Output of Pre Grooming session

As a result of regular pre- grooming sessions, there should be a feeling of confidence that one can explain the stories to teammates. It is normal to receive questions that will completely discard all the preparation work. Which in itself is a good moment to learn and avoid future mistakes? Generally, The team gets a prioritized backlog. Most suggested approach for prioritizing the backlog , -MOSCoW.

Scenario to showcase how pre grooming sessions can be helpful and help PO in redefining the User Story.

User Story:- “As an Advisor, I want to view the report of my customer based on the financial details provided”.

Queries raised by the team after the pre grooming session

Here there were 2 hidden requirements which would call it as an incomplete story because:

• • The reports should consider the daily currency conversion rate and not the historical one as in the last viewed report and

  • If the currency is changed after providing the customer's financial details, the reports should show in the changed currency.

Solution:

The above-listed scenario (1 and 2 ) should be raised directly with the Product Owner and he/she should be made aware that both of these had to be done as soon as possible.

Ideally, the PO should agree with the team and create 2 different stories for the upcoming sprints with priority.

Take Away:

These were caught because the team members were very well aware of the products, their design, structure, etc. Such knowledge can only be achieved by understanding the product completely, by understanding the interoperability of modules and by studying the user story thoroughly even if it’s a 2 liner.

Make notes, help in making things easier and discussion among the PO and the team comes to a valid closure.

It’s always advisable to have a deep look at Acceptance Criteria.

Understanding the acceptance criteria and all the other conditions and rules exhaustively is even more important than understanding a user story. Because if a requirement is incomplete or vague, it can be taken up in the next sprint but if an acceptance criterion is missed, then the user story itself can’t be released.