How unit 5 is examined
This unit covers how agile teams gather requirements as user stories, estimate and plan, and work in frameworks; Scrum, user stories (INVEST) and agile roles carry the marks.
Gathering requirement using Agile way
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Definition. <mark>Agile requirements gathering collects requirements continuously through customer collaboration, keeping them as a prioritised product backlog that is refined every sprint instead of frozen in an SRS.</mark>
Key points.
- The customer or product owner works with the team throughout, so requirements are discussed face to face rather than fixed in a long document.
- Requirements are written as short user stories and kept in a product backlog ordered by business value.
- Backlog grooming (refinement) adds detail, splits big items and re-prioritises them before each sprint.
- Change is welcome even late, because only the next sprint's items need to be detailed.
User Stories: The currency of agile development
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Definition. <mark>A user story is a short, informal description of a feature written from the user's viewpoint: "As a <role>, I want <goal>, so that <benefit>".</mark>
Key points.
- Stories are the unit in which requirements are written, prioritised, estimated and planned, which is why they are the "currency" of agile.
- Each story has acceptance criteria that decide when it is done.
- Stories go into the product backlog; the team pulls the top ones into a sprint and estimates them in story points.
- They are a promise of a conversation, so they improve customer communication instead of replacing it.
Example. As a student, I want to download last year's paper, so that I can practise. Acceptance: the PDF opens; the download needs no login.
Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2024) What is meant by user stories? How are they used in Agile? Discuss with the help of suitable example.
Characteristics of good user stories
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Definition. A user story ("As a / I want / So that") is good when it satisfies INVEST.
Key points.
- Independent: the story can be built in any order, without depending on another story.
- Negotiable: it states the need, not the design, so details are discussed with the customer.
- Valuable: it delivers visible value to the user or customer.
- Estimable: the team knows enough to estimate its size.
- Small: it fits within one sprint. Testable: clear acceptance criteria let it be verified.
Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2025) Define a User Story and explain the characteristics of a good user story.
Generating User Stories
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Definition. <mark>Story generation is the team and customer activity of discovering stories through workshops, interviews, observation and story mapping.</mark>
Key points.
- A story-writing workshop brings the customer, users and developers together to write stories on cards.
- Personas and roles are identified first, then stories are written for each role.
- A story map arranges stories along the user's journey, with the most important at the top.
- Large stories (epics) are split into small, INVEST-compliant stories.
Agile estimation and planning
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Definition. <mark>Agile estimation sizes stories in relative units called story points, and planning uses the team's velocity to decide how much fits into a sprint or release.</mark>
Key points.
- Story points measure relative effort, complexity and risk, not hours.
- Planning poker: each member privately picks a card (Fibonacci 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13) and differences are discussed until the team agrees.
- Velocity is the story points completed per sprint; $\text{sprints needed} = \dfrac{\text{total points}}{\text{velocity}}$.
- Release planning covers the whole backlog, while sprint planning commits only to the next sprint.
Implementation of agile
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Definition. <mark>Implementing agile means running the work in short time-boxed iterations that each deliver a working increment, reviewed with the customer.</mark>
Key points.
- Start with a pilot team, train it and then extend to other teams.
- Each iteration includes planning, design, coding, testing and a demo.
- Continuous integration and automated testing keep the software always working.
- Daily stand-ups and retrospectives give feedback and continuous improvement.
Applying an Agile Mindset to a Project
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Definition. <mark>An agile mindset is the attitude of valuing people, working software, collaboration and response to change, applied in daily decisions.</mark>
Key points.
- The team embraces change and treats requirements as evolving.
- It is self-organising and shares responsibility for quality.
- Failure is treated as learning, so experiments and retrospectives are encouraged.
- Decisions focus on delivering customer value early and often.
Roles in agile development
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Definition. <mark>Agile has few roles: the Product Owner, the Scrum Master and a self-organising cross-functional Development Team.</mark>
Key points.
- The Product Owner owns the backlog and its priorities and represents the customer.
- The Scrum Master coaches the process and removes obstacles; the Team builds, tests and delivers the increment.
- The customer or stakeholder gives feedback in reviews.
| Basis | Agile | Traditional |
|---|---|---|
| Control | Self-organising team | Manager assigns tasks |
| Roles | Cross-functional, shared | Separate analyst, coder, tester |
| Leader | Servant-leader (Scrum Master) | Project manager commands |
| Customer | Continuous involvement | Only at start and end |
Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2024) Explain various roles in agile process. How are these roles different from traditional roles?
Agile Frameworks: Scrum
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Definition. <mark>Scrum is a lightweight agile framework in which a self-organising team delivers a working increment in time-boxed sprints of 1-4 weeks, using empirical process control.</mark>
Key points.
