Progressive elaboration always comes into play. The more you interact with something, the more thoroughly you understand how it works, and the better you can predict its behavior.

This simple theory of analysis impacts systems and applications in significant ways.

Take user stories, for example. When we first conceive of a user story, it’s very high level. There are a lot of things we don’t know about that user story. We need to interact with it more to understand it better. Once we understand the user story, we can predicate how it will behave in the future.

Let’s create an example where you discover something entirely new that you haven’t seen or experienced before. You begin to notice the details about this new object. It’s blue and has a point one end. You continue to explore further by asking questions about the object. Why is it blue? Why is there a point? You compare the object in your mind to other objects that look similar based upon your experience. You conclude you’re holding a ballpoint pen.

Progressive elaboration is also deconstructing an object or concept into more specific details. You understand the object in your hand and take mentally or physically take it apart to deconstruct it into smaller pieces for analysis.

Progressive elaboration also allows you to make a better decision around improvements for the object. You understand the use and purpose of the object in a meaningful way so you can make suggestions for improvement.

Now apply these concepts to requirements and user stories. Interacting with requirements and user stories helps understand and define them more fully. So how is that done? Build that sandbox and play. Work through the user story in an environment where you can explore and understand it more deeply. Play time! It’s an important time of the day. So let’s play around and elaborate on those user stories and requirements.