From Stories to Epics: A Guide to Building a Customer-Centric Product Backlog

 Introduction

In Agile development, creating a Product Backlog isn’t just about listing tasks; it’s about crafting a roadmap that aligns with the user’s needs and the Product Owner’s vision. This roadmap is made up of user stories and epics—two essential tools that ensure every feature delivers value and keeps the user at the heart of the process.

This blog explores the importance of user stories and epics, how to write them effectively, and their role in creating a seamless user experience. Whether you’re a seasoned Scrum practitioner or new to Agile, understanding these concepts is key to building a high-performing Backlog.

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Objective

By the end of this blog, you’ll understand:

• What are user stories and epics, and how do they differ?
• The essential elements of a user story, including personas and the I.N.V.E.S.T. framework.
• How epics organize related user stories for better Backlog management.
• The role of acceptance criteria in defining done for user stories.

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What Are User Stories?

User stories are brief, user-centred descriptions of a feature or requirement. They emphasize the user’s perspective, ensuring the team keeps the user’s goals and experiences at the forefront. A typical user story follows this format:
As a <user role>, I want this <action> so that I can get this <value>.

For example:
As an avid reader, I want to read reviews before checking out a book to know I’ll enjoy my selection.

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Elements of a User Story

When writing user stories, consider the following components:

1. User Persona: Define your user and their relationship to the product.
2. Definition of Done: Outline what must be completed for the story to be considered finished.
3. Tasks: Identify key activities required to implement the story.
4. Feedback: Incorporate past feedback to refine features.

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The I.N.V.E.S.T. Framework

Effective user stories adhere to the I.N.V.E.S.T. criteria:

• Independent: Can be completed without relying on other stories.
• Negotiable: Flexible enough to discuss and refine.
• Valuable: Provides clear value to the user or business.
• Estimable: Easily broken into tasks and estimated.
• Small: Fits within a single Sprint.
• Testable: Meets predefined acceptance criteria.

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What Are Epics?

An epic is a collection of related user stories representing a large body of work. Think of user stories as individual chapters, while an epic is the entire book. For instance:

• Epic: Website Creation
  • User Story 1: Customers can read book reviews online.
  • User Story 2: Customers can add books to their cart for borrowing.

Epics structure the Backlog, allowing teams to manage high-level ideas without diving into excessive detail upfront.

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Writing Epics and Stories

Let’s say you’re creating a website for a library. Your epic might be “Website Creation.” Under this epic, individual user stories could include:

1. As a user, I want to read reviews before borrowing books so that I choose what I like.
2. As a user, I want to see recommendations based on my reading history so that I discover new books.

For the physical library space, another epic like “Organization of Physical Space” might include:

1. As a visitor, I want clear signage to find the non-fiction section easily.

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Acceptance Criteria for User Stories

Every user story must meet its acceptance criteria to be considered complete. For example, for a library website:

• Users can browse reviews of at least 10 books.
• Users can filter books by genre or rating.
• Reviews include a verified purchase badge for authenticity.

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Conclusion

User stories and epics are essential tools for creating a customer-centric Product Backlog. Focusing on user needs ensures that every feature delivers value and aligns with the product vision. The structured approach provided by the I.N.V.E.S.T. framework and the organization offered by epics enables teams to prioritize, collaborate, and execute effectively.

Whether writing a single-user story or planning an epic, remember that every detail you define today helps your team build better products tomorrow. With these principles in mind, you’re ready to create Backlogs that guide development and delight your users.

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Git Remote Management: Add, Rename, Change, and Remove Like a Pro

 Introduction

Git is an essential version control system for developers. One of its most powerful features is its ability to work with remote repositories, allowing teams to collaborate seamlessly across geographies. Remote repositories, typically hosted on platforms like GitHub, provide a centralized location to push, pull, and share code.

In this article, we will dive into remote repository management in Git. Practical examples teach you how to add, rename, change, and remove remote repositories. By the end, you’ll have the knowledge and confidence to manage remotes like a pro.

Objective

The goal of this blog post is to guide beginner developers and software engineers through the process of managing remote repositories in Git. Specifically, you’ll learn to:

• Add a new remote repository to your local Git project.
• Rename existing remotes for better organization.
• Change the URL of a remote to update connection details.
• Remove remotes that are no longer in use.

Whether you’re working on a personal project or contributing to a team on GitHub, understanding these Git commands will significantly improve your workflow.

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1. Adding a Remote Repository

A remote repository is a version of your project hosted on an external server, such as GitHub. You need to link your local repository to this remote in order to synchronize changes.

