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A Framework for the Semiotic Quality of User Stories

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Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Systems Engineering, ICSEng 2020 (ICSEng 2020)

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Abstract

The use of user stories for expressing software requirements, in agile software projects and beyond, has only increased over the years. However, the results on the quality of user stories have been mixed. This paper proposes a semiotics-based, technology-and-tool-independent, semi-formal framework, comprising interrelated conceptual (meta-)models that provide an understanding to the concept of user story, user story context, user story quality, and violations of user story quality. In doing so, it elicits the unique nature of user story, highlights the challenges in modeling and addressing user story quality, presents the results of a preliminary survey of students and professionals on the use of user story, and, through various real-world examples, illustrates violations of user story quality.

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Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to CCE for a Professional Development Grant, and respondees of the survey for their interest and participation.

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Correspondence to Pankaj Kamthan .

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Kamthan, P., Shahmir, N. (2021). A Framework for the Semiotic Quality of User Stories. In: Selvaraj, H., Chmaj, G., Zydek, D. (eds) Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Systems Engineering, ICSEng 2020. ICSEng 2020. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 182. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65796-3_40

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