From the course: Agile Foundations

User stories: Common challenges

From the course: Agile Foundations

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User stories: Common challenges

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- User stories aren't required in Agile, but many teams still have them. Your story should contain a clear value statement, and it should be written from the perspective of the user. Still, when teams are starting out, they'll usually have a few common challenges. So let's take a look at our task board. As a restaurant owner, I want to be able to print out, email, and text my reservation list so that we know how many people to expect. This story isn't independent, it has a long list of value statements, so it's really three stories in one. This would make it very difficult to estimate and deliver. So let's take a look at another one. As a customer, I want an email copy of my receipt so I can have it on my phone. This story doesn't have a clear value statement. It doesn't say why the customer might value a copy on their phone. So the Agile team won't have the flexibility to find the best way of satisfying the customer. Maybe they want a copy so they can order the same thing next time. Maybe they're keeping track of their expenses. The team would want to know this value so they can better deliver the product. So let's look at one more. As a developer, I want to design the database tables so that the restaurant owner can add reservation information. This user story probably came from a requirements document. This is very common if your organization is transitioning from Waterfall. It talks about technical requirements and is not written from the perspective of the customer. It also doesn't encourage a conversation or identify any customer value. Watch out for these common pitfalls when working off your user stories. If you'd like, you can check out my other course, Agile at Work: Planning With Agile User Stories. Like many things, your team will usually get better at writing stories with practice. Work closely with your product owner to make sure they take the time to write clear stories with a simple value statement.

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