Some people worry that in our rush to become more agile we might be leaving good architecture behind. So I often reassure with the following statement:
Don’t worry – There is no doubt that the system’s architecture will emerge from what we are doing. The only question is whether it will be the architecture we want.
Comparison tables involve listing stories and then comparing the components or factors relevant to each story. Generally speaking a comparison table is created as follow:
Rather than breaking the story into tasks or acceptance tests, some teams simply break stories into multiple, smaller stories until they are small enough to build from.
In some teams, the iteration or sprint begins with the team discussing each story and breaking it down into the specific tasks that each team member will need to perform in order to complete the story. The team then track tasks on their story wall rather than complete stories.
Elaborating stories using acceptance tests involves defining the criteria for stories before turning them into code. This is the approach we often teach in agile courses.
There are many approaches that work well when elaborating stories and the team should decide on the approach that works best for them.
James King 