- Need: complex projects have changing requirements that plans cannot predict, so Scrum inspects and adapts frequently.
- Pillars: transparency, inspection and adaptation.
- Values: commitment, focus, openness, respect and courage.
- Roles: the Product Owner (backlog), Scrum Master (process coach) and Development Team (builds).
- Events: sprint planning, daily scrum (15 minutes), sprint review and sprint retrospective.
- Artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog and the potentially shippable increment.
- Hybrid: Scrum's cadence, Kanban's flow control and XP's engineering practices (TDD, pair programming, CI) together give flexibility, quality and faster delivery.
Answer frame. Open with the definition and the need; draw the sprint cycle (backlog, sprint planning, sprint with daily scrum, review, retrospective); develop points 2-6; close with the benefits (transparency, early delivery, adaptability). For the hybrid question, give one line each on Scrum, Kanban and XP, then the gains in point 7.
Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2024) What is Scrum? What is the need of Scrum? What values are provided by Scrum? Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2025) Describe the Scrum framework and the roles involved in it. Asked: [7 marks] (Jun 2023) How can mixing Agile approaches like scrum kanban and XP benefit an organization?
Kanban
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Definition. <mark>Kanban is a visual flow method in which work items move across a board of columns (To Do, Doing, Done) with limits on work in progress (WIP).</mark>
Key points.
- The board makes all work visible.
- WIP limits stop overload and expose bottlenecks.
- Work is pulled when capacity is free, and there are no fixed sprints.
- Flow is measured by lead time and throughput.
Crystal
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Definition. <mark>Crystal is a family of agile methodologies by Alistair Cockburn that is chosen by team size and project criticality.</mark>
Key points.
- It is coloured (Clear, Yellow, Orange, Red) as the team grows, with Crystal Clear for 1-6 people.
- It stresses people, communication and community over processes.
- Frequent delivery, close communication and reflective improvement are its core properties.
- Heavier variants add more rules as criticality rises.
XP
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Definition. <mark>Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile method that applies good engineering practices to the extreme for high-quality software under changing requirements.</mark>
Key points.
- Its values are communication, simplicity, feedback, courage and respect.
- Practices: pair programming, test-driven development (TDD), continuous integration and refactoring.
- Other practices: small releases, planning game, collective code ownership and an on-site customer.
ASD
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Definition. <mark>Adaptive Software Development (ASD), by Jim Highsmith, replaces planning with a speculate-collaborate-learn cycle for complex, changing systems.</mark>
Key points.
- Speculate: plan adaptively, accepting uncertainty.
- Collaborate: the team works together to develop the software.
- Learn: review quality and mistakes to improve the next cycle.
DSDM
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Definition. <mark>Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) is an agile framework that fixes time and cost and varies scope, using MoSCoW prioritisation.</mark>
Key points.
- MoSCoW: Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have this time.
- Work is time-boxed, with active user involvement.
- Phases: feasibility, foundations, evolutionary development and deployment.
- Iterative delivery is frequent, with testing throughout.
Last-minute revision
- User story format: As a <role>, I want <goal>, so that <benefit>.
- INVEST: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable.
- Velocity = story points done per sprint; sprints = total points / velocity.
- Scrum pillars: transparency, inspection, adaptation.
- Scrum values: commitment, focus, openness, respect, courage.
- Scrum roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team.
- Scrum events: sprint planning, daily scrum, review, retrospective; sprint is 1-4 weeks.
- Scrum artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, increment.
- Kanban: visual board with WIP limits, pull system.
- XP practices: pair programming, TDD, CI, refactoring.
- Crystal: coloured by team size; ASD: speculate-collaborate-learn; DSDM: MoSCoW.
Memory hooks
- INVEST: "I Need Very Small Testable Estimates".
- Scrum events: "Plan, Daily, Review, Retro".
- MoSCoW: Must, Should, Could, Won't.
- ASD: SCL = Speculate, Collaborate, Learn.
- Kanban: limit WIP, pull, flow.
Coverage checklist
- Gathering requirement using Agile way: definition and key points.
- User Stories: The currency of agile development: Jun 2024 (7 marks).
- Characteristics of good user stories: Jun 2025 (7 marks).
- Generating User Stories: definition and key points.
- Agile estimation and planning: definition and key points.
- Implementation of agile: definition and key points.
- Applying an Agile Mindset to a Project: definition and key points.
- Roles in agile development: Jun 2024 (7 marks).
- Agile Frameworks: Scrum: Jun 2024, Jun 2025 and Jun 2023 hybrid (7 marks each).
- Kanban: definition and key points.
- Crystal: definition and key points.
- XP: definition and key points.
- ASD: definition and key points.
- DSDM: definition and key points.