User Stories in Practice

Student: Rosalva E. Gallardo-Valencia, UC Irvine/ISR

Advisor: Susan Elliott Sim, UC Irvine/ISR

Abstract: User stories are used to elicit requirements in agile software development, specifically in Extreme Programming. The literature defines user stories in different ways and offers different guidelines on how to write good user stories. But, how does theory differ from practice? We have interviewed agile practitioners and we have found that each team has their own names, definitions, and guidelines for user stories. User stories appear to be boundary objects that are plastic enough that each team can customize them according with their needs, but robust enough that they continue to work.

Bio:

Rosalva E. Gallardo Valencia is a PhD student in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science at University of California, Irvine. She is a member of the Galen Lab, advised by Dr. Susan Elliott Sim. She worked for 6 years managing and developing software for telecommunication companies, banks, and educational institutions. Her research interests include program comprehension and software processes.