The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Does Every User Story Need to Be Small? - Mike Cohn

Dec 11, 2024

Explore the critical role of user story size in Agile planning. Smaller stories can streamline project management, but larger ones have their advantages in early stages. Discover how consolidating user stories can keep the backlog manageable when launching new products. Learn the importance of empowering the Product Owner, emphasizing balanced responsibilities that enhance team efficiency. Dive into strategies for refining stories, allowing for size adjustment as projects evolve.

07:36

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Quick takeaways

Small user stories enhance Agile success by improving planning and execution, reducing work carryover between sprints, and maintaining team focus.

The N plus two planning methodology aids in refining user stories over time, allowing for better backlog management and adaptability to project changes.

Deep dives

The Importance of Small User Stories in Agile

Small user stories are essential for Agile success because they facilitate better planning and execution. By keeping stories small, teams reduce the likelihood of carrying work over from one sprint to another, a common issue in many organizations due to poor planning and forecasting. Smaller stories are easier to estimate and manage, helping teams to maintain focus and efficiency. While not every story can or should be small, especially for longer-term planning, the overall strategy should prioritize the reduction of story size for immediate tasks.

The Importance of User Story Size in Agile Planning

6min

Empowering the Product Owner for Agile Success

2min

Does Every User Story Need to Be Small?

Small user stories are essential to success with agile. When it’s time to bring stories into an iteration, I always want them to be small.
But larger stories have their place as well–especially for something you're not going to work on imminently.
Suppose you have just begun work on a new product that will include a set of reports. Because this is a new product, there is nothing to be gained by writing a bunch of small user stories around each one of those reports at this point, especially since you don't yet even know all of the reports that will be needed.
At this stage of the project, having one big reporting story rather than a bunch of little ones keeps the size of the backlog more manageable. You'll have one entry in your tool instead of 15 or 20. That's much easier to manage.
Further, if you do write all the small user stories, one per report, it gives the impression that you've thought of everything. Early in a project, that's probably not true. New reports will be identified and some that are asked for initially may not be necessary.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking every story needs to be small from the beginning. They don’t. Instead, plan for stories to shrink in size and grow in detail as they move closer to being brought into a sprint. For most teams, this will happen during the product backlog refinement meeting one or two sprints before the iteration planning where they’ll be considered.
Letting timing dictate story size will help you succeed with user stories and with agile.

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