1

HOW TO SPLIT A USER STORY 3

EVALUATE
PREPARE THE THE SPLIT
INPUT STORY WORKFLOW STEPS Can you take a thin slice
through the workflow first and
enhance it with more stories later? Are the new stories
Does the big story satisfy Can you split the story so you do roughly equal in size?
INVEST* (except, perhaps, small)? the beginning and end of the work-
YES
flow first and enhance with stories
NO OPERATIONS Is each story about NO
from the middle of the workflow?
Can you split the operations
BUSINESS RULE 1⁄10 to 1⁄6 of your velocity?
YES
Combine it with another story
or otherwise reformulate it to get into separate stories? VARIATIONS Try another pattern on the
a good, if large, starting story. Can you split the story so you original story or the larger
DEFER Does the story describe
do a subset of the rules first and
enhance with additional rules later?
Do each of the post-split stories.
stories satisfy INVEST?
Is the story size 1⁄10 to
PERFORMANCE a workflow?
Does the story include multiple
1⁄6 of your velocity? Could you split the story Try another pattern.
operations? (e.g. is it about "managing"
to just make it work first and
or "configuring" something?) Are there stories you
then enhance it to satisfy the Does the story have a variety of can deprioritze or delete?

st a
non-functional requirement? business rules? (e.g. is there a domain
You’re done. Continue. You

rt
term in the story like "flexible dates"

he
need to split it. Try another pattern.

Does the story get much of its
complexity from satisfying
non-functional requirements like
performance?
re
that suggests several variations?) You probably have waste
2 in each of your stories.
APPLY THE VARIATIONS
Is there an obvious story
to start with that gets you
SPLITTING Does the story do the same IN DATA early value, learning, risk
mitigation, etc.?

Could you split the story to Does the story have a simple
PATTERNS thing to different kinds of data? Can you split the story to
process one kind of data Try another pattern to
core that provides most of the first and enhance with the see if you can get this.
do that simple core first and last
value and/or learning? reso other kinds later? You’re done, though you
enhance it with later stories? rt could try another pattern
to see if it works better.
SIMPLE/COMPLEX When you apply the obvious
Does the story have a
complex interface?
split, is whichever story you do
first the most difficult?
Could you group the later BREAK OUT A SPIKE
stories and defer the decision Are you still baffled about
Does the story get the same
about which story comes first? how to split the story?
kind of data via multiple interfaces?
* INVEST - Stories should be:
Independent MAJOR EFFORT Is there a simple version
Negotiable you could do first? Can you find a small
Valuable Can you split the story to piece you understand
Estimable handle data from one INTERFACE well enough to start?
Small
Testable
interface first and enhance VARIATIONS Can you define the 1-3
with the others later? questions most holding
you back?
Write that story first, Take a break
build it, and start again and try again.
at the top of this process. Write a spike with those
questions, do the minimum
to answer them, and start
again at the top of this process
Visit http://www.richardlawrence.info/splitting-user-stories/ for more info on the story splitting patterns
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