Well written user stories follow the INVEST acronym. User stories
should be – Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimate-able, Small and Testable.
Let’s talk about 'negotiable' quality of user stories.
The goal of organizing the work in the form of user stories and
sprints is to build small increments of the product and get feedback. The Scrum
Master is responsible for keeping scope creep and distractions in check.
As the team builds stories, there can be instances where the
Product Owner may need to make some changes to the acceptance criteria. Is this scope creep?
The Product Owner has the responsibility of clarifying the user
story as the team builds it. It is important to realize that although the Product
Owner should have a good idea about what the end product looks like, she may not
necessarily know all the ins and outs. As the team builds a small increment, the Product Owner has the right to request changes she
sees fit. In such situations the team can –
- Decide that the change is something they can accept in the current sprint, or
- Add a story in the backlog and make the change in a later sprint
There is no formula that can tell you what option to take.
This is a judgment call.
To illustrate this point, let me give you an example. Let’s
say I’m almost done with my grocery shopping when my wife calls and asks me to
get some extra milk. In this situation, I can either –
- get the milk (and the brownie points) or
- decide that waiting another 30mins at the checkout line is not worth it.
Negotiating user stories can be a source of frustration. The
development team may not like making changes on the fly, but it is important to
know that user stories are about collaborating to build what is needed, and not
necessarily build just what is written.
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