User Story Components in Salesforce

Updated:

February 10, 2024

⏱️ 4 minutes

In the Agile landscape, user stories and acceptance criteria are fundamental tools that guide teams in delivering value-driven outcomes. By focusing on the user’s perspective, these elements ensure that product features are developed with clear, actionable objectives. Here’s what you will gain from this blog:

An understanding of user stories and their significance in Agile software development.
Insight into the structure of effective user stories using the “Who-What-Why” template.
Clarity on the role of acceptance criteria in defining the scope and success of user stories.
Best practices for crafting acceptance criteria to ensure precise, testable outcomes.

Let’s get started!

User Stories

A user story is a short and simple description of a feature told from the perspective of a user who desires the new capability/feature. This tool is used in Agile software development and is one of the primary development artifacts for Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) project teams and captures a high-level definition of a requirement containing just enough information so that the developers can produce a reasonable estimate of the effort to implement it.

Importance of User Stories in Agile

It helps in creating and delivering a solution that users need.
It increases transparency and collaboration within the project teams.
Improves flexibility by avoiding restrictions that occur when specifications are defined too early on.
It reduces the time spent on writing exhaustive documentation by emphasizing customer-centric conversations.
Aims to deliver value back to the customer/end user.

User Story Template

WHO: Define from the “Who’s” perspective the user story should be written?

WHAT: What goal is the persona (Who) trying to accomplish?

WHY: Why does the user need the functionality or feature outlined in the user story?

User Story Examples

As a [Sales Manager], I want to [generate a Closed Deals Report) so that [I can understand the sales pipeline].
As an [Insurance Agent], I want to [see a customer’s insurance policy data] so that [I can pitch for renewal or upsell).
As a [vendor], I want to [showcase the product catalogue to my customers] so that [I can increase sales].

Acceptance Criteria

While a user story aims at describing what a user wants the system to do, the acceptance criteria is a set of accepted conditions that a user story must satisfy to be accepted by the Product Owner/Stakeholder.

Key Concepts and Features

Acceptance Criteria define the conditions the product feature/functionality should meet to be accepted by the user or customer.
Acceptance Criteria are unique for each user story and define the feature behavior from the end user’s perspective.
The acceptance criteria must be defined before the development teams start working on a particular user story to ensure the deliverables meet the needs and expectations of a client.
Well-written, detailed acceptance criteria help avoid unexpected results at the end of the development stage.

Purpose of Acceptance Criteria

Detailing the feature scope: The acceptance criteria outline the boundaries of the user story and provide precise details on the functionality that will be developed.
User Acceptance Testing Streamlining: Acceptance Criteria form the basis of the user story acceptance testing. Each acceptance criteria must be independently testable, with clear pass or fail scenarios.
Setting Communication: The acceptance criteria synchronize the vision of the business and the development team, thus ensuring that everyone has a common understanding of the requirements.

Acceptance Criteria Template

Scenario-Oriented: Inherited from the behavior-driven development, provides a consistent structure that helps testers when to begin and end testing a particular feature.

Given (Some precondition), When (persona does some action), Then (persona expects some result).

Example – Given when a user navigates to the login page when the user selects the “Forgot Password” option and enters a valid email to receive a link for password recovery, then the system sends the link to the entered email.

Rule-Oriented (Checklist): In some cases, when it is difficult to accommodate the GWT structure. For example – when working with user stories that describe system-level functionality. The rule-oriented structure lists a set of rules (bullet list) that describe the behavior of a system.

Acceptance Criteria Best Practices

Keep the acceptance achievable: Effective acceptance defines the reasonable minimum chunk of functionality the development team can deliver.
Keep acceptance not too broad or narrow: The acceptance should convey the intent but not the final solution. Making the acceptance criteria too specific leaves little to no manoeuvre options for developers, whereas making the acceptance too broad makes a user story vague.
Write testable acceptance: The acceptance should be written in a way that allows the testers to verify that all requirements are met.
Avoid Negative Sentences: The acceptance stated should avoid the adverb “not” as it makes the requirement unclear and less verifiable.
Document criteria before development: The acceptance criteria should be documented before the development team starts working on the requirement.
Avoid technical details: The acceptance criteria should be clear and easy to understand for everyone in the team, as the stakeholders may not have enough technical background.
Mutual Agreement on Acceptance: Everyone in the team must review the acceptance and confirm they understand and agree with each line.

Use Case

A business analyst has created a user story to document requirements, but the testers are having a difficult time understanding when to begin and end testing this user story. What nest practice should the business analyst implement to streamline the process?

Solution: Write Scenario Oriented – “Given-When-Then” Acceptance.

Reason: The business analyst should ensure that scenario-oriented “Given-When-Then” Acceptance Criteria are written when creating a user story to provide a consistent structure that helps testers when to begin and end testing a particular feature.

Summing Up

Diving into the Agile methodology, we’ve uncovered the essence of user stories and acceptance criteria, pivotal tools that ensure development aligns with user expectations and project objectives. These principles not only guide teams towards efficiency and clarity but also foster a user-centric approach in product development, emphasizing the importance of clear, actionable goals in the Agile process.

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