Story Cards and the Planning Game


We use story cards for the planning game, but we use them in a different way than in the "original" XP, and our planning game differs in some aspects, too. In our projects, users or clients rarely write story cards themselves. They do not normally have the skills or the required "process knowledge" to do so. Typically, we, as developers, write story cards based on interviews with users and observations of their actual work situation. These story cards are reviewed by the users and the client. The users must assess whether the implementation of the story cards will support them. They thus review the developers' understanding of the application domain. The client decides which story cards to implement in the next development iteration and with which priority. To avoid severe mismatches between the interests of the users and the client, both parties are involved in the planning game. This means that users can articulate their interests and discuss with the client the priorities of the story cards.

Our experience here is clear: Users and client will normally reach a compromise on their mutual interests. But whatever the outcome of the planning game is, the decision about what is to be implemented next is made not by developers but by the client.

If a project is complex, there will be an abundance of story cards. In this case it is difficult for users, clients, and developers to get the overall picture from the story cards. For this type of project, we use two additional document types: project stages and baselines. These are described in the next section.



Extreme Programming Perspectives
Extreme Programming Perspectives
ISBN: 0201770059
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 445

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