What is a user story in agile / extreme programming (XP)?

A user story consists of ...

Card

Conversation

Confirmation

Card:

User stories are written on cards. The card does not contain all the information that makes up the requirement.

Instead, the card has just enough text to identify the requirement, and to remind everyone what the story is.

Conversation

The requirement itself is communicated from customer to programmers through conversation:

The conversation is largely verbal, but can be supplemented with documents.

The best supplements are examples; the best examples are executable, We call these examples confirmation.

Confirmation:

The confirmation consists of concrete tests, or checks, that show when they pass that the software does what was agreed it would do.

Fastest and most reliable development seems to happen when a very high proportion of these checks are automated.

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