Requirement Analysis - Writing good user stories

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The Agile Framework calls for perfect user stories. When we say ‘perfect’, can user stories be perfect? Well, they don’t have to be ‘perfect’. They have to be easy to understand. 

Here are some tips: 

1) Write User Stories from the point of view of a user: Understand who are the prospective users and learn why they want to use this product. Interview the users, do some research first. Writing user stories based on speculation and theory never helps. 

2) Personas: What are personas? Personas are imaginary characters created based on the users who would be using the product. Personas usually comprise of a name, picture, characteristic, attitude and a goal. For example. ‘This is Ron. Ron wants an app through which he can order a variety of food from different restaurants and not just one restaurant. This helps in understanding the functionality of the product better. Templates for personas can be found online.’ 

3) User stories should be created collaboratively: There should be a detailed discussion between the product owner, scrum master, development team and the testing team. By taking ideas, feedback and Data from the teams involved, user stories can be created better. 

4) Keep the user stories simple and short: The key is to focus on answering these questions: 

a) As a user, I want…………… 

b) So that I can get……….. 

5) Focus on solving the problem of the user. 

6) Write in first person. It is easy to understand when we write in first person. 

7) Write the Epic first including even the minutest of details. Then break it into user stories. 

8) Ensure the user stories fit well in such a way that one user story can be completed in one sprint. 

9) Do not forget the acceptance criteria. Focus on the following acceptance criteria: 

a) Try to ensure that user stories are independent. 

b) User stories should be short (concise). 

c) User stories should be negotiable. 

d) User stories should be valuable. 

e) User stories should be estimable. 

f) User stories should be testable. 

 

Sources: 

https://www.romanpichler.com/blog/10-tips-writing-good-user-stories/ 

https://www.boost.co.nz/blog/2010/09/acceptance-criteria

Switching Jobs? Here is what you need to know…..

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‘One in 5 workers, who quit their job, wish they had remained in their old position, and only around a quarter of job switchers say they’re satisfied enough with their new position to stay.’ 

There are times when we look for better job opportunities. And then suddenly we are in for a surprise. We hear from some recruiter, and we get an interview call regarding a position we had been eagerly waiting for. So, we go ahead and attend the interview. The interviewer is happy with our answers. He/She tells us about the job role. We are elated that we are going to be at the pedestal of a new role and will be sailing smooth in our learning journey. We are given a tour of the office, the conference rooms. We are told we will be getting pivotal knowledge from the seniors here. Perhaps we grabbed a senior role, and we think we will get an opportunity to lead the team, put forth our ideas, our ideas will be implemented and whoa! What a beautiful work life! Well, sometimes, we are told something and once we join, something else happens....

For example, you may be offered a position in the finance segment, where you hoped you will be shadowing the work responsibilities of the program manager and will eventually get more responsibilities. However, once you join, you realize, the program manager travels frequently and you barely get a chance to communicate with him/her, forget about shadowing and learning new work skills, you will regret your decision of joining this new workplace. 

So, what are the things you need to look at before switching jobs: 

1) Deciding the right way: Getting selected for a new job always makes one feel that he/she is super skilled and is perfect for the role, and hence he/she got selected. However, it is necessary to think above and beyond what the hiring team conveyed and what could be the reality. Once you reason yourself with the truth, only then go ahead and decide whether you want to join or not. 

2) Ask questions: Have your own sets of questions ready. The hiring team may paint a rosy picture of your new role. But you need to know that whatever is being told may or may not be true. Hence ask more questions to be sure about your exact role. 

3) Do not let confirmation bias overpower you: Confirmation bias is the tendency of human brain to confirm an information we already believe in, even though the information that we believe may not be true. For example, you were hired to take over the vital HR responsibilities while the HR manager was on leave. You presume you will get to manage those roles till you are here in this organization. However, you have the slightest idea that once the HR manager joins, you will be given less significant responsibilities. Always be aware of such bias taking over your mind. 

4) Research a little about the organization: Find out more information about the work culture of that organization by reading reviews and talking to employees working there. You can always find connections on job sites liked LinkedIn. You might get more information about the company’s values and principles. Based on that, go ahead with your decision. Always remember, sometimes we switch jobs for salary. However, despite getting a fat salary, we may not be able to work peacefully in our new organization. So, while deciding, it is necessary to take every aspect into consideration. Getting a job is sometimes easier that being able to continue the job. And being able to continue a job peacefully is what every employee desires. 

Sources: https://hbr.org/2022/05/switching-jobs-heres-how-to-make-sure-you-wont-regret-it

How to be a supportive leader?

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There are times when certain projects seem to be challenging and meeting clients’ expectations and solving their problems look difficult. That’s when we see our team members getting anxious, stressed, and worried. At this point, what can the team leader do to ensure he is lending the support the team needs, along with getting the requisite tasks done. 

