This is a question I asked recently of a newly-formed Scrum team in a User Story Writing workshop. It occurred to me to not just blurt it out and to let them offer suggestions instead. They were very willing to contribute and I’d like to share the answers they came up with:

I
Improve, Innovate, Integrate, Intent, Invent, Interesting, Initial
N
Navigate, New, Novel, Negotiate
V
Viewable, Viable, Value
E
Effective, Easy, Evaluate
S
Stable, Scope, Simple, Satisfied, Success, Scalable
T
Testing, Time

After a couple of rounds of shout-outs I asked if they’d like the answer, and they kept asking me to hold off as they were really enjoying coming up with their own. In my opinion, what I stands for is the only one they didn’t get. A great reminder of why it’s good to be the “guide from the side” instead of the “guru in front of you”. Thanks again, Sharon.

If you’re interested in the “correct” answer, here‘s a really good explanation.