Story Elaboration is related closely to Story Decomposition and Backlog Refinement. It is typically done by the Development team when a backlog item is taken into an iteration to be worked.  Here the team defines what steps need to be done to bring each item to completion.

Elements

Coming into Story Elaboration, there has been Elicitation, which brings information together about the requirement. At this point, the work elements are decomposed into small, estimable well defined chunks, and the acceptance criteria is clarified.

The development team then adds additional information to guide their work such as those listed here.  This additional information would include things like definitions, scenarios, expected results, models, persona, flows, mock-ups and tables.

Once all this information is collected, the team is ready to work on this item.

Description

To utilize this technique, the team might need time with experts to ensure a complete understanding is communicated.  This is the lowest level of Story Decomposition.

It falls under Requirements Management and is directed toward the Internal Team.

Usage Considerations

Some of the benefits are doing this just in time avoids rework and maximizes elicitation efficiency because you’re dealing with the highest remaining priorities.

But if this is not done well, delivery may not have the greatest quality.  And timing is critical as well.

• Agile
• BA Techniques