I’ve been reading Jeff Patton’s work online for years, learning from his ideas and approaches. You’ve probably come across his Mona Lisa analogy for iterative and incremental development – and if you haven’t this is a good time to go and read it 😉
Well, he has just released a book, User Story Mapping, and it is every bit as good as I would have hoped. If you don’t know what User Story Mapping is then this book will (obviously) tell you, but you will learn a whole lot more than that. I believe that this is THE missing agile book.
Throughout the book Jeff uses examples from his clients to demonstrate the simple techniques that he uses. ANd the most important ingredient, for me, is the emphasis on the need for rapid feedback and the need to SLICE USER STORIES THINLY. He’s not alone in this regard – JB Rainsberger calls it “Product Sashimi” and Alistair Cockburn calls is “Elephant Carpaccio“.
Go buy this book today. Don’t let it languish on your bookshelf – read it. And start putting the advice into practice as soon as you can.
Leave a Reply