Re: Practice: Stories

> 
> Every attempt I've seen to computerize stories has failed to 
> provide a fraction of the value of having real cards on a real
> wall. If you need to report progress to other parts of the 
> organization in a familiar format, translate the cards into that
> format periodically.
> 
I am glad you have reiterated this point - real cards on a real wall 
provide the most value and translate the stories into a familiar 
format periodically.    

In my opinion and experience, the moment stories go into a digital 
format, they cease being useful as stories.  The main thing they lose 
is the ability to easily prioritize and reorder.  Yes, you can get 
those abilities when you use the tool, but I think one of the great 
advances of XP is you do not need to have any "fancy" tools to be 
successful.  With a digital tool, it is not always clear what the 
trade-offs are when you shuffle around the computerized stories.  
With cards on a table, trade-offs are quite clear.

>From my recent experience with XPlanner, digital stories can give the 
customer an excuse not to participate and have the potential to turn 
the collaborative relationship into an adversarial one.  In this once 
instance, I observed customer involvement reduced to just checking on 
the XPlanner project to see if things are on track and feedback was 
limited to questions about why are estimates taking so long.  

Carlton











------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/nhFolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->