5.5Running Effective Three Amigos Sessions

Tips for Success

1. Keep it focused: One story per session. If the story is too big, split it first.
2. Time-box strictly: 15-20 minutes per story. If you need more time, the story is too complex.
3. Write things down: Update the acceptance criteria in Jira during the session. Do not rely on memory.
4. It is not a design review: Focus on what the behavior should be, not how to implement it.
5. Everyone contributes: If the QA engineer is silent, the session has failed.
6. Follow up: If questions cannot be answered in the session, create action items.

When Three Amigos Is Not Needed

Not every story needs a three amigos session. Skip it for:

• Bug fixes with clear reproduction steps
• Minor UI tweaks with no behavioral changes
• Infrastructure tasks that do not affect user behavior
• Stories that are extremely well-defined already

Focus three amigos on stories that are:

• New features with unclear edge cases
• Changes to existing features (risk of regression)
• Features involving multiple systems or teams
• Features with security, payment, or compliance implications