How to Split the Impossible: Slicing Stories When the Dream Is Too Big

The Mob Mentality Show

🎙️ Ever faced a product vision so massive it felt impossible to start? In this Mob Mentality Show episode, we tackle the art and science of Story Splitting — breaking down huge dreams into small, deliverable slices without losing momentum or clarity.

We explore real-world strategies, including:

• Asking the hard questions like Do we really need to release everything at once?

• Using SPIDR (Spike, Path, Interface, Data, Rules) to guide story splitting

• Implementing Feature Flags (tools to enable/disable features without deploying new code) for flexible delivery

• Creating color-coded diagrams to visualize release order and dependencies

• Practicing "Yes, and" techniques to manage big customer asks without abandoning Agile values

• Running post-mortem retrospectives focused on improving splitting practices

• Mapping ideas with Discovery Trees (visual structures for feature evolution)

• Handling the tension between Big Bang marketing launches and incremental delivery

• Influencing sales and marketing teams to only sell what's already done vs. selling the future

• Identifying the impact of poor story splitting on technical debt and customer trust

• Differentiating splitting technical work vs. splitting user-facing features

• Teaching business stakeholders the fundamentals of CD (Continuous Delivery) and good story practices implicitly vs. explicitly

• Working through known unknowns vs. unknown unknowns in product discovery

• Using the Cynefin Framework (a model for navigating complexity) to decide splitting approaches

• Prioritizing with cost of delay and story split diagrams to maximize value

This episode is packed with hands-on advice for developers, product managers, Agile coaches, and leaders looking to move fast without breaking things. Whether you're struggling with overwhelming customer requests, complicated roadmaps, or internal misalignment, learning how to split the impossible is key to success in Agile, Continuous Delivery, and Lean Product Development.
Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/MjwIkiM25xM