Story Breakdown

Transform requirements into INVEST-compliant user stories with testable acceptance criteria.

Announce: "Using story breakdown to create implementable stories."

The Iron Law

NO STORY WITHOUT ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Every story must have testable acceptance criteria before implementation.

No exceptions:

• Don't start work without criteria
• Don't assume "obvious" criteria
• Don't defer criteria to "later"
• Later never comes

INVEST Criteria

Every story MUST pass:

Criterion	Question	Failure Symptom
Independent	Can this ship without other stories?	"We need to do X first"
Negotiable	Can scope be discussed?	"It has to be exactly this"
Valuable	Does user/business care?	"It's technical debt"
Estimable	Can team size it?	"No idea how long"
Small	Fits in one iteration?	"It's a 2-week story"
Testable	Can we verify done?	"We'll know when we see it"

Failing any criterion = story needs work.

Epic Template

# Epic: [Name]

## Problem Statement
[What problem does this solve? Who has this problem?]

## Success Metrics
- [Measurable outcome 1]
- [Measurable outcome 2]

## Scope
### In Scope
- [Feature/capability]

### Out of Scope
- [Explicitly excluded]

## Stories
1. [Story 1 title]
2. [Story 2 title]

## Dependencies
- [External dependencies]

## Risks
- [Risk]: [Mitigation]

Story Template

# Story: [Title]

**As a** [role/persona],
**I want** [capability/feature],
**So that** [benefit/value].

## Acceptance Criteria

### Criterion 1: [Name]
**Given** [precondition]
**When** [action]
**Then** [expected result]

### Criterion 2: [Name]
**Given** [precondition]
**When** [action]
**Then** [expected result]

## Technical Notes
- [Implementation consideration]

## Story Points: [1/2/3/5/8]

Breakdown Process

Phase 1: Understand the Epic

1. Identify the user/persona
2. State the core problem
3. Define success metrics
4. List what's explicitly OUT of scope

Phase 2: Slice by User Value

• What's the smallest valuable increment?
• Split by workflow, not by component
• Each story = one user capability

Good splits: By workflow step, user role, data type, happy path vs error Bad splits: By technical layer, by file, by developer

Phase 3: Apply INVEST

Run each story through all 6 criteria. Fix failures. Re-split if needed.

Phase 4: Write Acceptance Criteria

1. Start with happy path
2. Add error states
3. Add edge cases
4. Each criterion = one test case

Sizing Guide

Points	Meaning	Example
1	Trivial	Copy change, config toggle
2	Simple	Add field, simple validation
3	Moderate	New form, basic CRUD
5	Complex	Multi-step flow, integration
8	Too large	Needs to be split

If >5 points, split the story.

Red Flags — STOP

Flag	Problem
"Technical story"	No user value — attach to user story
"As a developer"	Wrong persona — find the actual user
No acceptance criteria	Not a story — it's a wish
Vague criteria	"Works correctly" — define what correct means
>5 points	Too big — split it
Implementation in story	"Using React" — describe WHAT not HOW

After Stories Are Complete

• Save to docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-<feature>-stories.md
• Commit
• Offer: "Ready for implementation planning?" → chains to /turbocharge:plan

Workflow Position

brainstorm → story → plan → build → review → ship