SPaMCAST 481 will feature our essay on the Life Cycle of A User Story.  A user story - a brief, simple requirement statement from the user’s perspective - tends to follow a loose life cycle.  That life often begins even before the word ‘user story’ gets mentioned and typically by people that don’t understand (or care to understand) the concept of a user story. We zoom in from 40,000 ft down to user stories in 500 or so words!   Read other entries on user stories by following this link: The second column this week is from Kim Pries, the Software Sensei, Kim discusses using the Extended Backus-Naur Form as a tool to extract information out of nebulous text. Last but not least, Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the cast.  In this entry, Jeremy discusses why QAs/testers should be given space to manage their own workflow. Jeremy has recently moved the QA Corner to Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackled Chapter 14 of Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction by Daniel S. Vacanti. Chapter 14 is titled Introduction to Forecasting.  Predictability and forecasting are intimately related! Remember to b, and we will be back next week! One note: we are on Chapter 14 today out of 17. So, after today, we have approximately four more weeks. As a result, we will have to choose another book in the next couple of weeks.  I have received some suggestions, and I have also asked the interviewees that appeared in the Software Process and Measurement Podcast in 2017 which was the most impactful book they have read. I would also like your input. What do you suggest that we read next?   Previous Installments Week 13: Interpreting Cycle Time Scatterplots Dead Tree Book Kindle Get your copy and begin reading (or re-reading)! Upcoming Webinars Using Size to Drive Testing in Agile Tom Cagley & Associates and Sealights Webinar Tue, Mar 13, 2018