made me better after the first chapter, maybe even after the introduction. I come from a traditional background of "The system shall..." approach to system requirements and incorporated them into a more agile approach. I have designed and completed successful projects that included hundreds of thousands of lines of code. I can tell you, those requirements were like hitching a piano to a car and driving uphill.

I have started using the principles in this book along with other agile approaches to get started, successfully, down the road of agile software development. My teams are happier, my customers are happier, my boss is happier.

By following the practical guidelines, this book will put you on the path from the beginning.


Review-Date: 4/16/2009 Rating: 4 Summary: Excellent introduction to the best technique of capturing users‘ requirements

For those that need a quick introduction into "Agile methodology" – this is the book to start with.
It details the basics of interviewing, clarifying and capturing users‘ requirements in a true agile fashion.
The book then proceeds with describing the necessary interaction between the development team and the users / users‘ representatives (expert domains). Great job in providing a succinct analysis of the differences between the User Stories methodology and the IEEE software specifications as well as the Use Case technique.
Excellent examples accompany the theory.
The only problem is that User Stories is only a part (albeit an important one) in the Agile Methodology. The writer realizes the need to provide the basic principles of Agile but this part feels like a half baked effort to grow the book into something bigger than initially planned.


Review-Date: 12/21/2008 Rating: 4 Summary: Solid practical and philosophical overview of agile methods

I bought this book in order to prepare for a transition to agile on our development team. I found it a good mix of theoretical background for the agile processes but also having plenty of good, practical advice. Plus, it is written well.


Review-Date: 12/16/2008 Rating: 5 Summary: Great explanation of how to apply stories in real life

This book does an excellent job explaining what stories are, how to use them, and how to deal with the nasty edge cases that may trip up any team trying to apply user stories to their own projects.


Review-Date: 10/11/2008 Rating: 5 Summary: Good Advice for Beginners and Experts

This book provides excellent insight into the story driven process, with immediately actionable advice. Cohn clearly describes the advantages of stories, and explains how to develop quality systems that deliver value to the user. Anyone operating in, or hoping to adopt an iterative and incremental methodology will benefit from reading this piece.


Review-Date: 7/17/2008 Rating: 5 Summary: Well–written, practical advice

This book is one of the better collections of how–to‘s and practical applications I‘ve read on Agile user stories. It mixes in just enough of the theory to understand the importance and distinctions of epics, stories, tasks, and spikes without overly focusing on them. Then, it uses real–world examples in common language to walk you through some of the messier implementations of Agile, and provides specific guidance on how to make things work in less than ideal situations. I found this book particularly helpful for me personally, as well as for one of our less experienced Scrum Master‘s at work.


Review-Date: 6/15/2008 Rating: 5 Summary: Excellent and a good primer if you‘re new to Agile

I have seen other presentations and publications from this author and he really seems to know his stuff, plus it‘s really easy to read. I‘m a consultant and trainer and find this to be an excellent reference. There are lots of examples and the book is very easy to read. You also don‘t have to be involved in Agile development to find this useful, as I also use the concepts for developing user roles and focusing on user goals as a primary function even in a Waterfall development world.


 
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