The book "User stories. The Art of Agile Software Development

User stories are a method for describing requirements for a product under development. The book tells how to properly use this technique to focus on the task and the wishes of the client, rather than being sprayed on the implementation of secondary functions. Jeff Patton shows how this approach not only speeds up and systematizes the development, but also improves team understanding.

The author told how to avoid the maximum number of misunderstandings associated with the use of stories in software development using Agile and Lean methodologies.

If you use stories and suffer, this book is for you.

Already quite a few organizations have implemented Agile and Lean methodologies, therefore, it is quite possible that you have already managed to fall into one of the pitfalls arising from a misunderstanding of the concept of stories. Here are some of them.

• Since stories allow you to concentrate on creating small pieces of software, it's easy to stop seeing the whole picture . The result is a typical Frankenstein product, for each user of which it is obvious that it consists of separate, unrelated parts.
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• When you are working on a product of considerable size, creating small particles one after another makes people wonder when you are finally finished and what happens as a result . As if you are a builder.

• Since the main thing in the concept of stories is discussion, people often forget to keep notes . As a result, the subject matter and agreements reached are forgotten.

• Since acceptance criteria are assumed in good stories, we concentrate on defining these criteria. But this process and the description of the product being created are not the same thing. As a result, the team cannot complete the planned work on schedule .

• Since good stories must be written from the user's point of view, but there are many aspects that the user simply does not see, team members say: “This product has no users, so user stories are not appropriate here.”

If you have already landed in one of these traps, I (the author) will try to clarify all
their misunderstandings. You will learn how to evaluate the full picture, productively discuss the goals and objectives of users and create good software.

Who else is this book for

For you, of course. Especially if you already bought it. I now think that you made a smart investment. In any case, reading the book will be especially useful for specialists in the following areas.

• Product managers and UX specialists at commercial product companies must read this book in order to build a bridge from the world of user experience and product performance to tactical plans and backlog elements. If you are having difficulty trying to move from the product view to the individual details that your team needs to create, the stories will help you. If you find it difficult to get other people to put yourself in the shoes of users, a story map will help you. If you can’t put together a good interaction design and practical product design, this book will help you. And if you are trying to conduct an experiment in the style of a Lean startup, it will also be useful to you.

• Customer representatives, business analysts, and product managers in information technology organizations must read this book to build bridges between users, developers, and other interested parties. If you spend a lot of effort so that all interested people in your company finally come to some kind of agreement, history maps will help you. And if developers find it difficult, trying to draw a whole picture, the stories will be useful here.

• Agile and Lean process trainers , if they want to help teams and individuals act more efficiently, should read this book. In addition, just think how the wrong idea about the stories formed in the staff of your organization! Use the stories, simple exercises, and practices described in this book to help your teams grow.

• And finally, the rest . When using Agile processes, we often expect fruitful work with stories from people acting as business analysts or customer representatives, but the work will be truly effective if the basics are known to everyone. If people do not understand the simplest things, you will often hear complaints that the stories are poorly written, or too long, or not detailed enough.

This book will help, but not in the way you expect. You and other readers will learn that creating stories is not a way to write requirements, but a path to more productive and organized discussions. This book will help you formulate what kind of discussion is needed so that at any time you have the necessary information.

Bird's eye story mapping

Chapters 1–4 will give you a general overview of story mapping. If you already use them and have some experience, this part of the book will provide enough material to get down to business immediately.

Chapter 5 provides you with an excellent opportunity to practice key concepts used to create the best story card. Try to do it in your office with a group of colleagues - as a result, each participant will get a useful experience. I promise: the cards you create will eventually get better and better.

Intuitive understanding of user stories

Chapters 6–12 tell a lot about user stories: how they work in reality, how to organize their use in Agile or Lean projects in the best possible way. In addition to the story maps, there are a few small examples that may be useful in daily development practice. Even if you are a veteran of Agile, I promise you will learn something new about your stories. And if you're new to the stories, you’ll learn enough to hit the most arrogant Agile-Know-All in the office.

Best backlog

Chapters 13–15 will reveal the details of the life cycle of stories. We will discuss specific practical techniques that will help use stories and maps of stories. Gradually, we will go from the opening prospects to the compilation of a backlog filled with stories describing a viable product. You will learn how storymapping and other tricks can help you in every step of the way.

Best design

Chapters 16-18 step by step will devote you to the subtleties of the tactics of using stories. You will learn how to bring stories to the end, not to lose sight of them in the development process, to achieve their exact execution, and also to extract experience from each story that you have transformed into working software.

I found that the last few chapters in most books on software development are simply useless paper translations. They can usually be skipped painlessly. Unfortunately, in my book I have not written anything like this and you will have to read it in its entirety. I can console you only by the fact that in each chapter you will find some useful techniques and lessons that you can immediately put into practice.

about the author

Over 20 years of practical work, Jeff Patton was convinced that there is no one correct way to design and develop software, but there are a lot of wrong ways. To help organizations improve their work, Jeff uses more than 15 years of experience with a wide range of products, from an online ordering system of aircraft spare parts to electronic medical records. While many development processes focus on speed and productivity, Jeff balances these factors by creating products that provide business value and market success.

Jeff decided to specialize in Agile approaches since he worked in the extreme programming team in 2000. In particular, he specializes in integrating effective user interaction design and product management into powerful engineering methods.

Jeff currently works as an independent consultant, Agile process trainer, product design process trainer and instructor. Many articles, essays, and presentations on various aspects of Agile product development can be found at agileproductdesign.com and on Alistair Coburn's Crystal Clear. Jeff is the founder and moderator of the Yahoo! on agile usability, a columnist at StickyMinds.com and IEEE Software, a Scrum certified trainer, and also an Agile Alliance's 2007 Gordon Pask award for contributing to Agile development.

»More information about the book can be found on the publisher's website.
» Table of Contents
» Excerpt

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