Whatever happened to clear, consistent language? Why do we use words that have inconsistent meaning in contexts where they’ll be unfamiliar? Why, oh why?
Day in and day out I work with clients in an Agile development setting. I use words that have been trained into me, that I’ve been taught over and over again. But when I sit back and think about these words, they just don’t make sense. Let’s look at two of my favorite examples. First, some standard definitions:
Story – the plot or succession of incidents of a novel, poem, drama, etc.
Narrative – a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.
Sounds pretty familiar, no?
Well in Agile these words take on a whole new meaning. A story is the encapsulation of some sort of requirement, based on a given user’s needs or wants. It generally takes the form of:
As a [user]
I’d like to [some action]
So that [resolution of need]
But wait, is that really a story?
A narrative is the document that describes this story in detail. Chock full of high level objectives, UI prototypes, test cases, and other minutae. If you asked a person on the street what a “narrative” is, there’s no way they would describe it this way.
So why do we insist on using these terms, with their off-the-mark definitions? I don’t know. They probably seemed all cutesy and different at the start, something that sounds fun and light when compared to heavier terms like REQUIREMENTS DEFINITION DOCUMENT. When it comes down to it, “Story” just sounds less beefy than “Requirement.”
Damn Agile, You Just Stole My Words
Aside from the simple misappropriation of terminology, I have a bigger issue with the use of these terms. In the Design world, “Story” and “Narrative” have real, relevant meanings that align with the standard definitions of these terms.
Both of these terms are used to describe, in detail, a user’s experience, either today or in some envisioned happy future. The Narrative is generally a more detailed version of the story, which includes a narrated scenario in the context of the tool’s use.
I might be splitting hairs, because I think the Agile use of these terms tries to get at the same thing…but they just don’t. An Agile Narrative generally doesn’t tell a real story in detail, it describes a requirement in detail. Likewise, an Agile Story describes a requirement, not a user’s journey.
In Conclusion
We have to be careful with the words we use. In the end, we’re all trying to build software that solve real human problems. Surrounding these problems is real human drama that can, if described well and designed for, be turned into happier situations. I believe the use of words with alternate definitions muddies the water, but certainly doesn’t get in the way on a day-to-day basis.
Whatever words we use, we have to be sure that our solutions fit into the contexts of our users. We must ensure that our software fits into our users’ everyday stories.
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