Key Principle: Deliver in Vertical Slices
Explore how delivering work in vertical slices enables teams to produce small, complete increments of functionality frequently. Understand the benefits of vertical slicing for user feedback, testing, and business value, as well as the skills and team structure needed to implement this approach effectively in Agile projects.
For short sprints to work, teams need to develop the capability to deliver small chunks of working functionality on a frequent basis. The design approach used to support this is called “vertical slicing,” which refers to making changes in each architectural layer to deliver incremental functionality or value.
A vertical slice represents full stack functionality, such as “Add this field to a bank statement” or “Provide confirmation of the transaction to the user one second faster.” Each of these examples would typically require work throughout the technology stack, as illustrated below.
Vertical slicing includes work in all the architectural layers needed to deliver incremental functionality. Vertical slices are typically easier for nontechnical ...