Diapers and User Stories

Once upon a time disposable diapers just were invented for people as a substitute to washable

diapers. They added convenience for unplanned outings and emergencies. But when they were understood as the norm and taken for granted, the result was more landfills occupied with junk that takes more than 500 years to decompose.

Advantage – anyone could take care of the child and people were not tied to the child.

Disadvantage – babies who used to be potty-trained by 18 months take 36 + months now.

Once upon a time user stories were suggested in agile methodology for unplanned needs about which much was unclear but there was a need, an unplanned need, but a valid need. This enabled anyone to be able to write requirements and put them through the backlog. But when they were understood by the upper management as norm and taken for granted, the result is lots of user stories (most of them poorly written) that look the same and take longer to understand and implement and result in half-baked products that constantly break other logic.

Advantage - the business teams can pile up on wants with user stories in bits and pieces.

Disadvantages – Art of writing fully vetted technical requirements is forgotten leaving a lot to be improvised by the developer on the fly.

Diapers and User stories were meant for good purposes, but misuse and overuse made kids and IT inefficient. They both deal with a lot of Shit!!