From my previous article and YouTube video, "Story Points: What the Vuck is the point?" I talk about the need to break down stories that have a high VUCK. In this article I will walk through why you may need to break up a story and how you go about doing it.
How do I know when the VUCK is too high?
In the below YouTube video I briefly discuss Story Points and mention one reason you might want to break a story down and that is when the VUCK is too high. You will know your VUCK is too high when your Modified Fibonacci estimate is at 8 or higher.
The most important thing to remember with stories is small batches go through the system much faster than large ones. So the smaller the story, the more confidence you and your team will have in your ability to complete the stories in the Iteration. As mentioned in my previous article and video, the VUCK determines the estimate for the story. The more Volume, Unknowns, Complexity, and less Knowledge you have the bigger the story is. Just remember with story sizes you want to go small or stay home. Now lets take a look at how we can break these stories up into smaller pieces that still provide value.
How do I logically break a story up?
Breaking up stories isn't as simple as it sounds. The key to a good story is INVEST which was created by Bill Wake to help with user story writing for Agile Teams.
I – Independent from other stories
N – Negotiable - this should be a conversation piece between the Agile Team and the Product Owner. Not all pieces of a story are fixed.
V – Valuable by itself to the customer
E – Estimable - is written clearly so Agile Teams can estimate the size
S – Small enough to get the work done in 3 days or less
T – Testable
Just like the image of the slice of cake below, you want to ensure stories are cut into vertical slices of deliciousness (or value).
Now lets walk through an example to help with understanding this concept.
User Story Title | Welcome Page |
Description | As a website user I need to have access to the welcome page which has a link to login to my account, dynamically scrolls, and has a link to FAQs. |
Acceptance Criteria |
|
Estimate | 20 |
We can all agree this story is too large for an iteration based on everything listed and the estimate. so I will break this story down into 3 INVEST sliced stories.
Story 1
User Story Title | Welcome Page |
Description | As a website user I need a welcome page so that I have a landing area when I access the website. |
Acceptance Criteria |
|
Estimate | 5 |
Story 2
User Story Title | CTA for My Account Login |
Descrption | As a website user, I need a way to login to my account from the welcome page so that I can access my account details. |
Acceptance Criteria |
|
Estimate | 3 |
Story 3
User Story Title | CTA for FAQs |
Description | As a website user, I need a way to see FAQs from the welcome page so that I can quickly access information pertaining to frequently asked questions. |
Acceptance Criteria |
|
Estimate | 3 |
You might have noticed that in breaking down the 20 point story we only have 11 total points now. The reason is when you lump all of that into one story you increase complexity. If for example, a component of one of the APIs needed to change then you would have to refactor some of the work you did on the story. By breaking the work into small chunks you can easily see value at each stage and get the work through the iteration quicker. As you notice with each story they follow the INVEST principle and are below the 8 point recommendation I provided.
Please note: 8 point maximum per story is my personal recommendation based on my experience.
If you would like more hands on assistance with this topic, please reach out today. Or check this article out on YouTube - https://youtu.be/NU94x5nebS4
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