Stop 07 · Agile & Product Delivery for BAsTopics · 4/10

Writing Agile User Stories

In short

A story that takes three sprints isn't a story, it's a mini project. Agile stories must be small enough to finish in one sprint and clear enough that 'done' is never a debate.

Applying Phase 3's user story format specifically within a sprint-based workflow — small enough to complete within one sprint, with acceptance criteria clear enough that 'done' isn't debatable.

The purple blob cuts a tall layered cake into neat vertical slices on a plate.

Think of it like this

Slicing a layered cake

Cut a layered cake top to bottom and every slice has sponge, cream and icing. Cut it sideways and someone gets only icing. Good stories are vertical slices: each one delivers a little screen, logic and data that users can actually try.

Watch it happen

Splitting an epic into sprint-sized stories

Pay fees online

Pay by UPI

Pay by card

Get receipt

Success shown

Failure retry

1/4'Pay fees online' is an epic. Too big for one sprint, so we split it.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Slice vertically

Split by user path, rule or data type, not by layer. 'Build the database' alone isn't a story.

INVEST check

Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable. A quick test for any story.

Criteria define done

Two to five acceptance criteria, written as checkable outcomes. Given/When/Then format works well.

A story is a reminder

The card starts a conversation with the team. Add details from that conversation back to the story.

See it in code

Walk through the code

gherkin

1Story: As a student, I want to pay my fees by UPI2       so that I don't have to stand in the fee queue.3 4Scenario: Payment succeeds5  Given I owe ₹42,000 for this semester6  When I approve the UPI request in my app7  Then I see "Payment successful"8  And my dues show ₹0 within 1 minute9 10Scenario: Payment fails11  Given I owe ₹42,000 for this semester12  When the UPI request is declined13  Then I see "Payment failed" and a Retry button14  And my dues still show ₹42,000

1/3The story: who, what, and why. Short enough to read in five seconds.

One small story, two scenarios. A tester can check each line as pass or fail, which is exactly the point.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Splitting by technical layer: 'backend for refunds', 'frontend for refunds'.

Do this instead

Split by user outcome, so each story delivers something a user can test.

Oops

Acceptance criteria like 'should be fast and easy'.

Do this instead

Make them checkable: 'loads in under 2 seconds on 4G', 'completes in 3 taps or fewer'.

Your mission

Split an epic

~30 min

Quick check

Which is the best sprint-sized story?

Go deeper

1Break a larger feature idea into 3-5 sprint-sized user stories.
2Practice sizing: which of your stories could realistically fit in a single 2-week sprint?
3Learn the INVEST criteria (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable) for good stories.