Here are some tips for the leader: 

1) Acceptance: Anxiety is contagious. If your team is getting anxious, if your team members are getting cold feet, it is quite possible that you will also get it. Hence, accept and acknowledge what is happening. 

2) Understand your own emotions: Put a line between what you are feeling and what they are feeling. Don’t be biased here. Ask yourself, are you feeling the same as them. Based on that, take a decision respecting your values. Say for example, you believe in compassion and cooperation. So, go ahead, talk to your team. Be kind, collaborate with them and see what you can do provide the support they need so that they can complete the tasks. 

3) Talk to you team members: Talk to your team members. Talk to them to know what they are feeling. Try and understand that feeling even if you do not agree with certain things they talked about. Yes, your views and their views may be different. However, in tough times, empathy and compassion is the basis of trust. Perhaps they need extra guidance. Go ahead, guide them, teach them. 

4) Encourage self-care: Self care is all about eating well and eating on time, getting enough sleep, exercise and getting less distracted with gadgets. Deep breathing also helps. Once you advocate self-care for yourself and your team, things get much better and easier. After all, taking care of ourselves in whatever ways we can, can help build resilience. 

Stress and anxiety can happen. What matters is how we handle them. Take care of yourself and extend support. Things do get better soon.

Listening Matters

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Listening matters. Yes, it does. In a world where everyone wants to talk, talk, and talk, very rarely, we come across people, who listen. People who listen, are indeed great communicators. 

Here is why: 

1. When we listen, we try to feel and understand what the other person is saying. 
2. Listening helps in building trust. People feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts with people who listen keenly. They know you are listening with ardent attention and hence they consider you as a person to go to. 
3. Listening helps in avoiding misunderstandings. It is very easy to misunderstand and interpret things the wrong way. And misunderstandings result in big problems. Hence, listening attentively helps. 
4. Listening helps in removing conflict. Well, we don’t have to agree all the time, nonetheless, if we listen calmly, the other person knows that, since we listened, we will consider all the angles before coming to a decision. 
5. Listening helps in increasing productivity. Good listeners retain information well and have clear understanding about what is expected from them. 

How to be a good listener: 

1. Maintain eye contact with the speaker. Give the person undivided attention. 
2. Pay attention to what the other person is saying. All the same, be relaxed. Keep all distractions aside. 
3. Listen without judging. Don’t jump into conclusions. 
4. Don’t give your own solutions without the person asking you. 
5. Do not interrupt. 
6. If you have any questions, wait for the speaker to pause. 
7. Ask questions, not to judge or demean, but to understand. 
8. Look for nonverbal cues to understand more. For example, is the speaker tense or upset or worried? Do look for those. 
9. Give the speaker some proof that you are listening, be it nodding or saying something like, ‘You must have been elated!’, ‘Wow! That’s so cool.’, ‘Oh! That’s sad’, etc. 

 Sources: 

https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/10/24/why-and-how-academic-leaders-should-become-better-listeners-opinion 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effective-listening/?sh=b3fef2b38918

Breaking the “Frustration” cycle

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Talking about conflict at work, some of us have micromanaging bosses or aggressive colleagues or an unfavorable work environment. We are so done with these things but other than complaining we do nothing about it. This and many other circumstances lead to frustration. And then what happens? Well, nothing really happens to others. We are the ones who suffer. Frustration, to somewhat extent, can be healthy. It can push us towards our goals. But if it becomes an everyday affair, it becomes toxic and stressful. This frustration will eventually feast on our mental health. We will end up venting our anger on people who are not at fault. Remember, if we do not handle our frustration, we will be defensive against anything and everything and will end up having impaired judgment. So, how to handle frustration: 

1) Find out what triggers our frustration: 

a) S: Status: Do we feel that our status is a threat? 

b) C: Certainty: Are we unsure about our future? 

c) A: Autonomy: Do we think we can’t make our own decisions and we feel we are powerless. 

d) R: Relatedness: Does connecting with people make us feel it is a tall task because we feel they are fake? 

2) Once we figure out the trigger/triggers, let us ask ourselves the true story as to what irritates us. Is it the real story or the story that we have made up in our mind or the things that we exaggerate make us upset? By putting up an inquiry pertaining to our frustration, we can differentiate between reality and made up things in our mind, if any. 

3)Let us work on the things that are in our control. For example if we know that pushing ourselves towards some unrealistic goals may hurt us, let us put a full stop on that. Let us not expect too much from others. Just because we worked for 16 hours for a project, if we are expecting a pat on our shoulder from someone who never appreciates us, the problem lies with us. We know that person. We know he/she would never appreciate. All the same, tell ourselves that we did that because it’s a responsibility we have been assigned to and we would learn a lot of things along with being diligent to our duties. 

4) Let us go ahead and face those uncomfortable conversations. Instead of avoiding the conversations, no matter how uncomfortable they are, let us go ahead, keep calm and talk to those people. Let us engage in a productive discussion and come to a solution. 

