User Stories are a fantastic agile tool, but they are not the only way for the product owner and team to reach a mutual understanding of what needs to be delivered.
This workshop explores the use of hypotheses and experiments from the Lean Startup community as an alternative to user stories.
We examine ways for agile teams to reframe stories (e.g. As a traveller I want to know the weather so that I can plan my journey) as a series of hypothesis (e.g. Supplying weather information will increase ticket sales) that are validated by experiments (e.g. Does supplying hard-coded weather data for our two most popular routes increase ticket sales?).
Having the whole team involved in discovering business value ensures alignment across the organisation. You will see how using hypotheses and experiments brings advantages to the development team, the customer, and the user - ensuring we only build valuable features.
Stop telling stories about your product - start asking questions.
(presented at Agile 2013)
15. “When a meeting, or part thereof, is
held under the Chatham House Rule,
participants are free to use the
information received, but neither the
identity nor the affiliation of the
speaker(s), nor that of any other
participant, may be revealed”
28. The Lean Startup
“A true experiment
follows the scientific
method. It begins with
a clear hypothesis that
makes predictions
about what is supposed
to happen. It then tests
those predictions
empirically”
29. The Lean Startup
• Come up with hypothesis
• Design experiment
• Run experiment
• Validate/Invalidate hypothesis
• Repeat
45. Example
• Built fake “register with twitter”
link which led to nice error
message
• Released to segment of customers
on live site
• Measured how many new users
tried it
• <1% - hypothesis invalid
47. Example
•Zappos
•Annual sales > US$1 billion
•Hypothesis: Is there a demand for
superior online shoe shopping
•Experiment: Took photos from shoe
shops, came back and bought them full
price if customer bought them online
Example from The Lean Startup, p57-58
48. Exercise
• 5m
• Pair up
• Pick a hypothesis
• Come up with as many ways to
validate the hypothesis as possible
65. Further Reading
• Lean Startup by Eric Ries
• The Startup Owner's Manual by
Steve Blank
• Running Lean by Ash Maurya
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany by
Steve Blank
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to
Customer Development by Brant
Cooper & Patrick Vlaskovits