Paper artefacts
The Agile principle states that working deliverables are valued over comprehensive documentation. This does not say there is no place for documentation, simply that a working solution is more interesting, expecially where great documents exist but there is no code. P2 defines many, many 'work products'; it can be argued, far too many. The premise in PL is only produce what somebody else needs to do their job. If nobody needs it - don't do it. Having said that, it is sensible to consider always producing the following artefacts :
Mandate: an artefact that allows you to consider (contemplate) the business value the project would bring if you went ahead and funded it. The project idea is presented in outline whose content is prescribed allowing different ideas to be compared. This artefact is produced, consumed and archived in the initial phase 0 (feasibility). The Agile Requirements practice defines an outline view based on analysis patterns.
Project Initiation document (PID): an artefact produced once the decision has been taken to take it forward. This document is typically produced in phase 1 (inception). The PID provides more detail around the project idea developed in the mandate. The Agile Requirements practice works up the functional requirements so the business can validate its initial decision to go ahead with the initiative. The analyst works with the business to edit all their candidate user stories into the following:
- enterprise stories
- project user stories
- release user stories
- sprint user stories
- back story stories
- tales
- constraints
- acceptance criteria
- non-functional requirements
The relationship between all of these candidate stories creates a project 'epic' that guarantees traceability and ensures 'well-formed' high quality user stories populate the project backlog and inform the individual iterations (Scrums).
BackLog (Business Requirements Specification): If the epic contained in the PID is accepted as a valid representation of the project's scope, the Backlog becomes the repository of the functional requirements (project, release and sprint user stories). The further articulation of the stories is recorded in the BRS at the appropriate level of detail as defined by the project team.
Figure: There are only three core artefacts defined in PL; the mandate, PID and backlog. This figure only illustrates their 'functional' component. They contain lots of other information. See the downloads section for templates and examples. Stories form epics and there is a taxonomy of stories that is described in the Master Story Teller.