5) Let us try considering frustration as something new to learn. Maybe we are frustrated with the fact that someone constantly nags us about some shortcomings. It indeed can be frustrating, but maybe we can try and work on our flaws and grow stronger. We are the masters of our lives. Let us not let frustration seep in and suck the life out of us. Meditation, deep breathing and exercise are also some tools which can help in eliminating frustration from our lives. 

Sources: 

https://hbr.org/2017/07/a-3-step-process-to-break-a-cycle-of-frustration-stress-and-fighting-at-work

https://www.techtello.com/frustration-at-work/

How to prioritize important tasks amidst a plethora of urgent but unimportant tasks....

 

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How to prioritize important tasks amidst a plethora of urgent but unimportant tasks.....

With a long list of ‘To Do’ stuff right in front of you, you might get anxious as to how to complete all of them. Here is what you need to do:

1) Find out the ‘Important Tasks’ and schedule them. Ensure you give yourself more time than you think you will need to finish those. That way, if you complete those tasks before time, you will still have some time in hand. Don’t get distracted when you are working on those. When you are on vacation, you do turn on the automatic message. Similarly, when you are working on an important task, at least for 2 hours or so, turn on the automatic message and let people know that you are working on a priority. Let them know that only in case of emergency, they can reach out to you in a designated way.

2) Now, an ‘Important Task’ may be vast. When you take that up, it might be overwhelming for you. So, break them into little tasks, focusing on the most important first. That way you will be able to achieve one tiny goal at a time and eventually reach the final goal. Sometimes crossing off one tiny item on a to do check list is also very satisfying.

3) Manage your feelings of anxiety. When you are focusing on an important project, and suddenly you receive an email from a colleague regarding another task to be delivered urgently, don’t panic. Take a deep breath. Think about a better way to handle that and get in touch with that colleague to check if that task is indeed ‘very urgent’?

4) Ensure you do not spend a lot of time on unimportant stuff. For example, if a web page has to be made simple, inform the team at the beginning of the project itself that they don’t have to spend a lot of time on elaborate designing.

5) When it comes to urgent but unimportant tasks, follow three simple rules. Automation, Standardization and Elimination. This will help you a lot in time management.

6) Pay attention to the big picture. Sometimes you end up putting a lot of time and effort in tasks which might not play any major role in the final project. Do study the details and do not waste your time on such tasks.

Sources: https://www.case.org/resources/focus-importance-instead-urgency

https://hbr.org/2018/07/how-to-focus-on-whats-important-not-just-whats-urgent?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit&fbclid=IwAR2ZwH22-scbwqGrn5bL184c4_e3xBmwz8bLvIA6fzPvAg-pVCukPCABNjk

How to make returning to office easier? Tips for leaders.

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Many employers are contemplating on resuming office, maybe partially or full time. Now, here there would be mixed reaction from employees. Some of them will be willing to resume office while some of them will prefer working from home. There could be multitudinous reasons behind this. Many of the employees out there might have gone through tumultuous emotional turmoil during this pandemic. They might have witnessed poignant scenes and have been in agonizing state of mind. Hence, the fear, the pain might still be prominent.

Here are some tips for leaders to handle this situation:

1) Communication: Communication is the key to many questions. It will be wise to provide detailed information regarding all the necessary steps the organization has taken to ensure safety. That way employees who are somewhat nervous about coming back to work, will feel better. Not just that. Some employees might have developed self-doubts because of this long tenure of working remotely without face-to-face interaction. Hence it is imperative for leaders to make them feel at home. One step to follow here is praise genuinely and let them know that they are valuable assets of this organization. Leaders can talk about the genuine efforts put in by the team members and bring in some examples wherein the members have proved themselves.

2) Discuss concerns: The pandemic has taken a toll on mental health of people. Hence, there could be some employees who are facing issues, be it anxiety, be it fear of the unknown, be it the pain of losing someone close. Encourage them to speak out. Listen to them. There are stories wherein some people are against group therapy and fear people judging them, if they let people know about the panic attacks they get or the fright that has gripped them. Let your team members feel secure when they talk to you. Let them surrender their thoughts to you. If needed, guide them to get counselling.

3) Promote interpersonal connections: With people being away from office environment for so long, some employees may feel disconnected. They may have trouble building fresh new connections in office. Hence, leaders can arrange occasional luncheons, after office happy hours etc. to build that connect.

4) Take care of yourself and your emotions: As a leader responsible for many decisions and handling team members, it is very important for you to take care of yourself. Your mood swings, your physical and mental exhaustion can affect your decisions. Hence, taking care of yourself, physically and mentally is as important as taking care of your team members.

 

Source:

 https://hbr.org/2021/08/returning-to-the-office-will-be-hard-heres-how-managers-can-make-it-easier