- Brainstorm user stories before the tutorial
- Choose user stories for the MVP version before/during the tutorial
Intro to tP Week 5
Connecting the dots so far ...
We already know that the tP will be done in breadth-first iterative manner, each iteration delivering a working version that will be evolved further by subsequent iterations. Now is a good time for us to plan those iterations.
Intuitively, it feels like we should decide features of the final version first, and then, work our way backwards to plan intermediate versions.
But that approach is not advisable, due to the difficulty of reliably estimating the effort each feature will need, especially because we are not experienced in doing similar projects. So, any such long-range plan is likely to be highly inaccurate anyway.Instead, our approach is to assume the current iteration is the last iteration.
Then, we aim to deliver the best possible product at the current iteration, based on available time.
We execute the iteration accordingly, and even tweak the plan further along the way, as needed.
After the iteration is over, we plan the next iteration as if it's the last iteration. But that time, we can factor in the experience from the previous iteration to do a better job of planning.
How is that better?- More practical: Shorter-term plans have a better chance of being accurate and doable.
- Planning improves over time: You get multiple 'clean shots' at project planning. Each try can learn from the previous tries. Hence, more learning.
- Lower risk: As each iteration produces a working product, you always have a working product, which practically eliminates the risk failing to deliver a working product by the final deadline.
However, it does not mean we simply keep adding features without any plan and declare whatever we have at the end as the 'final product'. Instead, we should still set targets, and follow a plan that aims to hit those targets.
Thus, we can adopt the following two Planning Strategies:- We should have a clear overall direction.This ensures we always head in the right direction, even if the final product is not defined precisely yet.
- An iteration should start by defining a precise target for it, aligned with the project direction. This ensures we always have a concrete target to aim for.
Along PS1, we have already defined (in the previous week) the target user profile, and the problem addressed.
Along PS2, we have not done anything yet.
What's happening this week:
- The task 1 (Brainstorm user stories) takes one more step in the direction of PS1 above, by brainstorming all the capabilities the target user might want the final product to provide.
Note: We are not aiming for a precise design of the final end product. As per B, we don't need such a precise design this early in the project. - The task 2 (Choose user stories for the MVP version) takes the first step in the direction of PS2 above, by narrowing down the user requirements to a smaller subset that we can deliver in an earlier iteration.
1 Brainstorm user stories before the tutorial
You can do this step as if the tP is a greenfield project (i.e., as if there is no AB3), to get the full experience of this activity. Some of the user stories you come up with may already be implemented in AB3, but that can be sorted out later.
- Learn the recipe for brainstorming user stories in the textbook → Specifying Requirements → User Stories → Usage.
Also learn about brainstorming and user stories.
We recommend you view the following video, as it has some additional commentary on the recipe to be used:
Follow the steps in the recipe mentioned above to arrive at user stories for the product, with your team members. If you don't follow the recipe mentioned above, you could end up with a different set of user stories than otherwise.
User stories for what version? At this stage, collect user stories to cover at least the final version you hope to deliver at the end of the semester. It is OK to go even beyond that (reason: we are simulating a project that will continue even after the semester is over).
Do not omit user stories already covered by the features in AB3 i.e., the user story should be recorded even if AB3 already caters for it.How many user stories? Aim to collect more user stories than you can deliver in the project. Aim to create at least 30 user stories. Include all 'obvious' ones you can think of but also look for 'non obvious' ones that you think are likely to be missed by other competing products.
User stories of what size? Normally, it is fine to use epic-level user stories in the early stages of a project but given this is a small project, you may want to eventually break them down to smaller user stories (i.e., small enough for one person to implement in 1-2 days). Some examples (from the iP product domain):
- Bad As a user, I can track my schedule, so that I can know when to do things.
Reason: too big, as track can involve a lot of things. - Good As a user, I can add a time to a task, so that I can record when a task need to be done.
- Good As a user, I can see the pending task that has the next earliest deadline, so that I can know what I need to do next.
- Bad As a user, I can track my schedule, so that I can know when to do things.
What format?: You may use a sentence format or a table format but do maintain the prescribed three-part structure of a user story. In particular, try to include the benefit part in most user stories as that will come in handy when prioritizing user stories later.
Submission (to be checked by the tutor later):
- Intermediate steps (e.g., persona, scenarios): Keep records these in your collaborative project document started in the previous week.
- Brainstormed user stories: Record them using an online tool (some examples given in [Textbook Specifying Requirements → UserStories → Usage → (panel) Tool Examples ]).
Use an online spreadsheet for recording user stories (e.g., Google Sheets), if you are not sure which tool to use. -- they are easy to edit, share, color, and more importantly, sort/filter.
If you put the user stories in a page/file other than your main collaborative project notes document (i.e., the one given here), ensure that page/file is viewable by the public, and the main document has a link to that page/file. Otherwise, the tutor will not be able to see your list of user stories.
If you choose to use the GitHub issue tracker to manage user stories, you need to set up your team's GitHub organization, team repo, and its issue tracker first. Instructions for doing those steps are in the panel below.
2 Choose user stories for the MVP version before/during the tutorial
Task: Of the user stories you have collected, select the ones you would put in an version of the product. The goal here is to come up with the smallest possible product that is still usable so that it can be implemented quickly, and delivered at the end of an earlier iteration.
Try to limit the MVP to strictly must-have user stories only i.e., it's NOT what you can or want to put in the MVP, but what you must have in the MVP. If the product can be of some use without a given user story, that user story should be left out of the MVP version, even if the omission makes the product hard to use, as long as the product is not impossible to use e.g., in most cases a product can be used without an 'edit item' feature because the user can always delete an item and add a new item instead of editing an existing an item.
Do not discuss features, UI, command format, or implementation details yet. That would be like putting the cart before the horse. At this stage we are simply trying to choose which user needs to fulfill first.
Don't worry about subsequent versions or the final version. You can design them at a later time.
Don't worry about MVP being 'too small'. You can always add more features to the MVP version if you finish it ahead of schedule.
You can also select an additional set of user stories that are nice-to-have for the MVP, to be done but only if there's time left.In the interest of keeping the MVP small, you can narrow the scope of MVP further e.g., narrower target user, a smaller value proposition.
Suggested workflow:
- First stage:
- Divide the user stories among team members.
- Each member will go through their user stories to discard (e.g., cross out, or move to a different location, but not delete) which are definitely not needed for MVP.
- Second stage:
- All members discuss the remaining user stories (i.e., the ones not discarded in the first stage), and try to trim the list further.
- First stage: