Story Maps - A Testing Tool After All

The following was recently published as a sidebar in Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory's new book More Agile Testing. The book is full of great advice from the authors as well as other contributors. I encourage you to take a look.

So you’re an agile tester and wonder why you should care about story maps. You may already be convinced that modelling your backlog in two dimensions is useful for helping the whole team visualize the big picture. However, story maps are also a valuable testing tool, providing two additional testing avenues. In the first case, the map itself offers the ability to test the validity of a solution. In the second, a story map improves a team’s ability to identify story slices and then test them.

User Story Mapping Series

* How to Create a User Story Map
* How to Prioritize a User Story Map
* Tips for Facilitating a User Story Mapping Session
* Don't Etch your User Story Map in Stone
* User Story Mapping Tool Review – SmartViewApp
* Story Maps - A Testing Tool After All

Testing What to Build

User story maps are a representation: they provide a means to visualize a system that might be built and are useful for testing the validity of that system before investing significant time and money. A story shared at a recent Agile Winnipeg event demonstrated this principle well. The company involved used story mapping to test an idea before building any software. The team had a project idea that they thought would serve their client well. After quickly building a story map around that idea, they presented the map to their client at the next customer conference. Although it soon became clear that the idea missed the mark, the customer was able to collaborate with the team on the spot, to adjust the map until it represented what they actually wanted built. The map itself was the tool that allowed for the idea to be tested (and then adjusted) and moved the project forward.

Testing Application Slices

As Crispin and Gregory demonstrated in their first book Agile Testing, identifying thin slices and small chunks is important for testing agile projects. Story maps help identify those slices but, perhaps more importantly, they help us understand how those thinly sliced stories might fit together to form a thin slice of the whole application. When undertaking an agile project, testers are required to make a vital shift in thinking; only test small pieces at a time. Despite this fundamental change, it is also important to ensure that the first few pieces fit together, enabling end to end testing as early as possible. The story map helps to identify and prioritize that first application slice. It may be based on a user scenario or just a string of stories that represent the smallest stories that allow left to right movement on the map.

Visualizing testing slices in your map

As that the team identifies that first slice, utilizing excellent testing skills is crucial. By looking at the map, you can identify areas that will be difficult to test, areas where the test variations are still relatively unknown, or areas that represent higher risk. This activity can help identify stories that should be included in the first application slice.

When coding and testing begins, personas and user scenarios that were created can be revisited, helping to flesh out the map and application slices. Testing with a persona in mind helps ensure that the targeted customer will be satisfied with the solution. It may not be possible or wise to test if the application works well for everyone but testing should evaluate whether the targeted personas can use the application easily, and that the new functionality fits into, or adds to their current processes without getting in the way.

Story Maps—A Testing Tool After All

At first glance, the story map doesn’t appear to be an obvious asset for testing, but upon closer inspection, it proves its value in any testing toolbox. The map itself is a reliable way to test that the right system is being built before any code is written. The map also provides a visual aid for testing in horizontal application slices, allowing for early confirmation that a project is on the right track.

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