{"id":5003330,"date":"2015-12-16T23:52:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T07:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aadev22.local\/?post_type=aa_glossary&#038;p=5003330"},"modified":"2023-03-08T16:03:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T00:03:19","slug":"story-splitting","status":"publish","type":"aa_glossary","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/","title":{"rendered":"Story Splitting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/user-stories\/\">user story<\/a>&nbsp;is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/definition-of-ready\/\">ready<\/a>&nbsp;to be scheduled for implementation in an upcoming iteration, it should be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/invest\/\">\u201csmall enough,\u201d<\/a> the usual rule of thumb being \u201ca story that can be completed within the iteration\u201d. However, many user stories start out larger than that. \u201cSplitting\u201d consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.<\/p>\n<h2>Further Reading<\/h2>\n<p>There is surprisingly little consensus on how to split stories, possibly because approaches to doing so are sensitive to the business domain. The following is a sample of postings on the topic:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/xp123.com\/articles\/twenty-ways-to-split-stories\/\">Twenty Ways to Split Stories<\/a>, 2005<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jbrains.ca\/permalink\/how-youll-probably-learn-to-split-features\">How You\u2019ll Probably Learn to Split Features<\/a>, 2008<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richardlawrence.info\/2009\/10\/28\/patterns-for-splitting-user-stories\/\">Patterns for Splitting User Stories<\/a>, 2009<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.infoq.com\/news\/2011\/04\/how-to-split-user-stories\">InfoQ: How to Split User Stories<\/a>, 2011<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/gojko.net\/2012\/01\/23\/splitting-user-stories-the-hamburger-method\/\">Splitting User Stories: the Hamburger Method<\/a>, 2012<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8027401,"featured_media":8067461,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[908],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003330","aa_glossary","type-aa_glossary","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-process"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"352 Dev Ops\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\n\t\t<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-17319182-1\"><\/script>\n<script>\n window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];\n function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}\n gtag('js', new Date());\n\n gtag('config', 'UA-17319182-1');\n<\/script>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Agile Alliance | Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Story Splitting?\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"726\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-17T07:52:14+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-09T00:03:19+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AgileAlliance\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What is Story Splitting?\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/category\\\/process\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Process\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/category\\\/process\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Process\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/category\\\/process\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Story Splitting\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Story Splitting\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/category\\\/process\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Process\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/pmi-aa-logo-temp.png\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#organizationLogo\",\"width\":798,\"height\":252,\"caption\":\"NOT FINAL\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#organizationLogo\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/agileallianceofficial\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.com\\\/agilealliance\\\/_created\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/4860067\\\/admin\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/8027401#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/8027401\",\"name\":\"352 Dev Ops\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/780d271bd140fb829f7a4f5bf51bb99689cbe8fe8bbe1c60fa103e7b13835a74?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"352 Dev Ops\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is Story Splitting? | Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/8027401#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/author\\\/8027401#author\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/06\\\/glossary-featured-banner.jpg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#mainImage\",\"width\":972,\"height\":380,\"caption\":\"Agile Essentials Glossary\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/glossary\\\/story-splitting\\\/#mainImage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-16T23:52:14-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T16:03:19-08:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Agile Alliance\",\"description\":\"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/agilealliance.org\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"What is Story Splitting? | Agile Alliance","description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":"&lt;!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --&gt;\n&lt;script async src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-17319182-1\"&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;\n&lt;script&gt;\n&nbsp;window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];\n&nbsp;function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}\n&nbsp;gtag('js', new Date());\n\n&nbsp;gtag('config', 'UA-17319182-1');\n&lt;\/script&gt;"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/#listItem","name":"Process"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Process","item":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#listItem","name":"Story Splitting"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"Story Splitting","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/#listItem","name":"Process"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#organization","name":"Agile Alliance","description":"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/pmi-aa-logo-temp.png","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#organizationLogo","width":798,"height":252,"caption":"NOT FINAL"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#organizationLogo"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/agilealliance\/_created\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/4860067\/admin\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/8027401#author","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/8027401","name":"352 Dev Ops","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/780d271bd140fb829f7a4f5bf51bb99689cbe8fe8bbe1c60fa103e7b13835a74?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"352 Dev Ops"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/","name":"What is Story Splitting? | Agile Alliance","description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/8027401#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/author\/8027401#author"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner.jpg","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#mainImage","width":972,"height":380,"caption":"Agile Essentials Glossary"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/#mainImage"},"datePublished":"2015-12-16T23:52:14-08:00","dateModified":"2023-03-08T16:03:19-08:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/","name":"Agile Alliance","description":"Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Agile Alliance | Promoting a more effective, humane, and sustainable way of working","og:type":"article","og:title":"What is Story Splitting?","og:description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","og:url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/","og:image":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg","og:image:width":726,"og:image:height":380,"article:published_time":"2015-12-17T07:52:14+00:00","article:modified_time":"2023-03-09T00:03:19+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/agileallianceofficial\/","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@AgileAlliance","twitter:title":"What is Story Splitting?","twitter:description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","twitter:image":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"5003330","title":"What is Story Splitting? #separator_sa #site_title","description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","keywords":[],"keyphrases":{"focus":{"keyphrase":"","score":0,"analysis":{"keyphraseInTitle":{"score":0,"maxScore":9,"error":1}}},"additional":[]},"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":"What is Story Splitting?","og_description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","og_object_type":"article","og_image_type":"custom_image","og_image_url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg","og_image_width":"726","og_image_height":"380","og_image_custom_url":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/glossary-featured-banner-social.jpg","og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":"","og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":[],"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":"What is Story Splitting?","twitter_description":"Splitting consists of breaking up one user story into smaller ones, while preserving the property that each user story separately has measurable business value.","schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"WebPage","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[],"defaultGraph":null,"defaultPostTypeGraph":""},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":"{\"article\":{\"articleType\":\"BlogPosting\"},\"course\":{\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"provider\":\"\"},\"faq\":{\"pages\":[]},\"product\":{\"reviews\":[]},\"recipe\":{\"ingredients\":[],\"instructions\":[],\"keywords\":[]},\"software\":{\"reviews\":[],\"operatingSystems\":[]},\"webPage\":{\"webPageType\":\"WebPage\"},\"blockGraphs\":[]}","pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":"-1","robots_max_videopreview":"-1","robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":"default","local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2021-02-02 19:56:04","updated":"2025-06-23 09:25:25","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/\" title=\"Process\">Process<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tStory Splitting\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org"},{"label":"Process","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/category\/process\/"},{"label":"Story Splitting","link":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/glossary\/story-splitting\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_glossary\/5003330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aa_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8027401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5003330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aa_glossary\/5003330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8067461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5003330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5003330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilealliance.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5003330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}