What are the characteristics of a good User Story ?

Characteristics of a good User Story

• An User Story should be detailed enough for the team to start work from, and further details to be established and clarified at the time of development.
• Independent : User Stories should be as independent as possible.
• Negotiable : User Stories are not a contract. They are not detailed specifications.
• They are reminders of features for the team to discuss and collaborate to clarify the details near the time of development.
• Valuable : User Stories should be valuable to the user (or owner) of the solution.
• They should be written in user language. They should be features, not tasks.
• Estimatable : User Stories need to be possible to estimate. They need to provide enough information to estimate, without being too detailed.
• Small : User Stories should be small. Not too small. But not too big.
• Testable : User Stories need to be worded in a way that is testable, i.e. not too subjective and to provide clear details of how the User Story will be tested.