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Breaking Down Epic User Stories
The reason we want stories to be a particular size is so that they can be developed and tested within a single iteration. We also need them to be manageable; if a story is too big it can be difficult to ensure that everyone in the team has a full understanding of it, and chaos ensues (trust me I’ve been there). Plus, large stories are difficult to estimate to any degree of accuracy.
Can use cases be used in agile?? « Agile Blog
Some of my agile coaches in the past argued that use cases should not be used at all. I disagree respectfully. As use cases and user stories are in essence a verbalization of the requirements from the point of view of the actor or user, I argued and proved that they can be used to populate an agile product backlog.
Use Cases vs User Scenarios - The Product Management View
Finally, documented clarity around the difference between use cases and user scenarios.
Let me summarize the difference. A use case is a step-by-step account of system behaviour associated with one or more actors. A user scenario is concrete description of a very specific interaction, but one that is chosen to be typical or representative. OK, now what does that mean?
Use cases are very detailed and typically define the actors, a brief description, pre-conditions, the main flow (i.e. happy path) and any alternate flows, sub-flows and exception flows. It will also describe the state of the system at the end of each flow, happy or otherwise (i.e. post-condition).
User scenarios are slightly more creative. They are typically narrative versus the bulleted / numbered form of a use case. They incorporate individual user characteristics (i.e. a persona) while outlining the tasks undertaken to achieve goals. Essentially, you tell a short story about your persona interactiing with your product.
Product Managers will survey their external stakeholders, end users, customers and prospects to determine what the system will do and how it will be used. This is captured in the form of user scenarios, first informally, then expressed more formally in a use case model. At the end of the day, the differences are very minor but you can start to see how they are relevant and important to the software development process.
Alistair.Cockburn.us | Why I still use use cases
Alistair Cockburn's treatise on why he prefers use cases over the user story and product backlog.
"How to…" Prepare a Use Case | brainmates - product management people
Nice little stepthrough including creation of user persona, identifying user goals, defining the use case.
Use cases - User Stories: so precious but not the same ! | Agile UX
Use cases and user stories are two popular ways to capture functional requirements. They’re both goal-oriented (a very good thing), can be discovered during user / customers workshops, can be easily combined with UX activities, and are used in Agile contexts.
Use cases and user Stories look similar; actually, they’re different. Here is the list of 14 major differences I’ve noticed:
User Stories and Use Cases | Tyner Blain
User Stories are one of the key agile artifacts for helping implementation teams deliver the most important capabilities first. They differ from use cases in some important ways, but share more commonalities than you might think.
CoDe Magazine - Article: Introduction to Gathering Requirements and Creating Use Cases
Studies indicate that between 40% and 60% of all defects found in software projects can be traced back to errors made while gathering requirements. This is huge! Finding problems while they are just in the planning stages is MUCH easier to deal with than
Use Case Model Checklist
Nice checklist for use cases. It seems to be more comprehensive and a bit more detailed than Wiegers's list on Process Impact.
Checklist for Use Case Reviews
Handy checklist from Karl Wiegers' Process Impact site.
Use Case Maker
Use Case Maker is a C.A.S.E. tool that helps software developers
to write organized use cases and to maintain related requirements.
Ivar Jacobson: Useful app dev practices trump full-blown processes
Ivar Jacobson has a CV that is somewhat unique among software technologists. Perhaps his ability to rethink his achievements is a major reason he has been able to have so many.
MF Bliki: UseCasesAndStories
Use cases organize requirements to form a narrative of how users relate to and use a system. Hence they focus on user goals and how interacting with a system satisfies the goals. XP stories break requirements into chunks for planning purposes.
Structuring use cases with goals - AC
Use cases are wonderful but confusing. People, when asked to write them, do not know what to include or how to structure them. This paper introduces a theory based on a small model of communication, distinguishing "goals" as a key element of use cases.
How to document use cases
Approaches to content range from diagrammatic to textual, formal to free form, expansive and detailed to brief and abstract. Here are some suggestions for a simple and streamlined, yet reasoned and thorough, approach to use case documentation.
The pros and cons of use case diagrams
Trying to capture and present requirements using just use case diagrams can often render the otherwise useful technique of use cases almost useless.
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