User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development

Chapter 1. An Overview

Software requirements is a communication problem. Those who want the new software (either to use or to sell) must communicate with those who will build the new software. To succeed, a project relies on information from the heads of very different people: on one side are customers and users and sometimes analysts, domain experts and others who view the software from a business or organizational perspective; on the other side is the technical team.

If either side dominates these communications, the project loses. When the business side dominates, it mandates functionality and dates with little concern that the developers can meet both objectives, or whether the developers understand exactly what is needed. When the developers ...