Product Description: This is the eBook version of the printed book. Agile requirements: discovering what your users really want. With this book, you will learn to:
Flexible, quick and practical requirements that work
Save time and develop better software that meets users' needs
Gathering user stories -- even when you can't talk to users
How user stories work, and how they differ from use cases, scenarios, and traditional requirements
Leveraging user stories as part of planning, scheduling, estimating, and testing
Ideal for Extreme Programming, Scrum, or any other agile methodology
Thoroughly reviewed and eagerly anticipated by the agile community, User Stories Applied offers a requirements process that saves time, eliminates rework, and leads directly to better software.The best way to build software that meets users' needs is to begin with "user stories": simple, clear, brief descriptions of functionality that will be valuable to real users. In User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn provides you with a front-to-back blueprint for writing these user stories and weaving them into your development lifecycle.
You'll learn what makes a great user story, and what makes a bad one. You'll discover practical ways to gather user stories, even when you can't speak with your users. Then, once you've compiled your user stories, Cohn shows how to organize them, prioritize them, and use them for planning, management, and testing.
User role modeling: understanding what users have in common, and where they differ
Gathering stories: user interviewing, questionnaires, observation, and workshops
Working with managers, trainers, salespeople and other "proxies"
Writing user stories for acceptance testing
Using stories to prioritize, set schedules, and estimate release costs
Includes end-of-chapter practice questions and exercises
User Stories Applied will be invaluable to every software developer, tester, analyst, and manager working with any agile method: XP, Scrum... or even your own home-grown approach.
Good Advice for Beginners and Experts This book provides excellent insight into the story driven process, with immediately actionable advice. Cohn clearly describes the advantages of stories, and explains how to develop quality systems that deliver value to the user. Anyone operating in, or hoping to adopt an iterative and incremental methodology will benefit from reading this piece.
Well-written, practical advice This book is one of the better collections of how-to's and practical applications I've read on Agile user stories. It mixes in just enough of the theory to understand the importance and distinctions of epics, stories, tasks, and spikes without overly focusing on them. Then, it uses real-world examples in common language to walk you through some of the messier implementations of Agile, and provides specific guidance on how to make things work in less than ideal situations. I found this book particularly helpful for me personally, as well as for one of our less experienced Scrum Master's at work.
Excellent and a good primer if you're new to Agile I have seen other presentations and publications from this author and he really seems to know his stuff, plus it's really easy to read. I'm a consultant and trainer and find this to be an excellent reference. There are lots of examples and the book is very easy to read. You also don't have to be involved in Agile development to find this useful, as I also use the concepts for developing user roles and focusing on user goals as a primary function even in a Waterfall development world.
Lightweight Requirements that Don't Stink I'm pretty much allergic to any form of requirements documentation. Change control makes my skin itch, and big up front planning makes me vomit. But I also am not totally comfortable with winging it all the time. As a project manager, I need to get a sense of how big the project is, what are the pieces and parts, and how will the product be used. And I need it fast, flexible, and without much overhead. Oh yeah, don't forget I have to also be able to use it to plan iterations, drive development and testing, and report status. All without making comprehensive documentation more important than working software or processes and tools more important than individuals and interactions.
That's why I'm glad I discovered User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development by Mike Cohn. It is a short, practical explanation of how to plan, estimate, and execute an agile project with user stories. These lightweight requirements never get in the way or replace conversations with users and customers. Instead, they help you keep track of what you're going to build and serve as a reminder to talk to SME's about what they mean. You can use them to report status, to plan iterations, and to get an overview of the product's feature set.
I wholeheartedly endorse this book for all project or product managers.
Good book, too much fluff As you'll read in other reviews this book does a great job of laying the foundation on how to implement XP as a development process using user stories, iterations, and other concepts used in XP.
Where the book goes a little overboard is with some drawn out stories and examples that could be cut down. In reality I think this book could almost have 1/3 less long and been a 5 star book.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
