Splitting a story...

An interesting conversation in the VersionOne user group sponsored this post:

When should a team split a story?

Good time to split a story-

• Story -> Allow user to login
• End of sprint -> The user can login by manually typing username/pwd, but system won't remember them the next time they return.
• Outcome -> Release software as is and split story into "User can Login" and "User can login without having to re-enter credentials next time." Get credit for first story but not second story.
  

Bad time to split a story-

• Story -> Allow user to login
• End of sprint -> Stored procedures are done, but UI isn't.
• Outcome -> split story into back-end and front-end work to get credit for work completed. Let DB move on.
  

This is bad because it can't be delivered. It destroys the "functioning software" line in the agile manifesto.

The team can't take credit for work unless it is "done" and adding business value to the user/customer.

These examples are over-simplified for this conversation, but many times it is not this black and white. Unfortunately, this second approach is done way too many times.