Thursday, January 02, 2014

Job Stories, not User Stories?

I'm working with a team new to an area I have a lot of domain knowledge in, and this article rings true.

I feel there's a lot of emphasis put on the user story process where I am, that adds little value at the end of the day.

I went on a two week hacking spree during the break and found myself loathing with every fibre of my being the need to explain - because the code I'm writing is effectively self documenting; and I feel you only need a very brief conversation to paint the bigger picture - the why.

Job Stories might not hold the full answer, but they seem to be a step closer.

From the article, a comparison:

User Story:As a moderator, I want to create a new game by entering a name and an optional description, so that I can start inviting estimators.

Job Story:When I’m ready to have estimators bid on my game, I want to create a game in a format estimators can understand, so that the estimators can find my game and know what they are about to bid on.

It's harder to write a test against the why, but that's not the point - the why influences the design and is disconnected from the testable criteria.

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