From User Stories to Use Case Scenarios towards a Generative Approach

Abstract

User stories are increasingly adopted as the basis of requirement engineering artefacts in Agile Software Development. Surveys have shown that user stories are perceived as being effective at describing the main goals of a system. But the continuous management of a product backlog may be particularly time-consuming and error-prone, especially when assessing the quality or scope of user stories and keeping an eye on the system's big picture. On the other hand, models have been recognised as effective tools for communication and analysis purposes. In this research, we propose a generative approach to create robustness diagrams, i.e. a form of semi-formal use case scenarios, from the automated analysis of user stories. Stories are transformed into diagrams, enabling requirement engineers and users to validate the main concepts and functional steps behind stories and discover malformed or redundant stories. Such models also open the door for automated systematic analysis.