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User Stories, Acceptance Criteria and the Agile Business Analyst

A practical guide to the agile business analyst role: writing user stories, splitting them well, crafting testable acceptance criteria and running a healthy backlog.

Free

Free 45-page e-book. How to write, split, refine and accept user stories that teams can build and test with confidence. Practical, field-tested guidance with worked examples, checklists, a quick-reference sheet and a glossary, ready to use on your next project.

This e-book shows business analysts how to work effectively in agile and hybrid teams. It explains the agile BA role alongside the product owner, how to structure a backlog of epics, features and stories, and how to write user stories that meet the INVEST criteria. You will learn proven story-splitting patterns, rule-based and Given-When-Then acceptance criteria, Definitions of Ready and Done, prioritization and estimation basics, story mapping, and how to apply user stories on ERP and packaged software programs. Includes templates, checklists, before-and-after examples and an end-to-end scenario.

What's inside

  • Chapter 1: The Agile Business Analyst
  • Chapter 2: Structuring the Backlog
  • Chapter 3: Anatomy of a User Story
  • Chapter 4: INVEST and the Quality of Stories
  • Chapter 5: Splitting Stories
  • Chapter 6: Acceptance Criteria That Work
  • Chapter 7: Ready, Done, Refinement and Prioritization
  • Chapter 8: Story Mapping and Release Planning
  • Chapter 9: The BA in Agile Events and Team Collaboration
  • Chapter 10: User Stories on ERP and Packaged Software Programs
  • Chapter 11: End-to-End Scenario: From Epic to Accepted Story

Plus a one-page Quick Reference, a glossary of key terms and next steps.

Who it's for

Business analysts, product owners and consultants who capture, model and manage requirements.

How to get the most from it

  • Skim the contents and jump to the chapter that matches the challenge in front of you today
  • Use the checklists in your next workshop, review or status meeting
  • Share it with your team so everyone works from the same playbook

Let's connect

I'm Pranshu Shubham, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O Solution Architect and PMP-certified program lead with 8+ years of ERP and AI transformation across the USA, Europe and APAC. I created this resource from real project experience, and I'd love to hear how you use it.