SOFTWARE DESIGN: SESSION 7

CREATING ACTIONABLE NARRATIVE

Alex Cowan

2015 COWAN+
WHERE YOU SHOULD BE NOW
Epic Stories Experiment(s) for
CUSTOMER
Child Stories DISCOVERY &
hypothesis testing
EXPERIMENTS
?

E
M

WH
W

AT
S HO
PRODUCT &
Personas, Problem Scenarios

IF
PROMOTION

?
including Think- Alternatives
See-Feel-Do Value Propositions
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
USER STORIES
& PROTOTYPES
ASSUMPTIONS Summary Value
Hypothesis
MVP Ideas

E?
AL
PIVOT? Assumptions for Value

SC
Hypothesis

?
AT
WH
PROBLEM Interview Guide
PERSONAS WHO? SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
2 (or more) Interviews

2015 COWAN+
MORE OF A WEB THAN A YELLOW BRICK ROAD
EPIC
As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to
send possible recruits to the functional manager.

HAPPY PATH?

2015 COWAN+
MORE OF A WEB THAN A YELLOW BRICK ROAD
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my
next steps.

MORE OF A WEB

2015 COWAN+
MORE OF A WEB THAN A YELLOW BRICK ROAD
EPIC
As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to
send possible recruits to the functional manager.

identifies part

determines discusses with

delivery customer

2015 COWAN+
WHERE MANY STORIES START (AND REMAIN)

As Ted the HVAC technician,

I want to fix a unit quickly
so I can satisfy the customer.

2015 COWAN+
WHERE MANY STORIES START (AND REMAIN)

As Ted the HVAC technician,

I want to fix a unit quickly
so I can satisfy the customer.
This is an OK story (by general standards).
How might we improve it?

2015 COWAN+
WHERE MANY STORIES START (AND REMAIN)

As Ted the HVAC technician,

I want to fix a unit quickly
so I can satisfy the customer.

2015 COWAN+
WHERE MANY STORIES START (AND REMAIN)

OK. We know As Ted the HVAC technician,

this persona. I want to fix a unit quickly
so I can satisfy the customer.
Fix the unit how?
We dont want to
specify the
implementation,
but we do want to
be specific about
the user experience.

2015 COWAN+
A MORE SPECIFIC STORY
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to easily replace a
part so I can finish the job.

(general jobs to be done, objectives)
Problem Scenario
Increase Customer Satisfaction
Decrease Repair Time
Decrease Cost
Specify Steps & Cost Clearly
Reduce Non-Billable Time
Reduce Travel
(testable narratives of how a user will use
our software to solve those problems)
User Story
As Ted the HVAC technician,
I want to easily replace a part
so I can finish the job.

2015 COWAN+
A MORE SPECIFIC STORY

As Ted the HVAC technician,

I want to easily replace a part
so I can finish the job.

2015 COWAN+
A MORE SPECIFIC STORY

As Ted the HVAC technician,

Avoid normative
I want to easily replace a part
terms like easy, so I can finish the job. This is a valid
fast; drive to
functional specifics objective. How
would we test this
with an end user?

2015 COWAN+
A MORE TESTABLE NARRATIVE

As Ted the HVAC technician,

More specific action
I want to identify a part that needs replacing
TEST: Show me
so I can decide my next steps.
how youd identify
[xyz] part?

Now what would
you do?

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
THINKING THROUGH AN EPIC
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
DRAFT A STORYBOARD
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC
technician, I want to
identify a part that needs
replacing so I can decide
my next steps.

2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES
EPIC STORY
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

CHILD STORIES
A) I know the part number and I want to find it on the system so I can figure out next steps on the repair.
B) I dont know the part number and I want to try to identify it online so I can move the job forward.
C) I dont know the part number and I cant determine it and I want help so I can move the job forward.
D) I want to see the cost of the part and time to receive it so I decide on next steps and get agreement from
the customer.

2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES
EPIC STORY
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

CHILD STORIES
A) I know the part number and I want to find it on the system so I can figure out next steps on the repair.
B) I dont know the part number and I want to try to identify it online so I can move the job forward.
C) I dont know the part number and I cant determine it and I want help so I can move the job forward.
D) I want to see the cost of the part and time to receive it so I decide on next steps and get agreement from
the customer.

2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES
EPIC STORY
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

CHILD STORY TEST CASE

A) I know the part number and I want to find it on the Make sure its possible to search by part number.
system so I can figure out next steps on the repair.
Make sure descriptive info. appears as the search
narrows (photo?) to help avoid error.

2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES
EPIC STORY
As Ted the HVAC technician, I want to identify a part that needs replacing so I can decide my next steps.

CHILD STORY TEST CASE

A) I know the part number and I want to find it on the Make sure its possible to search by part number.
system so I can figure out next steps on the repair.
Make sure descriptive info. appears as the search
narrows (photo?) to help avoid error.

D) I want to see the cost of the part and time to Make sure its possible to dispatch a request by email
receive it so I decide on next steps and get agreement to the customer in case they order their own parts
from the customer. and/or carry their own inventory of spares.
NOTE: How would the customer respond so we can
help structure the next steps as we would otherwise?

2015 COWAN+
REVIEW STUDENT WORK!
EPIC
As Ted the HVAC
technician, I want to
identify a part that needs
replacing so I can decide
my next steps.

CHILD STORIES
A) I know the part
number and I want
to find it on the
system so I can
figure out next steps
on the repair.
B)

2015 COWAN+
SLICING THE LASAGNA

2015 COWAN+
USER STORY MAPPING
Lets get started!
STRIPE 1
TOPLINE
NARRATIVE
TIME

STRIPE 1
HIGH PRIORITY
STORIES

STRIPE 2, ETC.
PRIORITY

LOWER PRIORITY
STORIES

source: adapted from Jeff Pattons User Story Mapping 2015 COWAN+
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Do/Group: Finish Story Map (0-45 minutes)

v5 2015 COWAN+