Cymen Vig

I really wanted to do a story this iteration on a project but it wasn’t selected by the client. My scheme was to get the current stories done and then pluck it from the backlog but I then learned it doesn’t work that way: in the event more stories are needed for the current iteration it is likely the client will pick from the backlog by their priority. Thankfully, I discussed my interest in a specific story with the client and happily received the offer of being free to work on that story if the other stories are finished. However I’m still left wondering how developers sell the client on plumbing that they really think is important but doesn’t result in a clearly visible change as a new feature would.

How do you sell necessary but unexciting stories?