The INVEST acronym from the User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development
think serves as a good guideline for defining User Stories. The following is from Doug Seven’s take on INVEST. INVEST stands for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimatable, Small and Testable.
- Independent: The story should not carry with it dependencies, which can lead to estimating problems. Instead the story should be completely independent so that it can be worked on without pulling in a set of other stories.
- Negotiable: Stories should have room to negotiate – they are a starting point, not a contract.
- Valuable: The story should communicate the value to a user or customer, not to the developer. The story should define not only what a user can do, but what value the user gets from the implemented story. If there is no value, cut the story.
- Estimateable: You need to be able to estimate the amount of work required to implement the story. If it is too big and too daunting (an epic), break it up into smaller stories.
- Small: Similar to the previous, stories need to be small. Large stories are too complex to manage, and are typically more than one story compounded together.
- Testable: The implementation of the story needs to be testable. Define the tests that can be performed to validate the story was correctly implemented.
From a marketing perspective, you could develop user stories for many of your projects. For an example, consider developing a direct mail piece for a home roofing contractor: Using the standard outline for developing a user story: “As a [end user role], I want [the desire] so that [the rationale]. The user story may go something like this: As a roofing contractor, I would like to develop a 4-part mailing program targeting subdivisions of 20 to 24 year old homes.
- Using INVEST, I could look at this user story and conclude:
- Independent: Yes it is very independent.
- Negotiable: I think it is negotiable from the standpoint that you might be able to yse a 3 or 5 part or make some recommendations after initial testing.
- Valuable: I think presently it is rather weak in that area.
- Estimable: Time frames are very easily estimated.
- Small: The actual story is very small and well-defined.
- Testable: I think like most direct mail pieces, unless under a time constraint sample pieces could be sent and feedback given as additional pieces are developed and modified from the feedback.
Though this is a very easy initial user story, it still could be broken down into a variety of story points to put in the backlog, However, I think user stories for marketing should even go a step further. Using this example, they really should be re-directed so that they are written from the home owner’s perspective (the end user).
What could we create using our standard outline: “As a [end user role], I want [the desire] so that [the rationale]. As a homeowner, I would like information on the telltale signs that my roof needs inspected.
With this approach, you can see not only the need for supplying relevant content that is of value to the consumer but this story will strengthen your marketing. As you develop the piece, you may even find more content and/or a more targeted message.
P.S. Notice that I did not say replaced but inspected.
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