Command: git remote add

To add a new remote to your Git repository, use the following syntax:

git remote add <remote_name> <remote_url>

• <remote_name>: A label for the remote (e.g., origin).
• <remote_url>: The URL of the remote repository (e.g., https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY.git).

Example:

Let’s say you want to add a new remote named origin for your GitHub repository:

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git

To verify that the remote has been added successfully, use:

git remote -v

Output:

origin  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (push)

Troubleshooting: “Remote origin already exists”

If you encounter the error:

fatal: remote origin already exists.

It means that a remote with the name origin has already been added. To resolve this:

• Rename the existing remote (explained in the next section), or
• Use a different remote name.

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2. Renaming a Remote Repository

You might want to rename a remote for better clarity or organization, especially when you work with multiple remotes.

Command: git remote rename

To rename an existing remote, use:

git remote rename <old_name> <new_name>

• <old_name>: The current name of the remote (e.g., origin).
• <new_name>: The new name for the remote (e.g., upstream).

Example:

Let’s rename a remote called origin to upstream:

git remote rename origin upstream

Verify the change using:

git remote -v

Output:

upstream  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (fetch)
upstream  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (push)

Troubleshooting: “Remote [old_name] does not exist”

If the old remote name is incorrect or does not exist, you’ll get this error:

fatal: Could not rename config section 'remote.[old_name]' to 'remote.[new_name]'

Ensure the correct remote name by listing existing remotes:

git remote -v

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3. Changing a Remote Repository’s URL

There are times when you need to change the URL of a remote, such as switching from HTTPS to SSH for authentication or moving the repository to a new location.

Command: git remote set-url

To update a remote URL, use:

git remote set-url <remote_name> <new_url>

• <remote_name>: The name of the remote (e.g., origin).
• <new_url>: The new URL for the remote repository.

Example:

Let’s update the origin remote to switch from HTTPS to SSH:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:yourusername/your-repo.git

Verify the change:

git remote -v

Output:

origin  git@github.com:yourusername/your-repo.git (fetch)
origin  git@github.com:yourusername/your-repo.git (push)

Troubleshooting: “No such remote ‘[name]’”

If the specified remote does not exist, you’ll encounter:

fatal: No such remote '[name]'

Double-check the name of the remote with:

git remote -v

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4. Removing a Remote Repository

You may need to remove a remote when it’s no longer relevant or if the repository has been moved elsewhere.

Command: git remote rm

To remove a remote, use:

git remote rm <remote_name>

• <remote_name>: The name of the remote you want to remove.

Example:

Let’s remove a remote named upstream:

git remote rm upstream

Verify that it has been removed:

git remote -v

Output:

origin  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git (push)

Troubleshooting: “Could not remove config section ‘remote.[name]’”

This error means the remote you tried to remove does not exist:

error: Could not remove config section 'remote.[name]'

Double-check the remote’s existence by listing all remotes:

git remote -v

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Conclusion

Mastering remote repository management in Git is a critical skill for any developer. By learning how to add, rename, change, and remove remotes, you ensure that your workflow stays organized, flexible, and efficient. Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, these commands will help you handle repository remotes with ease.

With this knowledge in hand, you’re ready to push, pull, and clone repositories like a pro!

Real-Time Speech Translation with Azure: A Quick Guide

Introduction

The Azure Speech Translation service enables real-time, multi-language speech-to-speech and speech-to-text translation of audio streams. In this article, you will learn how to run an application to translate speech from one language to text in another language using Azure’s powerful tools.

Objective

By the end of this article, you will be able to create and deploy an application that translates speech from one language to text in another language.

Step 1: Creating a New Azure Cognitive Services Resource Using Azure Portal

Task 1: Create Azure Cognitive Speech Service Resource

1. Open a tab in your browser and go to the Speech Services page. If prompted, sign in with your Azure credentials.

2. On the Create page, provide the following information and click on Review + create:

   • Subscription: Select your subscription (this will be selected by default).
   • Resource group: Create a new group named azcogntv-rg1. Click on OK.
   • Region: East US
   • Name: CognitiveSpeechServicesResource
   • Pricing tier: Free F0

   

   

3. Once the validation passes, click on Create.

   

4. Wait for the deployment to complete, then click on Go to resource.

   

5. Click on Keys and Endpoint from the left navigation menu. Copy and save Key 1 and Endpoint values in a notepad for later use.

