The slice

A slice is a horizontal cut across the story map: a few stories, taken along the user’s journey, that together let someone go through it from start to finish. In Slicemap a slice is a release, one row of the map.

Thin first, then wider

The first release should be the thinnest version of the product that works end to end. Under each step, pick the simplest story that still lets the user get through, and leave the rest for later releases or the backlog.

Take a booking app with four steps: create an account, confirm the email, pick a time slot, pay. A thin first release is email sign-up, a confirmation link, a day view of free slots and card payment. Google sign-up, a week view and refunds wait for the next rows.

Why start so narrow:

• You can show it to a real person. A thin release that works from sign-up to payment can be tried by a user. A perfect sign-up with nothing after it can’t.
• You find out what matters sooner. What people do with the first version tells you which stories belong in the next release.
• Every next release improves the same journey. You go back over the steps and make each one better, instead of finishing one step at a time.

How your agent works within a slice

Your agent takes work from the active release only. When you ask it for the next story, it gets the first open story of that release, steps from left to right, and works on one story at a time. When every story of the release is in a closed stage, the queue stops: the agent gets no more stories until you look at what was built and activate the next release, on the board or by asking the agent. The backlog is never handed out on its own.

A narrow release keeps the agent on the shortest path to something you can try, and gives you a natural point to stop, look and decide what comes next. When you need a story from somewhere else on the map, name it, and the agent takes it from there.

To set this up, see Plan a release.