What's in a story? Perhaps more applicable to agilists today, what's in a user story?

Let's get real about user stories and what they are trying to achieve. Perhaps the user story is not the story format we should be using!

Let's examine the user story format that we all know and love today. We will dive a little deeper into how a story and personas can create synergy. We will discuss how a user story can be presented on a ticket and how stories can be supplemented with information like acceptance criteria.

Of course something so widely used will have anti-patterns. Let's look at a few and have a few laughs as well.

Let's go even further and talk about user story alternatives, I will propose two. But wait! Are there even other user story alternatives? I will introduce two more.

Finally, let's sum up the purpose of the user story and conclude with the central idea that's really important - your story can be anything you want it to be!

Target audience = Agile Coach, Scrum Master, UX Engineer, Product Owner

Mechanics =

- Introduction to user stories, 5'
- User story format, 5'
     - The traditional who, what, why format
- Ticket physical formats, 5'
- Personas, 5'
- Antipatterns, 5'
- 2 alternative formats, 5'
     - First alternative format of why, who, what
     - Second alternative format of why, what, who
- Followed by 2 more formats, as a bonus, 5'
     - The value story as defined by Chris Matts, creator of Feature Injection
     - The job story as defined by Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School
- Concluded with ultimate message that what works for you is OK, 5'
     - The fairy tale format, the Peanuts format, the Star Wars format
- Q&A fills timebox

Learning outcome =

Introduce the user story format and key concepts like ticket format, acceptance criteria, and value. Introduce key anti-patterns to watch out for. Propose 2 alternative user story formats that may be of more value. Introduce 2 additional alternatives to user story format. The key takeaway and final message that you can use any format you want.

Slides = https://goo.gl/cgrRPs

Video sample = https://goo.gl/aG5MTL

Presentation history of this presentation:

- Canberra User Experience Meetup 2016
- UX Australia 2016
- Agile Canberra Meetup 2017

The version presented at Canberra User Experience Meetup 2016 can be found at https://goo.gl/cgrRPs

The version presented at UX Australia 2016 can be found at https://goo.gl/aG5MTL

Alex's conference and presentation history:

• Agile Open Northwest 2012 - Session Leader
• Übermind ÜnConference 2012 - Session Leader
• MobileUXCamp Seattle 2012 - Session Leader
• Seattle Kaizen Camp 2012 - Session Leader
• MAQCon 2012 - Cofounder
• MobileUXCamp Seattle 2013 - Session Leader
• Seattle Kaizen Camp 2013 - Session Leader
• MobileUXCamp Seattle 2014 - Session Leader
• Seattle Kaizen Camp 2014 - Session Leader
• Construx Software Executive Summit 2014 – Workshop Facilitator
• Shell Developers Summit 2015 - Keynote Speaker
• Scrum Coaching Retreat Seattle 2015 - Volunteer Team
• Un:Conference Canberra 2016 - Session Leader
• Agile2016 - Volunteer Team
• UX Australia 2016 - Speaker, Reviewer
• Agile Coach Camp Sydney 2016 - Session Leader
• Agile Tour Sydney 2016 – Workshop Facilitator
• StartCon 2016 - Pitch Competitor
• Global Scrum Gathering San Diego 2017 - Reviewer
• Agile Australia 2017 - Reviewer
• JAFAC 2017 - Session Leader
• Global Scrum Gathering Singapore 2017 – Workshop Facilitator
• LAST Melbourne 2017 – Speaker, Workshop Facilitator
• LAST Sydney 2017 - Workshop Facilitator
• Regional Scrum Gathering India 2017 – Speaker, Workshop Facilitator, Coaches’ Clinic Coach
• LAST Canberra 2017 – Organizer, Speaker
• Agile NZ 2017 – Workshop Facilitator
• Regional Scrum Gathering Australia 2017 – Workshop Facilitator
• Regional Scrum Gathering South Africa 2017 – Workshop Facilitator
• Business Enterprise Agility Conference 2017 – Workshop Facilitator
• Business Agility 2018 – Nominated Facilitator

References to Your Speaking Ability

• Jeremie Benazra - jeremie.benazra@gmail.com
• Simon Bennett - simon@lasting-benefits.com
• Steve McConnell - steve.mcconnell@construx.com
• Damian Troselj - damian.troselj@gmail.com