Tuesday 12 January 2016

How are User Stories Created in a Scrum Project?

In a Scrum project, the responsibility for creating User Stories generally lies with the Product Owner(s). User Stories ensure that the customer requirements are clearly depicted and are understood by all the key internal and external stakeholders including the Scrum Team who deliver the outputs of the project. In Scrum, the User Stories and the associated Acceptance Criteria are outputs of the Create User Stories process which is executed by the Product Owner.

Before we discuss the process of creating User Stories, let’s understand what they are. User Stories adhere to a specific, predefined structure and are a simplistic way of documenting the requirements and desired end-user functionality. A User Story tells you three things about the requirement: Who, What, and Why. The requirements expressed in User Stories are short, simple, and easy- to-understand statements. 

The predefined, standard format results in enhanced communication among the stakeholders and better estimations by the team. Some User Stories may be too large to handle within a single Sprint. These large User Stories are often called Epics, and once they come up in the Prioritized Product Backlog to be done in an upcoming Sprint, they are further decomposed into multiple smaller User Stories. Now, let us understand Create User Stories process in detail. Similar to other Scrum processes, this process too has its key inputs, tools and outputs. 

The key inputs are Scrum Core Team, Prioritized Product Backlog, Done Criteria, and Personas. The most import tool is User Story Writing Expertise. And the major outputs are User Stories and User Story Acceptance Criteria. Let’s discuss the inputs first. Scrum Core Team includes Scrum Team, Scrum Master and Product Owner. Although the entire Scrum Core Team needs to be involved in creation of the User Stories, it is the Product Owner who decides the User Stories as he/she creates the project’s initial overall requirements, determines Product Vision, assesses the viability and ensures delivery of the product or service, decides minimum marketable release content and ultimately, provides Acceptance Criteria for the User Stories to be developed in a Sprint. However, the Scrum Team can seek clarifications from the Product Owner and also provide expert opinion on creation of User Stories. One of the major tools or techniques that can be used to develop User Stories is User Story Writing Expertise. 

The Product Owner, based on his/her interaction with the stakeholders, his/her own business knowledge and expertise, and inputs from the team, will develop the User Stories that will form the initial Prioritized Product Backlog for the project. The Prioritized Product Backlog represents the sum total of what must be completed during the project. The objective of this exercise is to create elaborated and refined User Stories that the Scrum Team commit to. Although the Product Owner has the primary responsibility for writing User Stories, and often carries out this exercise on his/her own, a User Story Writing Workshop can be held if desired.


Acknowledgement: This article is borrowed from www. scrumstudy.com  ( Original URL: http://www.scrumstudy.com/blog/how-are-user-stories-created-in-a-scrum-project/ )

Monday 11 January 2016

Aspects of SCRUM


Various Aspects of SCRUM


Scrum is a framework for collaborative effort of the team on some of the very complex software projects. It is the most widely-used subset of Agile. The Scrum principles are the fundamental guidelines for applying Scrum framework. The Scrum framework drives on the goals of giving utmost business value in least time.

Various Scrum aspects are derived and are very essential to be addressed and managed throughout a Scrum project. Here are the five Scrum aspects as mentioned in the SBOK™ Guide
  • Organization: Understanding defined roles and responsibilities in a Scrum project is very important for ensuring the successful implementation of Scrum. Scrum roles fall into two broad categories; Core Roles (which includes Product Owner, Scrum Master, Scrum Team) and Non-core Roles (which includes Stakeholder, Scrum Guidance Body, Vendors, Chief Product Owner, Chief Scrum Master)
  • Business Justification: Business justification in Scrum is based on the concept of Value-driven Delivery. It is impossible to guarantee project success at completion, irrespective of the size or complexity of a project.
  • Quality: Quality is defined as the ability of the completed product or deliverables to meet the Acceptance Criteria and achieve the business value expected by the customer. The Scrum Guidance Body may also provide guidelines about quality which may be relevant to all Scrum projects in the organization.
  • Change: Every project, regardless of its method or framework used, is exposed to change. Scrum projects welcome change by using short, iterative Sprints that incorporate customer feedback on each Sprint’s deliverables. This enables the customer to regularly interact with the Scrum Team members, view deliverables as they are ready, and change requirements if needed earlier in the Sprint.
  • Risk: Risk is defined as an uncertain event or set of events that can affect the objectives of a project and may contribute to its success or failure. Risks should be identified, assessed, and responded to basing on two factors: the probability of each risk’s occurrence and the possible impact in the event of such occurrence.
Acknowledgement: The content is borrowed from www.SCRUMstudy.com (original blog url: http://www.scrumstudy.com/blog/various-aspects-of-scrum/)