{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,18]],"date-time":"2026-03-18T13:58:50Z","timestamp":1773842330412,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,28]],"date-time":"2022-06-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656374400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Software"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: User stories are widely used in Agile development as requirements. However, few studies have assessed the quality of user stories in practice. (2) Methods: What is the quality of user stories in practice? To answer the research question, we conducted a case study. We used an analysis report from a real-life project where an organization wanted to improve its existing hotline system or acquire a new one. We invited IT practitioners to write requirements for the new system based on the analysis report, user stories, and whatever else they considered necessary. The practitioners could ask the authors questions as they would ask a customer in a real setting. We evaluated the practitioners\u2019 replies using these IEEE 830 quality criteria: completeness, correctness, verifiability, and traceability. (3) Results: The replies covered only 33% of the needs and wishes in the analysis report. Further, the replies largely missed other requirements needed in most projects, such as learnability and maintainability. Incorrect or restrictive solutions were often proposed by the practitioners. Most replies included user stories that were hard to verify, or would have caused a cumbersome user interface if implemented independently. (4) Conclusion: In this project, relying on the user stories would have been a disaster. Although the user stories could have been improved, they wouldn\u2019t cover the necessary requirements in the project.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/software1030010","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,28]],"date-time":"2022-06-28T23:59:22Z","timestamp":1656460762000},"page":"223-243","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["User Story Quality in Practice: A Case Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"1","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0000-0989","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammad Amin","family":"Kuhail","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 144534, United Arab Emirates"}]},{"given":"Soren","family":"Lauesen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IT University of Copenhagen, 2300 K\u00f8benhavn, Denmark"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Beck, K., and Andres, C. (2004). Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Addison-Wesley."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Cohn, M. (2004). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development, Addison-Wesley Professional."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Jeffries, R., Hendrickson, M., Anderson, A., and Hendrickson, C. (2000). Extreme Programming Installed, Addison-Wesley Professional."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Beck, K., and Fowle, M. (2000). Planning Extreme Programming, Addison-Wesley Professional."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Cohn, M. (2005). 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