PMP Practice Questions #150
As a new Agile team member tasked with writing user stories for an upcoming sprint, which of the following elements is most important to include to ensure the user stories are effective?
A) Acceptance Criteria, detailed technical specifications, and diagrams that visually represent how the user will interact with the software.
B) Acceptance Criteria, ensuring each story delivers value to the user and is small enough to be completed within a sprint.
C) Acceptance Criteria, with the user story estimated by the team for feasibility and time allocation.
D) Acceptance Criteria, detailed technical specifications, and an estimation of the size to gauge sprint capacity.
Analysis
In this scenario, a new Agile team member is responsible for writing user stories for an upcoming sprint. The key challenge is identifying which elements are crucial to include in the user stories to ensure they are effective for Agile development. Effective user stories are central to Agile practices as they guide the development work and ensure alignment with user needs and project goals.
Analysis of Options:
Option A: Acceptance Criteria, detailed technical specifications, and diagrams that visually represent how the user will interact with the software. This option includes several elements: acceptance criteria, detailed technical specifications, and visual diagrams. While acceptance criteria are essential for defining what needs to be met for the story to be considered complete, detailed technical specifications typically do not align with the Agile emphasis on flexibility and adaptiveness. Diagrams can be helpful as supplementary information but are not always necessary. Thus, the inclusion of detailed technical specs makes this option less ideal for Agile user stories, which prioritize user needs and flexibility over detailed upfront technical planning.
Option B: Acceptance Criteria, ensuring each story delivers value to the user and is small enough to be completed within a sprint. This option focuses on the core principles of effective Agile user stories. It includes acceptance criteria, which are critical for measuring the completion of the story. Additionally, it ensures each story is valuable to the user and manageable within a single sprint’s timeframe, aligning with the INVEST criteria which emphasize that stories should be Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable. This makes it a strong option as it covers multiple key aspects of effective Agile user stories.
Option C: Acceptance Criteria, with the user story estimated by the team for feasibility and time allocation. While this option rightly includes acceptance criteria and emphasizes the importance of estimating stories for feasibility and timing, it lacks the explicit requirement that each story must deliver user value and be small enough for a sprint. Estimation is crucial, but without the context of value and size, the estimation alone is less effective in ensuring the story’s practicality in an upcoming sprint.
Option D: Acceptance Criteria, detailed technical specifications, and an estimation of the size to gauge sprint capacity. Similar to Option A, this option includes detailed technical specifications, which are not typically desired in Agile user stories due to their tendency to limit flexibility. The inclusion of size estimation is useful for planning but does not compensate for the potential rigidity introduced by detailed specifications.
Conclusion: Option B is the most appropriate and effective choice for writing user stories in an Agile environment. It comprehensively addresses the essential elements that make user stories practical and useful for upcoming sprints. It ensures that the stories are valuable, estimable, and appropriately scoped, which are key to maintaining agility and responsiveness in sprint planning. This option best captures the Agile spirit of adaptability and user focus, making it the ideal selection for the scenario described.
PMP Exam Content Outline Mapping
| Domain | Task |
|---|---|
| Process | Task 8: Plan and manage scope |
Topics Covered
- User Stories
- INVEST
