CPSC 480-010 Software Engineering (SE) Spring 2023
User Story Titles
Overall feedback based on Exercise 7: Team User Stories.
User Stories are Actions
Of the 48 candidate User Stories generated in Team Exercise User Stories, 35 (73%) have invalid User Story titles.
The following are some that are not valid user story titles
- Photo Album
- Notifications of Absence
- Categories
- Payment Methods
- Critic Finder
- Keyword Tracker
- Community Hub
- Pay Feature
- Notes
- Trail Share
- Realtime Map Changes
User story titles are not things, i.e., they are not nouns. The title is an action to perform followed by what to perform it on. They are in the Verb Object or Verb Phrase form.
User story titles are never a single word as they need a verb and an object.
The title of a user story completes the sentence "The user will be able to …"
For words that can be both a noun and a verb, e.g., "Report", assume it is a noun, except in cases that include another noun, e.g., "Report a missing item".
User stories are not tasks for the developer. A single user story often requires multiple tasks.
Capitalization Style
In terms of style, choose one of the following:
- Capitalize all: "Pay With A Credit Card"
- Capitalize first word: "Pay with a credit card"
All user stories for each team must follow the same style. I suggest the Capitalize All form, as the book uses this form.
Misc
The following are User Story titles that are actions but have other issues:
- Calculate Station Distance from User Nobody wants to calculate something. They want to view the result. Or to change the outcome.
- Generate Estimate Nobody wants to generate something. They want to view the results. Or change the outcome.
- Create Graphs/Charts Too open ended. Which specific graphs?
- Create/Modify Categories Avoid multiple verbs. Separate into multiple user stories. The ability to modify can be more challenging to implement than the ability to create.
- Posting recipes Use the imperative form of the verb, e.g., use "Post" instead of "Posting".
- Messaging Other Users This does have a verb "Messaging". However, once converted into imperative form, i.e., "Message", it is both a noun and a verb. At this point, a verb is needed for clarity, e.g., "Send Message To Other Users".
- The description of user stories is not an example from the past or the future. It is a description of what the user will be able to do.