User stories are created in Agile as the smallest unit of its framework. They are created to express the views of a user of the software. It is a general review of a feature in software written from the user’s perspective. It helps developers understand how a feature will deliver value to the customer. They are short, simple sentences that can be said by a potential user underlining the desired outcome of a feature. User stories can be used to refine the team’s workflows.
A user story is a simple enough concept to understand but it can be quite difficult to implement. Before it is scheduled to be implemented for an iteration, the team needs to make sure that the story is short enough. This is where story splitting comes in handy. Sometimes when user stories are too long, they are broken up into smaller stories. Each story that has been split also has separate and measurable business value.
What makes a good user story?
Before starting out with the story-splitting process, Agile teams need to create a story of high quality. Developers usually go with the INVEST acronym when it comes to creating a good user story. The checklist helps them with creating good stories so that the story-splitting process does not take up too much of their time.
This is a brief overview of the INVEST method of writing a user story:
- I (Independent): Creating an independent user story is really important because it considers the unique aspects of each potential user
- N (Negotiable): The features for the developer do not have to be set in concrete by the user, it is simply a way in which the users get to meet their needs
- V (Valuable): Each story should add value to the Agile team’s processes and features
- E (Estimable): The user story needs to be realistic and reach a decent approximation of how big it will be
- S (Small): The story needs to be short in size so that the developers do not spend too much time splitting it and configuring their feedback
- T (Testable): The user story should be testable in a working environment by the developers. It should be delivered with some form of a working product or code, even if one does not exist for it yet.
Once the original story is complete and developers start with the story splitting process, the new stories need to meet each of these criteria as well.
Why Does one Need to Split User Stories?
The main reason why developers should split user stories is to help them complete them within a single sprint. If the story is too big, then it needs to be split up into smaller and more workable pieces that can get done within the duration of a single sprint.
Sometimes the stories might get too complex and have too many steps as well, which will make them difficult to test. Story splitting will help solve this problem and help user stories stay within the INVEST guidelines. Sometimes a developer might create a user story and not know enough about how to meet the business need that comes with the story. If there is a lot of research involved, it helps to split the story to make it more workable for the team.
Another reason to split user stories is to get rid of all excess and unnecessary data. The main point of creating user stories is so that Agile teams can get either a minimal marketable feature (MMF) or a minimal viable product (MVP) to test out with actual users. Splitting stories helps companies get rid of unnecessary data and focus on functions that will bring them the highest value.
What are the Different Methods of Story Splitting?
Once a user story is created, the Agile team can use many different ways of story splitting to get the result. Some of the user story splitting techniques are:
- Splitting stories based on the capabilities offered
This is the best way to split stories that are too long. Sometimes when creating a user story, developers end up really long stories that hold multiple capabilities. Once this is recognized then the team members can split each capability into one story itself. Then, if needed, they can also be split further to simplify.
- Splitting stories based on user roles
The application or software an Agile team may be developing could be used by different types of audiences. Different types of users will require different functionalities. Therefore by understanding the different types of users and how they will use the final product, developers can come up with different stories based on their roles. Each unique need created by a user role can be addressed in a different story.
- Splitting stories based on user personas
Depending on the usage of the application, or the different ways the same type of user can interact with the software or application can also create different needs. User stories can be based to create intuitive solutions for these differences as well. User interaction based on user personas is a very important part of story creation and splitting.
- Splitting stories based on a target device
There are many devices like the computer, a tablet, or a phone that users can use to interact with an application, which means it needs to be optimized for each device the system will work on. This is another way how an Agile team can split stories to improve the user’s experience.
- Hyper-fine story splitting
Sometimes, even after using these techniques, the Agile team may find that they have high-quality stories but they are still too long. This is when they can use the hyper-fine story splitting technique. It works on zero/one/many concepts to help break user stories down further into vertical slices.
When the Agile team takes the zero/one/many approaches, they have to answer the following three questions:
- What will happen if they deal with nothing?
- What will happen if they deal with just one thing?
- What will happen if they deal with many things?
Another thing to keep in mind while creating and splitting user stories is that a new story does not necessarily have to be an independent story of all the stories that come before this one, only independent of the ones that come after. This means, a news story should not get its value from a story created after this one, it should have its own value, even if it is based on the previous story.
Final Thoughts
User stories and story splitting is a big part of today’s Agile teams. They help developers in creating products that deliver higher customer value. This can be done successfully once the Agile team is educated and properly trained in all the techniques and principles of Agile and its workings. Only by proper implementation of Agile can teams truly reap its benefits.
Some of the popular Agile Certification Courses that professionals can take up are:
- CSM Course
- CSPO Certification Online
- SAFe Scrum Master Certification Training
- Agile Scrum Foundation Certification Training
- Agile Scrum Master Certification Training
- PRINCE2 Agile Foundation Certification Training
