What is a product backlog?
Simply put, a product backlog is a list of all things that need to be done in a project. These items can be of a technical nature or be user-centric i.e. User Stories. The product backlog owner is the Product Owner, whereas the Scrum Master, Development Team has a To-Do list in order to work on the items in the backlog.
Here are some unique qualities each item in a Product Backlog must have:
- An entry in the backlog always adds value for the customer.
- The product backlog is a constantly changing document.
- There are no low-level tasks on the backlog.
- The level of detail depends on the position of the entry in the backlog.
- The entries in the backlog are all sorted according to relative priority.
What is the difference between task and user story?
User stories contain multiple types of work (e.g., programming, testing, database design, user interface design, analysis, etc.) while tasks are restricted to a single type of work (code/design/test data). User stories help in defining specific features of the end product from a user’s perspective. But if the user story holds a lot of information and can’t be used as a single unit of work, Then it is further broken into tasks.
User stories are defined on product backlog and are typically the functionality that will be visible to end-users. Developing it will usually involve whole team. Whereas tasks are identified during sprint planning and became part of the sprint backlog. One person on the other hand typically does a task.
What is user story prioritization in agile methodology?
In Agile methodology, user stories are assigned a certain priority rating. The way in which this priority rating is measured can vary from team to team. The function of the priority rating is for the team to have an idea of which work needs to be done before and which work can be saved for later. The priority of the user story is decided upon its creation.
What is a user story?
The term “User story” was coined by Kent Beck in Extreme Programming in 1999. Simply put, a User Story is a short description (not more than one or two sentences), in everyday or business language, of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires the new capability.
The typical format in which a user story is written may resemble something like this:
“As a
What is task?
A task can be seen as a subunit of user stories. They can be seen as units of work that are contained within user stories. For a user story to be counted as completed, all of its tasks must be in turn also completed.
How to write a user story?
A user story is an item of business value that a team can deliver in an iteration. A user story is defined in three stages:
- Description of requirement or need
- Conversations during backlog grooming and iteration planning added as details
- Tests that confirm the story’s satisfactory completion
An example of a user story is:
As a credit card user I want to be warned if I spent more than a set amount.
User stories are best written in the following format:
As a
What is story point?
Story point is an arbitrary measure used by Scrum teams. This is used to measure the effort required to implement a story. Story points give accurate estimates, reduce planning time, accurately predict release dates, and help teams improve performance.
In most cases a story point range is 1, 2, 4,8,16 or X Small, Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large. Mostly commonly used series is the Fibonacci series.
What is a good template of user story?
User stories are best written in the following format:
As a
What is a User Story Acceptance Criteria?
User Story acceptance criteria are used to define the boundaries of a user story. When the acceptance criteria are met, the story is considered to be complete.
Some examples of Acceptance criteria include:
- Form must be submitted by user with all fields completed
- Spam protection is working.
- Payment must only be made via credit card.
Acceptance criteria should be written in simple language, just like a user story. Acceptance criteria help to remove ambiguity from requirements, and they form tests that will confirm that a feature of piece of functionality is working and complete.
What is Epic?
An epic is a work item in Agile which encapsulates a large body of work. Put simply, it is a large user story which can be broken down into several smaller user stories. An epic can span over a single project, or can even span over multiple projects. In this sense, it is a form of planning which is very large in scope.
What is Invest?
The Invest acronym was created by Bill Wake, and it serves as a reminder of the good qualities of a user story.
The INVEST acronym stands for:
I – Independent – Can the story stand-alone by itself?
N – Negotiable – Can this story be changed or removed without impact to everything else?
V – Valuable – Does this story have value to the end user?
E – Estimable – Can you estimate the size of the story?
S – Small – Is it small enough?
T – Testable – Can this story be tested and verified?
What is the difference between user story vs use case?
Use cases focus on how your system interacts with other systems, actors and are typically extremely detailed compared to a user story. Traditionally, these are written by a single person or a small group of people and require someone else to sign off on them, which can take many days to accomplish.
A user story is a simplified description of a requirement or feature written in the form of As a
User stories are more efficient than use cases in Agile and Scrum, as they help remove ambiguity in what your team is delivering by eliciting conversation and collaboration within the delivery team As you work through this process, you will more likely discover that use cases are no longer required on your projects and that each user story contains enough detail and acceptance criteria to remove all ambiguity.