business story method - overview
DESCRIPTION
This talk sets out the thinking behind the Gerrard Consulting Business Story Method. The slides present background, an overview of the method and introduces the Testela Business tool that supports Gerrard Consulting services.TRANSCRIPT
OverviewBusiness Story Method
Gerrard Consulting LimitedPO Box 347
MaidenheadBerkshireSL6 2GU
Tel: +44 (0) 1628 639173Fax: +44 (0) 1628 630398
Web: gerrardconsulting.com
AssuranceImprovement
Outsourcing Slide 1Intelligent Testing, Improvement and
Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Key challenges
• Increasing Delivery Success• Reducing the Cost of Re-Work• Increasing Confidence in Timelines
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 2
IT Domain
Business Domain
The delivery process
Development Process
Accep
tanc
e
Spec
ify
Design
Test
Build
Busin
ess
Goals
Requ
irem
ents
Accep
tanc
e Te
sts
Traini
ngCommunications hot spots
A mystery to the Business - waterfall, agile or somewhere in between?
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 3
IT Domain
Business Domain
The delivery process
Development Process
Accep
tanc
e
Spec
ify
Design
Test
Build
Busin
ess
Goals
Requ
irem
ents
Accep
tanc
e Te
sts
Traini
ng
Extended Timeline? - Some re-work inevitable as change is constant
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 4
Story Management challenge in Agile • Requirements are captured as stories,
implemented into development “sprints” • Test Driven development (TDD) essentially
documents the requirements as unit tests• But, many “agile” teams don’t use TDD and throw
stories away, so where is the traceability and documentation?
• Many teams don’t have sufficient user involvement to drive the stories through to representative development
• Typically, there is no record of how decisions were made
Slide 5Intelligent Testing, Improvement and
Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Existing tools don’t help with these management challenges
Range of development approaches
WaterfallAgile
Where Stories Are Meaningful
• Stories have universal value as examples of features in use; regardless of the development approach
• Stories won’t work where they are regarded as ‘throwaway’ in Agile projects (or anywhere)
Most projects fit somewhere in
between
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 6
Bridging the Communications Gap • We take your requirements; expand into Stories
(identify features); and illustrate by Scenarios (real life examples)
• We bring these to life via workshop prototyping sessions which ensures the requirements are complete and that the scenarios are fully representative and are signed off
• The Scenarios become test scripts to determine that the requirements have been met
• The test scripts will last the life of the system, not just one project
• Delivered via our structured Business Story Method supported by our hosted service Testela-Business
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 7
Story Management for Agile
• Same structured English language for Stories and Scenarios
• Manages which Stories/Scenarios are included within each Sprint
• Supported by our hosted service Testela Story Manager
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 8
ExecutionPlanningAnalysis
Business Story Method - Overview
Test the Requirements
RefineRequirements
Processes, Stories,
Scenarios
• Dictionary of business terms and data items
• Approved Business Stories• Approved Acceptance Criteria• Approved Stories and Scenarios
Procedures from Scenarios
• Procedures map to business processes
• Assured process and feature coverage
• Test data requirements
Test Detailing
• Test scripts from procedures
• Test schedule
Execution Management
• Test team management
• Incident Management
• Reporting
Collate Requirements
Scope of Testela Business
Scope of Most Test Mgt ToolsServices to deliver content
Scope of Testela Story Manager
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 9
Business Story Manager Reduces Ambiguity
• Traceability• The Dictionary • Use of English language• Prototyping workshops for review and
sign-off• Project implementation
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 10
PlanningAnalysis
Dictionary
Execution
Business Story Method - Traceability
Glossary
Process Paths Execution Management
Requirements
Processes
Data Item Register
(Business) Scenarios
Test Procedures
(Test) Scenarios
Test Schedule
Index
Stories /Features
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 11
The ‘Dictionary’Dictionary
Glossaryof Business
Terms
Data Item Register
The INDEX(references to all usage in requirements and Stories)
Requirements Stories
• Requirements and stories are scanned and terms indexed
• Undefined (candidate) terms in stories can be identified and are loaded in the index
• Business users provide definitions and approve new terms
• Scenarios that have data items (parameters) defined are scanned, indexed and entered into the data item register
• Data item properties (type, size, validation rules) can be edited
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 12
Structured language of stories helps bridge communications gapsFeature:
As a orders clerkI want to acknowledge and ship the orderSo that we fulfil a book order
Scenario: ship a single book from stockGiven I select a valid order And the ordered book is in stockWhen I choose ‘acknowledge and ship’Then order status is changed to ‘shipped’ And an address label is printed
Key wordStory text
Each Story has multiple ScenariosScenarios can be data drivenIntelligent Testing, Improvement and
Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 13
PlanningAnalysis
Dictionary
Execution
Business Story Method - Governance
Glossary
Stories /Features
Process Paths Execution Management
Requirements
Processes
Data Item Register
(Business) Scenarios
Test Procedures
(Test) Scenarios
Test Schedule
Index
Prototyping workshops
Auto Generated
Review and Sign-Off
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 14
Analysis
ExecutionTest Design
Business Story Method and Projects
Requirements
Build Stories
Test Reqs.
Design, Build System
Functional System Test
System Integration
Non-Functional Testing
Acceptance Test Prep.
Acceptance Test Execution
Evolving requirements, incremental story development, requirements testing, fortnightly updates etc.
Client
BSM Scope
Key:
Intelligent Testing, Improvement and Assurance
© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Slide 15
Scope of our new services• Business Story Method
– Confidence in testing coverage without bureaucratic paper mountains– Reduced re-work in development and test effort by eliminating
inconsistencies and omissions in requirements– Automated support for functional and acceptance testing– Ultimately, improved quality and trustworthiness of requirements
• Testela-Business (hosted service)– Our purpose built tool that supports our methodology– Provides a repository for requirements, stories, scenarios business
processes, glossary and test scripts– Is easy to use and supports the system life not just one project
• Testela Story Manager (hosted service)– Provides story management support for Agile projects
Slide 16Intelligent Testing, Improvement and
Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Benefits
• Increased Delivery Success– Business language ensures consistency throughout
development and testing
• Reducing the Cost of Re-Work– Increased confidence in validity and coverage of your
requirements– Scenarios provide unambiguous examples for
development
• Increasing Confidence in Timelines– Scenarios aid production of training materials and support
requirements and improve business acceptance
Slide 17Intelligent Testing, Improvement and
Assurance© 2010 Gerrard Consulting
Thank-you.
Slide 18