   

Task 2: Create Azure Cognitive Language Service Resource

1. Open a new browser tab and go to the Language Services page. Sign in with your Azure credentials.

2. Without selecting any option on the page, click on Continue to create your resource.

   

3. Update with the following details and then click on Review + Create:

   • Subscription: Your Azure subscription
   • Resource Group: Select azcogntv-rg1
   • Region: East US
   • Name: CognitivelanguageResourceXX (Replace XX with any random number)
   • Pricing tier: Free (F0)
   • Select checkbox: By checking this box, I certify that I have reviewed and acknowledged the Responsible AI Notice terms.

    

4. Review the resource details and then click on Create.

   

5. Wait for the deployment to complete, and once successful, click on Go to resource group.

   

6. Click on CognitiveLanguageResource.

   

7. Click on Keys and Endpoints > Show keys. Copy Key 1 and endpoint values and save them in a notepad for later use.

   

Step 2: Recognizing and Translating Speech to Text

Task 1: Set Environment Variables

Your application must be authenticated to access Cognitive Services resources. Use environment variables to store your credentials securely.

1. Open Command Prompt and run mkdir Speech-to-Text to create a directory. Then run cd Speech-to-Text to navigate into it.

   mkdir Speech-to-Text
   cd Speech-to-Text
   

2. To set the SPEECH_KEY environment variable, replace your-key with one of the keys for your resource saved earlier.

   setx SPEECH_KEY your-key
   setx SPEECH_REGION eastus
   

   

3. After adding the environment variables, restart any running programs that need to read the environment variable, including the console window. Close the Command Prompt and open it again.

Task 2: Translate Speech from a Microphone

1. Open Command Prompt, navigate to your directory (cd Speech-to-Text), and create a console application with the .NET CLI.

   dotnet new console
   

   

2. Install the Speech SDK in your new project with the .NET CLI.

   dotnet add package Microsoft.CognitiveServices.Speech
   

   

3. Open the Program.cs file in Notepad from the Speech-to-Text project folder. Replace the contents of Program.cs with the following code:

   using System;
   using System.IO;
   using System.Threading.Tasks;
   using Microsoft.CognitiveServices.Speech;
   using Microsoft.CognitiveServices.Speech.Audio;
   using Microsoft.CognitiveServices.Speech.Translation;
   
   class Program
   {
       // This example requires environment variables named "SPEECH_KEY" and "SPEECH_REGION"
       static string speechKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SPEECH_KEY");
       static string speechRegion = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SPEECH_REGION");
   
       static void OutputSpeechRecognitionResult(TranslationRecognitionResult translationRecognitionResult)
       {
           switch (translationRecognitionResult.Reason)
           {
               case ResultReason.TranslatedSpeech:
                   Console.WriteLine($"RECOGNIZED: Text={translationRecognitionResult.Text}");
                   foreach (var element in translationRecognitionResult.Translations)
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine($"TRANSLATED into '{element.Key}': {element.Value}");
                   }
                   break;
               case ResultReason.NoMatch:
                   Console.WriteLine($"NOMATCH: Speech could not be recognized.");
                   break;
               case ResultReason.Canceled:
                   var cancellation = CancellationDetails.FromResult(translationRecognitionResult);
                   Console.WriteLine($"CANCELED: Reason={cancellation.Reason}");
   
                   if (cancellation.Reason == CancellationReason.Error)
                   {
                       Console.WriteLine($"CANCELED: ErrorCode={cancellation.ErrorCode}");
                       Console.WriteLine($"CANCELED: ErrorDetails={cancellation.ErrorDetails}");
                       Console.WriteLine($"CANCELED: Did you set the speech resource key and region values?");
                   }
                   break;
           }
       }
   
       async static Task Main(string[] args)
       {
           var speechTranslationConfig = SpeechTranslationConfig.FromSubscription(speechKey, speechRegion);
           speechTranslationConfig.SpeechRecognitionLanguage = "en-US";
           speechTranslationConfig.AddTargetLanguage("it");
   
           using var audioConfig = AudioConfig.FromDefaultMicrophoneInput();
           using var translationRecognizer = new TranslationRecognizer(speechTranslationConfig, audioConfig);
   
           Console.WriteLine("Speak into your microphone.");
           var translationRecognitionResult = await translationRecognizer.RecognizeOnceAsync();
           OutputSpeechRecognitionResult(translationRecognitionResult);
       }
   }
   

4. Run your new console application to start speech recognition from a microphone:

   dotnet run
   

5. Speak into your microphone when prompted. What you speak should be output as translated text in the target language:

   Speak this: The Speech service provides speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities with an Azure Speech resource and then press Enter.
   

   

Conclusion

In this article, you translated speech from a microphone to a different language by updating the code in the Program.cs file. This powerful feature of Azure Cognitive Services allows for seamless and real-time translation, making it a valuable tool for various applications and industries.

Source Code