The Art of Slicing Features into Playable Stories

Tarang Baxi

Agile India 2012, Bangalore Feb 17, 2012

Why bother?

Stories sliced right

Evolving, incremental

value

Faster, more meaningful feedback

Reduced delivery risk

Support for continuous

delivery

Minimized waste

Case Study 1 – Workflow !   Client and Project: Native iPad app for a major international airline !   Feature: Check-in for a flight !   Context:

! iPad app intended to support users in 12 countries in Release 1 !   APIs shared with website and other mobile apps manage most

of the business logic

Initiate check-in /

choose flightProvide

traveler infoChoose seat /

upgradeCheck-in baggage

(free/paid)

Choose paid extras

Pay for upgrades /

extrasGet boarding

pass

Mobile check-in - feature outline !   Initiate check-in via

!   Click-through on check-in notification !   Search by PNR + Last Name !   Login to account + view trip dashboard (both already built)

!   Input traveler info including: !   Govt. mandated security info for travel from, to or over the US !   Passport details for international travel !   Special display & input variations for travel from or into Germany,

Japan and Brazil (and maybe a few more countries) !   Choose/change seat, incl. class upgrade, if available !   Check-in baggage – paid if count exceeds free allowance for sector !   Choose paid services for flight, including priority boarding, insurance,

meals, wifi, etc. – availability, price vary by sector & traveler loyalty status !   Pay for upgrades, bags, extras using a credit or debit card !   Get mobile boarding passes on device or send to an email address

Suggested story breakdown (partial)

Check-in for a US domestic flight, from My Trips

(logged-in user, single passenger, default choices, boarding pass

via email)

Check-in for flight after searching for trip

(logged-in user, single passenger, default choices, boarding pass

via email)

Check-in for flight from check-in notification

(logged-in user, default choices)

Check-in multiple passengers for flight

(logged-in user, default choices, boarding passes via email)

Check-in for flight and get a mobile boarding pass

(logged-in user, default choices)

Pay for bags during check-in (pay using stored card)

Purchase a paid extra while checking-in

Select seat during check-in (single passenger, no upgrades)

…

Case Study 2 – Data Analytics !   Client and Project: Government contracting data analytics web app

for an Indian NGO !   Feature: An Excel ‘pivot-table’ like feature to allow users to create

custom tabular views of contracts data !   Context:

!   Data covers all contracts issued by the Indian central government and its ministries and departments in the last 5 years

!   5 million transaction records currently expected to grow by 15-20% every year

!   Current DB & architecture not expected to support this feature !   Result table load times is a big concern for the customer

‘Pivot’ table – feature mockup

‘Pivot’ table – feature mockup

Case Study 3 – Data Visualization !   Client and Project: Interactive visualization web app for public data

for a Data Services Provider !   Feature: An interactive tool to visually compare Indian States and

Union Territories !   Context:

!   State data compiled from 3 different data feeds – Demographic, Economic and Industrial

!   Graphing framework “Fly Charts” already in place – team expected to use this for generating visuals •  Already in use, elsewhere on the site for simple pie-charts

!   Big emphasis on look and feel of the visuals

‘State comparison’ – feature mockup

Revisiting - Why bother?

Stories sliced right

Evolving, incremental

value

Faster, more meaningful feedback

Reduced delivery risk

Support for continuous

delivery

Minimized waste

Story slicing tips DOs !   Strip away options & alternate paths from the feature until you get

to the simplest possible usage scenario - that’s your first story !   Now layer in variables / alternate paths based on:

!   End-user or business value !   Technical risk involved

!   Check whether each story allows demonstration of real user flows

DON’Ts !   Don’t slice by pages, screens or other UI elements !   Don’t slice by architectural layers !   Don’t create stories that can’t truly be tested without additional

stories being played

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

tarang@thoughtworks.com twitter: @gnarat