From Planning to Execution

1. Write the User Journey for a student using StudyBuddy for the first time — from discovering the app to successfully attending a study group session. Break it into 4–6 major activities (the narrative spine), the same way you would lay out a story map.
2. For each activity, write at least one User Story in As a / I want / so that format. You should end up with at least 8 stories across the full journey.
3. Apply the MVP test: draw your release line. Which stories are essential for a student to go from "I have a course I'm struggling with" to "I'm in a study group meeting with classmates," end to end? Mark these as MVP. Mark everything else as Release 2.
4. Identify the riskiest assumption in this product. What must be true for StudyBuddy to actually work? How does your MVP scope test that assumption specifically — and not just demonstrate a working app?

1. Choose your most important MVP story — the one without which the product doesn't work at all. Write full acceptance criteria for it: at least three specific, testable statements.
2. Apply the three-question test to this story: is it small enough for one Sprint? Is it valuable to a real student? Is it testable? If the answer to any question is no, rewrite the story until it passes.
3. Pick one story from your list that you think is too large for a single Sprint. Split it into two or more smaller stories, each of which still delivers something a user could use independently. Name which splitting pattern you used (by workflow step, user type, data type, happy/unhappy path, or another pattern).

1. Using the Fibonacci scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13), estimate story points for each of your MVP stories. For at least two stories, briefly explain what makes one larger than the other — don't just assign a number, justify the relative size.
2. Add up your MVP story points. Assume the team's velocity is 20 points per Sprint. How many Sprints will the MVP take? Does it fit within the 12-week semester window? Show your calculation.
3. The founders ask: "Can we promise students this will be ready by week 8, in time for midterms?" Write your honest two-to-three sentence response, including what you can commit to and what you cannot.
4. One founder suggests adding three more features to the MVP scope — including the ability to upload and share documents within a group — because "students will expect it." Using what you learned about scope and forecasting, explain in two sentences how you would respond to this request.

The StudyBuddy team has just finished day 6 of a 10-day Sprint. Sprint Goal: "A student can create a study group and other students can find and join it." Here is the situation:

1. Name the warning signal(s) present in this situation. For each one, explain what it most likely indicates.
2. What should the Scrum Master do about the stalled story — today, not at the next Retrospective? Be specific about the action, not just the principle.
3. Can the team add the filter-by-time request to this Sprint? Referring to what the team can and cannot do mid-Sprint, explain your answer and what should happen to the request instead.
4. Write the one-paragraph proactive update the PO should send to the founders about this Sprint's status — honest about the risk, without creating panic.