Backlog items need to be small enough so they can be delivered within a single Sprint. Sometimes, though, they’re just too big.
When items are too big to be delivered within a single Sprint, the team must slice the item into smaller pieces. SPIDR, a pattern by Mike Cohn, is a useful mnemonic to help teams work out ways to break large backlog items into smaller ones.
- Spikes – A research activity can give you the knowledge you need to split a complex story.
- Paths – If a user can do something in multiple ways, that’s a great area for splitting.
- Interfaces – Splitting your story by browser, or hardware, or deliver a complex interface in iterations.
- Data – You may be able to deliver value in an iteration by focusing on one type of data.
- Rules – Relaxing support for the rules in an iteration can make large stories smaller.