Independent: Independent user stories are contained within boundaries so that no story depends on another. Creating independent stories allows the ability to schedule and build any story without considering order of the stories. Therefore, we can select stories with the highest value without worrying about low value dependent stories.

Negotiable: User stories should be malleable and can be changed or rewritten if necessary. In iterative development, the iteration or playback timeline is fixed and the scope varies. Typically, higher value stories are developed first and lower value stories are developed if time allows. In order to prioritize, it is important to be able to combine, split, modify, and clarify stories as needed during the development cycle.

Valuable: The stories should bring business value to the users or stakeholders. It is important that stories are written in a manner where the primary stakeholder understands the value the story provides. Watch out for stories that become too technical. These might be fun to code, but often do not bring much business value to the users.

Estimable: All stories should be estimable because if a story cannot be estimated, it will not be planned or included in a playback and therefore, is not relevant to the project. Often stories that cannot be estimated are missing a key component, missing supporting details, or are too large. Estimates of user stories do not need to be exact, but we want to be able to get a general estimation of the story.

Small: Stories that are negotiable and estimable are often small. Larger stories are harder to negotiate and result in much more uncertainty during estimation. Break long user stories, known as epic stories into smaller user stories. Small is a relative term, but after working for a while, your team will naturally set a limit for the appropriately-sized story.

Testable: You want to be able to consider a user story complete and tested. If you cannot test a user story, the story is often missing details or another key component. It should be rewritten or left out of the project.