This is a team activity which can be used to quickly build a set of User Stories around a product or feature set.
Activity: Brainstorming requirements with User Stories
What you'll need: Index cards, Sharpies
Set up: A table large enough for everyone to sit around
Timebox: 2 hours
What you'll need: Index cards, Sharpies
Set up: A table large enough for everyone to sit around
Timebox: 2 hours
When you're initially setting up for a new piece of work - whether it's a new product or a new feature for an existing product - you'll probably want to pull together your idea(s) and write a bunch of requirements in one go.
A quick way to do this is with the following activity:
- Either place the index cards in the middle of the table, so that everyone can reach, or pass them around and everyone has a small pile. Do the same with Sharpies.
- The Product Owner introduces the product or feature that you're there to brainstorm. Include an opportunity for everyone to ask questions.
- Once everyone has enough information, begin writing User Stories. Start with the stub first, one per index card. Call them out to the group before you start to write to avoid duplicates. Timebox this part of the activity for approximately 15 minutes.
- Once the timebox is up, move into a more collaborative phase. You should assess what you have in the center of the table as a group. You then need to decide on a coherent feature set that describes either the product or the feature you're trying to build:
- Try to identify any gaps; write a stub for each on a new index card
- Look for any overlaps and see if you can create a better separation by writing the overlapping stubs less ambiguously
- Determine if there are still any duplicates; if so, remove them
- Once you feel the stubs are a coherent feature set of story cards, it's time to write the User Story for each story card. Use the template we described previously—as an <actor> I want <some action> so that I get <some value>
- Next, write the acceptance criteria. Remember that the acceptance criteria should describe achievable outcomes without describing how to achieve them.
- Repeat for as many User Stories as the group can come up with, or until the timebox ends.
Once finished, review the full set of User Stories, and you should now have the beginning of a Product Backlog.