User stories and scrum projects
User stories constitute the “heart’ of any scrum based project. The development associated with a particular scrum project is defined and processed in the form of user stories. The product owner defines the project by creating and prioritizing the requirements in the product backlog in the form of user stories. During development, a small segment, or a set of user stories is taken from the product backlog, and transferred to the sprint backlog. During the second half of the sprint planning meeting, team members take up user stories from the sprint backlog, and distribute them amongst themselves, based upon their levels of expertise. Each member subsequently segregates each user story into individual development tasks for programming purposes. Thus, the actual process flow of the project is dependent upon user stories.
User stories constitute the “heart’ of any scrum based project. The development associated with a particular scrum project is defined and processed in the form of user stories. The product owner defines the project by creating and prioritizing the requirements in the product backlog in the form of user stories. During development, a small segment, or a set of user stories is taken from the product backlog, and transferred to the sprint backlog. During the second half of the sprint planning meeting, team members take up user stories from the sprint backlog, and distribute them amongst themselves, based upon their levels of expertise. Each member subsequently segregates each user story into individual development tasks for programming purposes. Thus, the actual process flow of the project is dependent upon user stories.
What, exactly, is a user story?
A user story, in scrum, fundamentally helps to explain and describe a particular functionality which is of a certain value to a stakeholder or an investor, and which forms an inherent part of the actual project. In simple words, the entire project is broken down into smaller segments or parts, which are prioritized by the product owner on the basis of importance they carry in the project. The segments or parts are the user stories. The priority is determined on the basis of what kind of functionality the particular user story is supposed to deliver, and how much “value” or financial importance it carries in the project. Stories, which deliver important functionality, are prioritized as “high value” stories, while those, which are associated with less importance, are “low value” stories, or simply “stories”.
A user story, in scrum, fundamentally helps to explain and describe a particular functionality which is of a certain value to a stakeholder or an investor, and which forms an inherent part of the actual project. In simple words, the entire project is broken down into smaller segments or parts, which are prioritized by the product owner on the basis of importance they carry in the project. The segments or parts are the user stories. The priority is determined on the basis of what kind of functionality the particular user story is supposed to deliver, and how much “value” or financial importance it carries in the project. Stories, which deliver important functionality, are prioritized as “high value” stories, while those, which are associated with less importance, are “low value” stories, or simply “stories”.
As far as the official scrum guide is concerned, there are no specific definitions which explain the “structure” of a user story. The guide proceeds to explain what a particular user story is, and what part it plays in the scrum project. It, however, fails to standardize a formal “format” or a “design” as to how a particular user story should “look like” or appear. Perhaps the main reason why the scrum guide prefers to ignore defining the exact structure is because requirements can change from project to project and from one development platform to another. It is not possible to standardize a format which can be compatible to all the types of projects. The guide, however, explains the user story as composed of three constituent parts, or rather it should include there aspects:
- A written and/or a graphical description or explanation of an entity that forms an inherent part of the project
- A conversation, description, or explanation which further explains the functionality in greater, or tries of define the “flesh” of the entity
- The acceptance criteria or benchmark which defines what the entity should really include, how it should exactly function, and the manner in which it should integrate in the project
Assigning importance or value to user stories – “story points”
Once the concept of a user story becomes clear, perhaps the next logical question ought to be how user stories can be prioritized, or in what manner importance can be correlated to a particular story. In scrum, story points are arbitrary units of measurement, used to signify or imply the worth of a particular story or a product backlog requirement, in terms of a numerical value. The numerical value can include a fractional part, but it cannot be a negative number, or an exponential value. The product owner decides how important a particular user story is from the ROI point of view, i.e. how much worth it is to the investors and the stakeholders in terms of its market value, and assigns a number to it based upon its level of importance.
Once the concept of a user story becomes clear, perhaps the next logical question ought to be how user stories can be prioritized, or in what manner importance can be correlated to a particular story. In scrum, story points are arbitrary units of measurement, used to signify or imply the worth of a particular story or a product backlog requirement, in terms of a numerical value. The numerical value can include a fractional part, but it cannot be a negative number, or an exponential value. The product owner decides how important a particular user story is from the ROI point of view, i.e. how much worth it is to the investors and the stakeholders in terms of its market value, and assigns a number to it based upon its level of importance.
There are certain factors to be considered while assigning the story points (Please refer to our Scrum knowledge base for additional reading and references). The story points are very important, and essential while creating estimates pertaining to sprint activity.
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